The present study examines accentedness, comprehensibility, and intelligibility of American English, Moroccan English, Turkmen English, and Chinese English, from the perspectives of three groups of listeners: native s...The present study examines accentedness, comprehensibility, and intelligibility of American English, Moroccan English, Turkmen English, and Chinese English, from the perspectives of three groups of listeners: native speakers of English and Chinese speakers of English with or without international experiences. Of the 145 listeners, 38 had face-to-face interviews. These listener groups were asked to listen to the recordings of the four English varieties and fill in a cloze test.Results indicated that the three listener groups differed significantly in rating comprehensibility of American English, Moroccan English and Chinese English but they did not give Turkmen English statistically different ratings;there were no significant differences in accentedness ratings except for Chinese English;and there were significant differences in the intelligibility scores of the four English varieties. In addition, with respect to seven linguistic variables-speed, clarity, intonation,smoothness and fluency, vocal intensity, pause, vocabulary and grammar, there were significant differences in three listener groups’ rating of six variables in American English except the one of“speed”. By contrast, Chinese English received significantly different ratings only in “proper speed”. No differences were found in the ratings for Moroccan English and Turkmen English.Finally, unlike Chinese listeners without international experiences, native listeners and Chinese listeners with international experiences shared some similarities in correlations between the ratings of accentedness and comprehensibility and those of linguistic variables on Moroccan English,Turkmen English, and Chinese English. However, the results for American English from Chinese listeners without international experiences and native listeners seemed to be more alike. Linguistic variables correlating with accentedness and comprehensibility of American English showed a mixed profile. Qualitative data provided more variant elaborations on the pronunciations and language uses of the speakers.展开更多
The globalization and nativization processes of English resulted in the appearance of a large number of regional varieties of English. Concerning their accent between the single norm theory and the multiple norm diffe...The globalization and nativization processes of English resulted in the appearance of a large number of regional varieties of English. Concerning their accent between the single norm theory and the multiple norm differences, there has always been a debate theory. This paper argues against the ＇standard-nonstandard＇ classification of English accents upheld by the former, and revises the concept of ＇the three concentric circles of English＇ proposed by the latter, providing some helpful tips on the current instruction of listening and speaking in China＇s colleges and universities.展开更多
Since"it is impossible to speak English without an accent"(Wardhaugh 1998: 43), English accent has been attached first importance to both native and non-native speakers. This study aims to explore teenagers&...Since"it is impossible to speak English without an accent"(Wardhaugh 1998: 43), English accent has been attached first importance to both native and non-native speakers. This study aims to explore teenagers' understanding and attitudes toward differing English accents by investigating 19 international high school students' preferences toward five English audio samples(the same materials with different accents) in Chingmai International School, Thailand. On the basis of five audio samples and respondents' self-reported answers, the results show that British English, instead of"powerful"American English, emerges as the preferred accent. The results also indicate that the need to understand both accented and non-accented English is required for EFLs. Finally, teaching implications concerning pronunciation teaching in EFL classrooms are also put forward.展开更多
Listening ability constitutes an important part of a language learner＇s communicative language competence. This universal agreement necessitates an inclusion of a listening sub-test in any English proficiency test ai...Listening ability constitutes an important part of a language learner＇s communicative language competence. This universal agreement necessitates an inclusion of a listening sub-test in any English proficiency test aimed at evaluating the candidates＇ comprehensive competence. Being a criterion-referenced proficiency test, both TEM4 and TEM8 （Test for English Majors： Band 4/8） contain a listening sub-test in their test battery. In this case, improving the authenticity of the listening sub-tests in TEM will no doubt be a contributory factor in improving the authenticity of the whole test. Based on the analyses of the current listening sub-tests used in TEM, the author concludes that there exists some inauthenticity in the test tasks. One source of the inauthenticity results from the input and the other from the test tasks which seem to be stereotyped in the current tests. In order to solve these two problems, the author suggests that major English varieties and limited-constructed-response question types be included in the TEM sub-tests so as to improve the authenticity of the tests and the accuracy of assessment.展开更多
