Clear Speech: Pronunciation and Listening Comprehension in American English

Purpose Mumbling as opposed to clear speech is a typical male characteristic in speech and can be the consequence of a small jaw opening. Whereas behavioral reasons have often been offered to explain sex-specific differences with respect to clear speech, the purpose of this study is to investigate a potential anatomical reason for smaller jaw openings in male than in female speakers. Method Articulatory data from 2 data sets (American English and German) were analyzed with respect to jaw opening in low vowels during speech. Particular focus was placed on sex-specific differences, also incorporating potential interactions with different accent conditions in 1 of the data sets. In addition, a modeling study compared the articulatory consequences of similar jaw-opening settings in a typical male and a typical female articulatory model. Results Greater jaw openings were found for the female speakers, in particular in the accented condition, where jaw opening was found to be larger. In line with this finding, the modeling study showed that similar jaw-opening settings in male and female speakers led to differences in pharyngeal constriction, resulting in complete radico-pharyngeal closure in the male model. Conclusion The empirical and modeling findings suggest a possible physiological component in sex-specific differences in speech clarity for low vowels.

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American English adults’ perception of Spanish‐accented conversational and clear speech.

The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America ◽

10.1121/1.3384821 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 127 (3) ◽

pp. 1906-1906 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Erika S. Levy ◽

Paula B. Garcia ◽

Dorothy Leone ◽

Jessica A. Lew

Keyword(s):

American English ◽

Clear Speech

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The Effects of Clear Speech on American English Listener Perception of Spanish-Accented and Native English Speech

Perspectives of the ASHA Special Interest Groups ◽

10.1044/2020_persp-19-00171 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 5 (6) ◽

pp. 1698-1709

Author(s):

Alison Behrman ◽

Sarah Hargus Ferguson ◽

Peter Flom

Keyword(s):

Visual Analog Scale ◽

American English ◽

Native English Speakers ◽

Read Aloud ◽

English Speakers ◽

Clear Speech ◽

Analog Scale ◽

Accented Speech ◽

Language Groups ◽

The Difference

Purpose The purpose of this study was to explore (a) the effect of clear speech on intelligibility, ease of understanding, and accentedness in Spanish-accented and native English speakers of American English and (b) the extent to which accentedness predicts intelligibility and ease of understanding. Method Ten adult talkers, five native English speakers and five native Spanish speakers, read aloud 28 short sentences in habitual speech and clear speech. One hundred monolingual English listeners transcribed what they heard and rated ease of understanding using a 10-cm visual analog scale while hearing the sentences in six-talker babble. Then, accentedness (using a visual analog scale) was judged in quiet. Intelligibility was calculated as the number of words transcribed correctly for each sentence. Ten listeners with significant exposure to Spanish-accented speech rated each talker. Each listener heard only one talker, rating half the sentences in clear speech and half in habitual speech, so that no listener heard a sentence more than once for the intelligibility and ease of understanding assessments. Results Clear speech improved intelligibility and ease of understanding for both language groups, with greater improvement in nonnative talkers. Clear speech did not alter accentedness in nonnative talkers but did increase accentedness in native talkers. Accentedness did not strongly predict intelligibility but did predict ease of understanding, although the relationship was nonlinear. Conclusions Listeners who are experienced in hearing Spanish-accented speech derive significant benefits from clear speech. The difference in the predictability of accentedness for intelligibility and ease of understanding contributes further evidence to the difference in underlying cognitive processes for these two variables.

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Studentsâ€™ Perspective of Factors Affecting Listening

Acuity : Journal of English Language Pedagogy, Literature and Culture ◽

10.35974/acuity.v2i1.584 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 2 (1) ◽

pp. 1-11

Author(s):

Kan Xuan ◽

Debora Chaterin Simanjuntak

Keyword(s):

Factor Analysis ◽

Key Words ◽

Listening Comprehension ◽

American English ◽

Teaching Strategy ◽

Dominant Factor ◽

Factors Affecting ◽

Listening Anxiety ◽

Comprehension Ability ◽

Teaching Of Listening

The teaching of listening in Indonesia is essential, a process that is considered to be indispensable. This paper explores several factors that affect studentsâ€™ listening comprehension ability; which are: Limitation of Vocabulary, Teaching Strategy, Limitation of Materials and Equipment, Studentâ€™s Listening Anxiety, Exposure towards American English and culture. The main purpose of this research is to determine which factor that significantly affects studentsâ€™ listening comprehension ability. After going through factor analysis, it is found that the most dominant factor that affects listening comprehension ability is Limitation of Listening Materials and Equipment. This study was conducted in three schools: SMP Negeri 1 Cisarua, Bandung, SMP Negeri III Cisarua, Bandung, SMP Negeri I Parongpong, Bandung. Â Key Words: Listening Comprehension Ability, Exposure towards American English and CultureÂ Â Â Â Â

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Addressing African American English in Early Literacy Assessment and Instruction

Perspectives on Communication Disorders and Sciences in Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Populations ◽

10.1044/cds15.2.54 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 15 (2) ◽

pp. 54-61 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Nicole Patton Terry

Keyword(s):

African American ◽

Early Literacy ◽

American English ◽

Critical Role ◽

Literacy Skills ◽

African American English ◽

Literacy Assessment ◽

Learning To Read ◽

Speech Language Pathologist ◽

Early Literacy Assessment

Abstract Determining how best to address young children's African American English use in formal literacy assessment and instruction is a challenge. Evidence is not yet available to discern which theory best accounts for the relation between AAE use and literacy skills or to delineate which dialect-informed educational practices are most effective for children in preschool and the primary grades. Nonetheless, consistent observations of an educationally significant relation between AAE use and various early literacy skills suggest that dialect variation should be considered in assessment and instruction practices involving children who are learning to read and write. The speech-language pathologist can play a critical role in instituting such practices in schools.

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Sharing Expository Texts with Preschool Children in Special Education

Perspectives on Language Learning and Education ◽

10.1044/lle22.3.93 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 22 (3) ◽

pp. 93-102 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Allison Breit-Smith ◽

Jamie Busch ◽

Ying Guo

Keyword(s):

Special Education ◽

Preschool Children ◽

Language Impairment ◽

Listening Comprehension ◽

Expository Texts ◽

Speech Language Pathologists ◽

Narrative Texts ◽

Preschool Special Education ◽

Limited Availability

Although a general limited availability of expository texts currently exists in preschool special education classrooms, expository texts offer speech-language pathologists (SLPs) a rich context for addressing the language goals of preschool children with language impairment on their caseloads. Thus, this article highlights the differences between expository and narrative texts and describes how SLPs might use expository texts for targeting preschool children's goals related to listening comprehension, vocabulary, and syntactic relationships.

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Zero Marking of Past Tense in Child African American English

Perspectives on Language Learning and Education ◽

10.1044/lle21.4.173 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 21 (4) ◽

pp. 173-181 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Ryan Lee ◽

Janna B. Oetting

Keyword(s):

African American ◽

American English ◽

African American English ◽

Current Paper ◽

Past Tense ◽

Typically Developing ◽

Grammatical Function

Zero marking of the simple past is often listed as a common feature of child African American English (AAE). In the current paper, we review the literature and present new data to help clinicians better understand zero marking of the simple past in child AAE. Specifically, we provide information to support the following statements: (a) By six years of age, the simple past is infrequently zero marked by typically developing AAE-speaking children; (b) There are important differences between the simple past and participle morphemes that affect AAE-speaking children's marking options; and (c) In addition to a verb's grammatical function, its phonetic properties help determine whether an AAE-speaking child will produce a zero marked form.

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