Tomkova@Accents 2012
Kateřina Tomková, Brno, CZ
http://www.kultura-brno.cz/sites/default/files/vyberova_rizeni/brnenske_vanoce_2011_666.jpg

Tomkova@Accents2012
Perceptions
of Non-Native Pronunciation of English
by Native Speakers

Tomkova@Accents2012
EXPERIENCE AND MOTIVATION
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•Teaching English since 1986
•Specializing in Phonetics since 1991
•Running the TomCat Playgroup since 1993
•Adrian Underhill: Sound Foundations (1996)
•J.C.Wells: Summer Course of English Phonetics at UCL(1996)

figure 5



Tomkova@Accents2012
What next ???
•Rhetorics ?
•Elocution ?
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» NO !!!

 Tomkova@Accents2012
Instead, by studying the PERCEPTIONS
of non-native pronunciation of English, to find out which aspects of pronunciation are vital for
positive/negative personality perception.

Tomkova@Accents2012
THE CORPUS
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•15 non-native speakers of English
•Texts for them to read; a question to answer
•Recordings
•5+1 assessors, native speakers of English
•Questionnaires

Tomkova@Accents2012
EVALUATION
•Phonetic assessment
•based on the system devised in 1996.
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•Sociolinguistic assessment based on Questionnaires; criteria: intelligibility, confidence speaking
English, elligibility for a childminding job, appropriateness of speech behaviour. Other criteria
(secondary) not fully used.
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•Correlations between them

Tomkova@Accents2012
CORRELATIONS
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•The group of 4 best speakers by phonetic criteria remained unchanged.
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•Two shifts occurred between the 5 average speakers and 6 inferior speakers. Speakers 11 and 3
obtained much better results by perception than by phonetic criteria.
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Tomkova@Accents2012
COMMON FEATURES
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•Their speech is appropriately loud.
•Their speech is appropriately slow.
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•In other words, their loudness is sufficient for being comfortably heard,
•and their tempo is sufficiently moderate for their pronunciation mistakes to be decoded.

Tomkova@Accents2012
CONCLUSIONS AND PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS
In teaching, appropriate LOUDNESS and TEMPO must be emphasized.
ECHOING is to be avoided.

Tomkova@Accents2012
AUTHENTIC COMMENTS on the author’s pronunciation
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•A)     Nemluvíš jako Angličanka. Mluvíš
•      jiným tónem.
• [You don’t speak as if you were English. You use a different tone.]
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Tomkova@Accents2012
AUTHENTIC COMMENTS on the author’s pronunciation
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•B)  I didn’t know you were foreign.
•C)  I knew at once you were foreign.
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•D)  How many O-levels have you got?
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•E)  You speak like an upper-middle class person.
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•F)   Mrs. Tomkova’s accent is better than mine.
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Tomkova@Accents2012
AUTHENTIC COMMENTS on the author’s pronunciation
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•F)  Mrs. Tomkova’s accent is better than mine.
•G)  You speak a bit American.
•H)  You sound very British, we’ll work on that.
•I)    I don’t usually understand a word of what the British say but you’re very intelligible.

Tomkova@Accents2012
AUTHENTIC COMMENTS
on other foreign pronunciation
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•J)  I’ll turn the volume up for you.
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•K)  Someone speaks with an Irish accent here. Keep it!
•L)  Your accent is charming.
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•M)  You sound like a Russian spy in a James Bond movie.

Tomkova@Accents2012
AUTHENTIC COMMENTS on other foreign pronunciation
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•N)  ………. – Pardon me?
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•O)  My name’s Tom. – Dominic?
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•P)  Camden Town, please. – Kensington?
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•Q)  The one with the Czech accent?
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Tomkova@Accents2012
AUTHENTIC COMMENTS made among native speakers
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•R)  When did you first become aware of the special rhythmicality of English? - Not until I started
Spanish.
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•S)  Never mind Phil’s accent, he’s O.K.
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•T)  Oh? You’re Canadian, aren’t you?
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Tomkova@Accents2012
AUTHENTIC COMMENTS made by Czech speakers
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•U)  My name’s David Konečný.
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•V)  Těm Angličanům se vůbec nedá rozumět. Víc toho neřeknou než řeknou.
•[It’s ever so hard to understand the English. They swallow more than they say.
•

Tomkova@Accents2012
AUTHENTIC COMMENTS made by Czech speakers
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•W)  Já jsem té Angličance říkal všechno tak zřetelně a ona dělala, že mi nerozumí.
•[I was so distinct speaking to the English person and she pretended not to understand me.]
•X)  Té angličtiny jsem nechala. Připadalo mi, že ze sebe dělám šaška.
•[I quit English classes. I felt I was making a fool of myself.]

Tomkova@Accents2012
AUTHENTIC COMMENTS made by Czech speakers
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•Y)  Otevři hubu, vole.
•[Open your yapper, man.]
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•Z)  Čeština mě namáhá víc.
•[Czech requires more of my effort.]

Tomkova@Accents2012
CONCLUSIONS
QUESTIONS
INVITATION TO DISCUSSION SESSION ON EURO-ENGLISH THIS AFTERNOON
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tomcat logo.JPG
Tomkova@Accents2012
Thank you for your attention and have a
Meowy Christmas !

Brno again…