Presentation

Confusion as a Complement to Intelligibility Research

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Abstract

Confusion research has been used for more than 50 years to test speech intelligibility in automatic speech recognition systems. In this paper, I apply its methodology and its findings to L2 English intelligibility research. Preliminary findings indicate that the Perceptual Distance Hypothesis (PDH) can help to predict vocalic substitutions that impinge on intelligibility and those that do not. Furthermore, PDH confirms findings by Derwing, Flege, Munro, and others, that the English vowels [æ, _, _] produced by many nonnative talkers are more likely to impinge on intelligibility than other vowels. I conclude, hesitantly and pending further research, that the available data confirms that confusion findings and intelligibility findings complement each other.

How to Cite:

Koffi, E., (2012) “Confusion as a Complement to Intelligibility Research”, Pronunciation in Second Language Learning and Teaching Proceedings 4(1).