Foreign accent can be everything from hardly detectable to rendering the second language speech unintelligible. It is assumed that certain aspects of a specific target language contribute more to making the foreign accented speech intelligible and listener friendly, than others. The present thesis examines a teaching strategy for Swedish pronunciation in second language education. The teaching strategy “Basic prosody” or BP, gives priority to temporal aspects of Swedish prosody, which means the temporal phonological contrasts word stress and quantity, as well as the durational realizations of these contrasts. BP does not prescribe any specific tonal realizations. This standpoint is based on the great regional variety in realization and distribution of Swedish word accents. The teaching strategy consists virtually of three directives: · Stress the proper word in the sentence. · Stress proper syllables in stressed words and make them longer. · Lengthen the proper segment – vowel or subsequent consonant – in the stressed syllable. These directives reflect the view that all phonological length is stress-induced, and that vowel length and consonant length are equally important as learning goals. BP is examined in the light of existing findings in the field of second language pronunciation and with respect to the phonetic correlates of Swedish stress and quantity. Five studies examine the relation between segment durations and the categorization made by native Swedish listeners. The results indicate that the postvocalic consonant duration contributes to quantity categorization as well as giving the proper duration to stressed syllables. Furthermore, native Swedish speakers are shown to apply the complementary /V: C/ - /VC:/ pattern also when speaking English and German, by lengthening postvocalic consonants. The correctness of the priority is not directly addressed but important aspects of BP are supported by earlier findings as well as the results from the present studies. / <p>För att köpa boken skicka en beställning till exp@ling.su.se/ To order the book send an e-mail to exp@ling.su.se</p>

This thesis project examined both schwa insertion and simplification following word-final consonant clusters in a large corpus of spoken French. Two main research questions were addressed. Can a system of forced alignment reliably reproduce pronunciation judgements that closely match those of a human researcher? How do variables, such as speech style, following context, motivation for simplification and speech rate, affect the variable pronunciations of word-final consonant clusters? This project describes the creation and testing of a novel system of forced alignment capable of segmenting recorded French speech. The results of comparing the pronunciation judgements between automatic and manual methods of recognition suggest that a system of forced alignment using speaker adapted acoustic models performed better than other acoustic models; produced results that are likely to be similar to the results produced by manual identification; and that the results of forced alignment are not likely to be affected by changes in speech style or speech rate. This project also described the application of forced alignment on a corpus of natural language spoken French. The results presented in this large sample corpus analysis suggest that the dialectal differences between Québec and France are not as simple as ``simplification in Québec, schwa insertion in France". While the results presented here suggest that the process of simplification following a word-final consonant cluster is similar in both dialects, the process of schwa insertion is likely to be different in each dialect. In both dialects, word-final consonant cluster simplification is more frequent in a preconsonantal context; is most likely in a spontaneous or less formal speech style and in that speech style is positively associated with higher speaking rates. Schwa insertion following a word-final consonant cluster displays much stronger dialectal differences. Schwa insertion in the dialect from France is strongly affected by following context and possibly speech style. Schwa insertion in the dialect from Québec is not affected by following context and is strongly predicted by a lack of consonant cluster simplification.

