SIL International Media Release
Speech Analyzer 3.0 Released
(August 2007) SIL International announces the 16 August 2007 release of version 3.0 of Speech Analyzer (SA), a tool for recording, transcribing and analyzing speech sounds. Linguists and ethnomusicologists can use SA to investigate, mimic and annotate the acoustic sounds of human language.
Linguists will find SA useful to perform duration measurements and fundamental frequency, spectrographic and spectral analyses. SA can also combine phonetic, phonemic, orthographic, tone and gloss transcriptions in an interlinear format. Features to enhance language learning include slowed playback, repeat loops and overlays to assist with perception and mimicry of sounds. With SA, ethnomusicologists can perform analysis of music recordings. Version 3.0 is the first significant release of SA since version 2.7 (June 2005).
SIL researches and develops computer software solutions needed to facilitate the study of languages and the publication of literature in a variety of writing systems. SIL has developed more than 60 pieces of software to support the work of its fieldworkers. Most are available to the public for free download.
SIL’s field linguists work in partnership with minority language speakers, local and national government agencies, nongovernmental organizations and universities to collect, analyze, organize and publish language and culture data. SIL workers serve as technical advisors, teachers, consultants and facilitators. As an international advocate for minority language speakers, SIL is dedicated to supporting ethnic minority peoples worldwide in their efforts to preserve their languages and cultural identities into the 21st century.
What's New
- Unicode support and support for Transcription Encoding Converters for data from previous versions
- Import data in MP3 and WMA formats
- Import and export MusicXML
Other Features
- Transcribe speech files phonetically with IPA
- Add phonemic, orthographic, tone and gloss annotations to transcriptions in an interlinear format
- View sound file as a waveform, pitch plot, spectrogram, spectrum and various F1 vs. F2 displays
- Formant processing
- Playback at a slower speed
- Playback with variable length delay between repetitions
- Music analysis capability
- Integrated Help files and training materials
Related links of interest
- Speech Analyzer
- SIL Software Catalog
- Ethnomusicology
- The Phonicon, an electronic encyclopedia of speech sounds
- SIL Publications in Phonology