[Lex Computer & Tech Group/LCTG] another use for AI

Tue Aug 30 04:20:39 PDT 2022

 In the 1960s, "standard English" in the United States was said to be spoken in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Later, Detroit, MI was added as a "standard" accent. Both were flatter Midwest accents than today's Chi-kaw-gah accent, and much more "standard" than the lovely nuances found in the Northeastern States. 
For actors today, the "Boston accent" is one of the most difficult regional variations to master. Nuw-yawk-eese is also not easy for people from elsewhere to master, both speaking and listening. Northern New Jersey back in the day was also a difficult variation to master. 
What the AI is so good at doing, is taking input from heavily accented variations, and "standardizing" these variations into a flatter, less accented (and less colorful) form of "workplace English". For tech support, this usually makes communication a LOT easier. 
I am gifted in learning languages, so I have no problem with "foreign" or regional variations. But even I sometimes have a tough time with call center customer service reps. A "universal lingua franca" for English would help even me at times. 
My sister has a friend who worked in the development of Alexa and was involved in training "her" to adapt to regional accents.It is truly amazing the amount of detail which has been developed about each and every phoneme in North America. My own "accent" shows traces of my parents' New York City and just Upstate, ca. 1920s upbringing, as well as my native Chicago suburban upbringing. I have never developed a New England accent in the five or six years I have lived "oht heah". At least I didn't move to today's New York City, where there are literally hundreds of accents in everyday use! 
-- Bob Primak 

    On Monday, August 29, 2022 at 03:03:49 PM EDT, Stan Rose <stan_rose at alum.mit.edu> wrote:  

 Which is almost always.
On Mon, Aug 29, 2022, 1:09 PM john rudy <jjrudy1 at comcast.net> wrote:

For what it is worth this was 1965-6

My complaint is when HELP DESK folks, who truly need to be 100% understood, are unintelligible

John Rudy

781-861-0402

781-718-8334 (cell)

John.rudy at alum.mit.edu 

From: Elaine <scribelaine at gmail.com> 
Sent: Monday, August 29, 2022 12:48 PM
To: john rudy <jjrudy1 at comcast.net>
Cc: Michael Alexander <mna.ma at yahoo.com>; Lex Computer Group <LCTG at lists.toku.us>
Subject: Re: [Lex Computer & Tech Group/LCTG] another use for AI

... or from Detroit, where I am from. It's the flat Midwest non-accented pronunciation of the region. TV announcers are trained to use it to eliminate region bias.

As a Speech/Language Pathology major at the University of Michigan, there was no mention of "standard" English. What we were taught was a phonetic alphabet to use for transcription when evaluating someone's language. Each phoneme has a specific pronunciation and symbol, so we can record properly exactly how someone articulates sounds, accent or not. It even allows transcription of every language with the same symbols.

Don't you think that training people from different regions to all sound the same would lose the beautiful, multi-faceted diversity that helps give personality and authenticity to each individual and our melting pot? It would kind of be like wanting everyone to be white and Christian, and then take away cultural and regional differences as well. Once we reach that state, what would be left to talk about? May as well all be converted to rote robots, with no personality or emotion.

- elaine

On Mon, Aug 29, 2022 at 12:06 PM john rudy <jjrudy1 at comcast.net> wrote:

Jan was a Speech Pathology major at Emerson.  Freshman year they had a class that taught “standard” English.  I think the objective was that everyone sounded as if they came from Chicago

John Rudy

781-861-0402

781-718-8334 (cell)

John.rudy at alum.mit.edu 

13 Hawthorne Lane

Bedford, MA  01730-1047

From: Michael Alexander <mna.ma at yahoo.com> 
Sent: Monday, August 29, 2022 12:00 PM
To: john rudy <jjrudy1 at comcast.net>; Lex Computer Group <LCTG at lists.toku.us>
Subject: Re: [Lex Computer & Tech Group/LCTG] another use for AI

Maybe they should, also, translate some regional American accents into ordinary “American”?

    – Mike A

On Monday, August 29, 2022, 11:53 AM, john rudy <jjrudy1 at comcast.net> wrote:

https://mashable.com/article/ai-startup-makes-call-center-foreigners-sound-white#:~:text=This%20time%20around%2C%20Palo%20Alto,of%20making%20them%20sound%20white.

John Rudy

781-861-0402

781-718-8334 (cell)

John.rudy at alum.mit.edu 

13 Hawthorne Lane

Bedford, MA  01730-1047

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