L2 Accent Research Articles

The roles of second‐language experience and accent in speech recognition in noise.

Previous work has demonstrated that there is an interaction between native (L1) and non‐native (L2) accents in speech recognition in noise, with listeners being better at L1 or L2 accents that match their own speech. This study investigated how L2 experience modulates this talker‐listener interaction. L1 southern British English (SE) and L1 French listeners with varying L2 English experience (inexperienced FI, experienced FE, and bilinguals FB) were tested on the recognition of English sentences mixed in speech‐shaped noise that was spoken with a range of accents (SE, FE, FI, Northern Irish, and Korean‐accented English). The results demonstrated that FI listeners were more accurate with strongly accented FI talkers, and were progressively worse for the other accents, perhaps based on accent similarity. The SE listeners, however, had a strong advantage for SE speech, but were similarly poor at understanding the other accents. Their recognition processes were thus selectively tuned to their own accent, rath...

P03-76 Empathic capacity or other non-personal factors in talking with an accent

The study examines a hypothesis that the degree of accent in L2 is related to a measure of ego permeability. Native Hebrew speakers, native Russian-speaking immigrants and Arabic-speaking Israeli natives were participated. All were students at the University of Haifa, where the language of instruction is Hebrew. the participants were recorded producing two speech segments and the recorded segments of speech were played to a group of 20 native Hebrew speakers, who rated the degree of accent in each segment on a scale from 1 (no accent) to 5 (heavy accent). These participants also completed the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI) developed by Davis (1980), which has been translated into Hebrew and validated (Even, 1993). the scale yields a single numerical score that is a reflection of empathic capacity. We looked at the correlations between the ‘heaviness’ of the accent of L2 speakers and a measure of empathy. These revealed strong correlations between degree of accent and empathy scores in the Russian-speaking group, but not in the Arabic-speaking group. the sociolinguistic implications of these findings are discussed.

Putting accent in its place: Rethinking obstacles to communication

One of the most salient aspects of speech is accent – either dialectal differences attributable to region or class, or phonological variations resulting from L1 influence on the L2. Our primary concern is with the latter, because of the strong social, psychological, and communicative consequences of speaking with an L2 accent. The decline of audiolingualism led to a concomitant marginalization of pronunciation research and teaching. It was believed that pronunciation instruction could not be effective, in part because of the unrealistic goal of native-like speech in L2 learners, and also because of research findings that suggested that instruction had a negligible impact on oral production. The recent revival of interest in pronunciation research has brought a change of focus away from native-like models toward easy intelligibility. The effects of this change have yet to be fully realized in L2 classrooms. However, many L2 students themselves are keenly interested in pronunciation instruction, a fact not lost on individuals who have recognized a lucrative marketing niche in ‘accent reduction/elimination’ programs that may do more harm than good. Our presentation will relate the core issues of intelligibility, identity, social evaluation, and discrimination to appropriate pronunciation pedagogy for L2 learners.

Speaking Hebrew with an accent: Empathic capacity or other nonpersonal factors

The study examines a hypothesis that the degree of accent in L2 is related to a measure of ego permeability. Native Hebrew speakers, native Russian-speaking immigrants, and Arabic-speaking Israeli natives participated. All were students at the University of Haifa, where the language of instruction is Hebrew. The participants were recorded producing two speech segments and the recorded segments of speech were played to a group of 20 native Hebrew speakers, who rated the degree of accent in each segment on a scale from 1 (no accent) to 5 (heavy accent). These participants also completed the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI) developed by Davis (1980), which has been translated into Hebrew and validated (Even, 1993). The scale yields a single numerical score that is a reflection of empathic capacity. We looked at the correlations between the “heaviness” of the accent of L2 speakers and a measure of empathy. These revealed strong correlations between degree of accent and empathy scores in the Russian-speaking group, but not in the Arabic-speaking group. The sociolinguistic implications of these findings are discussed.

The Effects of Lexical and Conceptual Aspects on L2 Idiom Comprehension

The Effects of Lexical and Conceptual Aspects on L2 Idiom Comprehension

Cross-language speech sounds: Differential sensitivity and L2 accent

Individuals vary in their ability to perceive phonetic differences between speech sounds. Individuals also vary in their aptitude for acquiring accurate pronunciation of a second language. The research to be presented investigates a probable link between the two with the aim that capacity for phonetic perception may constitute a measure of second language aptitude. In a series of tasks manipulating memory and attention load, Native Mandarin speakers for whom English is a second language were tested on their ability to discriminate non-native speech contrasts that cluster around the Mandarin and English phonetic spaces with varying ‘‘distances.’’ Each contrast pair is phonemically meaningful in a significant portion of the world’s languages (UPSID 451). These scores were then related to measures of degree of accent in English. Related results examining working memory span will also be reported. Accordingly, an explanation of variability in later-learner L2 accent strength is explained as a consequence of idiosyncratic ability to perceive phonetic differences between speech sounds. This cognitive correlate’s account is consistent with the notion that a greater ability to perceive small differences between novel phones is crucial to their accurate acquisition and reproduction.

Literal salience in on-line processing of idiomatic expressions by second language learners

This article addresses the question of how second language (L2) learners understand idiomatic expressions in their second/foreign language and advances the proposition that literal meanings of idiom constituents enjoy processing priority over their figurative interpretations. This suggestion forms the core of the literal-salience resonant model of L2 idiom comprehension, whose major assumptions are outlined in the article. On the literal salience view, understanding L2 idioms entails an obligatory computation of the literal meanings of idiom constituent words, even if these idioms are embedded in a figurative context and if their idiomatic interpretation is well-known to L2 learners. The literal salience assumption was put to the test in a cross-modal lexical priming experiment with advanced Polish learners of English. The experiment showed more priming for visual targets related to literal meanings of idiom constituent words than for targets related figuratively to the metaphoric interpretation of the idiomatic phrase. This effect held true irrespective of whether the stimulus sentence contained a literal or a non-literal idiom.

