Foreign Accent Research Articles

An Analysis of Linguistic Barriers Affecting Street Vendors’ Communication: A Study at Mandalika Special Economic Development Region of West Nusa Tenggara

This study explores the linguistic barriers faced by street vendors in Kuta Mandalika, a popular tourist destination in Indonesia, and their impact on communication, job performance, and customer satisfaction. Utilizing a qualitative case study approach, the research subject is 13 street vendors who has an ability to communicate with foreign customer, the research involved semi-structured interviews and observations of street vendors who interact regularly with international tourists, the data analysis will be conducting thematic analysis to analyze the data. The findings highlight several major challenges, including difficulties in understanding foreign accents, limited English vocabulary, pronunciation issues, and reliance on non-verbal communication. The noisy environment where vendors operate further complicates these communication barriers. These linguistic challenges lead to frequent misunderstandings, incorrect orders, and customer dissatisfaction, significantly affecting the vendors' business performance and customer relations. This research is rarely talked by researcher as in the previous study the researcher is focusing on semantic area but that’s quite too deep to learn by street vendors and an English beginner, this approach will contribute to the overall economic vitality of the Mandalika region, benefiting both vendors and the local community.

L1 listeners’ evaluations of LX speech: the role of listener expectations and personality traits

ABSTRACT LX speech tends to receive less favourable judgments, which can be attributed to its non-standard linguistic properties (e.g. foreign accents, grammatical errors). However, the evaluations of LX speech could also be affected by listeners’ expectations and their individual differences. This study extends research on the role of listeners’ expectations (cued by speech accent) and personality traits (Big Five), by examining the degree to which and how accent, grammaticality and listener personality interact to determine L1 listeners’ evaluations of LX speech. Sixty L1 English speakers (30 female) rated the acceptability of 40 English speech stimuli in a British or Polish accent; half of the stimuli were filled with English article errors. The listeners’ personality traits were self-reported via a short questionnaire of the Big Five factors. The significant interaction of accent, grammaticality and listener personality suggests that the occurrence of grammatical errors is less penalised in foreign-accented speech (vs. native-accented speech), unless the L1 listeners are highly conscientious or highly extraverted. The theoretical (expectation mismatch effect, Interpersonal Circumplex model), methodological (considering non-linear models and the moderation of contextual factors for personality effects) and potential practical implications (awareness training of personality effects) of the results are discussed.

How Bilingual Experience Shapes Accents in German-Italian Primary School Children

Abstract This study investigates the accents of German-Italian school children (6–10 years old) in their two languages. We ask whether accents in the bilingual children’s two languages are related and how foreign accentedness is associated with proficiency in other areas of language (speech rate, vocabulary size) and extralinguistic factors (formal and informal exposure and AoO in the majority language). Data from 87 early bilingual German-Italian children is judged by adult raters in Italy and Germany. Bilinguals are perceived as being more accented than monolinguals, mostly in Italian, the HL of the bilingual children. Moreover, children with a more monolingual-like accent in Italian tend to sound foreign in German, and vice versa, but some children have no perceivable accent in any language. Accentedness is especially affected by amount of language use, which underlines the importance of exposure to the minority language at this age, regardless of the setting, formal or informal.

Students’ attitudes towards an instructor’s foreign accent and non-standard language variety

Abstract This study reports the outcomes of a speaker evaluation experiment conducted in a higher educational context in Flanders, in which we investigated the influence of language variety (Standard vs. Colloquial Dutch), accent (Flemish vs. Eastern European) and name (Flemish vs. Eastern European) on students’ perceptions of a female university instructor. The results suggest that participants exhibited a relatively high level of tolerance toward both non-conforming speech and non-conforming speakers. Whereas Colloquial Dutch scored lower than Standard Dutch on standardness, we observed no negative effects of Colloquial Dutch on the teacher’s didactic competence, status, or social attractiveness. We did not find any evidence of a negative bias triggered by an Eastern European name. Whereas the Eastern European accent did have a negative impact on the teacher’s social attractiveness, we did not find any evidence of an accent bias affecting judgements of the teacher’s didactic competence and status.

