Segmental repair and interactional intelligibility: The relationship between consonant deletion, consonant insertion, and pronunciation intelligibility in English as a Lingua Franca in Japan

Beyond intelligibility: ‘Transintelligibility’ phenomena in English as a Lingua Franca interactions

“…While recent SLA and world Englishes research has tended to examine both intelligibility and comprehensibility (e.g., Orikasa, ; Saito & Shintani, ), it is fair to say that intelligibility remains the major, if not the singular, focus of ELF phonology studies. Whether the study focuses on pedagogical contexts (e.g., Schaller‐Schwaner, ), interview data (e.g., Deterding, ), conversations among university students (e.g., Matsumoto, ; O'Neal, , ), or air traffic controllers and airline pilots (e.g., Kim & Billington, ), intelligibility assumes a major importance in ELF phonology studies.…”

“…Nevertheless, it is possible that the perspectives of some ELF researchers do not reflect the orientation of speakers in ELF interactions. Of course, within ELF interactions, speakers can and do strive to maintain mutual intelligibility, orienting to its maintenance as a major interactional goal (Matsumoto, ; O'Neal, ). Yet, within ELF interactions, speakers might also orient to states beyond the maintenance of mutual intelligibility as the goal.…”

“…One way that the state of mutual intelligibility can be assessed from an emic perspective is through segmental repair analysis (e.g., Brouwer, ; Matsumoto, ; O'Neal, ). Segmental repair analysis utilizes the orientation of the interlocutor to the pronunciation as intelligible or unintelligible to make claims about the status of mutual intelligibility.…”

“…Although CA studies of suprasegmental phonology (e.g., French & Local, ) date back to the genesis of CA, the application of CA methodology to the study of segmental phonology is a relatively recent phenomenon (e.g., Brouwer, ; Matsumoto, ). This is somewhat puzzling because segmental phonology is just as negotiable and subject to repair as any other aspect of language (Matsumoto, ; O'Neal, , ). And one domain in which segmental phonology might especially be relevant is within English as a lingua franca (ELF) interactions, in which speakers from different linguistic and cultural backgrounds communicate with each other with varied pronunciations.…”

“…ELF studies of segmental phonology have revealed important insights into the nature of intelligible segmental pronunciation (Deterding, ; Jenkins, ). Other ELF phonological studies have demonstrated the extent to which mutually intelligible segmental pronunciation is negotiated and co‐constructed through interactions (Matsumoto, ; O'Neal, , ). Yet, the focus of these studies has been rather limited.…”