Posters

French Stereotypical Accent and Pronunciation Development of /P/, /T/, and /K/

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Abstract

This study aims to contribute to research on second language (L2) accent imitation in the native language and its relation to L2 pronunciation development (e.g., Everitt, 2015; Rojczyk, Porzuczek, & Bergier, 2013). Unlike most previous studies, it focuses on stereotypical—rather than authentic—accent and its potential benefits (salience and learner familiarity) for pronunciation improvement. Over three weeks, 14 American learners of French in three groups received pronunciation instruction and based their practice on models speaking English either with a stereotypical French accent (n=5) or an authentic French accent (n=4), or on models who were native speakers of French speaking French (n=6). Learners and native speaker controls recorded their pronunciation of texts they read before and after practice. Words featuring /p/, /t/, or /k/ in initial position were selected and voice onset time (VOT) of the plosives was measured. A subset of the same words was presented to native speaker raters for assessment of accentedness. While listener ratings yield differences that are significant or approaching significance between the control group and the experimental groups, VOT measures do not do so. Results are discussed in terms of perception of accentedness versus acoustic measurement.

How to Cite:

Ruellot, V., (2018) “French Stereotypical Accent and Pronunciation Development of /P/, /T/, and /K/”, Pronunciation in Second Language Learning and Teaching Proceedings 10(1).