Effect of hesitation sound phonetic quality on perception of language fluency and accentedness

Abstract

This study investigates the perceptual consequences of nonnative versus native hesitation sounds in evaluating male speech. When the phonetic quality of a hesitation sound is consistent with native speaker hesitation sounds, the hesitation sound is “native.” A hesitation sound with phonetic quality inconsistent with native speaker hesitation sounds is “nonnative.” In Experiments 1A and 1B, participants rated sentences for fluency and accentedness on a Likert scale. In Experiments 2A and 2B, listeners performed a forced choice task to evaluate speech for accentedness and fluency. In Experiments 1A and 1B, hesitation sound phonetic quality did not impact listeners ratings. However, in Experiments 2A and 2B, participants deemed sentences with nonnative hesitation sounds less fluent and more accented compared to those with native hesitation sounds. Results show that the hesitation sound phonetic quality can have perceptual consequences and that the type of task listeners performed to evaluate speech affected accentedness and fluency judgments. This study has important implications for how learners treat pausing when practicing their second language.