Title :
Input modality effects in foreign accent
Author :
Markham, Duncan J. ; Nagano-Madsen, Yasuko
Author_Institution :
Dept. of Linguistics & Phonetics, Lund Univ., Sweden
Abstract :
A group of higher than average ability learners of the phonetic characteristics of a foreign language attempted to imitate stimuli from Japanese in tasks involving long and complex phrases and shorter minimal pair contrasts. Three information modalities were used (aural, visual, orthographic), introduced progressively, in order to test the subjects´ use of different input sources. Their performance is described and the conclusion is drawn that these speakers function largely within an aural modality, but do assimilate external, primarily visual information, as reflected in rapid improvement in the rhythmic and timing characteristics of the imitations
Keywords :
natural languages; speech; speech processing; Japanese; aural modality; foreign accent; foreign language; imitations; information modalities; input modality effects; input sources; minimal pair contrasts; phonetic characteristics; timing characteristics; visual information; Headphones; Loudspeakers; Microphones; Natural languages; Production; Speech; Testing; Timing;
Conference_Titel :
Spoken Language, 1996. ICSLP 96. Proceedings., Fourth International Conference on
Conference_Location :
Philadelphia, PA
Print_ISBN :
0-7803-3555-4
DOI :
10.1109/ICSLP.1996.607894