Perception of Accent in Learner English: Effects of Prosodic Characteristics and Native Language

Non-native speech is perceived as accented by a native ear. Accentedness is judged by the degree to which the non-native production of an utterance is perceived differently from the production patterns of native speakers (Fox, 2000). Trofimovich and Baker (2006) suggested that the degree of accentedness is not only associated with segmental deviations from the native speech, but is also resulted from the prosodic differences between the speakers’ native language (L1) and second language (L2). The importance of suprasegmentals in accentedness judgments is also supported by Bond et al. (2003), Munro (1995), and Sato (1995). This study will examine and compare contributions of prosodic features to native speaker’s judgment of accents in Cantonese and Mandarin speakers’ English, as well as L2 listeners’ self-perception of accent, the latter of which is ignored in literature but should provide insights into the relationship of perception and production in second language speech learning.