Listeners' Linguistic Experience Affects the Degree of Perceived Nativeness of First Language Pronunciation.

The aim of this study was to explore if and to what extent Austrian-English late sequential bilinguals who have been living in a second language (L2) environment for several decades are perceived to sound native in their first language (L1) when being compared to monolingual Austrian German (AG) control speakers. Furthermore, this investigation aimed to identify if listeners differ in their judgments of nativeness of L1 pronunciation depending on their own language background. For this purpose, two groups of native Austrian German listeners (N = 30 each), who differed regarding their linguistic background (Austrian German monolingual and Austrian German-English bilingual listeners) were asked to rate spontaneous speech samples produced by Austrian English bilingual and Austrian German monolingual speakers. Results showed that the bilingual L1 speech was perceived to sound overall less native compared to monolingual control speech. It was further observed that the two listener groups significantly differed in their perception of nativeness: Bilingual listeners were overall less likely to judge bilingual L1 pronunciation to sound non-native compared to monolingual listeners. To date, this is the first study to show that listener experience influences their perception of nativeness of L1 pronunciation and, thus, adds a new dimension to the notion of the native speaker.

The Effects of Home Language and Bilingualism on the Realization of Lexical Stress in Welsh and Welsh English.

This study investigates effects of long-term language contact and individual linguistic experience on the realization of lexical stress correlates in Welsh and Welsh English. To this end, a production study was carried out in which participants were asked to read out Welsh and English disyllabic words with stress on the penultimate syllable, placed within carrier phrases. Recordings were made of the productions of Welsh and English target words, by two groups of Welsh-English bilinguals differing in home language, as well as the productions of English target words by Welsh English monolinguals and speakers of Southern Standard British English (SSBE). Acoustic measures were taken of fundamental frequency (f0) and intensity ratios of stressed and unstressed vowels, duration of stressed and unstressed vowels, and duration of the post-stress consonant. The results of acoustic comparisons of Welsh English with SSBE and Welsh revealed that SSBE differs from the other groups in all measures of lexical stress. Welsh and Welsh English, however, show considerable phonetic overlap, albeit with language-specific differences in two of the five measures (unstressed vowel duration, intensity ratio). These findings suggest cross-language convergence in the realization of lexical stress in Welsh and Welsh English disyllabic words with penultimate stress. Individual linguistic experience, in turn, did not play a major role in the realization of lexical stress in these words. Bilinguals did not differ from monolinguals when speaking English, and home language also had no effect on any measure. This suggests that other factors must be responsible for the observed patterns. We discuss the possibility that the varieties of Welsh and Welsh English spoken in this community function as a sign of regional or peer group identity, rather than as markers of linguistic experience.

Cross-Linguistic Differences in Bilinguals' Fundamental Frequency Ranges.

Purpose: We investigated cross-linguistic differences in fundamental frequency range (FFR) in Welsh-English bilingual speech. This is the first study that reports gender-specific behavior in switching FFRs across languages in bilingual speech. Method: FFR was conceptualized as a behavioral pattern using measures of span (range of fundamental frequency-in semitones-covered by the speaker's voice) and level (overall height of fundamental frequency maxima, minima, and means of speaker's voice) in each language. Results: FFR measures were taken from recordings of 30 Welsh-English bilinguals (14 women and 16 men), who read 70 semantically matched sentences, 35 in each language. Comparisons were made within speakers across languages, separately in male and female speech. Language background and language use information was elicited for qualitative analysis of extralinguistic factors that might affect the FFR. Conclusions: Cross-linguistic differences in FFR were found to be consistent across female bilinguals but random across male bilinguals. Most female bilinguals showed distinct FFRs for each language. Most male bilinguals, however, were found not to change their FFR when switching languages. Those who did change used different strategies than women when differentiating FFRs between languages. Detected cross-linguistic differences in FFR can be explained by sociocultural factors. Therefore, sociolinguistic factors are to be taken into account in any further study of language-specific pitch setting and cross-linguistic differences in FFR.

Cross-language differences in fundamental frequency range: a comparison of English and German.

