Learning prosody and fluency characteristics of second language speech: The effect of experience on child learners' acquisition of five suprasegmentals

2007 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 251-276 ◽  
Author(s):  
PAVEL TROFIMOVICH ◽  
WENDY BAKER
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Speech Rate ◽  
The United States ◽  
Foreign Accent ◽  
Korean Children ◽  
Sentence Repetition ◽  
Experience Effects ◽  
Acoustic Analyses ◽  
Rate Frequency ◽  
Repetition Task

This study examined second language (L2) experience effects on children's acquisition of fluency-(speech rate, frequency, and duration of pausing) and prosody-based (stress timing, peak alignment) suprasegmentals. Twenty Korean children (age of arrival in the United States = 7–11 years, length of US residence = 1 vs. 11 years) and 20 age-matched English monolinguals produced six English sentences in a sentence repetition task. Acoustic analyses and listener judgments were used to determine how accurately the suprasegmentals were produced and to what extent they contributed to foreign accent. Results indicated that the children with 11 years of US residence, unlike those with 1 year of US residence, produced all but one (speech rate) suprasegmentals natively. Overall, findings revealed similarities between L2 segmental and suprasegmental learning.

Towards a characterisation of saliency on first exposure to a second language

2003 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 131-156 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebekah Rast ◽  
Jean-Yves Dommergues
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Word Length ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Slavic Language ◽  
Word Stress ◽  
Sentence Repetition ◽  
First Contact ◽  
Shed Light ◽  
Repetition Task ◽  
Over Time

This paper attempts to shed light on the question of what in the input is perceived and processed by the learner, and how it is processed upon first contact with a target language. Subjects were French learners of Polish who had had no contact with Polish or any other Slavic language before the onset of the project. They were tested on a sentence repetition task before receiving any Polish instruction, after 4 hours of instruction, and again after 8 hours. The results suggest that even as little as 8 hours of exposure induces a recognizable interlanguage; that the influence of global input can be predicted by word length, word stress, phonemic distance, transparency, position and frequency; and that the role these factors play evolves over time. Together the results suggest a way to characterise the notion of saliency in the input.

scholarly journals Relative Salience of Speech Rhythm and Speech Rate on Perceived Foreign Accent in a Second Language

2016 ◽  
Vol 60 (3) ◽  
pp. 333-355 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leona Polyanskaya ◽  
Mikhail Ordin ◽  
Maria Grazia Busa
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Speech Rate ◽  
Foreign Accent ◽  
Speech Rhythm ◽  
Independent Contribution ◽  
Proficiency Levels ◽  
Perceptual Salience ◽  
Native Speakers Of English ◽  
Relative Salience

We investigated the independent contribution of speech rate and speech rhythm to perceived foreign accent. To address this issue we used a resynthesis technique that allows neutralizing segmental and tonal idiosyncrasies between identical sentences produced by French learners of English at different proficiency levels and maintaining the idiosyncrasies pertaining to prosodic timing patterns. We created stimuli that (1) preserved the idiosyncrasies in speech rhythm while controlling for the differences in speech rate between the utterances; (2) preserved the idiosyncrasies in speech rate while controlling for the differences in speech rhythm between the utterances; and (3) preserved the idiosyncrasies both in speech rate and speech rhythm. All the stimuli were created in intoned (with imposed intonational contour) and flat (with monotonized, constant F0) conditions. The original and the resynthesized sentences were rated by native speakers of English for degree of foreign accent. We found that both speech rate and speech rhythm influence the degree of perceived foreign accent, but the effect of speech rhythm is larger than that of speech rate. We also found that intonation enhances the perception of fine differences in rhythmic patterns but reduces the perceptual salience of fine differences in speech rate.

scholarly journals Factors Shaping Second Language Acquisition Among Adult Mexican Immigrants in Rural Immigrant Destinations

2019 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 85-102
Author(s):  
Julia Albarracin ◽  
Guadalupe Cabedo-Timmons ◽  
Gloria Delany-Barmann
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
English Language ◽  
Mexican Immigrants ◽  
The United States ◽  
Grocery Store ◽  
Health Providers ◽  
Gateway Communities ◽  
Immigrant Destinations ◽  
Bank Tellers

This article investigated the intrinsic, extrinsic, and integrative orientations shaping reading and speaking English skills among adult Mexican immigrants in two gateway communities in Illinois. Intrinsic orientations refer to reasons for second language (L2) learning derived from one’s inherent pleasure and interest in the activity. Extrinsic orientations refer to reasons that are instrumental to some consequence. In turn, integrative orientation refers to social identity issues that are addressed by neither the intrinsic nor the extrinsic orientations. Findings indicated that whereas extrinsic and integrative orientations influenced English language skills, intrinsic orientations did not. More specifically, immigrants had multiple extrinsic reasons to be motivated to learn the language, including succeeding in the United States, finding (better) jobs, and communicating with health providers, bank tellers, and grocery store employees. In turn, both quantitative and qualitative analyses showed that closeness and openness toward L2 group influenced the desire to learn the language.

