Abstract
This paper aims at investigating the differences regarding speech rate between the Croatian (L1) and the English language (L2). The selected tasks include descriptions of dynamic entities which require careful planning and a chronological sequence of speech acts in real time, as well as the description of static spatial arrangements and their relations. The speech tasks were first performed in the native language, followed by the performance of the same tasks in the foreign language. A significantly faster speech rate was hypothesized in the foreign language condition for each investigated speech task due to the unautomated nature of L2 speech production mechanisms. The obtained results point to the conclusion that the speech rate is significantly slower in L2 in narrative tasks due to the conceptual complexity of the task. However, no significant differences in the speech rate were found between the two languages in the case of highly structured tasks with shorter duration, or in the case of repeated tasks. Due to the fact that the tasks have already been performed in the native language, the processing demands on the level of conceptualization decrease, freeing up the attentional resources, which, in turn, assist the formulation and articulation stage by reducing the processing pressure. Also, the fact that no significant differences were found might be explained by the existence of strong associative links between L1 and L2, as well as by the occurrence of highly frequent words which can be easily retrieved from the mental lexicon, especially if they have previously been activated in the native language. Introduction of new topics, on the other hand, implies higher cognitive demands in the conceptualization stage, resulting in a slower speech rate in both languages.
Highlights
This paper aims at investigating the differences regarding speech rate between the Croatian (L1) and the English language (L2)
The selected tasks include descriptions of dynamic entities which require careful planning and a chronological sequence of speech acts in real time, as well as the description of static spatial arrangements and their relations
A significantly faster speech rate was hypothesized in the foreign language condition for each investigated speech task due to the unautomated nature of L2 speech production mechanisms
Summary
Cilj je ovog istraživanja uspoređivanje brzine govora između hrvatskoga (J1) i engleskoga (J2) jezika. Ullakonoja (2009) naglašava da je brzina govora bolji indikator fluentnosti od brzine artikulacije u govoru stranoga jezika jer se potonja dobiva kao kvocijent broja riječi ili slogova i vremena govorenja, ali bez stanki između izričaja, koje znatno utječu na doživljaj govornikove fluentnosti. U ovome radu uspoređuje se brzina govora u materinskome (hrvatskom) i stranome (engleskom) jeziku za različite tipove govornih zadataka radi daljnje kvantifikacije odstupanja brzine govora u stranom jeziku u odnosu na materinski te dobivanja novih spoznaja o utjecaju tipa zadatka na razlike u brzini govora. Zbog neautomatizirane uporabe stranoga jezika govornici bi trebali mnogo sporije govoriti na stranome jeziku, kao što je to bio slučaj u istraži vanjima predstavljenima u dosadašnjoj literaturi. Cilj je ovog istraživanja kvantifikacija odstupanja brzine govora u stranome jeziku u odnosu na materinski za svaki od prethodno opisanih zadataka da bi se dobile nove spoznaje o utjecaju tipa zadatka na razlike u brzini govora. Za testiranje normalnosti odabran je Shapiro-Wilkov test normalnosti, koji je u literaturi učestalo istaknut kao najefikasniji test normalnosti
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