In English learning, undesirable pronunciation of vowels and intonation that plagues Chinese students in many ways is caused by the interference of mother tongue, accents and system of examination. In order to correct...In English learning, undesirable pronunciation of vowels and intonation that plagues Chinese students in many ways is caused by the interference of mother tongue, accents and system of examination. In order to correct the errors, teachers, students and the system need to adjust themselves accordingly.展开更多
Perceptual Objective Listening Quality Assessment (POLQA) and Perceptual <span>Evaluation of Speech Quality (PESQ) are commonly used objective standards for evaluating speech quality. These methods were develope...Perceptual Objective Listening Quality Assessment (POLQA) and Perceptual <span>Evaluation of Speech Quality (PESQ) are commonly used objective standards for evaluating speech quality. These methods were developed and trained on native </span>speakers’ speech sequences of some western languages. One can then wonder how these methods perform if they are applied to other languages or if the<span> speaker is non-native. This paper deals with the evaluation of PESQ and POLQA </span>on languages that were not been considered when setting up these methods, with emphasis on Moore and Dioula, two local languages of Burkina Faso. <span>Another aspect is the evaluation of these two methods in the case of non-native speakers. For this purpose, in the one hand, the Mean Opinion Score-Listening Quality Objective (MOS-LQO) of PESQ and POLQA, computed for Moore and Dioula, are compared to those of French and English. On the second hand, the </span><span>MOS-LQO scores of French and English are compared for native and</span><span> non-native speakers, to evaluate the effect of the accent of speakers.</span>展开更多
Voice classification is important in creating more intelligent systems that help with student exams,identifying criminals,and security systems.The main aim of the research is to develop a system able to predicate and ...Voice classification is important in creating more intelligent systems that help with student exams,identifying criminals,and security systems.The main aim of the research is to develop a system able to predicate and classify gender,age,and accent.So,a newsystem calledClassifyingVoice Gender,Age,and Accent(CVGAA)is proposed.Backpropagation and bagging algorithms are designed to improve voice recognition systems that incorporate sensory voice features such as rhythm-based features used to train the device to distinguish between the two gender categories.It has high precision compared to other algorithms used in this problem,as the adaptive backpropagation algorithm had an accuracy of 98%and the Bagging algorithm had an accuracy of 98.10%in the gender identification data.Bagging has the best accuracy among all algorithms,with 55.39%accuracy in the voice common dataset and age classification and accent accuracy in a speech accent of 78.94%.展开更多
The foreign accent syndrome(FAS) is a rare speech disorder, characterised by the appearance of a new accent, different from the speaker's native language and perceived as foreign by others. In the majority of pati...The foreign accent syndrome(FAS) is a rare speech disorder, characterised by the appearance of a new accent, different from the speaker's native language and perceived as foreign by others. In the majority of patients, FAS is secondary to focal brain damage caused by stroke or other neurological disorders. Infrequently, FAS has been reported in association with psychiatric disorders, including dissociative or conversion disorders. The case of a young woman with recurrent episodes of speaking with a foreign accent is described. Repeated neurological examinations, imaging and electroencephalography did not reveal any brain abnormality. However, there was a history of a difficult childhood, alcohol dependence in the father, parental discord, alleged sexual abuse in the past, interpersonal difficulties and parental death. Episodes were precipitated by stressful life circumstances and resolved spontaneously, or with supportive treatment. She had additional "suspect" symptoms such as non-epileptic seizures, aphonia and motor paralysis. All these features indicated that a dissociative disorder was involved in the genesis of her FAS. The influence of external factors such as the media was unclear. Generally biological factors have been implicated in the onset of FAS, but the presentation in this young woman suggests that psychological factors such as personality, trauma, stressful life events and psychiatric disorder; familial factors such as parental discord and parental death and family conflicts; and, social factors such the possible influence of the media may also be involved in the production of foreign accents by patients.展开更多
