Identifying a Foreign Accent in an Unfamiliar Language

Autor/in	Major, Roy C.
Titel	Identifying a Foreign Accent in an Unfamiliar Language
Quelle	In: Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 29 (2007) 4, S.539-556 (18 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0272-2631
DOI	10.1017/S0272263107070428
Schlagwörter	Native Speakers; North American English; English (Second Language); Language Styles; Language Proficiency; Suprasegmentals; Sociolinguistics; Cross Cultural Studies; Interrater Reliability; Portuguese; Evaluative Thinking; Judges; Language Acquisition; Familiarity; Identification + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Muttersprachler; Amerikanisches Englisch; English as second language; English; Second Language; Englisch als Zweitsprache; Sprachstil; Language skill; Language skills; Sprachkompetenz; Soziolinguistik; Cultural comparison; Kulturvergleich; Interrater-Reliabilität; Portugiesischunterricht; Judge; Richter; Sprachaneignung; Spracherwerb; Identifikation; Identifizierung
Abstract	This study explores the question of whether native and nonnative listeners, some familiar with the language and some not, differ in their accent ratings of native speakers (NSs) and nonnative speakers (NNSs). Although a few studies have employed native and nonnative judges to evaluate native and nonnative speech, the present study is perhaps the first to include nonnative judges who were unfamiliar with the language they were judging. This study compares accent ratings of four different groups listening to Brazilian Portuguese spoken by NSs and NNSs. The 25 speakers of Portuguese were 5 NSs and 20 NNSs who were NSs of American English. The four listening groups were (a) Brazilian Portuguese listeners, (b) American English listeners with Portuguese experience, (c) American English listeners without Portuguese experience, and (d) English as a second language listeners without Portuguese experience. Although there were some differences, the results show striking similarities across groups, suggesting that listeners' first and second languages do not strongly affect ratings of foreign accents. The study also has implications for the critical period hypothesis because it raises the possibility that there are salient universal features of nonnative speech. (Author).
Anmerkungen	Cambridge University Press. The Edinburgh Building, Shaftesbury Road, Cambridge CB2 8RU, UK. Tel: 800-872-7423; Tel: 845-353-7500; Tel: +44-1223-326070; Fax: 845-353-4141; Fax: +44-1223-325150; e-mail: subscriptions_newyork@cambridge.org; Web site: http://www.cambridge.org
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2017/4/10