Fluency in dialogue: Turn‐taking behavior shapes perceived fluency in native and nonnative speech

Fluency is an important part of research on second language learning, but most research on language proficiency typically has not included oral fluency as part of interaction, even though natural communication usually occurs in conversations. The present study considered aspects of turn-taking behavior as part of the construct of fluency and investigated whether these aspects differentially influence perceived fluency ratings of native and non-native speech. Results from two experiments using acoustically manipulated speech showed that, in native speech, too ‘eager’ (interrupting a question with a fast answer) and too ‘reluctant’ answers (answering slowly after a long turn gap) negatively affected fluency ratings. However, in non-native speech, only too ‘reluctant’ answers led to lower fluency ratings. Thus, we demonstrate that acoustic properties of dialogue are perceived as part of fluency. By adding to our current understanding of dialogue fluency, these lab-based findings carry implications for language teaching and assessmen

Production, perception and online processing of prominence in the post-focal domain

This dissertation presents a fundamentally new and in-depth investigation of the distribution of prominence in different focal structures in two varieties of Italian (the one spoken in Udine and the one spoken in Bari), by means of the implementation of a categorical analysis with the continuous prosodic parameters related to F0 and periodic energy. Results provide evidence of the fact that prominence in these varieties of Italian is conveyed by both a categorical three-way distinction and a gradual modulation: absence or presence of pitch movement in the distinction between background (post-focal position) and the focal conditions, and a gradual modification of energy and duration. The degree of prominence of words occurring in different focal structures was also investigated in perception. The reportedly different distribution of prominence found in questions for the variety of Italian spoken in Bari is shown to have an influence in the degree of perceived prominence. This influence is found in the comparison between prominence’s ratings of Bari and Udine native speakers, as well as of Bari native speakers and German native speakers, with Italian as L2. Furthermore, the present dissertation tests the real-time processing of the pitch excursion registered in the post-focal region of questions in the Bari variety. Findings confirmed that the fine-grained changes in prominence are processed in real time. Moreover, results indicate that top-down expectations play a crucial role in modulating general cognitive processes. Overall, this thesis supports the view of prosodic prominence as characterised by a bundle of cues, probabilistically distributed in the listener’s perceptual space, which form top-down expectations that play a role both in offline perception and in online processing. Signal-based factors also play a role in perception and online processing, but can however be overridden by expectations

English prosodic marking of Information Structure by L1-Japanese second language learners

Ph.D. Thesis. University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa 2018

The Pitch Range of Italians and Americans. A Comparative Study

Linguistic experiments have investigated the nature of F0 span and level in cross-linguistic comparisons. However, only few studies have focused on the elaboration of a general-agreed methodology that may provide a unifying approach to the analysis of pitch range (Ladd, 1996; Patterson and Ladd, 1999; Daly and Warren, 2001; Bishop and Keating, 2010; Mennen et al. 2012). Pitch variation is used in different languages to convey different linguistic and paralinguistic meanings that may range from the expression of sentence modality to the marking of emotional and attitudinal nuances (Grice and Baumann, 2007). A number of factors have to be taken into consideration when determining the existence of measurable and reliable differences in pitch values. Daly and Warren (2001) demonstrated the importance of some independent variables such as language, age, body size, speaker sex (female vs. male), socio-cultural background, regional accents, speech task (read sentences vs. spontaneous dialogues), sentence type (questions vs. statements) and measure scales (Hertz, semitones, ERB etc.). Coherently with the model proposed by Mennen et al. (2012), my analysis of pitch range is based on the investigation of LTD (long-term distributional) and linguistic measures. LTD measures deal with the F0 distribution within a speaker’s contour (e.g. F0 minimum, F0 maximum, F0 mean, F0 median, standard deviation, F0 span) while linguistic measures are linked to specific targets within the contour, such as peaks and valleys (e.g. high and low landmarks) and preserve the temporal sequences of pitch contours. This investigation analyzed the characteristics of pitch range production and perception in English sentences uttered by Americans and Italians. Four experiments were conducted to examine different phenomena: i) the contrast between measures of F0 level and span in utterances produced by Americans and Italians (experiments 1-2); ii) the contrast between the pitch range produced by males and females in L1 and L2 (experiment 1); iii) the F0 patterns in different sentence types, that is, yes-no questions, wh-questions, and exclamations (experiment 2); iv) listeners’ evaluations of pitch span in terms of ±interesting, ±excited, ±credible, ±friendly ratings of different sentence types (experiments 3-4); v) the correlation between pitch span of the sentences and the evaluations given by American and Italian listeners (experiment 3); vi) the listeners’ evaluations of pitch span values in manipulated stimuli, whose F0 span was re-synthesized under three conditions: narrow span, original span, and wide span (experiment 4); vii) the different evaluations given to the sentences by male and female listeners. The results of this investigation supported the following generalizations. First, pitch span more than level was found to be a cue for non-nativeness, because L2 speakers of English used a narrower span, compared to the native norm. What is more, the experimental data in the production studies indicated that the mode of sentences was better captured by F0 span than level. Second, the Italian learners of English were influenced by their L1 and transferred L1 pitch range variation into their L2. The English sentences produced by the Italians had overall higher pitch levels and narrower pitch span than those produced by the Americans. In addition, the Italians used overall higher pitch levels when speaking Italian and lower levels when speaking English. Conversely, their pitch span was generally higher in English and lower in Italian. When comparing productions in English, the Italian females used higher F0 levels than the American females; vice versa, the Italian males showed slightly lower F0 levels than the American males. Third, there was a systematic relation between pitch span values and the listeners’ evaluations of the sentences. The two groups of listeners (the Americans and the Italians) rated the stimuli with larger pitch span as more interesting, exciting and credible than the stimuli with narrower pitch span. Thus, the listeners relied on the perceived pitch span to differentiate among the stimuli. Fourth, both the American and the Italian speakers were considered more friendly when the pitch span of their sentences was widened (wide span manipulation) and less friendly when the pitch span was narrowed (narrow span manipulation). This happened in all the stimuli regardless of the native language of the speakers (American vs. Italian)

