The Effects of Speaker Accent and Target Predictability on Perception of Mispronunciations

1999 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
pp. 56-64 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peggy M. Schmid ◽  
Grace H. Yeni-Komshian
Keyword(s):  
Distinctive Feature ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Foreign Accent ◽  
Initial Phoneme ◽  
Accented Speech ◽  
Native Speech ◽  
Processing Effort ◽  
Target Words

This study makes use of a listening for mispronunciation task to examine how native English listeners perceive sentences produced by non-native speakers. The effects of target predictability and degree of foreign accent were investigated. Native and non-native speakers produced English sentences containing mispronunciation. Mispronunciations (MPs) were constructed by changing the initial phoneme of target words by a single distinctive feature along the dimensions of voicing, place, or manner. Results showed that listeners (a) were more accurate and faster in detecting MPs produced by native than non-native speakers, (b) were more accurate and faster in detecting MPs in predictable than unpredictable sentences, and (3) were more accurate in detecting MPs produced by non-native speakers with milder accents, as compared to heavier accents. These findings suggest that listening to fairly intelligible but accented speech requires increased processing effort—possibly because of subtle differences in intelligibility and increased variability characteristic of non-native speech.

scholarly journals The perception of native vs. non-native Danish speech: Bent and Bradlow’s matched interlanguage speech intelligibility benefit revisited

2020 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 284-296
Author(s):  
Paweł Korpal ◽  
◽  
Mikołaj Sobkowiak ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Speech Intelligibility ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Native Speaker ◽  
Foreign Accent ◽  
Valuable Insight ◽  
Accented Speech ◽  
Polish Language ◽  
Native Speech ◽  
Insight Into ◽  
Language Pair

The main objective of the study was to test the applicability of Bent and Bradlow’s matched interlanguage speech intelligibility benefit to the Danish-Polish language pair. We aimed to verify whether it was easier for Polish students of Danish to understand a Danish native speaker or a Polish speaker with a proficient command of Danish. Sixteen Polish students, divided into two groups of eight, listened to two recordings of two Danish texts: one recorded by a native speaker of Danish and the other one — by a native speaker of Polish who is a graduate of Danish philology from a Polish university. Before the experiment, all of the recordings were evaluated in terms of traces of foreign accent using a 7-point Likert scale, the experts being native speakers of Danish. The evaluators assessed the Polish native speaker’s pronunciation as proficient, but they identified certain segmental and suprasegmental features in his speech that are common indicators of a foreign accent in Danish. During the experiment, participants were asked to fill in each recording transcript with twenty missing words. The analysis of the results revealed that the participants scored higher when listening to the text recorded by the Polish speaker. Hence, the matched interlanguage speech intelligibility benefit was observed in a study using Polish as L1 (native language) and Danish as a foreign language. The study may provide a valuable insight into the question of non-native speech perception, foreign-accented speech and the veracity of the matched interlanguage speech intelligibility benefit for the Polish–Danish language pair.

The relative contribution of segments and intonation to the perception of foreign-accented speech

2015 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 303-322 ◽  
Author(s):  
JOAN SERENO ◽  
LYNNE LAMMERS ◽  
ALLARD JONGMAN
Keyword(s):  
Fundamental Frequency ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Native English Speakers ◽  
The Other ◽  
Foreign Accent ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Relative Impact ◽  
Accented Speech ◽  
Relative Contribution ◽  
Accented English

ABSTRACTThe present study examines the relative impact of segments and intonation on accentedness, comprehensibility, and intelligibility, specifically investigating the separate contribution of segmental and intonational information to perceived foreign accent in Korean-accented English. Two English speakers and two Korean speakers recorded 40 English sentences. The sentences were manipulated by combining segments from one speaker with intonation (fundamental frequency contour and duration) from another speaker. Four versions of each sentence were created: one English control (English segments and English intonation), one Korean control (Korean segments and Korean intonation), and two Korean–English combinations (one with English segments and Korean intonation; the other with Korean segments and English intonation). Forty native English speakers transcribed the sentences for intelligibility and rated their comprehensibility and accentedness. The data show that segments had a significant effect on accentedness, comprehensibility, and intelligibility, but intonation only had an effect on intelligibility. Contrary to previous studies, the present study, separating segments from intonation, suggests that segmental information contributes substantially more to the perception of foreign accentedness than intonation. Native speakers seem to rely mainly on segments when determining foreign accentedness.

