Introduction to acoustic speech analysis with Praat

Abstract

This study shows how to perform basic tasks of speech acoustical analysis in the software Praat (BOERSMA; WEENINK, 2022). The selected tasks are described and accompanied by relevant theoretical concepts. Praat is a leading speech analysis software, which consists of a wide variety of robust and up-to-date analyses, and is freely distributed. Throughout the paper, the softwares elementary functions are introduced, as well as instructions on how to generate and visualize sound waves. The method for speech annotation is presented, highlighting advantages and challenges. Guidelines for basic analysis of vowels, consonants and some prosodic features are supplied.

Keywords:
Speech; Phonetics; Acoustical analysis; Praat