Production Of English Stress Research Articles

Acoustic Correlates of English Lexical Stress Produced by Chinese Dialect Speakers Compared to Native English Speakers.

English second language learners often experience difficulties in producing native-like English lexical stress. It is unknown which acoustic correlates, such as fundamental frequency (F0), duration, and intensity, are the most problematic for Chinese dialect speakers. The present study investigated the prosodic transfer effects of first language (L1) regional dialects on the production of English stress contrasts. Native English speakers (N = 20) and Chinese learners (N = 60) with different dialect backgrounds (Beijing, Changsha, and Guangzhou dialects) produced the same stimulus including both trochaic and iambic patterns. Results showed that (a) all participants produced the stressed syllable with greater values of F0, duration, and intensity; (b) Native speakers of English employed an exquisite combination of F0, duration, and intensity, while the dialect groups transfer their native prosody into their production of English lexical stress, resulting in the deviation or abnormality of acoustic cues. Results suggest that L1 native dialect background is considered as a potentially influential factor which may transfer in L2 speech encoding and decoding process.

Production of English lexical stress by Mandarin speakers: Acoustics and kinematics

This study aims to understand if Mandarin late learners of English can successfully manipulate acoustic and kinematic cues to deliver English stress contrast in production. Mandarin ( N = 8) and English ( N = 8) speakers were recorded producing English trochaic (initial stress) and iambic (final stress) items during a nonword repetition task. Speakers’ jaw movement for the utterances was tracked and analysed. Acoustic and kinematic cues were measured for each syllable, including acoustic duration, fundamental frequency (F0), and intensity, as well as jaw movement duration, displacement, peak velocity, and stiffness. Stress ratios (syllable 1 / syllable 2) were calculated for each cue and compared between groups. Results showed that English and Mandarin speakers had generally comparable performance in differentiating trochaic from iambic patterns, as well as in the degree of between-syllable contrast within each pattern. Between-group differences were only observed in acoustic duration and jaw movement velocity/stiffness. These results suggest that the experience with Mandarin stress contributes to Mandarin speakers’ overall successful production of English stress but also results in nonnative use of some acoustic/kinematic cues.

Pronunciation of English Stress by Iraqi Arabic and Kurdish EFL Learners

Stress is one of the main linguistic aspects that deals with greater effort on a syllable or syllables in a word and making them more prominent than other unstressed syllables. This phonetic and phonological feature is probably present in most languages of the world. The present study presents lexical stress patterns influence on Iraqi Arabic and Kurdish EFL learners’ pronunciation. The study aims at investigating two different language groups of EFL learners’ accuracy scores and errors in the production of English stress and also investigating the effect of first language on their pronunciation of English words concerning Iraqi Arabic and Kurdish EFL learners. The current study hypothesizes the following for the aims to be achieved: there is no difference in the performance of the two language groups in the production of English lexical stress; the presence of high efficiency in the correct assignment of lexical stress on two syllable words and little one in pronouncing three syllable words for all language groups. Lastly, the validity of the data is analyzed acoustically by using Praat software program to verify the auditory analysis and to make certain that stress assignment is precise. One of the main conclusions arrived at, in the present study, is that the performance of the different language groups is better when they produce two-syllable words whereas they reflect poor performance much errors in three-syllable words.

Effect of Music Training on the Production of English Lexical Stress by Chinese English Learners

In language acquisition, stress is one of the most prominent prosodic features of English. Previous studies have found that music training has a positive influence on second language acquisition. Under the guidance of the Theory of Multiple Intelligences, this study aims to find whether music training can improve English stress production among Chinese English learners without music background. Major findings are as follows: (1) Music training has a significant influence on the stress production by Chinese English learners. Specifically, after eight weeks of music training, there has been evident improvement in pitch and intensity in the training group in distinguishing stressed and unstressed syllables in disyllabic pseudowords. Besides, the accuracy of the production of unfamiliar words in the training group has increased by 11.5% on average, compared with that of the control group which has little change. In addition, little effect of music training on duration proportion in stressed syllables is found in this experiment. (2) Chinese English learners’ perception of music can be positively transferred to their production of English lexical stress. Such findings provide further proof for the effect of music training on the production of English lexical stress, and propose a method for Chinese English learners to improve their English pronunciation.