Talperception avser förmågan att uppfatta och känna igen talat språk. Nedsatt talperception förekommer hos flera grupper barn som besöker audiologisk och logopedisk klinik och i synnerhet hos barn med språkstörning. I förevarande studie testades talperceptionsförmåga i ljudmiljöerna tyst och babbel hos tio barn med språkstörning i åldrarna 7 – 9 år. Som kontrollgrupp tjänade tjugoen jämnåriga barn med typisk utveckling. För bedömning användes talperceptionstestet Lyssna-Säg, vilket är ett datorbaserat test, som mäter diskrimination, identifikation och produktion av konsonantkontraster i minimala ordpar. Studiens resultat visar att barn med språkstörning hade proportionerligt svårare än typiskt utvecklade barn att uppfatta tal i babbel och att förmågan att uppfatta skillnad i artikulationsställe var särskilt nedsatt hos dem. Viss försämring från tyst till babbel kunde även observeras på ordproduktionen, vilket kan indikera att babbelmiljön hade en negativ påverkan på barnens arbetsminne. Studien har bidragit med insikter kring hur barn med språkstörning uppfattar tal i olika ljudmiljöer och har även bidragit till utvecklingsarbetet med Lyssna-Säg-testet. / Speech perception refers to the ability to perceive and recognize spoken language. Impaired speech perception occurs in several groups of children visiting the audiological and speech language pathology clinic, and particularly in children with language impairment. In the present study, speech perception was tested in ten children with language impairment aged 7 – 9 years in silent and in babble. Twenty-one children with typical development of the same age served as control group. The Listen-Say test, which is a computer-assisted speech perception test that assesses discrimination, identification and production of consonant contrasts, was used as assessment tool. The study showed that children with language impairment had proportionally greater difficulty to perceive speech in babble compared to typically developing children and that place of articulation was particularly difficult to distinguish for them. A slight decrease in word production in babble may indicate that this condition had a negative impact on the children's working memory. The study has provided insight into how children with language impairment perceive speech in different auditory backgrounds, and has contributed to the development of the Listen-Say test.

Au XXe siècle, aux moyens traditionnels de transmission du langage verbal que constituent le parlé et l’écrit, s’est ajouté un troisième moyen, le transmis. Si, dans un premier temps, il s’est surtout agi d’un « parlé à distance » (téléphone, radio, cinéma, télévision), on est ensuite passé à « l’écrit à distance » (sites Internet, courrier électronique, chats, SMS). Les progrès technologiques ont été suivis d’une transformation linguistique : le code s’est adapté aux différents supports qui l’ont véhiculé. Les technologies électroniques de la parole, comme le note Spina (2001 : 31), ont donné une nouvelle impulsion au mode de communication orale. À la fin du XIXe siècle, en effet, l’invention du téléphone a représenté une véritable révolution. Aujourd’hui, après plus d’un siècle, le téléphone a dépassé ses limitations traditionnelles, il s’est fait petit et discret et, à la transmission du son, il a ajouté la possibilité de faire circuler de brefs messages de texte et même des e-mails.La diffusion de la communication SMS a transformé un instrument dévolu à l’échange oral en technologie d’écriture, mais l’originalité du support permet à l’écriture SMS de reproduire les structures morphologiques de l’interaction orale, malgré sa nature d’écrit. Ainsi, la vitesse de composition du message n’est pas la seule propriété qui permette à l’écriture SMS de s’approcher de l’oralité : la syntaxe y apparaît souvent comme plutôt élémentaire, avec une prédominance de parataxes et de constructions elliptiques de la phrase plutôt que d’hypotaxes, traits typiques du discours oral. Mais le SMS joue aussi sur les finalités communicatives en abaissant le registre formel de la langue et en favorisant ainsi un nouveau langage. Notre thèse, si elle n’est pas la première à analyser un corpus de SMS, est sûrement en revanche l’une des premières à comparer la typologie des processus observés dans deux langues, l’italien et le français, pour en définir mécanismes parallèles et diversités. / Verbal language has traditionally been communicated by two means: speech and writing. In the twentieth century, however, a third means came into existence: transmitted language. Initially this consisted mostly of language “spoken at a distance” (telephone, radio, cinema, television), but it then extended to include language “written at a distance” (Internet sites, electronic mail, online chat, SMS). Technological progress was followed by a transformation of the language, and the code has been adapted to the different media used to convey it. Electronic technologies of the word, as Spina notes (2001: 31), have given a new impetus to the oral mode of communication, based on the spoken word.At the end of the 19th century, the invention of the telephone was a real breakthrough, allowing the creation of new, and previously unavailable, forms of communication. Today, little more than a century later, the phone has exceeded even its traditional limitations and to the transmission of sound has been added the ability to write short text messages, and even to send e-mail. The spread of SMS communication has transformed an instrument devoted to oral exchange into a technology of writing: in fact, the originality of the support allows text messaging, despite its written nature, to reproduce the morphological structures of oral interaction. Thus, the speed of composing the message is not the only property that allows texting to approach orality: the syntax is often seen as rather basic, with a predominance of parataxis and elliptical constructions rather than hypotaxis, features that are typical of spoken discourse. But texting also plays on communicative purpose by adopting a more informal register and thus fostering a new language. The present thesis, while not the first study to analyze a corpus of SMS, is surely one of the first to compare the types of processes found in both languages, French and Italian, in order to define parallel mechanisms and differences.

