Word and Phone Intervals Tiers

Word Intervals Tier

The Word intervals tier is a copy of the Orthography tier with intervals added after words. Intervals are written in short-form seconds between '•' characters.

Structure:

• Word segments appear as: word •start-end•
• Dashes indicate the start and end of word boundaries
• Multiple words appear consecutively with their own boundaries

Automatic Updates:

• Segment tier changes — When you modify segment times in the Segment tier, word intervals are automatically recalculated to maintain correct word boundaries within the new time ranges.
• Record insertions/deletions — Adding or removing records automatically adjusts word intervals to match the new record structure.
• Orthography edits — Editing the Orthography tier preserves word boundaries unless you explicitly modify the word delimiters.
• Word deletion — Removing a word by deleting its content while keeping the boundary dashes removes that word from the transcription.

Importing Word Intervals:

Word intervals can be imported from TextGrid files that contain word annotation tiers. During import, the TextGrid word tier is mapped to the Word intervals tier.

Phone Intervals Tier

The Phone intervals tier marks individual phoneme boundaries based on the IPA Actual tier. Each phoneme is listed along with an interval. Intervals are written in short-form seconds between '•' characters. A '/' is placed between words.

Structure:

• Phone segments appear as: phoneme •start-end•
• Slashes indicate word boundaries

Automatic Updates:

• IPA tier edits — When you edit the IPA Target or IPA Actual tiers, phone intervals are automatically recalculated to maintain correct phone boundaries.
• Automatic IPA generation — When you enable auto-generation of IPA from orthography, the generated IPA is inserted with corresponding phone interval markers.
• Segment time changes — Modifying segment times adjusts phone intervals to stay within their time bounds.
• Phone deletion — Removing a phone by deleting its content while keeping the boundary slashes removes that phoneme from the transcription.

Importing Phone Intervals:

Phone intervals can be imported from TextGrid files that contain phonetic annotation tiers. During import, the TextGrid phonetic tier is mapped to the Phone intervals tier.

Use Cases for Phone Intervals

The Phone intervals tier is useful for:

• Phonological analysis — Tracking individual phones across utterances
• Feature extraction — Working with the feature tier that analyzes phones
• Duration measurement — Measuring phone lengths for timing analysis
• Repairing transcriptions — Identifying missing or extra phones

Tier Relationships

The interval tiers maintain a one-to-one relationship with the media segment:

• Word intervals — Each word corresponds to a segment that may contain multiple phones
• Phone intervals — Each phone corresponds to a minimal sound unit within a word or syllable

Cascading Updates:

When you edit the Segment or Orthography tier:

1. Word intervals are updated first to match new word boundaries
2. Phone intervals are updated second to match new phoneme boundaries
3. Any existing phone intervals that no longer fit within valid time ranges are removed

Best Practices

• Don't manually edit interval tiers: Let them update automatically as you edit other tiers. Manual edits will be overwritten on the next automatic update.
• Use word intervals for segmentation: If you need to add or remove words, edit the Segment or Orthography tier, not the Word intervals tier.
• Use phone intervals for analysis: When you need detailed phonetic information, rely on automatic phone interval generation rather than manual entry.
• Check imports: When importing TextGrid files, verify that the interval tiers contain the expected data.