Doctoral Dissertation Research: The production and perception of subject focus prosody in second languages

博士论文研究：第二语言主题焦点韵律的产生与感知

• 批准号: 1551625
• 负责人: Meghan Armstrong
• 金额: $ 1.5万
• 依托单位: University of Massachusetts Amherst
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2016
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2016-03-15 至 2018-02-28
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1551625&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; production; perception

English and Spanish are the most widely spoken languages in the United States, and the number of Spanish speakers continues to grow. As such, more Americans who grew up speaking only English are interested in acquiring Spanish as a second language. Nonetheless, mistakes in grammar and mispronunciation can often lead to unsuccessful communication. While second language instruction tends to focus on the acquisition of vocabulary, syntax and the sounds of the target language, little attention is paid to intonation, or the melody of speech. Importantly, non-native intonation has been shown to cause misunderstandings in terms of the intentions a speaker is trying to convey. Intonation conveys a wide array of meanings, including (but by no means limited to) sentence-type, surprise, focus and politeness. Non-native speakers tend to transfer the melodies associated with specific meanings in their native tongue to their second language, but the relationship between intonation and its many meanings differs from language to language. Therefore, non-native speakers often unintentionally communicate the wrong meaning in their second language. For example, it has been shown that native speakers of Spanish sound rude to English speakers since they use less exaggerated pitch movements, while English speakers may sound over-excited to Spanish-speaking listeners. Therefore, there is a great need for instructors to focus on intonation in the classroom. More research is needed to understand what specific types of issues learners might face when learning the intonation patterns of a second language, and the meanings associated with them. The present study focuses on how intonation is used to signal information status, that is, whether information in a conversation is new or old to the listener. For instance, if A asks B "Who ate the cake? ", B can respond, "Mary ate the cake". The intonation used on the word "Mary" in this context could differ when compared to a context where A says to B, "Sarah ate the cake", while B knows that it was actually Mary that ate the cake. Here B could use corrective intonation to indicate that A was wrong: "MARY ate the cake". At the same time, reduced intonational prominence might be given to the words ate the cake in the second scenario since the fact that someone ate the cake was already activated in the conversation. This shows that speakers are aware of whether information in conversation is new or old, and modify their intonation patterns based on these differences. However, Spanish and English differ in their intonational strategies for doing so. This research aims to understand how learners who have not received formal instruction on the uses of intonation become aware of intonational differences throughout the learning process. Ms. Sanchez will carry out both production and perception experiments designed to understand how U.S. college students are able to produce and comprehend Spanish intonational strategies for conveying information status. While the work is of theoretical importance, there are practical and pedagogical implications that should allow for non-native speakers to better convey their intentions and understand the intentions of others.

英语和西班牙语是美国使用最广泛的语言，说西班牙语的人数还在持续增长。因此，更多从小只会说英语的美国人对将西班牙语作为第二语言学习感兴趣。尽管如此，语法错误和发音错误往往会导致沟通失败。虽然第二语言教学往往侧重于词汇、句法和目标语言语音的习得，但对语调或语音的旋律却很少关注。重要的是，非母语语调被证明会在说话者试图传达的意图方面造成误解。语调传达了各种各样的意义，包括(但绝不限于)句型、惊讶、焦点和礼貌。非母语者倾向于将母语中与特定意义相关的旋律转移到第二语言中，但语调与其多种意义之间的关系因语言而异。因此，非母语人士经常无意中用他们的第二语言传达错误的意思。例如，研究表明，母语为西班牙语的人听起来很粗鲁，因为他们使用较少夸张的音调动作，而说英语的人听起来可能会对说西班牙语的人过于兴奋。因此，教师非常需要在课堂上专注于语调。需要更多的研究来了解学习者在学习第二语言的语调模式时可能面临的具体类型的问题，以及与这些问题相关的意义。本研究的重点是语调如何被用来表示信息状态，即对话中的信息对听者来说是新的还是旧的。例如，如果A问B“谁吃了蛋糕？”，B可以回答，“Mary吃了蛋糕”。当A对B说“Sarah吃了蛋糕”，而B知道吃蛋糕的实际上是Mary时，在这个语境中，“Mary”这个词的语调可能会有所不同。在这里，B可以用正确的语调来表示A是错的：“Mary吃了蛋糕”。同时，在第二种情况下，由于某人吃蛋糕的事实在对话中已经被激活，因此可能会降低语调突显。这表明说话人意识到对话中的信息是新的还是旧的，并根据这些差异修改他们的语调模式。然而，西班牙语和英语在语调策略上有所不同。本研究旨在了解没有接受过正式语调训练的学习者是如何在整个学习过程中意识到语调差异的。桑切斯将进行发音和感知实验，旨在了解美国大学生如何发音和理解西班牙语语调策略，以传达信息状态。虽然这项工作具有理论上的重要性，但也有实际和教学上的影响，应该允许非母语人士更好地传达他们的意图并理解其他人的意图。