Cover not available
Part of
Perspectives on Arabic Linguistics XXXI: Papers from the annual symposium on Arabic Linguistics, Norman, Oklahoma, 2017
Edited by Amel Khalfaoui and Youssef A. Haddad
[Studies in Arabic Linguistics 8] 2019
► pp. 235–262

Interactions between temporal acoustics and indexical information in speech rate perception

| University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee | King Saud University
| University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

This study examines the interplay between a number of factors that affect speech rate perception. Three factors were investigated: pause type/length (short, long, and non-silent), actual speech rate (accelerated vs. decelerated), and utterance type (native Arabic, accented Arabic, and unfamiliar language). A group of Arabic speakers judged whether the sentences they heard were slow or fast, and rated their speed on a 1–7 scale (1 = extremely slow, 7 = extremely fast). The findings show that all three factors influence speed judgments and ratings and that they interact with one another on different levels. Our results testify that perceived speech rate is the outcome of an interaction between the actual linguistic and acoustic properties of an utterance along with a listener’s indexical knowledge about the speaker.

Keywords: speech rate, temporal acoustics, indexical information, perception, pauses
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
    • Background
    • Speech rate in production
    • Speech rate in perception
    • Current study
  • 2.Methodology
    • Materials
    • Stimuli recording
    • Stimuli preparation and design
    • Acceleration vs. deceleration
    • Pausing
    • Design
    • Participants
    • Lists, tasks, and procedure
  • 3.Results
    • Overall patterns from both tasks
    • Statistical analysis
  • 4.Discussion
  • 5.Conclusions
  • Note
  • References
Published online: 8 July 2019
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/sal.8.10ald
References
Beasley, D. S., Bratt, G. W., & Rintelmann, W. F.
(1980) Intelligibility of time-compressed sentential stimuli. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 23, 722–731. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Blau, E. K.
(1990) The effect of syntax, speed, and pauses on listening comprehension. TESOL Quarterly, 24(4), 746–753. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Boersma, Paul
(2001) Praat, a system for doing phonetics by computer. Glot International, 5(9/10), 341–345.Google Scholar
Bradlow, A. R., Kim, M., & Blasingame, M.
(2017) Language-independent talker-specificity in first-language and second-language speech production by bilingual talkers: L1 speaking rate predicts L2 speaking rate. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 141(2), 886–899. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Campione, E., & Véronis, J.
(2002) A large-scale multilingual study of silent pause duration. In B. Bel, & I. Marlien (Ed.), Proceedings of the Speech Prosody International Conference (pp. 199–202). Aix-en-Provence: Laboratoire Parole et Langage.Google Scholar
Dankovičová, J.
(2001) The linguistic basis of articulation rate variation in Czech. The Hector: Frankfurt am Main.Google Scholar
De Jong, N. H., Groenhout, R., Schoonen, R., & Hulstijn, J. H.
(2015) Second language fluency: Speaking style or proficiency? Correcting measures of second language fluency for first language behavior. Applied Psycholinguistics, 36(2), 223–243. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Dellwo, V., Ferragne, E., & Pellegrino, F.
(2006) The perception of intended speech rate in English, French, and German by French speakers. In R. Hoffmann & H. Mixdorff (Eds.), Speech Prosody: 3rd international conference, Dresden, May 2–5, 2006; abstract book and CD-ROM proceedings (pp. 101–104). Dresden: TUDpress.Google Scholar
Derwing, T. M., Munro, M. J., Thomson, R. I., & Rossiter, M. J.
(2009) The relationship between L1 fluency and L2 fluency development. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 31(4), 533–557. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Derwing, T., & Munro, M. J.
(2001) What speaking rates do non-native listeners prefer? Applied Linguistics, 22(3), 324–337. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Duez, D.
(1982) Silent and non-silent pauses in three speech styles. Language and Speech, 25(1), 11–28. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(1985) Perception of silent pauses in continuous speech. Language and Speech, 28(4), 377–389. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(1993) Acoustic correlates of subjective pauses. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 22(1), 21–39. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
García-Amaya, L.
(2011, March). The effect of clause type on filled pauses and discourse markers in the oral production of second language learners across three different learning contexts. In American Association for Applied Linguistics Conference . Chicago, IL.
García-Amaya, L. J.
(2012) Second language fluency and cognition: The study of Spanish second language development in an overseas immersion program and an at-home foreign language classroom (Ph.D. Dissertation), Indiana University, Bloomington.
