How does foreign accent affect template matching mechanisms? ERP evidence from Polish

Hanna Kędzierska

doi:10.31743/lingbaw.5380

Abstract

Sentential context is believed to have particularly robust effects on the processing of foreign-accented speech (Lev-Ari 2015). However, recent neurolinguistic studies investigating the relation between non-native speech and semantic predictability suggest that anticipation mechanisms are, in fact, hampered during the processing of foreign accents (Romero-Rivas et al. 2016). The current study is an attempt to shed more light on this issue and establish whether the mechanisms responsible for categorical template matching remain active during the processing of non-native speech. The study investigated neural reactions towards high cloze probability template endings (i.e., the endings of fixed phrases selected in a pre-test) and their unexpected counterparts. 120 Polish sentences were recorded by a native Polish speaker and a non-native (L1 Ukrainian) speaker of Polish in order to investigate the reactions towards an easily recognizable foreign accent. The brain activity of 28 monolinguals (L1 Polish) was recorded during the EEG sessions. In native-accented speech, violations of high cloze probability items resulted in a broadly distributed negativity followed by a P600 effect. No comparable effects were observed in the case of foreign-accented speech. These results are compatible with previous findings (Hanulíková et al. 2012; Romero-Rivas et al. 2016) as they confirm that linguistic anticipatory and reanalysis processes are hampered in the case of non-native speech.

Highlights

With an increase in global migration and the sustaining status of English as a lingua franca, biand multilingual communication has become an inherent property of European societies
The aim of the present study was to determine whether the mechanisms responsible for categorical template matching are active during the processing of foreign-accented speech
With the aid of the event-related brain potential (ERP) technique, we investigated neural reactions towards expected and unexpected template endings embedded in sentential contexts

Summary

Introduction

With an increase in global migration and the sustaining status of English as a lingua franca, biand multilingual communication has become an inherent property of European societies. One of the most characteristic properties associated with non-native speakers is their foreign accent, which can influence non-native speech perception and comprehension. Non-native speech is believed to be harder to process when compared with native speech, which is reflected in extra processing time (as indicated by many studies based on transcriptions, lexical decisions, or semantic judgements; e.g., Adank et al 2009; Hanna Kędzierska / Linguistics Beyond And Within 5 (2019), 61-74. Studies indicate that non-native speakers are perceived as less credible when compared with native speakers (Lev-Ari and Keysar 2010). Foreign-accented speakers are commonly assessed as less intelligent, less responsible and less competent than native speakers (Radomski and Szpyra-Kozłowska 2014; Said 2006)

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