A Sound Approach to Language Matters: In Honor of Ocke-Schwen Bohn

The contributions in this Festschrift were written by Ocke’s current and former PhD-students, colleagues and research collaborators. The Festschrift is divided into six sections, moving from the smallest building blocks of language, through gradually expanding objects of linguistic inquiry to the highest levels of description - all of which have formed a part of Ocke’s career, in connection with his teaching and/or his academic productions: “Segments”, “Perception of Accent”, “Between Sounds and Graphemes”, “Prosody”, “Morphology and Syntax” and “Second Language Acquisition”. Each one of these illustrates a sound approach to language matters

한국인 영어 학습자의 문장 강세 사용 연구: 제2언어 이해도와 발화상의 상관 음향 신호를 중심으로

학위논문 (박사)-- 서울대학교 대학원 : 외국어교육과(영어전공), 2015. 8. 안현기.적절한 문장 강세의 사용은 영어 모국어 청자들의 발화 이해를 용이하게 해주는 것으로 알려져 있다. 본 연구는 한국인 영어 학습자들의 문장 강세 사용이 원어민들이 인식한 발화의 이해도에 유의미하게 영향을 주는 요소라는 것을 확인하고, 한국인 학습자들의 발화상에 나타난 영어 문장 강세 사용 양상을 관찰하여 문장 강세 교육에서 초점을 두어야 하는 부분을 탐색하고자 하였다. 첫 번째 실험에서는 한국인 학습자의 발화에 대한 원어민 이해도(원어민 청자들이 인식한 발화의 이해 용이도)에 문장 강세 적절성이 유의미한 기여를 하는지를 확인하고자 하였다. 이를 위해 먼저 39명의 한국인 대학생에게 영어대화문을 읽도록 하여 녹음하였다. 다음으로 10명의 원어민 청자들이 앞서 녹음한 각 발화를 듣고 이해도(comprehensibility)와 외국인 말투 정도(foreign-accentedness)를 7점 척도로 평가하였다. 또한 각 발화에 대해 1) 문장강세 적절성, 2) 문장 강세 빈도, 3) 발화 고저 범위, 4) 휴지 빈도, 5) 총 휴지 길이, 6) 평균 발화 길이, 7) 조음 속도를 측정한 뒤, 다중회귀분석의 단계적 선택법을 이용하여 이해도와 외국인 말투 정도를 예측하는 변인을 선별하였다. 분석 결과, 이해도 점수는 휴지 빈도, 문장 강세 적절성, 조음 속도를 예측 변인으로 삼았을 때 모형적합도와 설명력이 가장 우수했고, 외국인 말투 점수는 평균 발화 길이, 문장 강세 빈도, 조음 속도가 유의미한 예측인자인 것으로 드러났다. 특히 문장 강세 적절성이 휴지 빈도나 조음 속도와 비교해 이해도 점수에 대한 기여도가 적지 않음이 드러났다. 이러한 결과는 의사소통적 교수법에서 영어 문장 강세를 더 중요하게 다룰 필요가 있다는 것을 시사한다. 두 번째 실험에서는 문장 강세에 대한 교수-학습을 효과적으로 시행하기 위한 방안을 탐색하기 위해 한국인 학습자들의 문장 강세 발화 양상과 그 특징을 관찰하였다. 분석을 위해 39명의 참여자들을 영어권 거주 기간에 따라 준원어민(8~19년), 상위 수준 학습자(1개월 반~2년), 하위 수준 학습자(경험 없음)의 세 집단으로 분류하였다. 한국인 참여자들이 발화한 10개의 문장 강세를 초점 유형(광의 초점과 협의 초점)과 단어 유형(내용어와 기능어)로 나누어 문장 강세 음절 모음과 문장 강세 앞 단어 혹은 뒤의 단어의 강세 모음의 길이, 고저, 세기를 측정하여 각 음향 신호의 변화를 관찰하였다. 또한 3개의 문장 강세 단어에 대해, 동일 단어가 문장 강세 없이 반복되는 경우(즉, 구정보가 되는 경우)에도 각 음향 신호의 변화가 있는지를 살펴보았다. 실험 결과, 영어권 국가에서 상당한 기간 동안 영어를 학습한 한국인 준원어민 집단의 경우 원어민 참여자의 발화와 크게 다르지 않았으나, 영어를 주로 외국어로서 학습한 상위 수준 학습자와 하위 수준 학습자의 경우 다음과 같은 특징을 보여주었다. 첫째, 상위 수준 학습자와 하위 수준 학습자들은 모두 협의 초점 발화는 상대적으로 잘 발음했으나 광의 초점 발화에서는 어려움을 겪는 것으로 나타났다. 상위 수준 학습자들의 경우 이러한 특징이 특히 기능어가 광의 초점 내에서 문장 강세를 가질 때 두드러지는 것으로 확인되었다. 이들은 기능어가 주로 약화된다는 사실을 알고 있고, 이에 따라 문장 강세의 유무에 상관없이 약화를 시키는 경향을 보였다. 반면, 하위 학습자들의 경우 내용어와 기능어에 상관없이 광의 초점에서 문장 강세를 잘 발화하지 못하였다. 둘째, 상위 수준 학습자들은 준원어민 집단과 원어민 화자, 그리고 하위 수준 학습자보다 모음 고저를 과도하게 변화시키는 경향을 보였다. 한국인들의 경우 모음 길이를 변화시키는 데 어려움을 느끼는 탓에 그보다 상대적으로 쉬운 모음 고저의 변화를 통해 문장 강세를 발음하려 하는 것으로 해석되었다. 하위 수준 학습자에게서는 모음 고저에 대한 의존은 관찰되지 않았다. 모음의 고저에 대한 관찰을 이들의 모음 길이 사용과 연관시켜 볼 때, 하위 수준 학습자들의 경우 문장 강세 부여 규칙 자체에 대한 지식이 부재한 것으로 보이고, 상위 수준 학습자의 경우 문장 강세의 음성 실현에 문제가 있는 것으로 해석될 수 있었다. 이는 또한 외국어로서의 영어 환경에서만 영어를 학습하는 경우 문장 강세를 습득하는 것이 매우 어렵다는 것을 나타내기도 한다. 영어의 문장 강세가 영어 원어민 청자들의 발화 이해에 직접적으로 영향을 준다는 점은 오래 전부터 실험적으로 증명되어 왔지만 외국어 교육에서는 제한된 시간과 언어 입력 그리고 문장 강세의 다소 복합한 실현 기제 탓에 그 동안 교육현장에서 우선적으로 다루어 지지 않았던 것으로 보인다. 본 연구는 의사소통 맥락에서 영어권 청자가 비영어권 화자의 발화를 이해할 때 문장 강세가 중요한 역할을 함을 확증하였으며 이를 통해 외국어로서의 영어 화자에 대한 영어 교육에서 문장 강세 교육이 중요함을 강조하였다. 또한 본 연구는 한국인 학습자들이 영어 문장 강세 사용에서 주로 어려움을 겪는 부분이 어디인지를 확인하였고, 이를 바탕으로 효율적이면서도 효과적인 문장 강세의 교수 및 사용을 위해 이들이 어려움을 겪는 부분에 초점을 둔 교육적 처치가 이루어져야 함을 주장하였다. 즉, 한국인 학습자들을 위해서는 그들이 광의 초점에 적용되는 규칙을 정확히 파악하고, 기능어가 담화수준의 맥락에 따라서는 문장 강세를 지닐 수도 있음을 인식할 수 있도록 지도가 이루어질 필요가 있다. 