Language Attitudes toward Accented Speech in the Workplace in Switzerland

Purpose: The aim of the study was to analyze the language attitudes toward accented speech in the workplace in Switzerland. Methodology: This study adopted a desk methodology. A desk study research design is commonly known as secondary data collection. This is basically collecting data from existing resources preferably because of its low cost advantage as compared to a field research. Our current study looked into already published studies and reports as the data was easily accessed through online journals and libraries. Findings: Language attitudes toward accented speech in the workplace in Switzerland reveals a nuanced perception influenced by the country's multilingual environment. Studies indicate that individuals with native Swiss German accents tend to receive higher professionalism ratings compared to those with foreign accents, reflecting a bias that aligns with local linguistic preferences. Additionally, accents from non-European languages often face stigmatization, leading to perceptions of reduced competence and credibility. However, some findings suggest that exposure to diverse accents can foster greater acceptance and appreciation over time, particularly in multicultural workplaces. Unique Contribution to Theory, Practice and Policy: Social identity theory, linguistic accommodation theory & perception theory may be used to anchor future studies on the language attitudes toward accented speech in the workplace in Switzerland. Organizations should develop clear guidelines for performance evaluations that eliminate the subjective influence of accent bias. Organizations should establish policies that mandate participation in diversity training for all employees, including during onboarding and ongoing professional development.

Cross-cultural communication challenges among pedicab drivers and vendors with foreign tourists in Aceh, Indonesia

In the context of globalization, English plays a pivotal role, particularly in the tourism industry, where daily interactions with foreign visitors are common. This study investigates the motivations, challenges, and efforts of pedicab drivers and vendors when communicating with foreign tourists at the Tsunami Museum and Ulee Lheue Port in Banda Aceh, Indonesia. Utilizing a qualitative descriptive approach, data were gathered through interviews with eight respondents: four pedicab drivers and four vendors. This study’s findings reveal that pedicab drivers and vendors have a complex use of English, reflecting their motivations, challenges, and efforts to improve their language skills. The respondents expressed a strong desire to engage with foreign tourists, promote their products, and conduct tours, often motivated by positive interactions. However, they faced significant challenges, such as word recall, understanding foreign accents, and unfamiliar vocabulary, often relying on basic English or Indonesian for communication. To address these issues, they are making efforts to enhance their English proficiency through interactions with tourists and peers, demonstrating a commitment to improving communication and better serving their customers. The study emphasizes the need for improved language support in the tourism sector and offers valuable insights for educators. It accentuates the importance of increasing students’ awareness of English’s practical relevance, especially for those pursuing careers in tourism and other globalized fields.

Foreign Accent and Forensic Speaker Identification in Voice Lineups: The Influence of Acoustic Features Based on Prosody.

This research aims to examine both the prosodic-acoustic features and the perceptual correlates of foreign-accented English and foreign-accented Brazilian Portuguese and check how the speakers' productions of foreign and native accents are correlated to the listeners' perception. In the Methodology, we conducted a speech production procedure with a group of American speakers of L2 Brazilian Portuguese and a group of Brazilian speakers of L2 English, and a speech perception procedure in which we performed voice lineups for both languages.For the speech production statistical analysis, we ran Generalized Additive Models to evaluate the effect of the language groups on each class (metric or prosodic-acoustic) of features controlled for the smoothing effect of the covariate(s) of the opposite class. For the speech perception statistical analysis, we ran a Kruskal-Wallis test and a post-hoc Dunn's test to evaluate the effect of the voices of the lineups on the scores judged by the listeners. We nevertheless conducted acoustic (voice) similarity tests based on Cosine and Euclidean distances. Results showed significant acoustic differences between the language groups in terms of variability of the f0, duration, and voice quality. For the lineups, the results indicated that prosodic features of f0, intensity, and voice quality correlated to the listeners' perceived judgments.

Introduction to the Forum: Native Language, Dialect, and Foreign Accent in Dysarthria.

This timely collection is an international effort to serve as a foundation to encourage research that offers insights into the interaction between language variation and motor speech disorders. Specifically, this forum aimed to provide a platform that (a) explores and demonstrates the role of language variation in the manifestation of dysarthria, (b) considers language variation in clinical assessment and management, and (c) promotes awareness of diverse language backgrounds of people with dysarthria. The forum contains six articles, spanning a variety of research designs (cross-sectional, pre- and post-treatment), kinds of articles (tutorial, research article, commentary), and a range of languages from around the world (English, French, Korean Portuguese, Spanish).

