Method and apparatus to model and transfer the prosody of tags across languages

A method to model and transfer prosody of tag questions across languages, the method comprising:

• receiving speech of a first person speaking in a first language;
• analyzing the speech in the first language using automatic speech recognition;
• extracting prosodic parameters of the speech in the first language and outputting text in the first language corresponding to the speech in the first language based on the analyzing;
• searching the speech in the first language for a tag question in the first language;
• translating the text in the first language to text in a second language;
• outputting translated speech in the second language that is translated from the speech in the first language based on the translated text in the second language;
• analyzing the speech in the first language to find speech segments that correspond to the tag question in the first language;
• extracting a fundamental frequency from the speech segments that correspond to the tag question in the first language;
• fitting a stylized smooth contour to the fundamental frequency;
• mapping the stylized smooth contour into a corresponding part of pitch range of the speech in the second language;
• extracting a fundamental frequency from the speech segments that correspond to the tag question in the first language;
• extracting a fundamental frequency from the speech segments that correspond to the tag question in the second language based on the extracted prosodic parameters of the speech in the first language;
• stretching or contracting the stylized smooth contour over time;
• aligning the stylized smooth contour with corresponding speech segments in the second language that correspond to the tag question;
• and
• applying the smooth contour to the speech in the second language.