The intelligibility of English verbs in the simple past tense

Abstract

This study investigated the intelligibility of English verbs in the simple past inserted in sentences. The verbs were produced by two adult native speakers of English and six adult nonnative speakers, and they were transcribedby 13 adult Brazilian listeners. Results indicated that the intelligibility rate of regular verbs was similar to the irregular ones, and that the intelligibility of verbs produced by BP talkers was similar to the Spanish talkers. The intelligibility rate of German talkers, on the other hand, was lower than the intelligibility of BP and Spanish talkers but higher than the intelligibility of verbs produced by native speakers.

Intelligibility of English regular verbs in the past tense: A study with Brazilian listeners and speakers of different L1s

“…On the other hand, as occurred in Delatorre, Silveira and Gonçalves (2017) and displayed in Tables 3 and 4, the number of verbs with low intelligibility rate (lower than 21.4%) was higher than the number of verbs with high intelligibility (higher than 71%) in both intelligibility tests. For instance, the low intelligibility rates of verbs 'trained,' (ANTOSEN, 2007), which may be used in English as an L2 (YAVAS, 1994).…”

“…However, Munro and Derwing (2015) propose that studies on L2 pronunciation may go further and focus on L2 learners' intelligibility (i.e., how much an utterance is actually understood), for instance. Silveira et al (2017) revealed that most studies conducted in Brazil have focused on the perception and production of single segments in cross-sectional studies, and few of them had investigated suprasegmental features or the intelligibility of English sounds.…”

“…Regarding the linguistic form investigated in the present study (i.e., verbs ending in -ed), previous studies with Brazilian Portuguese (BP) and/or Spanish L1 speakers learning English revealed that learners tend to add an epenthetic vowel when pronouncing regular verbs in the past tense (e.g., ALVES, 2004;CABELLERO;ROSADO, 2018;DAVILA, 2018;DELATORRE, 2006DELATORRE, , 2010BAPTISTA, 2014;FERNANDES, 2009;FRESE, 2006;GOMES, 2009;MARIANO, 2009;PEREIRA, 1994;ALVES, 2009). Furthermore, studies with Brazilians have investigated (a) the relationship between verb perception and production (e.g., FRESE, 2006, SILVEIRA;ALVES, 2009); (b) verb perception only (e.g., ROSSINO; FRACARO; BRAWERMAN-ALBINI, 2019;, (c) the effects of instruction or perceptual training in verb production (e.g., ALVES, 2004;;BAPTISTA, 2014;MARIANO, 2009; SILVEIRA; ALVES, 2009), and, (d) verb intelligibility (e.g., DELATORRE; SILVEIRA; GONÇALVES, 2017;FERNANDES, 2009; GOMES; BRAWERMAN-ALBINI; ENGELBERT, 2014;RIELLA, 2013).…”

“…It is a fact that communication and interaction among English speakers, either native or non-native, have increased (BABBONI; QUAST, 2020;CRYSTAL, 2003;KACHRU, 1985;ROSA, 2020;ROXAS, 2018;SMITH;NELSON, 1985). Thus, considering the growing interest on intelligibility studies and the fact that the production of regular verbs ending in -ed by Brazilians tends to deviate from the target-like patterns GONÇALVES, 2017), the present study investigates the intelligibility of verbs ending in -ed when these verbs are produced by speakers from different L1 backgrounds, including native and non-native speakers of English.…”

“…Silveira and Gonçalves (2017) 3 investigated the intelligibility of English verbs ending in -ed. Thirty-two sentences containing 24 regular and eight irregular verbs in the simple past were audio-recorded by eight speakers 4 of English from different L1 backgrounds (BP, Spanish, German, English).…”