The Contribution of Prosody to the Perception of Foreign Accent

Mareüil, Philippe Boula de; Vieru-Dimulescu, Bianca

doi:10.1159/000097308

Cited by 100 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…Research has demonstrated that listeners can be adept at identifying the native language of foreign-accented speech on the basis of prosody alone, such as when the content is masked (De Mareuil & Viery-Dimulescu, 2006;Munro, Derwing, & Burgess, 2010;Trofimovich & Baker, 2006;Vicenik & Sundara, 2013). In American English (AE), listeners typically segment speech at strong (inflected) syllables, whereas in languages such as French, which has many fewer examples of strong-weak syllabic contrasts, listeners identify word boundaries on the basis of other rhythmic cues (Cutler & Butterfield, 1992).…”

Section: Segmental and Prosodic Dimensions Of Foreign Accentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Segmental and Prosodic Approaches to Accent Management

Behrman

2014

Am J Speech Lang Pathol

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Section: Segmental and Prosodic Dimensions Of Foreign Accentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Segmental and Prosodic Approaches to Accent Management

Behrman

2014

Am J Speech Lang Pathol

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“…There are few studies, however, which have examined the influence of prosody on foreign accent rating. Relying on acoustic analyses, previous studies have reported that prosody is critical in the perception of accent (Anderson-Hsieh, Johnson, & Koehler, 1992; Boula de Mareüil, & Vieru-Dimulescu, 2006; Gilbert, 1984; Munro, 1995). Specifically, temporal variation, which is an index of prosodic modulation, is reported to be an important contributor to the perception of foreign accent (Tajima, Port, & Dalby, 1997).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Production of Lexical Stress in Non-Native Speakers of American English: Kinematic Correlates of Stress and Transfer

Chakraborty

Goffman

2011

J Speech Lang Hear Res

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Purpose To assess the influence of L2 proficiency on production characteristics of rhythmic sequences in L1 (Bengali) and L2 (English), with emphasis on linguistic transfer. One goal was to examine, using kinematic evidence, how L2- proficiency influences the production of iambic and trochaic words, focusing on temporal and spatial aspects of prosody. A second goal was to assess whether prosodic structure influences judgment of foreign accent. Method Twenty Bengali-English bilinguals, 10 with low proficiency and 10 with high proficiency in English, and 10 monolingual English speakers participated. Lip and jaw movements were recorded while the bilinguals produced Bengali and English words embedded in sentences. Lower lip movement amplitude and duration were measured in trochaic and iambic words. Six native English listeners judged the nativeness of the bilingual speakers. Results Evidence of L1 to L2 transfer was observed through duration but not amplitude cues. More proficient L2 speakers varied duration to mark iambic stress. Perceptually, the high proficiency group received relatively higher native-like accent ratings. Trochees were judged as more native than iambs. Interpretation Even in the face of L1-L2 lexical stress transfer, non-native speakers demonstrated knowledge of prosodic contrasts. Movement duration appears to be more amenable to modifications than amplitude.

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“…The foreign accent can be defined as the quantitative difference between two phonological systems in which one is the native language (L1) and the other is the foreign language (L2; Boula de Mareüil & Vieru-Dimulescu, 2006).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The contribution of prosody to foreign accent: A study of Spanish as a foreign language

Silva

Barbosa

2018

loquens

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ABSTRACT:The aim of this study is to analyze the contribution of prosody on the perception of foreign accent by Brazilian learners of Spanish. The data were collected from 15 participants and a control group of 5 native Spanish speakers. A perceptual test was performed with two different speech styles (reading and storytelling) and with delexicalized and natural speech. The speech production was judged by 24 native Spanish subjects. First, they had to determine the nationality of the speaker by listening to the delexicalized excerpts in Spanish (storytelling). After that, the listeners used a continuous scale to rate the excerpts (reading and storytelling) for the degree of foreign accent in Spanish. The results suggest that it is possible to identify foreign accent only with the prosodic information provided in the delexicalized stimuli, i.e., f 0 , duration, and overall intensity. In addition, the perceptual test allowed us to assess the degree of foreign accent of each subject while revealing the great variability of their production. Finally, concerning the external data, the following factors predicted foreign accent among the learners: gender, length of residence in Spain, formal language instruction in Brazil, age of arrival in Spain, and reported use of Brazilian Portuguese in Spain. These results confirm the crucial role of naturalistic learning of a foreign language, as shown by previous studies.Keywords: foreign accent; prosody; delexicalization; L2 Spanish; task type. RESUMEN: La contribución de la prosodia al acento extranjero:Un estudio sobre el español como lengua extranjera. -El objetivo de este estudio es analizar la contribución de la prosodia para la percepción del acento extranjero en aprendices brasileños de español. Se recogieron datos de 15 sujetos y un grupo control compuesto por 5 hablantes nativos de español y se realizó un test de percepción a partir de estímulos en dos estilos habla distintos (lectura y narración) y habla delexicalizada y sin modificación. Participaron en el experimento de percepción 24 jueces hablantes nativos de español. Primeramente, tuvieron que determinar la nacionalidad del hablante al escuchar los fragmentos delexicalizados en español (narración). A continuación, los oyentes utilizaron una escala continua para puntuar el acento extranjero en los fragmentos de lectura y narración sin modificación. Los resultados sugieren que es posible identificar el acento extranjero solo con la información prosódica que hay en los estímulos delexicalizados, es decir, la f 0 , la duración y la intensidad global. Además de eso, el test de percepción nos permitió evaluar el grado de acento extranjero de cada sujeto y al mismo tiempo reveló la gran variabilidad de sus producciones. Por fin, respecto a los datos externos, los siguientes factores predijeron el acento extranjero entre los aprendices: género, tiempo de residencia en España, enseñanza formal, edad de llegada al país extranjero y uso del portugués de Brasil en España. Estos resultados confirman la gran importancia del a...

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The Contribution of Prosody to the Perception of Foreign Accent

Cited by 100 publications

References 32 publications

Segmental and Prosodic Approaches to Accent Management

Segmental and Prosodic Approaches to Accent Management

Production of Lexical Stress in Non-Native Speakers of American English: Kinematic Correlates of Stress and Transfer

The contribution of prosody to foreign accent: A study of Spanish as a foreign language

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