Any natural language may have dozens of accents.Even though the equivalent phonemic formation of the word,if it is properly called in different accents,humans do have audio signals that are distinct from one another.A...Any natural language may have dozens of accents.Even though the equivalent phonemic formation of the word,if it is properly called in different accents,humans do have audio signals that are distinct from one another.Among the most common issues with speech,the processing is discrepancies in pronunciation,accent,and enunciation.This research study examines the issues of detecting,fixing,and summarising accent defects of average Arabic individuals in English-speaking speech.The article then discusses the key approaches and structure that will be utilized to address both accent flaws and pronunciation issues.The proposed SpeakCorrect computerized interface employs a cuttingedge speech recognition system and analyses pronunciation errors with a speech decoder.As a result,some of the most essential types of changes in pronunciation that are significant for speech recognition are performed,and accent defects defining such differences are presented.Consequently,the suggested technique increases the Speaker’s accuracy.SpeakCorrect uses 100 h of phonetically prepared individuals to construct a pronunciation instruction repository.These prerecorded sets are used to train Hidden Markov Models(HMM)as well as weighted graph systems.Their speeches are quite clear and might be considered natural.The proposed interface is optimized for use with an integrated phonetic pronounced dataset,as well as for analyzing and identifying speech faults in Saudi and Egyptian dialects.The proposed interface detects,analyses,and assists English learners in correcting utterance faults,overcoming problems,and improving their pronunciations.展开更多
The effect of intensity accents on detection of temporal irregularities is investigated in a 3×3 behavior experiment with independent variables of inter-onset-interval （IOI） length and intensity. In a 5-beat is...The effect of intensity accents on detection of temporal irregularities is investigated in a 3×3 behavior experiment with independent variables of inter-onset-interval （IOI） length and intensity. In a 5-beat isochronous sequence, both the length of the third IOI and the intensity of succeeding beat are manipulated to three different levels separately （IOI length： longer Llo, shorter Lsh, or standard Lst. Intensity： louder Ilo, softer Iso, or standard Ist）. Subjects are required to discriminate the third IOI length with different responses respectively. The discrimination sensitivity index （d′） and response criterion （C） are assessed simultaneously for each stimulus condition. Statistical analysis reveals an asymmetric effect of intensity accents on detection of IOI deviations in an isochronous sequence, i.e. the loud accent mainly reduces the sensitivity for both shorter and standard IOIs, and the soft accent might introduce a disturbance into the temporal perception, especially in the detection of the short IOIs. Importantly, when preceding a louder accent, the short IOIs are significantly difficult to detect than the long ones, as consistent with the compensation hypothesis.展开更多
An algorithm involving Mel-Frequency Cepstral Coefficients (MFCCs) is provided to perform signal feature extraction for the task of speaker accent recognition. Then different classifiers are compared based on the MFCC...An algorithm involving Mel-Frequency Cepstral Coefficients (MFCCs) is provided to perform signal feature extraction for the task of speaker accent recognition. Then different classifiers are compared based on the MFCC feature. For each signal, the mean vector of MFCC matrix is used as an input vector for pattern recognition. A sample of 330 signals, containing 165 US voice and 165 non-US voice, is analyzed. By comparison, k-nearest neighbors yield the highest average test accuracy, after using a cross-validation of size 500, and least time being used in the computation.展开更多
Immensely intensive cross-border trade in China has brought English to an unprecedentedly crucial status for communication.As a result,great variety of English accents mushroomed,which often baffles English learners.T...Immensely intensive cross-border trade in China has brought English to an unprecedentedly crucial status for communication.As a result,great variety of English accents mushroomed,which often baffles English learners.The thesis analyzes the English accents issue,World Englishes,in China under the guidance of communicative approach from three perspectives to show the definite necessity of involving accents in English listening teaching for the sake of achieving communicative efficiency and increasing multicultural awareness.Besides,some possibles methods have been brought up for the practical teaching process.展开更多
The study attempts to explore native and non-native English speakers’attitudes towards accents and pronunciation-related issues.The sample group surveyed is composed of non-native English speakers,specifically,Italia...The study attempts to explore native and non-native English speakers’attitudes towards accents and pronunciation-related issues.The sample group surveyed is composed of non-native English speakers,specifically,Italian students studying at the University of Calabria(Italy)and native English speakers from Alberta University(Canada)and Florida Atlantic University(USA).An online link to a questionnaire was sent via email to all participants and was used as a research instrument to collect quantitative data.The research questions will investigate learners’attitudes in relation to the following aspects:accent and identity,beliefs about native/non-native accents,impact of pronunciation on communication,and learners’expectations towards pronunciation teaching.Firstly,mean scores in relation to the aforementioned aspects will be examined.Secondly,differences between native/non-native speakers’responses will be statistically analysed.Thirdly,non-native learners’responses will be correlated with their proficiency level in English to identify the extent to which language competence may affect learners’attitudes.The study aims to gain useful insights that may hopefully raise students and teachers’awareness of what models we expect learners to imitate and attain in the English language classroom,how appropriate and relevant these may be especially in the globalized English world where non-native speakers will increasingly use English in a diversity of forms to achieve their communicative goals.The preliminary results will be presented and pedagogical considerations suggested.展开更多