scholarly journals When One Person's Mistake Is Another's Standard Usage: The Effect of Foreign Accent on Syntactic Processing

2012 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
pp. 878-887 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adriana Hanulíková ◽  
Petra M. van Alphen ◽  
Merel M. van Goch ◽  
Andrea Weber
Keyword(s):  
Speech Processing ◽  
Native Speaker ◽  
Neural Correlates ◽  
Syntactic Processing ◽  
Foreign Accent ◽  
Gender Agreement ◽  
Accented Speech ◽  
Grammatical Errors ◽  
Integration Problem ◽  
Native Speech

How do native listeners process grammatical errors that are frequent in non-native speech? We investigated whether the neural correlates of syntactic processing are modulated by speaker identity. ERPs to gender agreement errors in sentences spoken by a native speaker were compared with the same errors spoken by a non-native speaker. In line with previous research, gender violations in native speech resulted in a P600 effect (larger P600 for violations in comparison with correct sentences), but when the same violations were produced by the non-native speaker with a foreign accent, no P600 effect was observed. Control sentences with semantic violations elicited comparable N400 effects for both the native and the non-native speaker, confirming no general integration problem in foreign-accented speech. The results demonstrate that the P600 is modulated by speaker identity, extending our knowledge about the role of speaker's characteristics on neural correlates of speech processing.

scholarly journals English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) in ESP contexts. Students' attitudes towards non-native speech and analysis of teaching materials

2017 ◽  
pp. 27
Author(s):  
Yolanda Joy Calvo-Benzies
Keyword(s):  
Native Speakers ◽  
Native Speaker ◽  
Law Students ◽  
Foreign Accent ◽  
Teaching Materials ◽  
Lingua Franca ◽  
Native Speakers Of English ◽  
Native Speech ◽  
Students Attitudes ◽  
Analysis Of Teaching

This paper focuses on non-native accents in ESP classrooms. In particular it looks at native and non-native speakers of English accents used in the audio material accompanying six ESP textbooks. In a second study, a group of undergraduate ESP students of Law and Tourism were asked to assess some of the non-native speakers accents found in these materials, focussing on aspects such as fluency, pronunciation, intelligibility and foreign accent. More specifically, they were asked to rate the following non-native accents of speakers in English: French, German, Polish, Chinese and Spanish. Results from the first part of the study show that native speaker models continue to be present in ESP textbooks to a far higher degree than non-native ones. In the second part, the non-native accents that students rated most positively were those of German and Polish speakers, and those seen in the most negative terms were French and Spanish. In general, the Law students tended to value native accents more than non-native ones, whereas students of Tourism broadly accept both native and non-native accents.

scholarly journals Native Speaker Perceptions of Accented Speech: The English Pronunciation of Macedonian EFL Learners

2010 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. 41-61 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anastazija Kirkova-Naskova
Keyword(s):  
Web Application ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Native Speaker ◽  
Foreign Accent ◽  
Point Scale ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Accented Speech ◽  
English Pronunciation ◽  
Native Speakers Of English ◽  
Result Analysis

The paper reports on the results of a study that aimed to describe the vocalic and consonantal features of the English pronunciation of Macedonian EFL learners as perceived by native speakers of English and to find out whether native speakers who speak different standard variants of English perceive the same segments as non-native. A specially designed computer web application was employed to gather two types of data: a) quantitative (frequency of segment variables and global foreign accent ratings on a 5-point scale), and b) qualitative (open-ended questions). The result analysis points out to three most frequent markers of foreign accent in the English speech of Macedonian EFL learners: final obstruent devoicing, vowel shortening and substitution of English dental fricatives with Macedonian dental plosives. It also reflects additional phonetic aspects poorly explained in the available reference literature such as allophonic distributional differences between the two languages and intonational mismatch.

scholarly journals How does foreign accent affect template matching mechanisms? ERP evidence from Polish

