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PhD Defence Annelie Tuinman on April 6
How do we perceive casual speech in a second language? Is it easier to perceive casual speech processes in a second language when these processes are familiar from our native language? Yes it is, Annelie Tuinman discovered during her PhD research: Familiarity seems to play a crucial role in the perception of casual speech. On April 6, 2011, she will defend her thesis 'Processing casual speech in native and non-native language' in the aula of the Radboud University Nijmegen at 15:30.
April 1, 2011
Tuinman examined German listeners' perception of /t/-reduction in Dutch (e.g., postbode pronounced as posbode). Because the casual speech process of /t/-reduction occurs in both Dutch and German, it was expected that Germans with Dutch as a second language would not have major difficulties in coping with /t/-reduction in Dutch. This seemed to be the case.
Not familiar
Tuinman also investigated how L2 listeners perceive casual speech processes in their second language with which they are not familiar from their native language. The insertion of /r/ between two vowels, as in the phrase idea is (pronounced as idea ris) occurs frequently in British English, but does not occur in Dutch. Therefore, her study assessed Dutch and English listeners' perception of intrusive /r/ in British English. Dutch listeners to English were unable to tell an intrusive /r/ from an intended /r/, which often led them into misrecognition of words.
Hard to adapt
Tuinman's experiments show that listeners' familiarity and experience with the casual speech processes of their native language crucially determine the way they deal with the effects of casual speech processes in their second language. 'A process familiar from the native language can be processed easily; an unfamiliar process in the second language with no corresponding process in the native language is very hard to adapt to.'
Good and bad news
What does Tuinman's research mean for second language learners? There's both good and bad news. 'Casual speech processes people are already familiar with from their native language do not create major problems for speech perception in their second language. But if a casual speech process does not occur in their native language, non-native listeners are likely to have trouble with the ambiguous speech in their second language created by this casual speech process.'
She therefore concludes: 'My study adds another item to the long list of complications that makes speech recognition in a second language such a challenge...'
