Kato Misaki, Baese-Berk Melissa M
Department of Linguistics, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon 97403, USA.
J Acoust Soc Am. 2022 Feb;151(2):1246. doi: 10.1121/10.0009403.
Native talkers are able to enhance acoustic characteristics of their speech in a speaking style known as "clear speech," which is better understood by listeners than "plain speech." However, despite substantial research in the area of clear speech, it is less clear whether non-native talkers of various proficiency levels are able to adopt a clear speaking style and if so, whether this style has perceptual benefits for native listeners. In the present study, native English listeners evaluated plain and clear speech produced by three groups: native English talkers, non-native talkers with lower proficiency, and non-native talkers with higher proficiency. Listeners completed a transcription task (i.e., an objective measure of the speech intelligibility). We investigated intelligibility as a function of language background and proficiency and also investigated the acoustic modifications that are associated with these perceptual benefits. The results of the study suggest that both native and non-native talkers modulate their speech when asked to adopt a clear speaking style, but that the size of the acoustic modifications, as well as consequences of this speaking style for perception differ as a function of language background and language proficiency.
以英语为母语的人能够以一种被称为“清晰言语”的说话方式增强其言语的声学特征，这种方式比“普通言语”更容易被听众理解。然而，尽管在清晰言语领域进行了大量研究，但不同熟练程度的非英语母语者是否能够采用清晰的说话方式，以及如果可以的话，这种方式对以英语为母语的听众是否有感知上的益处，还不太清楚。在本研究中，以英语为母语的听众对三组人的普通言语和清晰言语进行了评估：以英语为母语的人、熟练程度较低的非英语母语者和熟练程度较高的非英语母语者。听众完成了一项转录任务（即言语可懂度的客观测量）。我们研究了可懂度作为语言背景和熟练程度的函数，还研究了与这些感知益处相关的声学变化。研究结果表明，当被要求采用清晰的说话方式时，以英语为母语的人和非英语母语者都会调整他们的言语，但声学变化的幅度以及这种说话方式对感知的影响因语言背景和语言熟练程度而异。
