Download H94-1008

only. This will take about 7 minutes.
w a i t for t h e b e e p b e f o r e s p e a k i n g .
Please
• T h a n k you for your participation. If you would like a
gift certificate please leave your name, address, and gift
certificate selection. Your name and address will be kept
confidential.
• What is your native language?
• W h a t language do you speak most of the time?
• W h a t language do you speak at home?
To date, the prompts for several of the languages have been
recorded by native speakers. We expect to begin collection
for five languages in March 1994 and then will add five more
languages every two weeks until the collection is finished. The
expected completion data is yet to be determined.
• What other languages do you speak and understand?
• How old are you?
• What is your date of birth?
• Are you male or female?
2.5.
• How long have you been in the United States?
English Census Corpus
In conjunction with the U.S. Bureau of the Census, CSLU
is collecting data to develop a prototype automated census
system. Callers were solicited by the Census Bureau; a memorandum was sent to regional offices asking Census Bureau
employees, their family members and family friends to call an
800 number on a voluntary basis to provide speech data for
the study. A different 800 number was provided for each city.
The cities are Dallas, Chicago, Boston, Charlotte, Atlanta,
Philadelphia, Denver, Kansas City, Detroit, and Seattle.
• What city and state did you spend most of your childhood?
• What is your zipcode?
• What area code are you calling from?
• What day is today?
• What time is it?
• Say a familiar telephone number.
Two protocols were used that differed in the wording of some
of the prompts. Each protocol was recorded by both male and
female speakers. In addition, male and female synthesized
voices were used. Incoming calls were assigned to the eight
conditions (prompt X gender X source) in rotation.
• How would you ask someone if they speak (language)?
• Give us the greeting you usually use when answering the
phone.
• F o r e a c h o f t h e f o l l o w i n g d e s c r i p t i o n s , we w i l l
r e c o r d t h e f i r s t t e n s e c o n d s o f y o u r a n s w e r . Begin s p e a k i n g at the beep. A second b e e p will
i n d i c a t e w h e n we h a v e f i n i s h e d r e c o r d i n g y o u r
answer to each question.
An interesting feature of the data collection was the use of
automatic recognition to control the protocol. Recognition of
"yes," "no," "other," and "American Indian" was performed
at certain decision points to determine subsequent prompts.
This is illustrated in the following protocol:
• Describe the route you take to work or to the store.
• Tell us something that you like about your hometown.
• Tell us about the climate in your hometown.
• T h a n k y o u for c a l l i n g t h e O G I c e n s u s p r o j e c t .
W e a p p r e c i a t e y o u r h e l p . T h e goal o f t h i s s t u d y
is t o d e t e r m i n e t h e f e a s i b i l i t y o f u s i n g a c o m p u t e r i z e d q u e s t i o n n a i r e for t h e Year 2000 C e n s u s .
T h i s r e s e a r c h is s p o n s o r e d b y t h e U n i t e d S t a t e s
C e n s u s B u r e a u . T h e a n s w e r s y o u give t o t h e following questions will be kept confidential. Afterw a r d s we will a s k y o u s o m e q u e s t i o n s to h e l p u s
evaluate this q u e s t i o n n a i r e . It will take approxi m a t e l y four m i n u t e s to c o m p l e t e . Please wait
for t h e t o n e b e f o r e a n s w e r i n g e a c h q u e s t i o n .
• Describe the room you are calling from.
• Describe your most recent meal.
• W e n o w w a n t y o u t o t a l k for a l o n g e r p e r i o d o f
t i m e . W e d o n o t c a r e w h a t y o u say as l o n g as
you keep talking. You can tell us a n y t h i n g a b o u t
yourself, your hobbies and interests, the city that
y o u live i n , a n d t h e s p o r t s t h a t y o u like. O r y o u
can m a k e u p a story, tell a fairy-tale or recite
a p o e m . You will have 1 m i n u t e to speak. We
w i l l n o w g i v e y o u 10 s e c o n d s t o t h i n k a b o u t w h a t
t o say. P l e a s e d o n o t r e a d a n y t h i n g , we w o u l d
prefer you make something up.
• Please say your first name.
• Please spell your first name.
• Please say your last name.
• Please begin talking at the beep. You will hear a second
beep when you have 10 seconds left.
• Please spell your last name.
• For the last question, we would like you to tell us something about yourself in English. If you do not speak
English, you may push any button on your phone, or
simply wait for 20 seconds. At the beep, please tell us
something about yourself in English.
• Please say your middle initial. If you have no middle
initial, say "none".
• What is your sex, female or male?
• We will now ask about your marital status. Have you
ever been married? Please say yes or no.
• If you are calling from a touch tone phone, please push
the number 2 button.
• (if yes, then)
Which one of the following options best
describes your current marital status: now married, widowed, divorced, or separated?
• Would you like to receive a gift certificate for McDonalds
or for T C B Y frozen yogurt?
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