Exploring the Complexity of the L2 Intonation System: An Acoustic and Eye-Tracking Study

Abstract

Phonological research has demonstrated that English intonation, variably referred to as prosody, is a multidimensional and multilayered system situated at the interface of information structure, morphosyntactic structure, phonological phenomena, and pragmatic functions. The structural and functional complexity of the intonational system, however, is largely under-addressed in L2 pronunciation teaching, leading to a lack of spontaneous use of intonation despite successful imitation in classrooms. Focusing on contrastive and implicational sentence stress, this study explored the complexity of the English intonation system by investigating how L1 English and Mandarin-English L2 speakers use multiple acoustic features (i.e., pitch range, pitch level, duration, and intensity) in signaling contrastive and implicational information and how one acoustic feature (maximum pitch level) is affected by information structure (contrast), morphosyntactic structure (phrasal boundary), and a phonological phenomenon (declination) in L1 English and Mandarin-English L2 speakers' speech. Using eye-tracking technology, we also investigated (1) L1 English and Mandarin-English L2 speakers' real-time processing of lexical items that carry information structure (i.e., contrast) and typically receive stress in L1 speakers' speech; (2) the influence of visual enhancement (italics and bold) on L1 English and Mandarin-English L2 speakers' processing of contrastive information; and (3) L1 English and Mandarin-English L2 speakers' processing of pictures with contrastive information. Statistical analysis using linear mixed-effects models showed that L1 English speakers and Mandarin-English L2 speakers differed in their use of acoustic cues in signaling contrastive and implicational information. They also differed in the use of maximum pitch level in signaling sentence stress influenced by contrast, phrasal boundary, and declination. We did not find differences in L1 English and Mandarin-English L2 speakers' processing of contrastive and implicational information at the sentence level, but the two groups of participants differ in their processing of contrastive information in passages and pictures. These results suggest that processing limitations may be the reason why L2 speakers did not use English intonation spontaneously. The findings of this study also suggest that Complexity Theory (CT), which emphasizes the complex and dynamic nature of intonation, is a theoretical framework that has the potential of bridging the gap between L2 phonology and L2 pronunciation teaching.

Using Praat to Develop English Majors' EFL Intonation Production

“…It is also defined from different perspectives and with different focuses. Some scholars emphasized the pragmatic meaning and phrasal structure while others highlighted intonation patterns or tones (Liu & Reed, 2021). For Wells (2006, p. 1), it is the "study of how the pitch of the voice rises and falls and how the speakers use this pitch variation to convey linguistic and pragmatic meaning".…”

“…Such structural and functional complexity of the intonation system, however, is largely undervalued or even forgotten in second/foreign language (SL/FL) pronunciation pedagogy (Liu & Reed, 2021, p. 1) which put more emphasis on the accurate production of isolated sounds or words, resulting in a lack of sufficient opportunities to practice intonation and a lack of spontaneous use of its patterns despite successful imitation in language classrooms. Thus, empirical studies on developing SL/FL intonation production are urgently needed (Hsieh, Dong, & Wang, 2013;Liu & Reed, 2021).…”

Commentary: “Vowel Quality and Direction of Stress Shift in a Predictive Model Explaining the Varying Impact of Misplaced Word Stress: Evidence From English” and “Exploring the Complexity of the L2 Intonation System: An Acoustic and Eye-Tracking Study”

“…Both Ghosh and Levis (2021) and Liu and Reed (2021) found L1 and L2 differences. The former identified a lower baseline and greater variation related to lexical stress errors in L2 listeners compared to L1 listeners.…”

“…This brings me to Liu and Reed (2021). As they indicate, the signaling of contrastive and implicational information by Mandarin-English L2 speakers relies more on the acoustic feature of intensity, while L1 English speakers use pitch range, pitch level, and duration.…”

How experience with tone in the native language affects the L2 acquisition of pitch accents

“…Particularly in the domain of tone languages, only few studies have examined the acquisition of L2 intonation by L1 speakers of a tone language (He et al, 2012;Yuan et al, 2018;Liu and Reed, 2021;Shang and Elvira-García, 2022). These studies revealed effects of L2 proficiency and cross-linguistic differences, but very few studies have provided direct comparisons between learners whose L1 is a tone language versus learners whose L1 is a non-tone language.…”