Teaching children to discriminate?

Rosina Lippi-Green’s (1997, 2012) classic quantitative study of linguistic representation in animated Disney films of the 20th century found these films to be discriminatory. Her main and most publicized finding was that characters who spoke varieties of American English tended to be morally good, while characters with a foreign accent were often evil and untrustworthy. Following a methodological discussion of Lippi-Green’s approach as it relates to our own, we investigate the degree to which her results also describe 273 characters from Disney’s successful “Revival Era,” starting with The Princess and the Frog (2009) and ending with Encanto (2021). We find, among other significant developments, that the foreign-accented characters in these more recent films are distinctively good. Also examined are other relationships between characters’ language, moral standing, gender, and age. Notably, female and younger characters tend to speak Standard American English, and they tend to be more moral than male and older characters. We end by discussing some possible causes of the main developments.

A Local Vernacular Variant of the Foreign Accent Syndrome Associated with Wernicke’s Aphasia Masquerading as Dissociative Neurological Symptom Disorder: A Case Report

A Local Vernacular Variant of the Foreign Accent Syndrome Associated with Wernicke’s Aphasia Masquerading as Dissociative Neurological Symptom Disorder: A Case Report

MKELM based multi-classification model for foreign accent identification

The automatic identification of foreign accents can play a crucial role in various speech systems, including speaker identification, e-learning, telephone banking, and more. Additionally, it can greatly enhance the robustness of Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) systems. Non-native accents in speech signals are characterized by distinct pronunciations, prosody, and voice characteristics of the speaker. However, automatically identifying foreign accents poses significant challenges, particularly in the context of multi-class modeling. Multi-classification models face difficulties in achieving high performance and dealing with computational challenges when confronted with multi-dimensional and unbalanced datasets, such as those with more than two accents. Furthermore, the choice of features remains a bottleneck problem for Foreign Accent Identification (FAID), further hindering performance in these tasks. Consequently, the accuracy of current systems is typically low. To address these challenges, this paper proposes a framework based on the Multi-Kernel Extreme Learning Machine (MKELM) model for the multi-classification of FAID. The MKELM model utilizes a novel weighted scheme to classify various non-native English accents, including Arabic, Chinese, Korean, French, and Spanish. The model first combines Mel-frequency cepstral coefficients (MFCCs) and prosodic features as input, trains pairwise binary classifiers independently, and subsequently employs a weighting scheme to distinguish between classes and identify accents. Through experiments, the proposed model achieves an accuracy rate of 84.72% using a paired weighting scheme. In contrast, the accuracy rate drops to 66.5% when employing the traditional non-weighted multi-classification scheme. A comparison with other models demonstrates the significant advantages of the proposed model in FAID multi-class classification, showcasing improved accuracy, reduced computational complexity (requiring fewer computations, faster learning rates, and shorter training time), and enhanced stability compared to state-of-the-art classification methods.

More foreign-accented but more comprehensible: Attrition and amelioration of L1 speech in proficient L2 learners.

There is an increasing interest in cross-linguistic influences of the second language (L2) on the first (L1), but its communicative impact remains to be elucidated. This study investigates how L2 learners' L1 pronunciation is perceived as foreign-accented and (in) comprehensible as a function of their L2 learning experience and proficiency levels. Read speech of 154 L1 Japanese learners of L2 English in the J-AESOP corpus was examined, where approximately one-third of them had lived in English-speaking countries and the rest had never lived outside of Japan. Their L1 speech was rated by another group of native Japanese listeners for accentedness and comprehensibility (from October 25, 2022 to August 20, 2023), while their L2 speech was previously rated by native American English listeners for nativelikeness or proficiency. The speakers' vowel acoustics were also examined. More proficient L2 speakers were perceived as more foreign-accented in their L1, but only if they had lived overseas; their length of residence abroad predicted the degree of perceived accentedness. In contrast, more proficient L2 speakers were consistently perceived as more comprehensible in the L1, regardless of prior overseas experience. Acoustic analyses indicated that perceived accentedness is associated with a clockwise chain shift of all vowel categories in the vowel space. It was also revealed that the dispersion, rather than compactness, of vowel production contributed to perceived comprehensibility, although the degree of L1 vowel dispersion did not predict L2 proficiency. The overall results suggest two main conclusions. First, perceptible L1 foreign accent likely results from L1 disuse rather than L2 interference, thereby L1 pronunciation differs from native norms at a system-wide rather than category-specific level. Second, L2 learning has a positive influence on perceived L1 comprehensibility, rather than individuals with clearer and more comprehensible L1 speech being inherently better L2 learners.