끝으로, 이러한 문장 강세의 사용은 본질적으로 대명사 및 지시표현의 사용과 밀접한 연관이 있으므로 담화 수준의 문법과 결합하여 지도가 이루어지는 것이 효과적일 것으로 판단된다.It has been widely accepted that English sentence stress directly affects speech comprehension. The present study explored the contribution of English sentence stress to perceived comprehensibility of L2 speech, and revealed Korean learners use of English sentence stress. For this purpose, two experiments were conducted. First, speech samples of 39 Korean speakers reading an English dialogue were recorded. Each learners speech characteristics were examined to determine how they contributed to the L2 speech comprehensibility and foreign-accentedness perceived by native listeners. The speech characteristics consisted of sentence stress appropriacy, sentence prominence frequency, pitch range, the number of pauses, the total duration of pauses, the mean length of run, and the articulation rate. The relative contribution of each characteristic was examined by stepwise multiple regression with each pronunciation score as a dependent variable, and each suprasegmental measure as an independent variable. Comprehensibility was best predicted by the combination of the number of pauses, sentence stress appropriacy, and articulation rate. In addition, the strength of the relationship between each of the three variables and the comprehensibility score was more or less the same. In contrast, foreign-accentedness was mainly determined by sentence prominence frequency and speech rate factors. The results of the first experiment support the claim that sentence stress appropriacy is a significant factor for speech comprehension in the L2 context. Further, this study revealed that the importance of sentence stress is not negligible compared with other previously attested factors such as speech rate and pause use. In the second experiment, based on the importance of English sentence stress in L2 speech comprehensibility, the overall characteristics of Korean learners use of English sentence stress were examined. The investigation was conducted both syntagmatically and paradigmatically in terms of acoustic cues (vowel duration, f0, and intensity) used for 13 accented words. In syntagmatic observation, comparisons were made between two focus types (broad vs. narrow) and two word types (content vs. function). A total of 39 participants were divided into three groups based on their length of residence in an English speaking country: Long Residence Group (8 ~ 19 years), Experienced Group (one and a half months ~ two years), and Inexperienced Groups. The results showed that the Long Residence Group did not differ from a native speaker in their production of sentence stress. However, the Korean learners who learned English most of the time in an EFL context showed the following characteristics. First, narrow focus was more easily learned than broad focus by Korean learners of English. The accentuation in broad focus is especially problematic for Korean learners when it occurs on function words. It seemed that the Experienced Groups knowledge of function word reduction according to English rhythm hindered them from accenting words when they did need to be accented at the discourse-level. As for the Inexperienced Group, they showed a more consistent pattern regarding the accentuation in broad focus. The acoustic changes indicated that they failed to apply the sentence stress rule to the last lexical item in broad focus, and