Linguistic Dimensions of Accentedness and Comprehensibility

This study explored the effects of task and listeners’ linguistic background on judgments of accentedness and comprehensibility in second language (L2) French. Forty Spanish speakers of L2 French recorded a picture narrative and answered an interview question. These audio samples were assessed by native French listeners with (n = 10) and without (n = 10) knowledge of L2 Spanish using 1,000‐point sliding scales to evaluate accentedness and comprehensibility, as well as nine linguistic variables targeting pronunciation, fluency, lexis, grammar, and discourse. In the picture narrative task (cognitively less complex), accentedness could be distinguished from comprehensibility at the level of the linguistic dimensions associated with each construct. While accentedness was related to pronunciation and fluency (consonant and vowel errors, intonation, speech rate), comprehensibility was additionally linked to lexis (accuracy, richness), grammar (accuracy, complexity), and discourse richness. However, in the interview task (cognitively more complex), both accentedness and comprehensibility had similar linguistic profiles, associated with all nine linguistic variables. Listeners’ experience with L2 Spanish had little impact on listener ratings of accentedness or comprehensibility in both tasks. Findings are discussed in relation to L2 instruction and the role of task complexity in targeting various dimensions of L2 accentedness and comprehensibility

Fluency · Grammar · Lexis · Linguistics · Mathematics education · Phonetics · Pronunciation · Task (project management · EFL/ESL Teaching and Learning · Linguistic Variation and Morphology · Phonetics and Phonology Research · Psychology

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