The Phonological and Phonetic Study of Emphatic Pitch Range by Chinese Efl Learners

Abstract

In producing second language (L2) speech, L2 learners tend to deviate from its norms, resulting in foreign-accented speech. Pitch range plays a crucial role in the perception of foreign-accented speech. This study aims to investigate the production of emphatic pitch range in English by Chinese Learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) from both the phonological and phonetic perspectives. There were seven native English speakers and fourteen Chinese EFL learners participating in this study. They were required to read the second part of eighteen dialogue pairs loudly. Through linguistic measures of the recordings, the study found significant differences in three pitch range types between the native English speakers and the learners in the phonological perspective, which might be influenced by Chinese prosody. However, no significant differences were found in the phonetic perspective, which might be impacted by the learners’ native language. In addition, English proficiency did not influence the learners’ performance in the phonological and phonetic perspectives. This may be attributed to the homogeneity among the learners and the effect of their native language. Lastly, focus position significantly influenced the phonological performance of the learners in five pitch range types, which may be explained by multiple factors. However, the effect of focus position on the learners’ phonetic performance was limited to two pitch range types, which may be explained by the principle of least effort.