Variability in hesitations in Punjabi semi-spontaneous narrative speech: An automatic clustering based analysis

Abstract

This research offers a first analysis of hesitations in Punjabi, an under-researched language, in conjunction with a cross-linguistic comparison. We show speaker related variation in the frequency of hesitations in Punjabi. Variability was also observed in the form of filled pauses which comprised vowels or vowel-consonant sequences with nasals or obstruents. The vowels in filled pauses differed based on their segmental context and individual speakers. Automatic clustering showed that (lexical-ized) filled pauses were grouped by F0 register, instead of F0 contour. These results (1) have cross-linguistic significance and (2) provide insights for modeling hesitations in speech technological systems