this failure was observed for both content and function words. This implies that knowledge of sentence stress placement is not easily obtainable without ample exposure to English. Second, Korean learners (especially the Experienced Group) marked the accented words by varying f0 cues with ease. In some cases, they delayed the declination in the transition from pre-accent to accent, while lowering the pitch more substantially from accent to post-accent than the other two groups and the native speaker. It seemed that the Experienced Group compensated for the lack of durational change by varying vowel pitch more. This partly shows that the participants in this group have some knowledge about accentuation but have a problem with the phonetic realization of it. The findings of this study support the importance of English sentence stress in communicative context. In a Communicative Language Teaching approach, more consideration of English sentence stress is needed in the instruction of English pronunciation. In addition, in teaching English sentence stress to Korean speakers, it should be considered important that Korean learners be taught not to reduce function words and not to rely on the f0 cues too heavily when accentuation is needed in the given context. Furthermore, given that English sentence stress operates at the discourse level and is inherently related to the use of anaphoric and referential expressions in English, sentence stress should be instructed along with the discourse level grammar in an integrated way.TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract i List of Tables ix List of Figures xii List of Abbreviations xiii Chapter 1 Introduction 1 1.1 Aims of the Study 1 1.2 Rationale for the Study 2 1.3 Research Questions 6 1.4 Organization of the Dissertation 8 Chapter 2 Theoretical Background 10 2.1 Focus Marking in English and Korean Prosody 10 2.1.1 Pragmatic Functions of English Intonation 11 2.1.2 English Sentence Stress 14 2.1.3 Givenness and Prosody in English and Korean 21 2.1.4 Sentence Stress and Speech Comprehension 29 2.1.5 Acoustic Correlates of English and Korean Focus 31 2.2 Prosody and L2 Speech Comprehensibility 35 2.2.1 L2 Pronunciation in Communicative Context 36 2.2.2 Comprehensibility and Foreign-Accentedness 38 2.2.3 Predictors of Comprehensibility and Foreign-Accentedness 40 2.3 Sentence Stress in L2 Speech 44 2.3.1 Sentence Stress and L2 Comprehensibility 45 2.3.2 Sentence Stress in L2 Production 49 Chapter 3 Sentence Stress and L2 Comprehensibility 52 3.1 Methodology 52 3.1.1 Speakers 53 3.1.2 Recordings 55 3.1.3 Listeners 57 3.1.4 Variables 59 3.1.5 Statistical Treatment 67 3.2 Predictions 68 3.3 Results 69 3.3.1 Rating Scores and Suprasegmental Measurements 69 3.3.2 Predictors of L2 Comprehensibility and Foreign-Accentedness 73 3.4 Summary and Discussion 77 Chapter 4 Sentence Stress Production by Korean Learners 85 4.1 Methodology 85 4.1.1 Speakers 86 4.1.2 Recordings and Measurements 88 4.2 Predictions 92 4.3 Results 94 4.3.1 Syntagmatic Observation 94 4.3.1.1 Comparing the Three Groups 95 4.3.1.2 Focus Type 100 4.3.1.3 Focus Type X Word Type 110 4.3.1.4 Transition from Accent to Post-accent 118 4.3.2 Paradigmatic Observation 127 4.4 Summary and Discussion 129 Chapter 5 Conclusion 136 5.1 Findings and Pedagogical Implications 136 5.2 Limitations of the Study and Suggestions for Future Research 138 References 141 Appendices 155 Abstract in Korean 165Docto