This study aimed to investigate the difficulties of pronouncing English clusters in word-initial position by Najdi (central area in Saudi Arabia) Saudi learners when they want to pronounce a tri-literal cluster in word-initial position in English. Twelve participants who speak the Najdi dialect were chosen to conduct this study. All of them were classified as beginning English students in the English center of the University of Southern Illinois Carbondale. To get the results, a list of 23 words and list of 42 sentences were used. The results revealed that Najdi Saudi ESL learners have difficulties in pronouncing English tri-literal clusters in word-initial position. The results showed that the short high front vowel /ɪ/ and the low-mid front /ɛ/ were inserted to break the clusters.

The main content of my diploma thesis is Pronunciation of middle school children. The theoretical part deals with the aims of pronunciation teaching. This part concerns the question to what measure the pronunciation is important and whether it is possible to influence it by teaching process. Furthermore, I attended to pronunciation differences between English and Czech sounds and typical mistakes made by Czech pupils. The practical part searches and analyses mistakes in Engish pronunciation made by pupils who have just come to middle school by research scanning. Consequently I suggested several exercises to eliminate some of the ascertained mistakes. At the end, I also practically verified them in school practise and summed them up in my final reflection.

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / The aim of this work is to analyze the application of therapeutic models of phonetic and phonological base in order to overcome the consonant clusters simplification (CC) in children who perform compensatory lengthening in the CCV structure. The thesis of this study is that there is underlying phonological knowledge on the syllabic structure CCV in children who perform compensatory lengthening when this structure is not filled in a proper way. For this reason, the best therapeutic approach is the one that can help in the phonetic implementation rather than the phonological organization. Thus, the present research aims to verify the effects of different therapeutic approaches in relation to the production and stabilization of CC in the speech of children who perform the compensatory lengthening and simplify the CC. Besides, it aimed to verify the variants of the therapeutic process in the acquisition of the CCV structure. In order to perform this investigation, four children aged between 5:4 and 7:7 with phonological disorder, CC simplification, lateral and non lateral liquid and who performed the compensatory lengthening strategy were used. Two subjects were under phonetic/articulatory therapy while the others were under phonological therapy. The results showed that the children exposed to phonetic/articulatory therapy need less sessions to the acquisition of CC than the ones exposed to phonological therapy. It was observed that the smaller the degree of phonological disorder is, the bigger the chances of appropriate production of CC. Taking into consideration the obtained results, the thesis of this research may be confirmed since the phonetic/articulatory therapy propitiated quicker progress in relation to the CC stabilization when compared to the phonological therapy and benefit the production of the correct structure. / O tema do presente trabalho é a aplicação de modelos terapêuticos de base fonética e fonológica utilizados na superação da simplificação do onset complexo (OC) em crianças que realizam alongamento compensatório na estrutura CCV. A hipótese norteadora deste estudo é que há conhecimento fonológico subjacente a respeito da estrutura silábica CCV nas crianças que realizam o alongamento compensatório quando a estrutura ainda não é preenchida de forma adequada. Com isso, a abordagem terapêutica que mais favoreceria às crianças que utilizam a referida estratégia seria aquela que auxiliasse na implementação fonética e não na organização fonológica. Assim, a presente pesquisa teve como objetivo verificar os efeitos de diferentes abordagens terapêuticas em relação à produção e estabilização do OC na fala de crianças que utilizam a estratégia de alongamento compensatório e simplificam o OC. Além disso, objetivou-se verificar as variáveis intervenientes no processo terapêutico na aquisição da estrutura CCV. Para tal investigação, foram selecionadas quatro crianças, com idade entre 5:4 e 7:7, com diagnóstico de desvio fonológico, que apresentavam simplificação do OC, possuíam a líquida lateral e nãolateral no seu inventário fonético e aplicavam estratégia de alongamento compensatório (verificada através da análise acústica). Dois sujeitos receberam terapia com enfoque fonético/articulatório e dois receberam terapia fonológica. Os resultados demonstraram que as crianças expostas à terapia fonética/articulatória precisam de menos sessões para a aquisição do OC do que aquelas expostas à terapia fonológica. Além disso, a abordagem fonética se mostrou favorecedora na realização correta da estrutura CCV. Dentre as variáveis relevantes durante o processo terapêutico para aquisição do OC, observou-se que quanto menor o grau do desvio fonológico, maiores as chances de produção correta do OC. As palavras polissilábicas com OC formado por oclusiva velar vozeada e sílaba pré-pré-tônica também favorecem o processo de aquisição. Com os resultados, a hipótese norteadora da pesquisa parece ser confirmada, visto que a terapia fonética/articulatória proporcionou progressos mais rápidos quanto à estabilização do OC quando comparada à terapia fonológica, além de beneficiar a produção correta da estrutura.

