Segmentation

Segmentation is the process of marking the boundaries between phonemic, phonetic or other temporal segments of a speech signal. The process of segmentation always involves idealisations and simplifications, because the speech signal generally only has a very indirect relation to perceived segments. The following factors complicate the relation:

1. The continuousness of most transitions between segments in the speech signal.
2. The co-articulation of different vocal organs with different and partly independent timing patterns.
3. The reduction (shortening, neutralisation of qualitative differences, disappearance) of segments relative to some canonical norm, particularly in fast speech.
4. The assimilation of properties of a sound to the related properties of a neighbouring sound.

Segmentation is performed with signal editing software.