García-Amaya, L.
(2015) A longitudinal study of filled pauses and silent pauses in second language speech. In L. Lickley et al. (Eds.), Proceedings of Disfluency in spontaneous speech, Edinburgh, UK.Google Scholar
Gerber, S.
(1974) Limits of speech time compression. In S. Duker (Ed.), Time-Compressed Speech 1, (pp. 456–465). Metuchen, N.J: Scarecrow Press.Google Scholar
Goldman-Eisler, F.
(1968) Psycholinguistics. London & New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Gósy, M.
(1991) The perception of tempo. In M. Gósy et al. (Eds.), Temporal factors in speech, 63–106Budapest: Research Institute for Linguistics, Hungarian Academy of Sciences.Google Scholar
(2001) The VOT of the Hungarian voiceless plosives in words and in spontaneous Speech. International Journal of Speech Technology, 4(1), 75–85. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Griffiths, R.
(1990) Speech rate and NNS comprehension: A preliminary study in time‐benefit analysis. Language Learning, 40(3), 311–336. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Grosjean, F.
(1980) Comparative studies of temporal variables in spoken and sign languages: A short review. Temporal Variables in Speech, 307–312.Google Scholar
Henderson, A., Goldman-Eisler, F., & Skarbek, A.
(1966) Sequential temporal patterns in spontaneous speech. Language and Speech, 9(4), 207–216. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hewlett, N., & Rendall, M.
(1998) Rural versus urban accent as an influence on the rate of speech. Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 28(1–2), 63–71. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Jacewicz, E., Fox, R. A., & Wei, L.
(2010) Between-speaker and within-speaker variation in speech tempo of American English. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 128(2), 839–850. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Jacewicz, E., Fox, R. A., O'Neill, C., & Salmons, J.
(2009) Articulation rate across dialect, age, and gender. Language Variation and Change, 21(2), 233–256. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kendall, T.
(2009) Speech rate, pause and linguistic variation: An examination through the Sociolinguistic Archive and Analysis Project (Ph.D. Dissertation), Duke University.
(2013) Speech rate, pause and sociolinguistic variation: Studies in corpus sociophonetics. Palgrave Macmillan: New York. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kowal, S., & O’Connell, D. C.
(1980) Pausological research at Saint Louis University. In Temporal variables in speech: Studies in honor of Frieda Goldman-Eisler (pp. 61–66). DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Laver, J.
(1994) Principles of phonetics. Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Matsuura, H., Chiba, R., Mahoney, S., & Rilling, S.
(2014) Accent and speech rate effects in English as a lingua franca. System, 46, 143–150. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Munro, M. J., & Derwing, T. M.
(1998) The effects of speaking rate on listener evaluations of native and foreign‐accented speech. Language Learning, 48(2), 159–182. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2001) Modeling perceptions of the accentedness and comprehensibility of L2 speech the role of speaking rate. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 23(04), 451–468.Google Scholar
Pellegrino, F., Coupé, C., & Marsico, E.
(2011) Across-language perspective on speech information rate. Language, 87(3), 539–558. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Rader, K. E.
(1990) The effects of three different levels of word rate on the listening comprehension of third-quarter university Spanish students (Ph.D. Dissertation), Ohio State University.
Roach, P.
(1998) Some languages are spoken more quickly than others. In L. Bauer, & P. Trudgill (Eds.), Language myths (pp. 150–158). London: Penguin.Google Scholar
Robb, M. P., Maclagan, M. A., & Chen, Y.
(2004) Speaking rates of American and New Zealand varieties of English. Clinical Linguistics & Phonetics, 18(1), 1–15. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Rochester, S. R.
(1973) The significance of pauses in spontaneous speech. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 2(1), 51–81. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Schnoebelen, T.
(2009) The social meaning of tempo. Unpublished manuscript. Palo Alto, CA: Stanford University.Google Scholar
Segalowitz, N., & Freed, B. F.
(2004) Context, contact, and cognition in oral fluency acquisition: Learning Spanish in at home and study abroad contexts. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 26(2), 173–199. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Thomas, E.
(2010) Sociophonetics: An introduction. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Tsao, Y. C., & Weismer, G.
(1997) Interspeaker variation in habitual speaking rate evidence for a neuromuscular component. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 40(4), 858–866. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Yuan, J., Liberman, M., & Cieri, C.
(2006) Towards an integrated understanding of speaking rate in conversation. In The 9th International Conference on Spoken Language Processing , Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.