Cover not available
Article published In:
Dutch Journal of Applied Linguistics
Vol. 6:1 (2017) ► pp.1–20

Advanced second language learners experience difficulties processing reduced word pronunciation variants

| Radboud University
| Centre for Language Studies, Radboud University
| Radboud in’to Languages, Radboud University

Words are often pronounced with fewer segments in casual conversations than in formal speech. Previous research has shown that foreign language learners and beginning second language learners experience problems processing reduced speech. We examined whether this also holds for advanced second language learners. We designed a dictation task in Dutch consisting of sentences spliced from casual conversations and an unreduced counterpart of this task, with the same sentences carefully articulated by the same speaker. Advanced second language learners of Dutch produced substantially more transcription errors for the reduced than for the unreduced sentences. These errors made the sentences incomprehensible or led to non-intended meanings. The learners often did not rely on the semantic and syntactic information in the sentence or on the subsegmental cues to overcome the reductions. Hence, advanced second language learners also appear to suffer from the reduced pronunciation variants of words that are abundant in everyday conversations.

Keywords: reduced word pronunciation variants, second language acquisition, word recognition, Dutch, casual speech, dictation task
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Method
    • 2.1Participants
      • 2.1.1Second language learners
      • 2.1.2Native listeners
    • 2.2Materials
    • 2.3Experimental procedure
    • 2.4Data analysis procedure
    • 2.5Results
      • 2.5.1The data points for analysis
      • 2.5.2Analysis of the number of repetitions
      • 2.5.3Quantitative analysis of the errors
      • 2.5.4Qualitative analysis of the errors
  • 3.General discussion
  • Acknowledgements
  • References


This article is currently available as a sample article.

Published online: 26 October 2017
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/dujal.6.1.01ern
References
Adda-Decker, M., Boula de Mareüil, P., Adda, G., & Lamel, L.
(2005) Investigating syllabic structures and their variation in spontaneous French. Speech Communication, 461, 119–139. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Brown, J. D., & Hilferty, A.
(1986) The effectiveness of teaching reduced forms of listening comprehension. RELC Journal, 171, 59–70. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Council of Europe
(2011) Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, teaching, assessment. Council of Europe.Google Scholar
Dilley, L. C., & Pitt, M.
(2010) Altering context speech rate can cause words to appear or disappear. Psychological Science, 211, 1664–1670. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Drijvers, L., Mulder, K., & Ernestus, M.
(2016) Alpha and gamma band oscillations index differential processing of acoustically reduced and full forms. Brain and Language 1531, 27–37. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ernestus, M.
(2000) Voice assimilation and segment reduction in casual Dutch, a corpus based study of the phonology-phonetics interface. Utrecht: LOT.Google Scholar
(2014) Acoustic reduction and the roles of abstractions and exemplars in speech processing. Lingua, 1421, 27–41. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ernestus, M., & Warner, N.
(2011) An introduction to reduced pronunciation variants. Journal of Phonetics, 391, 253–260. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Johnson, K.
(2004) Massive reduction in conversational American English. Spontaneous speech: data and analysis. Proceedings of the 1st session of the 10th international symposium (pp. 29–54). Tokyo: The National International Institute for Japanese Language.Google Scholar
Mitterer, H., & Tuinman, A.
(2012) The role of native-language knowledge in the perception of casual speech in a second language. Frontiers in Psychology, 31, 249. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Nouveau, D.
(2012) Limites perceptives de l’e caduc chez des apprenants néerlandophones. Revue Canadienne de Linguistiquea Appliquée, 151, 60–78.Google Scholar
Ranbom, L. J., & Connine, C. M.
(2007) Lexical representation of phonological variation in spoken word recognition. Journal of Memory and Language 571, 273–298. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Schuppler, B., Ernestus, M., Scharenborg, O., & Boves, L.
(2011) Acoustic reduction in conversational Dutch: A quantitative analysis based on automatically generated segmental transcriptions. Journal of Phonetics, 391, 96–109. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ten Bosch, L., Giezenaar, G., Boves, L., & Ernestus, M.
(2016) Modeling language-learners’ errors in understanding casual speech. In G. Adda, V. Barbu Mititelu, J. Mariani, D. Tufiş, & I. Vasilescu (Eds.), Errors by humans and machines in multimedia, multimodal, multilangual data processing. Proceedings of Errare 2015 (pp. 107–121). Bucharest: Editura Academiei Române.Google Scholar
Tuinman, A., Mitterer, H., & Cutler, A.
(2014) Use of syntax in perceptual compensation for phonological reduction. Language and speech, 571, 68–85. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Van de Ven, M., Ernestus, M., & Schreuder, R.
(2012) Predicting acoustically reduced words in spontaneous speech: The role of semantic/syntactic and acoustic cues in context. Laboratory Phonology, 31, 455–481. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Van de Ven, M., Tucker, B. V., & Ernestus, M.
(2010) Semantic facilitation in bilingual everyday speech comprehension. In Proceedings of the 11th Annual Conference of the International Speech Communication Association (Interspeech 2010), (pp. 1245–1248). Makuhari, Japan.Google Scholar
(2011) Semantic context effects in the comprehension of reduced pronunciation variants. Memory and Cognition, 391, 1301–1316. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Viebahn, M., Ernestus, M., & McQueen, J. M.
(2015) Syntactic predictability in the recognition of carefully and casually produced speech. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 411, 1684–1702.Google Scholar
Wong, S. W., Mok, P. P., Chung, K. K. H., Leung, V. W., Bishop, D. V., & Chow, B. W. Y.
(2015) Perception of native English reduced forms in Chinese learners: Its role in listening comprehension and its phonological correlates. TESOL Quarterly, 51(1), 7–31. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Zimmerer, F., & Reetz, H.
(2014) Do listeners recover “deleted” final /t/ in German? Frontiers in Psychology, 51. DOI logo.Google Scholar
Cited by