Retuning Ears & Rewiring Brains for Effective Communication: Foreign-Accent Perception & Sensitivity Training (FAPST)™

Purpose: Communication and psychosocial challenges are associated with processing regional or foreign accents. These challenges result in discrimination, marginalization, and reduced opportunities for culturally, linguistically, or racially diverse people. As a departure from the controversial approaches of training speakers to speak more effectively, this paper presents an innovative and effective methodology to train listeners instead and make the communication environment more “accent friendly”. Built upon two decades of testing and evidence, the Foreign Accent Perception & Sensitivity Training (FAPST)TM is used to develop skills in listening to accents, reducing implicit biases, and increasing appreciation and enjoyment for interacting with accents and cultures. Methodology: 320 undergraduate students from eight sections of a Diversity Issues course were provided the FAPST training online that included 15-20 minutes of gamified experience, over four weeks, in listening and identifying 54 varieties of accent in a structured, multimedia procedure. Assessments included weekly Accent Identification Scores as well as a pre- and post-survey using the CCQ tool to assess listeners’ baseline knowledge, attitudes, stereotypes, preferences, and skills related to processing accents. They also received formative assessments, feedback, and engaged in self-reflections. Results: Paired t-tests showed significant improvement in Accent Identification Scores which increased from 52% in week 1 and reached 75% by week 4, significant at p <0.05 level. The post-training CCQ survey results showed that Factual Knowledge scores improved significantly from 42% to 78%, Stereotypes scores reduced significantly from 89% to 22%, and Competence scores improved significantly from 23% to 76%. Participants reported increased confidence in listening accuracy and improvement in noticing details in accent patterns. Participants reported increased interest and willingness to interact with diversity. Participants also reported increased awareness of discrimination, and willingness to show allyship and advocacy for diverse individuals. Conclusion: This project confirmed that students have preconceived attitudes and biases as well as lower skills and confidence in interacting with diversity and accents which factor in their decisions and preferences to communicate with people with certain accents. It becomes imperative to set students up for success and engagement in a globalized world by training them with skills to navigate diversity. Results show that such a training improves listening accuracy as well as develops increased confidence and interest in engaging with diversity, while reducing implicit biases and stereotypes, along with increased factual knowledge of, and competence with accents.

Foreign accent identification, prototypicality, and lectometric methods

Abstract Lects constitute prototype categories (Gitte Kristiansen 2003). This implies that central/prototypical speakers are more easily identified as members of a specific lect (Kristiansen et al. 2018). The prototypicality of elements within natural categories have generally been measured through direct questions, indirect questions, or reaction time. Nonetheless, abstract categories (e.g., foreign accents) may be difficult to examine via questions. Following previous research that analyzed the use of the Levenshtein Distance (LD) (Vladimir I. Levenshtein 1965) to predict foreign-accentedness (Martijn Benjamin Wieling et al. 2014) or the intelligibility of foreign accents (Jurado-Bravo 2021), this study explores the use of LD as a predictor of prototypicality of Spanish-accented English. The LD between 50 Spanish speakers of English and different prototype benchmarks were calculated. These recordings were used as speech stimuli in an accent identification test. Reaction time measures were collected and correlated to the calculated LD. Results suggest that the LD to the stereotypical prototype can partly predict the prototypicality of Spanish-accented English.

Life with a Foreign Accent

Life with a Foreign Accent

Проблемы восприятия речи с признаками иноязычного акцента в современной англоязычной коммуникации

The article is devoted to the problems of perception of foreign-accented speech in modern English-language communication. The theoretical aspects of foreign language accent typology and potential difficulties of perception are considered. The article describes the course of preparation and conduct of an experiment on the auditory perception of East Asian and European accent types in English by Russian-speaking and foreign students. The results show that the typology of foreign accent phenomena in English speech of bilinguals according to the global regional standards is objectively perceived by the participants of the perception experiment, while identifying the speaker’s nationality within these standards is likely to be problematic. The proximity of one's own accent in non-native speech to the perceived one contributes to the success of communication.