文摘The present study examines accentedness, comprehensibility, and intelligibility of American English, Moroccan English, Turkmen English, and Chinese English, from the perspectives of three groups of listeners: native speakers of English and Chinese speakers of English with or without international experiences. Of the 145 listeners, 38 had face-to-face interviews. These listener groups were asked to listen to the recordings of the four English varieties and fill in a cloze test.Results indicated that the three listener groups differed significantly in rating comprehensibility of American English, Moroccan English and Chinese English but they did not give Turkmen English statistically different ratings;there were no significant differences in accentedness ratings except for Chinese English;and there were significant differences in the intelligibility scores of the four English varieties. In addition, with respect to seven linguistic variables-speed, clarity, intonation,smoothness and fluency, vocal intensity, pause, vocabulary and grammar, there were significant differences in three listener groups’ rating of six variables in American English except the one of“speed”. By contrast, Chinese English received significantly different ratings only in “proper speed”. No differences were found in the ratings for Moroccan English and Turkmen English.Finally, unlike Chinese listeners without international experiences, native listeners and Chinese listeners with international experiences shared some similarities in correlations between the ratings of accentedness and comprehensibility and those of linguistic variables on Moroccan English,Turkmen English, and Chinese English. However, the results for American English from Chinese listeners without international experiences and native listeners seemed to be more alike. Linguistic variables correlating with accentedness and comprehensibility of American English showed a mixed profile. Qualitative data provided more variant elaborations on the pronunciations and language uses of the speakers.
文摘The globalization and nativization processes of English resulted in the appearance of a large number of regional varieties of English. Concerning their accent between the single norm theory and the multiple norm differences, there has always been a debate theory. This paper argues against the ＇standard-nonstandard＇ classification of English accents upheld by the former, and revises the concept of ＇the three concentric circles of English＇ proposed by the latter, providing some helpful tips on the current instruction of listening and speaking in China＇s colleges and universities.
文摘Since"it is impossible to speak English without an accent"(Wardhaugh 1998: 43), English accent has been attached first importance to both native and non-native speakers. This study aims to explore teenagers' understanding and attitudes toward differing English accents by investigating 19 international high school students' preferences toward five English audio samples(the same materials with different accents) in Chingmai International School, Thailand. On the basis of five audio samples and respondents' self-reported answers, the results show that British English, instead of"powerful"American English, emerges as the preferred accent. The results also indicate that the need to understand both accented and non-accented English is required for EFLs. Finally, teaching implications concerning pronunciation teaching in EFL classrooms are also put forward.
文摘Listening ability constitutes an important part of a language learner＇s communicative language competence. This universal agreement necessitates an inclusion of a listening sub-test in any English proficiency test aimed at evaluating the candidates＇ comprehensive competence. Being a criterion-referenced proficiency test, both TEM4 and TEM8 （Test for English Majors： Band 4/8） contain a listening sub-test in their test battery. In this case, improving the authenticity of the listening sub-tests in TEM will no doubt be a contributory factor in improving the authenticity of the whole test. Based on the analyses of the current listening sub-tests used in TEM, the author concludes that there exists some inauthenticity in the test tasks. One source of the inauthenticity results from the input and the other from the test tasks which seem to be stereotyped in the current tests. In order to solve these two problems, the author suggests that major English varieties and limited-constructed-response question types be included in the TEM sub-tests so as to improve the authenticity of the tests and the accuracy of assessment.
