Content area
Abstract
The researcher investigated the intelligibility, comprehensibility, and accentedness judgments of speakers of inner-, outer-, and expanding-circles of English by listeners of similar and different English backgrounds. Specifically, she correlated listeners’ perceptual judgments with a profile of the suprasegmental features of the speakers.
Previous studies showed both a conjoined and individual impact of suprasegmental features on native–nonnative and nonnative–nonnative interactions (e.g., Anderson-Hsieh, Johnson, & Koehler, 1992; Hahn, 2004; Isaacs, 2008; Kang, 2010, 2012; Kang, Vo, & Moran, 2016; Levis & Pickering, 2004; Munro & Derwing, 1995a; Pickering, 2001); however, limited agreement has been reached in terms of which suprasegmental features of speech are most crucial in guiding listeners’ perceptual judgments of accented speech. In addition, several suprasegmental features—such as speech rate, number of filled pauses, and nonnative-like intonation—have been found to cause irritation and boredom for native-speaking listeners (e.g., Kang, 2012; Pickering, 2004). Lastly, the influence of listeners’ linguistic backgrounds on their comprehension of second-language speech remains unclear (Bent & Bradlow, 2003; Munro, Derwing, & Morton, 2006).
In order to investigate these issues, the researcher employed a quantitative method design. Speech samples were taken from 2 American, 2 Indian, and 2 Mandarin speakers giving 3-minute English lectures. These speech samples were rated by 3 groups of 30 listeners from American, Indian, and Chinese first-language backgrounds. Quantitative measurements of judgments of intelligibility, comprehensibility, and accentedness were taken from the 3 groups of listeners who rated speakers from their shared or from a different native-language background. A suprasegmental profile of each of the speech samples were created and correlated with the quantitative measurements of perceptual judgments to investigate the role of suprasegmental features on listeners’ comprehension of varieties of Englishes.
The results showed that listeners used different phonological parameters to judge intelligibility, comprehensibility, and accentedness in the World English context. They also relied on suprasegmental features in different degrees when making perceptual judgments. Regarding whether listeners would benefit from listening to speakers who shared their own accents, the results were inconclusive. Some listeners demonstrated a better understanding of their own accents while others did not. Furthermore, the results showed that listeners responded to speakers differently depending on speakers’ native-language backgrounds, which could be due to the listeners’ familiarity with non-native-language accents.
With this study, the researcher contributed understanding of the prosodic features that enhance the comprehension of accented English by speakers from the three circles of Englishes, and the results are applicable to current non-native language pronunciation pedagogy and international teaching assistant training programs.
