مجلة الرسالة للدراسات والبحوث الإنسانية

Contribution Of Frequency And Duration Ratio Of Pauses To Foreign Accent Perception And Comprehensibility Judgement: Evidence From English As Spoken In Tebessa – Algeria

Auteurs : Braham Chaïma . Djennane Taoufik .

Résumé

Foreign accent perception and comprehensibility judgement are attributed to different cues; pauses, as a fluency-based dimension of speech, are relevant in this respect. To examine the correlation between both constructs and pauses, the productions of 18 Algerian speakers of English in Tebessa were recorded across reading, picture description, and conversational tasks. The speech samples were analysed for the frequency and duration ratio of pauses and rated by 21 Algerian-trained listeners. Additionally, manipulated speech samples in terms of unnatural pauses were prepared and rated by another panel of 21 listeners. Results revealed that more frequent and longer pauses were associated with a strong foreign accent and reduced comprehensibility. Moreover, the manipulated samples received better ratings overall, confirming the reliance of listeners’ perception of L2 speech on pausing behaviour.

Mots clés

Algerian-accented English ; foreign accent ; comprehensibility ; pause duration-ratio ; pause frequency