文摘In English learning, undesirable pronunciation of vowels and intonation that plagues Chinese students in many ways is caused by the interference of mother tongue, accents and system of examination. In order to correct the errors, teachers, students and the system need to adjust themselves accordingly.
文摘Perceptual Objective Listening Quality Assessment (POLQA) and Perceptual <span>Evaluation of Speech Quality (PESQ) are commonly used objective standards for evaluating speech quality. These methods were developed and trained on native </span>speakers’ speech sequences of some western languages. One can then wonder how these methods perform if they are applied to other languages or if the<span> speaker is non-native. This paper deals with the evaluation of PESQ and POLQA </span>on languages that were not been considered when setting up these methods, with emphasis on Moore and Dioula, two local languages of Burkina Faso. <span>Another aspect is the evaluation of these two methods in the case of non-native speakers. For this purpose, in the one hand, the Mean Opinion Score-Listening Quality Objective (MOS-LQO) of PESQ and POLQA, computed for Moore and Dioula, are compared to those of French and English. On the second hand, the </span><span>MOS-LQO scores of French and English are compared for native and</span><span> non-native speakers, to evaluate the effect of the accent of speakers.</span>
文摘Voice classification is important in creating more intelligent systems that help with student exams,identifying criminals,and security systems.The main aim of the research is to develop a system able to predicate and classify gender,age,and accent.So,a newsystem calledClassifyingVoice Gender,Age,and Accent(CVGAA)is proposed.Backpropagation and bagging algorithms are designed to improve voice recognition systems that incorporate sensory voice features such as rhythm-based features used to train the device to distinguish between the two gender categories.It has high precision compared to other algorithms used in this problem,as the adaptive backpropagation algorithm had an accuracy of 98%and the Bagging algorithm had an accuracy of 98.10%in the gender identification data.Bagging has the best accuracy among all algorithms,with 55.39%accuracy in the voice common dataset and age classification and accent accuracy in a speech accent of 78.94%.
文摘The foreign accent syndrome(FAS) is a rare speech disorder, characterised by the appearance of a new accent, different from the speaker's native language and perceived as foreign by others. In the majority of patients, FAS is secondary to focal brain damage caused by stroke or other neurological disorders. Infrequently, FAS has been reported in association with psychiatric disorders, including dissociative or conversion disorders. The case of a young woman with recurrent episodes of speaking with a foreign accent is described. Repeated neurological examinations, imaging and electroencephalography did not reveal any brain abnormality. However, there was a history of a difficult childhood, alcohol dependence in the father, parental discord, alleged sexual abuse in the past, interpersonal difficulties and parental death. Episodes were precipitated by stressful life circumstances and resolved spontaneously, or with supportive treatment. She had additional "suspect" symptoms such as non-epileptic seizures, aphonia and motor paralysis. All these features indicated that a dissociative disorder was involved in the genesis of her FAS. The influence of external factors such as the media was unclear. Generally biological factors have been implicated in the onset of FAS, but the presentation in this young woman suggests that psychological factors such as personality, trauma, stressful life events and psychiatric disorder; familial factors such as parental discord and parental death and family conflicts; and, social factors such the possible influence of the media may also be involved in the production of foreign accents by patients.
基金funded by the National Plan for Science,Technology and Innovation(MAARIFAH)-King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology(KACST)-Kingdom of Saudi Arabia-Project Number(10-INF-1406-03).
