Foreign-accent discrimination with words and sentences

Abstract

Native listeners can detect a foreign accent in very short stimuli; however, foreign-accent detection is more accurate with longer stimuli (Park, 2008; Flege, 1984). The current study investigated native listeners’ sensitivity to the characteristics that differentiate between accents—both foreign versus native accents and one foreign accent versus another—in words and sentences. Listeners heard pairs of talkers reading the same word or sentence and indicated whether the talkers had the same or different native language backgrounds. Talkers included two native talkers (Midland dialect) and six nonnative talkers from three native language backgrounds (German, Mandarin, and Korean). Sensitivity varied significantly depending on the specific accent pairings and stimulus type. Listeners were most sensitive when the talker pair included a native talker, but could detect the difference between two nonnative accents. Furthermore, listeners were generally more sensitive with sentences than with words. However, for one nonnative pairing, listeners exhibited higher sensitivity with words; for another, listeners’ sensitivity did not differ significantly across stimulus types. These results suggest that accent discrimination is not simply influenced by stimulus length. Sentences may provide listeners with opportunities to perceive similarities between nonnative talkers, which are not salient in single words. [Work supported by NIDCD T32 DC00012.]