This thesis project examined both schwa insertion and simplification following word-final consonant clusters in a large corpus of spoken French. Two main research questions were addressed. Can a system of forced alignment reliably reproduce pronunciation judgements that closely match those of a human researcher? How do variables, such as speech style, following context, motivation for simplification and speech rate, affect the variable pronunciations of word-final consonant clusters? This project describes the creation and testing of a novel system of forced alignment capable of segmenting recorded French speech. The results of comparing the pronunciation judgements between automatic and manual methods of recognition suggest that a system of forced alignment using speaker adapted acoustic models performed better than other acoustic models; produced results that are likely to be similar to the results produced by manual identification; and that the results of forced alignment are not likely to be affected by changes in speech style or speech rate. This project also described the application of forced alignment on a corpus of natural language spoken French. The results presented in this large sample corpus analysis suggest that the dialectal differences between Québec and France are not as simple as ``simplification in Québec, schwa insertion in France". While the results presented here suggest that the process of simplification following a word-final consonant cluster is similar in both dialects, the process of schwa insertion is likely to be different in each dialect. In both dialects, word-final consonant cluster simplification is more frequent in a preconsonantal context; is most likely in a spontaneous or less formal speech style and in that speech style is positively associated with higher speaking rates. Schwa insertion following a word-final consonant cluster displays much stronger dialectal differences. Schwa insertion in the dialect from France is strongly affected by following context and possibly speech style. Schwa insertion in the dialect from Québec is not affected by following context and is strongly predicted by a lack of consonant cluster simplification.

This research examines how competing factors determine the articulation of English stop-stop sequences across word boundaries in both native (L1) and nonnative (L2) speech. The two general questions that drive this research are 1) how is consonantal coordination implemented across English words? And 2) is this implementation different in L1 versus L2 speech? A group of 15 native English (NE) speakers and a group of 25 native Mandarin speakers (NM) who use English as a foreign language (ESL) participated in this study. The stimuli employed in this research were designed along four major parameters: 1) place of articulation, 2) lexical frequency, 3) stress, and 4) speech rate. The release percentages and closure duration ratios produced by English and Mandarin speakers were measured. The results showed that place of articulation had different effects on English and Mandarin speakers in their English stop-stop coarticulation, especially in heterorganic clusters. Specifically, a place order effect (i.e., more releases and more overlap in front-back clusters than in back-front clusters; POE) was only partially supported in native speech but not shown at all in nonnative speech in the current research. The results also confirmed a gradient lexical frequency effect, finding a significant correlation between self-rated frequency and overlap. A group difference was observed in the interaction between the effects of place of articulation and categorical frequency (real words vs. nonwords). In addition, the results showed, unexpectedly, a stronger stress effect for the NM group rather than for the NE group. Further analyses showed that increased speech rate did not systematically induce increased temporal overlap, because speakers from both groups varied in their behavior, having either more or less overlap at the fast speech rate than at the slow rate. Lastly, the analyses found no correlation between closure duration ratio and perceived accent in L2 speech. This finding was not predicted, given that timing features had always been considered critical to foreign accent perception. / Graduate

No description available.