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 61-74
Author(s):  
Hanna Kędzierska
Keyword(s):  
Template Matching ◽  
Brain Activity ◽  
Foreign Accent ◽  
Sentential Context ◽  
Accented Speech ◽  
Foreign Accents ◽  
Native Speech ◽  
The Brain

Sentential context is believed to have particularly robust effects on the processing of foreign-accented speech (Lev-Ari 2015). However, recent neurolinguistic studies investigating the relation between non-native speech and semantic predictability suggest that anticipation mechanisms are, in fact, hampered during the processing of foreign accents (Romero-Rivas et al. 2016). The current study is an attempt to shed more light on this issue and establish whether the mechanisms responsible for categorical template matching remain active during the processing of non-native speech. The study investigated neural reactions towards high cloze probability template endings (i.e., the endings of fixed phrases selected in a pre-test) and their unexpected counterparts. 120 Polish sentences were recorded by a native Polish speaker and a non-native (L1 Ukrainian) speaker of Polish in order to investigate the reactions towards an easily recognizable foreign accent. The brain activity of 28 monolinguals (L1 Polish) was recorded during the EEG sessions. In native-accented speech, violations of high cloze probability items resulted in a broadly distributed negativity followed by a P600 effect. No comparable effects were observed in the case of foreign-accented speech. These results are compatible with previous findings (Hanulíková et al. 2012; Romero-Rivas et al. 2016) as they confirm that linguistic anticipatory and reanalysis processes are hampered in the case of non-native speech.

The effects of contact on native language pronunciation in an L2 migrant setting

2009 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-40 ◽  
Author(s):  
ESTHER DE LEEUW ◽  
MONIKA S. SCHMID ◽  
INEKE MENNEN
Keyword(s):  
The Netherlands ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Native Language ◽  
Foreign Accent ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Code Mixing ◽  
Native Speech ◽  
Experimental Subjects ◽  
The Stability ◽  
L1 And L2

The primary aim of this study was to determine whether native speakers of German living in either Canada or the Netherlands are perceived to have a foreign accent in their native German speech. German monolingual listeners (n = 19) assessed global foreign accent of 34 L1 German speakers in Anglophone Canada, 23 L1 German speakers in the Dutch Netherlands, and five German monolingual controls in Germany. The experimental subjects had moved to either Canada or the Netherlands at an average age of 27 years and had resided in their country of choice for an average of 37 years. The results revealed that the German listeners were more likely to perceive a global foreign accent in the German speech of the consecutive bilinguals in Anglophone Canada and the Dutch Netherlands than in the speech of the control group and that nine immigrants to Canada and five immigrants to the Netherlands were clearly perceived to be non-native speakers of German. Further analysis revealed that quality and quantity of contact with the native German language had a more significant effect on predicting global foreign accent in native speech than age of arrival or length of residence. Two types of contact were differentiated: (i) C−M represented communicative settings in which little code-mixing between the L1 and L2 was expected to occur, and (ii) C+M represented communicative settings in which code-mixing was expected to be more likely. The variable C−M had a significant impact on predicting foreign accent in native speech, whereas the variable C+M did not. The results suggest that contact with the L1 through communicative settings in which code-mixing is inhibited is especially conducive to maintaining the stability of native language pronunciation in consecutive bilinguals living in a migrant context.

Age and Understanding Speakers with Spanish or Taiwanese Accents

2003 ◽  
Vol 97 (1) ◽  
pp. 11-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angela N. Burda ◽  
Carlin F. Hageman ◽  
Julie A. Scherz ◽  
Harold T. Edwards
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Pilot Study ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
The Other ◽  
Foreign Accent ◽  
Accented Speech ◽  
Native Speakers Of English ◽  
Highly Correlated ◽  
Two Age Groups

This pilot study concerned the intelligibility of accented speech for listeners of different ages. 72 native speakers of English, representing three age groups (20–39, 40–59, 60 and older) listened to words and sentences produced by native speakers of English, Taiwanese, and Spanish. Listeners transcribed words and sentences. Listeners also rated speakers' comprehensibility, i.e., listeners' perceptions of difficulty in understanding utterances, and accentedness, i.e., how strong a speaker's foreign accent is perceived to be. On intelligibility measures, older adults had significantly greater difficulty in understanding individuals with accented speech than the other two age groups. Listeners, regardless of age, were more likely to provide correct responses if they perceived the speaker easier to understand. Ratings of comprehensibility were highly correlated with ratings of accentedness.

