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Published on: September 27, 2024
Vowel features in Turkish accented English
Manwa L Ng1, Yang Chen, Janine Sadaka
1University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China SAR.
International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology
|September 16, 2010
Summary
Native Turkish speakers producing English vowels showed significant acoustic deviations from native American English speakers. Perceptual accent correlated with these precise acoustic differences in vowel production.
Area of Science:
- Phonetics and phonology
- Second language acquisition
- Acoustic analysis of speech
Background:
- English vowels present unique phonetic challenges for speakers of languages like Turkish.
- Understanding cross-linguistic influence on vowel production is crucial for accent reduction and intelligibility.
Purpose of the Study:
- To acoustically and perceptually quantify the English vowel accent of native Turkish speakers.
- To compare the production of English vowels shared with Turkish (close vowels) versus those unique to English (distant vowels).
Main Methods:
- Acoustic analysis of first (F1) and second (F2) formant frequencies for 11 English monophthongs produced by Turkish-accented English (TE) and native American English (AE) speakers.
- Calculation of Euclidean distance (ED) between TE and AE vowel formants.
- A perceptual experiment assessing accent in TE speakers' English by native English listeners.
Main Results:
- TE speakers demonstrated considerable acoustic deviation from AE speakers in vowel production, despite comparable production of close and distant vowels.
- Euclidean distance values did not significantly differ between close and distant vowels.
- Perceived accent levels directly correlated with acoustic findings, indicating production precision.
Conclusions:
- Native Turkish speakers exhibit measurable acoustic differences in English vowel production compared to native speakers.
- The degree of perceived accent in English vowels produced by Turkish speakers aligns with acoustic measurements.
- Both acoustic and perceptual data are vital for understanding and addressing accent in second language learners.
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