An acoustic study of real and imagined foreigner-directed speech

Abstract

The acoustic properties of foreigner-directed speech are surprisingly understudied, and many existing studies evoke imagined interlocutors to elicit foreigner-directed speech. This study provides an acoustic comparison of foreignerdirected and native-directed speech in real and imaginary conditions. Ten native U.S. English speakers described the path between landmarks on a map to two confederate listeners (one native English speaker and one native Mandarin speaker) and to two imagined listeners (described as a native U.S. English speaker and a non-native speaker). Vowel duration, rate of speech, and vowel space size were examined across native/foreigner and real/imagined conditions. Stressed vowels were longer, rate of speech was slower, and vowel space distances were expanded in the foreigner-directed and imaginary conditions than in the native-directed and real ones. Speakers made acoustic-phonetic adjustments in foreignerdirected speech that are consistent with those seen in listener-directed clear speech, and these additional adjustments were made for both native and foreign listeners when the listener was imagined rather than real.

Communicative efficiency in language production: Optional case-marking in Japanese

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