Perceived foreign accent in first language attrition and second language acquisition: The impact of age of acquisition and bilingualism—ERRATUM

2013 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
pp. 417-417 ◽  
Author(s):  
HOLGER HOPP ◽  
MONIKA S. SCHMID
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Open Access ◽  
First Language ◽  
Age Of Acquisition ◽  
Foreign Accent ◽  
Language Attrition ◽  
First Language Attrition ◽  
The Impact

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Effects of Sentence Structure on Sentence Elicited Imitation Responses

1978 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 809-819 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jo Carol Hudgins ◽  
Walter L. Cullinan
Keyword(s):  
College Students ◽  
Sentence Processing ◽  
Relative Clause ◽  
Female College Students ◽  
Sentence Structure ◽  
Response Accuracy ◽  
Relative Pronoun ◽  
Elicited Imitation ◽  
Sentence Repetition ◽  
Repetition Task

This study investigates the effects of sentence structure on the number of error sentences and response latency in a sentence-repetition task. Forty female college students repeated short and long test sentences containing either a single self-embedded or right-branching subject-focus or object-focus relative clause. Sentences were also controlled for deletion of the relative pronoun of the relative clause. Sentence structure was found to affect sentence elicited imitation response accuracy and latency in a manner similar to the effects of structure on ease of comprehension. The findings are consistent with a canonical-sentoid strategy explanation of sentence processing during sentence imitation.

Guide to Academic Libraries in the United States for Students of English as a Second Language

1981 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 198
Author(s):  
Barbara Brock ◽  
Patricia Byrd ◽  
Carol A. Drum ◽  
Barbara Jean Wittkopf
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Second Language ◽  
Academic Libraries ◽  
The United States

scholarly journals A comparison of vocal parameters in adult bilingual Hebrew-English speakers

CoDAS ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 27 (5) ◽  
pp. 483-491 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leah Nevo ◽  
Chaya Nevo ◽  
Gisele Oliveira
Keyword(s):  
Fundamental Frequency ◽  
Speech Rate ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Frequency Variation ◽  
Bilingual Speakers ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
Acoustic Analyses ◽  
The Impact

ABSTRACT Purpose: There has been growing research on the effects of language on voice characteristics; however, few studies have examined the impact of language on vocal features within bilinguals. This study aimed to compare vocal parameters among bilingual Hebrew/English speaking individuals when speaking in Hebrew versus English. Methods: Forty bilingual participants (17 males and 23 females) between the ages of 23-60 years were asked to spontaneously speak about a neutral topic. Voice samples were digitalized into a tablet for perceptual and acoustic analyses of selected parameters. Results: Results show that there are changes in resonance, glottal attack, fundamental frequency variation and speech rate when adult bilingual speakers talk in Hebrew as compared to English. Conclusion: These findings provide evidence that language plays a role in affecting vocal characteristics of bilingual individuals when they speak different languages.

scholarly journals Laulun sanoja lausumalla taitavaksi ääntäjäksi?

2018 ◽  
pp. 18-44
Author(s):  
Leena Maria Heikkola ◽  
Jenni Alisaari
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Teaching Method ◽  
Language Teachers ◽  
Foreign Accent ◽  
Classroom Teachers ◽  
The Future ◽  
Second Language Teachers ◽  
Song Lyrics ◽  
Teaching Pronunciation

The aim of the study was to investigate how different teaching methods, singing, listening to songs and reciting song lyrics, affect the development of pronunciation of Finnish as a foreign language pronunciation. The second objective of the study was to investigate whether future classroom teachers and future Finnish as a second language teachers evaluate the strength of foreign accent differently. The results indicate that reciting song lyrics is the most beneficial for the development of pronunciation. This teaching method is especially useful for beginners’ level language learners. The future class teachers gave stricter evaluations of foreign accent than the future Finnish as a second language teachers. Based on the results of the study, it could be argued that reciting song lyrics could be used for teaching pronunciation. Further, the results support previous findings that more experienced listeners give milder evaluations than more unexperienced. Thus, it would be valuable for future teachers to gain experience in listening diverse accents.

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