Phonetic Learning Strategies for Chinese as a Second Language

In the process of international Chinese teaching, pronunciation is the key and difficult point of second language learners, due to the lack of real language environment, learners are affected by factors such as negative transfer of their mother tongue, and the phenomenon of foreign accents is common when learning pronunciation. Based on the characteristics of modern Chinese pronunciation, this paper aims to explore the factors influencing foreign learners' acquisition of Chinese phonetics, and to find ways to improve learners' pronunciation accuracy and fluency.

War feels less horrid in a foreign accent: exploring the impact of the foreign accent on emotionality

IntroductionThe processing of a foreign accent is known to increase cognitive load for the native listener, establish psychological distance with the foreign-accented speaker, and even influence decision-making. Similarly, research in the field of emotional processing indicates that a foreign accent may impact the native listener's emotionality. Taking these aspects into consideration, the current study aimed to confirm the hypothesis that a foreign accent, compared to a native accent, significantly affects the processing of affective-laden words.MethodsIn order to test this hypothesis, native Spanish speakers participated in an online experiment in which they rated on a Likert scale the valence and arousal of positive, neutral and negative words presented in native and foreign accents.ResultsResults confirm a foreign accent effect on emotional processing whereby positively valenced words are perceived as less positive and negatively valenced words as less negative when processed in a foreign accent compared to a native accent. Moreover, the arousal provoked by emotion words is lesser when words are processed in a foreign than a native accent.DiscussionWe propose possible, not mutually exclusive, explanations for the effect based on linguistic fluency, language attitudes and the linguistic context of language acquisition. Although further research is needed to confirm them, these explanations may be relevant for models of language comprehension and language learning. The observation of a reduction in emotionality resulting from a foreign accent is important for society as important decisions are made by representatives with diverse language and accent backgrounds. Our findings demonstrate that the choice of the language, which entails speaking in a native or a foreign accent, can be crucial when discussing topics such as the consequences of wars, pandemics, or natural disasters on human beings.

Language change in Japanese–English bilingual returnee children over the course of five years: Evidence from accent-rating

Few studies have examined global foreign accent (GFA) in bilingual children, and little is known about how GFA changes over time and what factors determine change. Here, we examine GFA trajectories in Japanese–English bilingual returnees (Japanese children who returned to Japan after having lived in a majority English environment for several years). In two accent-rating tasks, first language (L1) speakers of English or Japanese rated returnee speech excerpts recorded at three time points over a five-year period. The ratings show a decrease in Japanese GFA one year after return to Japan, and an increase in English GFA, but only five years after return. These findings suggest rapid re-exposure effects of the L1 and relatively stable maintenance of the second language (L2). Changes varied by L2 English age of onset (AoO) and exposure to L2 English while abroad, suggesting a crucial role for these individual factors in transitory contexts such as returnee bilingualism.

Revisiting rapid accent adaptation with computational modeling

Studies on accent adaptation report that monolinguals can rapidly adapt to a novel foreign accent with short exposure or training (Baese-Berk et al., 2013; Clarke & Garrett, 2004; Maye et al., 2008). While most of these studies rely on self-reported monolinguals, there is great variability in how much language diversity monolinguals encounter regularly (Castro et al., 2022). We return to this question of rapid accent adaptation in monolinguals through computational modeling where linguistic diversity is directly controlled. We simulate monolingual speech perception using PyTorch’s Wav2Vec2 model (Paszke et al., 2019), pre-trained on the Librispeech corpus with American-accented English (Panayotov et al., 2015). We replicate the experimental design of Baese-Berk et al. (2013) by fine-tuning this model on a single accent (n = 150 sentences across 5 talkers) and multiple accents (n = 30 sentences for each of 5 talkers). Preliminary results find that exposure to a single accent (68.6% correct) or multiple accents (69% correct) does not induce accent adaptation to a novel accent (no accent training = 69% correct). We predict that exposure to a single or multiple accents will increase accuracy but requires many additional hours of exposure. We discuss implications of our models against accent adaptation studies.