B2-2. The Phonetics of L2 stress acquisition : A case study of English stress production by Japanese native speakers (Summaries of Talks at the 25th General Meeting)

B2-2. The Phonetics of L2 stress acquisition : A case study of English stress production by Japanese native speakers (Summaries of Talks at the 25th General Meeting)

Auditory processing, linguistic prosody awareness, and word reading in Mandarin-speaking children learning English

This study examined language-specific links among auditory processing, linguistic prosody awareness, and Mandarin (L1) and English (L2) word reading in 61 Mandarin-speaking, English-learning children. Three auditory discrimination abilities were measured: pitch contour, pitch interval, and rise time (rate of intensity change at tone onset). Linguistic prosody awareness was measured three ways: Mandarin tone perception, English stress perception, and English stress production. A Chinese character recognition task was the Mandarin L1 reading metric. English L2 word reading was assessed by English real word reading and nonword decoding tasks. The importance of the auditory processing measures to reading was different in the two languages. Pitch contour discrimination predicted Mandarin L1 word reading and rise time discrimination predicted English L2 word reading, after controlling for age and nonverbal IQ. For the prosodic and phonological measures, Mandarin tone perception, but not rhyme awareness, predicted Chinese character recognition after controlling for age and nonverbal IQ. In contrast, English rhyme awareness predicted more unique variance in English real word reading and nonword decoding than did English stress perception and production. Linguistic prosody awareness appears to play a more important role in L1 word reading than phonological awareness; while the reverse seems true for English L2 word reading in Mandarin-speaking children. Taken together, auditory processing, language-specific linguistic prosody awareness, and phonological awareness play different roles in L1/L2 reading, reflecting different prosodic and segmental structures between Mandarin and English.

Is my stress right or wrong? Studying the production of stress by non-native speaking teachers of English

This study aims at exploring the production of stress by non native English teachers in Aceh. It also inquires into how these teachers of English overcame their shortcomings in oral English language teaching. 45 non native English teachers from Aceh were recorded. They came from four regions in the province of Aceh, namely Aceh Timur, Langsa, Aceh Utara and Aceh Besar. The participants have taught English from five to 15 years. The approach used in this paper is qualitative by focusing on the method of lexical stress analysis suggested by Crystal (1969), Halliday (1970) and McCawley (1986). The study reveals that variations of lexical stresses were produced by the teachers with 13-15 years of teaching experience. Those from Langsa and Aceh Timur produced the most varied stresses. Therefore, it is suggested for future research to conduct a more in-depth study on this topic with a wider sample of participants and more target words. It is also proposed that possible socio-phonological language inferences in the production of English stress by EFL teachers should be explored.

Proficiency in English sentence stress production by Cantonese speakers who speak English as a second language (ESL)

The present study examined English sentence stress produced by native Cantonese speakers who were speaking English as a second language (ESL). Cantonese ESL speakers' proficiency in English stress production as perceived by English-speaking listeners was also studied. Acoustical parameters associated with sentence stress including fundamental frequency (F0), vowel duration, and intensity were measured from the English sentences produced by 40 Cantonese ESL speakers. Data were compared with those obtained from 40 native speakers of American English. The speech samples were also judged by eight naïve listeners who were native speakers of American English for placement, degree, and naturalness of stress. Results showed that Cantonese ESL speakers were able to use F0, vowel duration, and intensity to differentiate sentence stress patterns. Yet, both female and male Cantonese ESL speakers exhibited consistently higher F0 in stressed words than English speakers. Overall, Cantonese ESL speakers were found to be proficient in using duration and intensity to signal sentence stress, in a way comparable with English speakers. In addition, F0 and intensity were found to correlate closely with perceptual judgement and the degree of stress with the naturalness of stress.

Effects of hyperarticulated clear speech in English stress production by Korean and Japanese speakers of English

Effects of hyperarticulated clear speech in English stress production by Korean and Japanese speakers of English