Cited by 9 other publications

Bi, Huichao, Samad Zare, Ursula Kania & Rong Yan
2022. A systematic review of studies on connected speech processing: Trends, key findings, and implications. Frontiers in Psychology 13 DOI logo
Drijvers, Linda & Asli Özyürek
2018. Native language status of the listener modulates the neural integration of speech and iconic gestures in clear and adverse listening conditions. Brain and Language 177-178 ► pp. 7 ff. DOI logo
Lange, Kriss & Joshua Matthews
2021. Analyzing trends in the aural decoding errors of Japanese EFL learners. International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching 0:0 DOI logo
Morano, Lisa, Louis ten Bosch & Mirjam Ernestus
2023. Second language learners acquire reduced word forms just like they acquire full forms. Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism DOI logo
Riekhakaynen, Elena I.
2021. Comparing Phonetic Reduction in Russian as First and Second Language: From Psycholinguistics to Natural Language Processing. In Proceedings of Fifth International Congress on Information and Communication Technology [Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing, 1184], ► pp. 478 ff. DOI logo
Tucker, Benjamin V. & Yoichi Mukai
2023. Spontaneous Speech, DOI logo
Verbeke, Gil & Ellen Simon
2023. Listening to accents: Comprehensibility, accentedness and intelligibility of native and non-native English speech. Lingua 292 ► pp. 103572 ff. DOI logo
Wanrooij, Karin & Maartje E.J. Raijmakers
2020. Evidence for immature perception in adolescents: Adults process reduced speech better and faster than 16-year olds. Language Acquisition 27:4 ► pp. 434 ff. DOI logo
Wanrooij, Karin & Maartje E.J. Raijmakers
2021. “Hama”? Reduced pronunciations in non-native natural speech obstruct high-school students’ comprehension at lower processing levels. Journal of Phonetics 88 ► pp. 101082 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 29 march 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.