Intelligibility is the ultimate goal of human communication. However, measuring it objectively remained elusive until the 1940s when physicist Harvey Fletcher pioneered a psychoacoustic methodology for doing so. Another physicist, von Bekesy, demonstrated clinically that Fletcher’s theory of Critical Bands was anchored in anatomical and auditory reality. Fletcher’s and Bekesy’s approach to intelligibility has revolutionized contemporary understanding of the processes involved in encoding and decoding speech signals. Their insights are applied in this book to account for the intelligibility of the pronunciation of 67 non-native speakers from the following language backgrounds –10 Arabic, 10 Japanese, 10 Korean, 10 Mandarin, 11 Serbian and Croatian "the Slavic Group," 6 Somali, and 10 Spanish speakers who read the Speech Accent Archive elicitation paragraph. Their pronunciation is analyzed instrumentally and compared and contrasted with that of 10 native speakers of General American English (GAE) who read the same paragraph. The data-driven intelligibility analyses proposed in this book help answer the following questions: Can L2 speakers of English whose native language lacks a segment/segments or a suprasegment/ suprasegments manage to produce it/them intelligibly? If they cannot, what segments or suprasegments do they use to substitute for it/them? Do the compensatory strategies used interfere with intelligibility? The findings reported in this book are based on nearly 12,000 measured speech tokens produced by all the participants. This includes some 2,000 vowels, more than 500 stop consonants, over 3,000 fricatives, nearly 1,200 nasals, about 1,500 approximants, a over 1,200 syllables onsets, as many as 800 syllable codas, more than 1,600 measurement of F0/pitch, and duration measurements of no fewer than 539 disyllabic words. These measurements are in keeping with Baken and Orlikoff (2000:3) and in accordance with widely accepted Just Noticeable Difference thresholds, and relative functional load calculations provided by Catforda (1987).

This book applies four relevant concepts in acoustic phonetics and proposes a new approach for assessing the intelligibility of second language pronunciation instrumentally.

"This book applies four relevant concepts in acoustic phonetics and proposes a new approach for assessing the intelligibility of second language pronunciation instrumentally. First, the acoustic phonetic features of L1 and L2 are extracted, compared, and contrasted. Secondly, the acoustic distances between said features are calculated to determine whether or not internal or external masking occurs. Thirdly, well-established and scientifically proven Just Noticeable Difference (JND) thresholds are used to assess degrees of masking. Fourthly, relative functional load (RFL) calculations help to estimate the severity of unintelligibility or lack thereof"--

Including contributions from a team of world-renowned international scholars, this volume is a state-of-the-art survey of second language speech research, showcasing new empirical studies alongside critical reviews of existing influential speech learning models. It presents a revised version of Flege's Speech Learning Model (SLM-r) for the first time, an update on a cornerstone of second language research. Chapters are grouped into five thematic areas: theoretical progress, segmental acquisition, acquiring suprasegmental features, accentedness and acoustic features, and cognitive and psychological variables. Every chapter provides new empirical evidence, offering new insights as well as challenges on aspects of the second language speech acquisition process. Comprehensive in its coverage, this book summarises the state of current research in second language phonology, and aims to shape and inspire future research in the field. It is an essential resource for academic researchers and students of second language acquisition, applied linguistics and phonetics and phonology.

The Segment in Phonetics and Phonology unravels exactly what the segment is and on what levels it exists, approaching the study of the segment with theoretical, empirical, and methodological heterogeneity as its guiding principle. A deliberately eclectic approach to the study of the segment that investigates exactly what the segment is and on what level it exists Includes new research data from a diverse range of fields such as experimental psycholinguistics, language acquisition, and mathematical theories of communication Represents the major theoretical models of phonology, including Articulatory Phonology, Optimality Theory, Laboratory Phonology and Generative Phonology Examines both well-studied languages like English, Chinese, and Japanese and under-studied languages such as Southern Sierra Miwok, Päri, and American Sign Language

An intelligibility-based approach to teaching that presents pronunciation as critical, yet neglected, in communicative language teaching.

A conversation between two people can only take place if the words intended by each speaker are successfully recognized. Spoken word recognition is at the heart of language comprehension. This automatic and smooth process remains a challenge for models of spoken word recognition. Both the process of mapping the speech signal onto stored representations for words, and the format of the representation themselves are subject to debate. So far, existing research on the nature of spoken word representations has focused mainly on native speakers. The picture becomes even more complex when looking at spoken word recognition in a second language. Given that most of the world’s speakers know and use more than one language, it is crucial to reach a more precise understanding of how bilingual and multilingual individuals encode spoken words in the mental lexicon, and why spoken word recognition is more difficult in a second language than in the native language. Current models of native spoken word recognition operate under two assumptions: (i) that listeners’ perception of the incoming speech signal is optimal; and (ii) that listeners’ lexical representations are accurate. As a result, lexical representations are easily activated, and intended words are successfully recognized. However, these assumptions are compromised when applied to a later-learned second language. For a variety of reasons (e.g., phonetic/phonological, orthographic), second language users may not perceive the speech signal optimally, and they may still be refining the motor routines needed for articulation. Accordingly, their lexical representations may differ from those of native speakers, which may in turn inhibit their selection of the intended word forms. Second language users also have to solve a larger selection challenge—having words in more than one language to choose from. Thus, for second language users, the links between perception, lexical representations, orthography, and production are all but clear. Even for simultaneous bilinguals, important questions remain about the specificity and interdependence of their lexical representations and the factors influencing cross-language word activation. This Frontiers Research Topic seeks to further our understanding of the factors that determine how multilinguals recognize and encode spoken words in the mental lexicon, with a focus on the mapping between the input and lexical representations, and on the quality of lexical representations.

Practical resources designed to help language educators apply the latest research and most effective pedagogical methods to classroom pronunciation instruction In Second Language Pronunciation: Bridging the Gap Between Research and Teaching, a team of distinguished researchers and educators delivers an incisive and practical approach to evidence-based pronunciation instruction in second language classrooms. Developed for language teachers who want to incorporate and implement the most effective pedagogical methods in their language instruction, this edited volume offers 15 essays that connect the latest research with practical applications in the classroom. In addition to exploring recent but less well-known methods—like High Variability Phonetic Training, discourse-based teaching, communicative classrooms, and technology-based methods—these chapters are unified in bringing theory to bear on practical questions faced by language teachers. The chapters follow a standard format, moving from critical research issues to pedagogical implications, and practical resources to equip language teachers, scholars, administrators, and teachers-in-training with the tools they require to develop their students’ pronunciation abilities. Readers will also find: A thorough introduction to using empirical evidence to guide pronunciation instruction in second language students Comprehensive explorations of the integration of pronunciation instruction into second language education Practical discussions of perception training in pronunciation instruction and the importance of L2 segmental and suprasegmental contrasts in pronunciation learning In-depth examinations of classroom research for pronunciation and the use of technology to explore L2 pronunciation Perfect for upper-level undergraduate and graduate students studying TESOL, applied linguistics, and second language acquisition, Second Language Pronunciation: Bridging the Gap Between Research and Teaching will also earn a place in the libraries of researchers, scholars, and teachers of language and education.

Explores the nature of stress and accent patterns in natural language using a diverse range of theories, methods and data.

This volume is the first handbook dedicated to language attrition, the study of how a speaker's language may be affected by crosslinguistic interference and non-use. Topics covered include theoretical implications, psycho- and neurolinguistic approaches, linguistic and extralinguistic factors, L2 attrition, and heritage languages.