The Production and Perception of Subject Focus Prosody in L2 Spanish

New information can be introduced in discourse through different strategies, including syntactic and prosodic ones. This project provides an account of the syntactic and intonational strategies used for focus-marking in Peninsular Spanish, Mainstream American English and L2 Spanish using parallel experimental designs and a unitary method of analysis within the Autosegmental-Metrical framework for the study of intonation. It provides a comprehensive description of specific phonological categories and their phonetic implementation not only in monolingual speech, but also as they develop in the L2 grammar of Spanish learners with different experiences with the target language, following the premises of the L2 Intonation Learning Theory (LILt). Additionally, the perception of L2 intonation by native speakers was examined using an acceptability judgment task. Findings show that the intonational grammars of Spanish learners develop despite the lack of formal instruction, which allows them to produce native-like contours in certain contexts even if they have not been immersed in the target language for an extended period of time. This development is, nonetheless, constrained by different linguistic (i.e. transfer, universal patterns) and individual factors (i.e. onset of acquisition, proficiency). Furthermore, results from the acceptability judgment task suggest that learners’ communicative intentions are correctly identified by native speakers when they use target-like contours, but they are misinterpreted when they fail to produce a target-like contour. This study contributes to the understanding of the role of transfer, linguistic interdependencies and interlanguage representations in the development of intonational grammars. Moreover, it shows that the acquisition of intonation is not so different from the L2 acquisition of morpho-syntax or segmental phonology and may be examined through similar approaches, including feature-based ones

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ACOUSTIC FEATURES OF SECOND LANGUAGE SPEECH AND LISTENER EVALUATION OF SPEECH QUALITY

Second language (L2) speech is typically less fluent than native speech, and differs from it phonetically. While the speech of some L2 English speakers seems to be easily understood by native listeners despite the presence of a foreign accent, other L2 speech seems to be more demanding, such that listeners must expend considerable effort in order to understand it. One reason for this increased difficulty may simply be the speaker’s pronunciation accuracy or phonetic intelligibility. If a L2 speaker’s pronunciations of English sounds differ sufficiently from the sounds that native listeners expect, these differences may force native listeners to work much harder to understand the divergent speech patterns. However, L2 speakers also tend to differ from native ones in terms of fluency – the degree to which a speaker is able to produce appropriately structured phrases without unnecessary pauses, self-corrections or restarts. Previous studies have shown that measures of fluency are strongly predictive of listeners’ subjective ratings of the acceptability of L2 speech: Less fluent speech is consistently considered less acceptable (Ginther, Dimova, & Yang, 2010). However, since less fluent speakers tend also to have less accurate pronunciations, it is unclear whether or how these factors might interact to influence the amount of effort listeners exert to understand L2 speech, nor is it clear how listening effort might relate to perceived quality or acceptability of speech. In this dissertation, two experiments were designed to investigate these questions