الجامعة الاسلامية العالمية بماليزيا وودورها فى تعليم اللغة العربية للناطقين بغيرها International Islamic University of Malaysia and Its Role in Teaching Arabic to Non-Native Speakers

2014 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 66
Author(s):  
علاء حسنى المزين (Alaa Hosni)
Keyword(s):  
Distinctive Feature ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Arabic Language ◽  
Strong Connection ◽  
Positive Effects ◽  
The World ◽  
Islamic Identity ◽  
Islamic Civilization ◽  
The University ◽  
Scientific Documentation

كان من أهم الآثار الإيجابية للصحوة الإسلامية التى عمت العالم الإسلامى بشكل ملحوظ منذ أوائل السبعينيات فى القرن العشرين زيادة إقبال الشعوب الإسلامية على تعلم اللغة العربية، وبدأ الاهتمام الحقيقى لجامعات العالم الإسلامى بتوفير مساقات متخصصة لهذا الغرض منذ أوائل الثمانينات، وكانت الجامعة الإسلامية العالمية بماليزيا التى أسست سنة 1983 من أنشط الجامعات فى هذا الصدد، وهو نشاط استلفت نظر الباحث إذ وجده يستحق الرصد والتوثيق العلمى، والمراجعة إذا اقتضت الضرورة لا بهدف الإشادة بالتجربة بل رغبة فى الإفادة والاستفادة من قبل المختصين من المهتمين بهذا الميدان الحيوى من ميادين خدمة اللغة العربية بل خدمة الإسلام، وحضارته نظرا للارتباط الوثيق بين اللغة العربية وهذا الدين الحنيف باعتبارها لغة كتابه الخالد، والمعلم الرئيس من معالم الهوية الإسلامية المميزة والصمود الحضارى.*****************************************************One of the most positive effects of the Islamic awakening since the early seventies, in the twentieth century, which spread across the Islamic world in a significant manner, has been the increased Muslims’ interest in learning the Arabic language all over the world. There began a real interest in the universities of the Muslim world for the Arabic language by providing specialized courses for this purpose since the early eighties and  the International Islamic University Malaysia established in 1983 has been the most active university in this regard. And this activity of the university drew the interest of the researcher who found it worthy of investigation and scientific documentation as well as of revision, if necessary, not in order to pay tribute to the experience, but for taking advantage and learning from specialists interested in this vital field of the fields of Arabic language service which is actually service of Islam and its civilization considering the strong connection between Islam and the Arabic language, the language of the Qur’Én , the most distinctive feature of Islamic identity and resilience of Islamic civilization.

scholarly journals In the Ear of the Listener: The Role of Foreign Accent in Interethnic Friendships and Partnerships

2021 ◽  
pp. 019791832098883
Author(s):  
Irena Kogan ◽  
Jörg Dollmann ◽  
Markus Weißmann
Keyword(s):  
Social Interactions ◽  
Social Distance ◽  
Children Of Immigrants ◽  
Longitudinal Survey ◽  
Foreign Accent ◽  
Interethnic Relations ◽  
Accented Speech ◽  
Interethnic Friendships ◽  
Communicative Power

This article examines the association between accented speech and the formation of friendships and partnerships among immigrants and native-born majority residents in Germany. Drawing on the sixth wave of the German extension of the Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Survey in Four European Countries, we analyze a neglected aspect of language — pronunciation — and find that speaking with a foreign accent is a more important correlate of the incidence of interethnic partnerships than of interethnic friendships. We argue that beyond its primary function of understandability, accented speech possesses socially communicative power. Accent transmits signals of an individual’s foreignness and cultural differences and, thus, becomes an additional marker of social distance. Such signals serve as a greater obstacle to more consequential intimate interethnic relations such as partnerships. Our findings extend the scholarly debate on the role of symbolic boundaries in social interactions between ethnic groups by yet another important boundary maker — accent.

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