Learners' Ethnic Group Affiliation and L2 Pronunciation Accuracy: A Sociolinguistic Investigation

This article examines the relationship between ethnic group affiliation (one's sense of belonging to a primary ethnic group) and second-language (L2) pronunciation accuracy defined here as native-like, nonaccented L2 speech or L2 speech that contains no first language (L1) influences. The study addressed these questions: (a) Is there a relationship between learners' L2 accent and ethnic group affiliation as perceived by fellow learners? (b) If such a relationship exists, what are its behavioural consequences? The studies reported in this article involved L2 learners from two ethnic groups (Francophone and Chinese in Quebec) in two different sociopolitical contexts (conflictual and nonconflictual) listening to fellow learners speak an L2 and estimating these learners' degree of ethnic group affiliation. Results revealed a relationship between learners' L2 accent and perceived affiliation to their home ethnic group, suggesting that learners treat their peers' L2 accent as an indicator of these peers' degree of ethnic affiliation. Results also revealed behavioural consequences of this relationship, suggesting that L2 learning entails choices between the reward of being efficient and the cost of not marking identity. Overall, the findings highlight the need to consider group-engendered factors in understanding the acquisition of accuracy in L2 pronunciation. Implications of these findings for L2 pronunciation development, classroom L2 pronunciation teaching, and negotiation of L2 learners' language identity are discussed.

L1 literacy affects L2 pronunciation intake and text vocalization

For both deaf and hearing learners, L1 acquisition calls on auditive, gestural and visual modes in progressive processes over longer stages imposed in strictly anatomical and social order from the earliest pre-lexical phase [Jusczyk (1993), Kuhl & Meltzoff (1996)] to ultimate literacy. By contrast, L2 learning will call on accelerating procedures but with restricted input, arbitrated by L1 literacy as can be traced in the English of French-speaking learners, whether observed in spontaneous speech or in text vocalization modes. An inventory of their predictable omissions, intrusions and substitutions at suprasegmental and syllabic levels, many of which they can actually hear while unable to vocalize in real-time, suggests that a photogenic segmentation of continuous speech into alphabetical units has eclipsed the indispensable earlier phonogenic module, filtering L2 intake and output. This competing mode analysis hypothesizes a critical effect on L2 pronunciation of L1 graphemic procedures acquired usually before puberty, informing data for any Critical Period Hypothesis or amounts of L1 activation influencing L2 accent [Flege (1997, 1998)] or any psychoacoustic French deafness with regard to English stress-timing [Dupoux (1997)]. A metaphonic model [Howell & Dean (1991)] adapted for French learners may remedially distance L1 from L2 vocalization procedures.

Never Quite a ‘Native Speaker’: Accent and Identity in the L2 - and the L1

The examination of identity issues in learning a second language has recently become a focus issue in SLA research and especially in the field of sociocultural linguistics, which seeks to examine not only how languages are learned, but also the context in which learning takes place and the individual involved. This study addresses the question of L2 (second language) and C2 (second culture) acquisition by focusing on identity, and specifically on one particular aspect, the appropriation of accent. A first-person account of identity phenomena in learning a second language, it seeks to explain changes in the L2 accent - and later also in the L1 accent - applying the metaphor of self-translation as a general framework for explaining processes of L2 learning and L1 loss, and the construction and reconstruction of learner identity.

Avoidance of idioms in a second language: The effect of L1‐L2 degree of similarity

The study investigates whether avoidance of L2 (English) idioms is determined by the degree of similarity to their L1 (Hebrew) counterparts. Four degrees of similarity were established through a three‐dimensional framework for L1‐L2 comparison. 56 university English majors were tested on 20 idioms (5 per each type), elicited by a fill‐in translation test. The totals of idiomatic and non‐idiomatic responses were compared for each student, for each idiom type. Results showed that idioms as a category were not avoided, that L2 proficiency was a factor in idiom avoidance and that avoidance of specific idiom types was related to L1‐L2 degrees of similarity.

Idioms and the Language Learner

This paper investigates what types of idioms are most likely to be transferred while learning a second language. The subjects of the study were 120 advanced Syrian learners of English. The comprehension of 80 English idioms was tested by a multiple-choice test and an English-into-Syrian Arabic translation test. The same idioms were also tested for production by a Syrian Arabic-into-English translation test. Results showed that learners scored higher in the comprehension and production test of cognate idioms because of positive language transfer. Language transfer had a negative effect when processing English idioms which have false cognate equivalents in Syrian Arabic. However, with English idioms that have pragmatic equivalents and those which have no Syrian equivalents at all, the factor of transfer is replaced, as a strategy, by metaphoric association and pragmatic knowledge of the world. The study concludes that the degree of similarity to a native language idiom does not necessarily help in the process of idiom comprehension or production. Meanwhile, the linguistic differences between the English idiom and the Syrian idiom do not automatically lead to problems in comprehending L2 idioms.

The Cross-Lingual Dimensions of Language Proficiency: Implications for Bilingual Education and the Optimal Age Issue

It is argued that a dimension of cognitive/academic language proficiency (CALP) can be empirically distinguished from interpersonal communicative skills such as accent and oral fluency in both Li and L2, and that cognitive/ academic proficiencies in both L1 and L2 are manifestations of the same underlying dimension. This analysis of language proficiency and its crosslingual dimensions is applied to the interpretation of data on the effects of bilingual education programs and on the age issue in second language learning.