文摘Any natural language may have dozens of accents.Even though the equivalent phonemic formation of the word,if it is properly called in different accents,humans do have audio signals that are distinct from one another.Among the most common issues with speech,the processing is discrepancies in pronunciation,accent,and enunciation.This research study examines the issues of detecting,fixing,and summarising accent defects of average Arabic individuals in English-speaking speech.The article then discusses the key approaches and structure that will be utilized to address both accent flaws and pronunciation issues.The proposed SpeakCorrect computerized interface employs a cuttingedge speech recognition system and analyses pronunciation errors with a speech decoder.As a result,some of the most essential types of changes in pronunciation that are significant for speech recognition are performed,and accent defects defining such differences are presented.Consequently,the suggested technique increases the Speaker’s accuracy.SpeakCorrect uses 100 h of phonetically prepared individuals to construct a pronunciation instruction repository.These prerecorded sets are used to train Hidden Markov Models(HMM)as well as weighted graph systems.Their speeches are quite clear and might be considered natural.The proposed interface is optimized for use with an integrated phonetic pronounced dataset,as well as for analyzing and identifying speech faults in Saudi and Egyptian dialects.The proposed interface detects,analyses,and assists English learners in correcting utterance faults,overcoming problems,and improving their pronunciations.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant No.60736029,30870655, and 30525030
文摘The effect of intensity accents on detection of temporal irregularities is investigated in a 3×3 behavior experiment with independent variables of inter-onset-interval （IOI） length and intensity. In a 5-beat isochronous sequence, both the length of the third IOI and the intensity of succeeding beat are manipulated to three different levels separately （IOI length： longer Llo, shorter Lsh, or standard Lst. Intensity： louder Ilo, softer Iso, or standard Ist）. Subjects are required to discriminate the third IOI length with different responses respectively. The discrimination sensitivity index （d′） and response criterion （C） are assessed simultaneously for each stimulus condition. Statistical analysis reveals an asymmetric effect of intensity accents on detection of IOI deviations in an isochronous sequence, i.e. the loud accent mainly reduces the sensitivity for both shorter and standard IOIs, and the soft accent might introduce a disturbance into the temporal perception, especially in the detection of the short IOIs. Importantly, when preceding a louder accent, the short IOIs are significantly difficult to detect than the long ones, as consistent with the compensation hypothesis.
文摘An algorithm involving Mel-Frequency Cepstral Coefficients (MFCCs) is provided to perform signal feature extraction for the task of speaker accent recognition. Then different classifiers are compared based on the MFCC feature. For each signal, the mean vector of MFCC matrix is used as an input vector for pattern recognition. A sample of 330 signals, containing 165 US voice and 165 non-US voice, is analyzed. By comparison, k-nearest neighbors yield the highest average test accuracy, after using a cross-validation of size 500, and least time being used in the computation.
文摘Immensely intensive cross-border trade in China has brought English to an unprecedentedly crucial status for communication.As a result,great variety of English accents mushroomed,which often baffles English learners.The thesis analyzes the English accents issue,World Englishes,in China under the guidance of communicative approach from three perspectives to show the definite necessity of involving accents in English listening teaching for the sake of achieving communicative efficiency and increasing multicultural awareness.Besides,some possibles methods have been brought up for the practical teaching process.
文摘The study attempts to explore native and non-native English speakers’attitudes towards accents and pronunciation-related issues.The sample group surveyed is composed of non-native English speakers,specifically,Italian students studying at the University of Calabria(Italy)and native English speakers from Alberta University(Canada)and Florida Atlantic University(USA).An online link to a questionnaire was sent via email to all participants and was used as a research instrument to collect quantitative data.The research questions will investigate learners’attitudes in relation to the following aspects:accent and identity,beliefs about native/non-native accents,impact of pronunciation on communication,and learners’expectations towards pronunciation teaching.Firstly,mean scores in relation to the aforementioned aspects will be examined.Secondly,differences between native/non-native speakers’responses will be statistically analysed.Thirdly,non-native learners’responses will be correlated with their proficiency level in English to identify the extent to which language competence may affect learners’attitudes.The study aims to gain useful insights that may hopefully raise students and teachers’awareness of what models we expect learners to imitate and attain in the English language classroom,how appropriate and relevant these may be especially in the globalized English world where non-native speakers will increasingly use English in a diversity of forms to achieve their communicative goals.The preliminary results will be presented and pedagogical considerations suggested.
