Department of English Language and Literature, Ajou University, Suwon, Gyeonggi 16499, Republic of Korea.
J Acoust Soc Am. 2024 Oct 1;156(4):2340-2350. doi: 10.1121/10.0030469.
This study examined the acoustic correlates of the alignment between lexical stress and narrow focus prosody in English and investigated how this alignment is learned by second language learners whose native language is prosodically distinct from English. A production experiment was conducted where native English speakers and Korean learners of English were asked to read aloud sentences with a narrow focus on trisyllabic words with various stress patterns (e.g., ánimal, Novémber, submaríne). In the native English productions, the stressed syllables were characterized by either a rising F0 contour (for word-initial stress) or increased periodic energy (for word-medial and -final stress). The Korean speakers (KSs) produced stressed syllables with a rising F0 contour regardless of stress position, differing from the native speakers, and they exhibited greater periodic energy for word-medial and -final stressed syllables, similar to the native speakers. In addition, the KSs with higher English proficiency showed more native-like patterns by exhibiting a post-focus F0 drop immediately after word-initial stressed syllables. These findings are discussed in the context of existing literature and potential factors contributing to the challenges observed in L2 prosody learning.
本研究考察了英语重音与窄焦点韵律之间的对准关系的声学特征，并探讨了母语韵律与英语截然不同的第二语言学习者是如何学习这种对准关系的。进行了一项产生实验，要求以英语为母语的人和以英语为第二语言的韩国学习者大声朗读带有各种重音模式的三音节单词的句子，这些句子有一个窄焦点（例如，ánimal、Novémber、submaríne）。在母语英语的产生中，重读音节的特征是 F0 轮廓上升（用于词首重音）或周期性能量增加（用于词中重音和词尾重音）。韩国学习者（KSs）无论重音位置如何，都用上升的 F0 轮廓来发出重读音节，这与母语使用者不同，并且他们在词中重音和词尾重音上表现出更大的周期性能量，与母语使用者相似。此外，英语水平较高的 KSs 通过在词首重读音节后立即出现焦点后 F0 下降，表现出更接近母语的模式。这些发现将在现有文献和潜在因素的背景下进行讨论，这些因素可能导致第二语言韵律学习中观察到的挑战。
