Dan's Linguistics Study #1
Project Overview
Hello voice actors!
My name is Dan and I’m doing a Ph.D in Linguistics about the connections between LANGUAGE and EMOTION. For the next part of my research, I need talented voice actors to help me by participating in a study. Want to help?
This work is specifically about INTONATION in American English, which is part of the language that allows sentences to take on different meanings without changing the words. For example, the same sentence can usually be said like a statement or a question, or some other meaning. A major part of this research is collecting speech samples with a specific intonation pattern (we call these “tunes”, of which there are 8) with a specific emotional valence (love/pride/anger/shame). 8 tunes X 4 emotions = 32 unique combinations. Sound easy?
The challenging part is mimicking the pitch patterns accurately while making the emotional qualities sound NATURAL and GENUINE – this is why I’m turning to the talent on CCC!
Rather than communicating the personality of a character, your goal will be to sound natural as you participate in an online experiment. You will be guided through the process step-by-step and after participating, I will compensate you through VENMO [$40 USD]. Participants will also be able to pat themselves on the back for helping advance scientific research!
Currently, I’m primarily seeking participants that meet the following criteria:
· have previous voice acting experience
· have excellent vocal control, especially for imitating pitch
· can naturally portray different emotions with their voice on demand
· primarily lived in any of the following states before entering high school: Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Indiana, Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania, or New Jersey
· speak American English at least 90% of the time
· ages between 18-35
· no known speech, hearing, or reading deficits (self-identified)
These criteria are to help me control the natural variation in language due to regional dialects and generational changes in pronunciation, which is why I need participants in this study to have roughly the same dialect and age. If you are not sure if you meet all the requirements, but still want to help, please contact me anyways – I can keep you updated about future studies that you might qualify for.
If you decide to take part, here’s what you can expect:
· First I will send you written instructions that will help you set up your recording environment for the experiment. Ensure you have a block of uninterrupted time of 1-1.5 hours in a quiet space.
· After reading the setup instructions, you will follow a link to an online questionnaire that collects basic information about you, to confirm eligibility and complete compensation after we verify your data.
· The experiment session consists of (1) a consent form, (2) a short background survey, (3) a tune practice session, and (4) a main recording session.
· Recordings will be archived online for other researchers to analyze, so your voice can help us learn more about human language for many years to come.
· You may only participate once in this study.
More details:
· This research is supported by Northwestern University and has been approved by our IRB (STU00215951).
· The study’s PI (my supervisor) is Jennifer Cole, who can be contacted at: jennifer.cole1(at)northwestern.edu
· For more information, or general help, you can contact me (Dan Turner) at: dturner(at)u.northwestern.edu
If you are interested, please send the following information:
1. Preferred name and pronouns
2. Microphone type (internal/external?)
3. Browser you plan to use (not Safari)
4. Is your age 18-35 AND have you predominately lived in any of these states: IL, MI, WI, MN, IN, MO, OH, PA, NJ? (Please limit your answer to “Yes” or “No”.)
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Currently, I’m primarily seeking participants that meet the following criteria:
- have previous voice acting experience
- have excellent vocal control, especially for imitating pitch
- can naturally portray different emotions with their voice on demand
- primarily lived in any of the following states before entering high school: Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Indiana, Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania, or New Jersey
- speak American English at least 90% of the time
- ages between 18-35
- no known speech, hearing, or reading deficits (self-identified)
(See project description)
Her name is Marilyn? (as an information-seeking question)
Her name is Marilyn. (as a certain statement of fact)
Her name is Marilyn. (as if you’re correcting someone who said the wrong name)
Currently, I’m primarily seeking participants that meet the following criteria:
- have previous voice acting experience
- have excellent vocal control, especially for imitating pitch
- can naturally portray different emotions with their voice on demand
- primarily lived in any of the following states before entering high school: Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Indiana, Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania, or New Jersey
- speak American English at least 90% of the time
- ages between 18-35
- no known speech, hearing, or reading deficits (self-identified)
(See project description for more details about this study.)
Her name is Marilyn? (as an information-seeking question)
Her name is Marilyn. (as a certain statement of fact)
Her name is Marilyn. (as if you’re correcting someone who said the wrong name)
Currently, I’m primarily seeking participants that meet the following criteria:
- have previous voice acting experience
- have excellent vocal control, especially for imitating pitch
- can naturally portray different emotions with their voice on demand
- primarily lived in any of the following states before entering high school: Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Indiana, Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania, or New Jersey
- speak American English at least 90% of the time
- ages between 18-35
- no known speech, hearing, or reading deficits (self-identified)
(See project description)
Her name is Marilyn? (as an information-seeking question)
Her name is Marilyn. (as a certain statement of fact)
Her name is Marilyn. (as if you’re correcting someone who said the wrong name)
Currently, I’m primarily seeking participants that meet the following criteria:
- have previous voice acting experience
- have excellent vocal control, especially for imitating pitch
- can naturally portray different emotions with their voice on demand
- primarily lived in any of the following states before entering high school: Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Indiana, Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania, or New Jersey
- speak American English at least 90% of the time
- ages between 18-35
- no known speech, hearing, or reading deficits (self-identified)
Her name is Marilyn? (as an information-seeking question)
Her name is Marilyn. (as a certain statement of fact)
Her name is Marilyn. (as if you’re correcting someone who said the wrong name)
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