This paper presents a systematic comparison of various measures of f0 range in female speakers of English and German. F0 range was analyzed along two dimensions, level (i.e., overall f0 height) and span (extent of f0 modulation within a given speech sample). These were examined using two types of measures, one based on "long-term distributional" (LTD) methods, and the other based on specific landmarks in speech that are linguistic in nature ("linguistic" measures). The various methods were used to identify whether and on what basis or bases speakers of these two languages differ in f0 range. Findings yielded significant cross-language differences in both dimensions of f0 range, but effect sizes were found to be larger for span than for level, and for linguistic than for LTD measures. The linguistic measures also uncovered some differences between the two languages in how f0 range varies through an intonation contour. This helps shed light on the relation between intonational structure and f0 range.

Intonation in neurogenic foreign accent syndrome.

UNLABELLED: Foreign accent syndrome (FAS) is a motor speech disorder in which changes to segmental as well as suprasegmental aspects lead to the perception of a foreign accent in speech. This paper focuses on one suprasegmental aspect, namely that of intonation. It provides an in-depth analysis of the intonation system of four speakers with FAS with the aim of establishing the intonational changes that have taken place as well as their underlying origin. Using the autosegmental-metrical framework of intonational analysis, four different levels of intonation, i.e., inventory, distribution, realisation and function, were examined in short sentences. Results revealed that the speakers with FAS had the same structural inventory at their disposal as the control speakers, but that they differed from the latter in relation to the distribution, implementation and functional use of their inventory. The current results suggest that these intonational changes cannot be entirely attributed to an underlying intonation deficit but reflect secondary manifestations of physiological constraints affecting speech support systems and compensatory strategies. These findings have implications for the debate surrounding intonational deficits in FAS, advocating a reconsideration of current assumptions regarding the underlying nature of intonation impairment in FAS. LEARNING OUTCOMES: The reader will be able to (1) explain the relevance of intonation in defining foreign accent syndrome; (2) describe the process of intonation analysis within the autosegmental-metrical (AM) framework; and (3) discuss the manifestation of intonation changes in FAS at the different levels of intonation and their potential underlying nature.

Speech and language therapy service delivery for bilingual children: A survey of three cities in Great Britain.

BACKGROUND: Speech and language therapy (SLT) managers are expected to ensure that there are appropriate services available for bilingual and multilingual clients in order to ensure an equitable service to all clients. However, there is a paucity of data available to inform service planning. AIMS: To identify the level to which SLT services in three UK cities meet the recommendations of The Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists (RCSLT) Good Practice Guidelines. Socio-demographic information is provided about the number of children from ethnic minorities in the population and the proportion of (bilingual) children from ethnic minorities on the speech and language therapy caseload. Based on this information, it is estimated whether there is proportionate representation of bilingual children on SLT caseloads, and whether services are in place to meet the needs of those clients. METHODS & PROCEDURES: Population statistics were gathered from Census data and data were gleaned from Local Education Authorities. The study used a combination of interview and postal questionnaires to SLTs, with particular emphasis on the issues that may affect service provision. OUTCOMES & RESULTS: As in previous studies, it was difficult to find reliable data. However, two of the three cities studied appeared to be offering a proportionate service to both monolingual and bilingual children in terms of the relative numbers of children on caseloads. Only one city was confident that their SLT service was fully meeting the RCSLT Good Practice Guidelines on bilingualism, although all three cities were aware of them and appeared to be making an effort at varying levels to address the principles of those guidelines. CONCLUSIONS: There is a need for a change in how data on linguistic diversity in society are collected and disseminated, both at a national level and within SLT services, so that informed decisions can influence the future of quality services to minority groups.

Tonal association and tonal alignment: evidence from Greek polar questions and contrastive statements.

This paper compares the production and perception of the rise-fall contour of contrastive statements and the final rise-fall part of polar questions in Greek. The results show that these superficially similar rise-falls exhibit fine phonetic differences in the alignment of tonal targets with the segmental string, and that these differences can be used by native speakers under experimental conditions to identify the two contour types. It is further shown here that the observed differences in alignment are best attributed to differences in the overall tonal composition of these contours, which results in different degrees of crowding for the targets involved. This analysis accounts for the differences in phonetic detail between the two contours, while obviating the need to posit distinct secondary associations for the peak of the rise-fall. It is suggested that differences in phonetic alignment should be formalized by means of the secondary association mechanism only if simpler analyses and explanations have been considered and shown not to account effectively for the data. Finally, the perceptual results suggest that even small alignment differences like those observed here have a role in perception and should therefore be specified in a full description of the phonetic implementation of tunes.