In this paper, mimicry speech is analysed using features at suprasegmental, segmental and subsegmental levels. The possibility of the imitator getting close at each of these levels is examined here. The imitator cannot duplicate all features of the target, as imitation depends on the target speaker, utterance chosen, and his ability to imitate. To study the variation of features in the case of best and poor imitations, the source and system features are observed for different target speakers and for different utterances. Features such as pitch contour, duration, Itakura distance, strength of excitation and loudness measure are used for this analysis. Perceptual evaluation is performed to determine the closeness of imitation to the target. The closeness of features for best imitated and poorly imitated utterances is presented here.
Index Terms: Mimicry, imitation, suprasegmental, segmental, and subsegmental features