The ups and downs of learner intonation: a cross-language and longitudinal investigation of the intonation systems of L2 learners
Lead Research Organisation:
Bangor University
Department Name: Speech and Hearing Sciences
Abstract
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Organisations
People |
ORCID iD |
| Ineke Mennen (Principal Investigator) |
Publications
Anja Kuschmann (Speaker)
(2009)
Applying the autosegmental-metrical (AM) approach to disordered speech : the case of foreign accent syndrome (FAS)
Anja Kuschmann (Speaker)
(2010)
The dimensions of intonation in foreign accent syndrome
Anja Kuschmann (Speaker)
(2011)
Assessing the underlying nature of intonation disturbance in foreign accent syndrome
Anja Kuschmann (Speaker)
(2010)
Acoustic cues to givenness in foreign accent syndrome
Christiane Ulbrich (Speaker)
(2009)
Segments and intonation in L2 speech
De Leeuw E
(2012)
Dynamic systems, maturational constraints and L1 phonetic attrition
in International Journal of Bilingualism
De Leeuw E
(2011)
Singing a different tune in your native language: first language attrition of prosody
in International Journal of Bilingualism
Howell, Peter; Borsel, John Van
(2011)
Multilingual Aspects of Fluency Disorders
Ineke Mennen (Author)
(2010)
Characterising the internal structure of learner intonation and its development over time
Ineke Mennen (Author)
(2010)
A 'basic variety' in learner intonation and its development over time
| Description | This project set out to intonationally label speech of second language (L2) English spoken by adult Punjabi and Italian learners and L2 German spoken by adult Italian learners (taken from an existing database), and make the resulting intonation corpus publicly available. This e-LiLT corpus is now freely downloadable at http://corpus1.mpi.nl/ds/imdi_browser/ (under MPI corporaAcquisitionL2 Acquisitione-LiLt). A further aim was to analyse and compare learner intonation varieties of these learners and to describe and compare how they develop over time. Transcriptions and analyses were carried out along four areas of intonation: inventory (pattern of pitch accents and boundary tones), realisation (how these patterns are realised), distribution (their frequency), and function (how patterns are used to mark interrogativity) at two longitudinal moments (first ten months, and twenty to thirty months after the learners' arrival in the host country). Results show striking similarities across learners in most dimensions of intonation, particularly in inventory and function, regardless of the source (SL) or target language (TL). Learners start out with a rich inventory consisting of four to five pitch accents and all possible boundary tones, and are able to use intonation to signal interrogativity. SL influences were mostly confined to the distribution and phonetic realisation of some pitch accents and/or boundary tones. Longitudinal development appears to be slow but similar across the different SL and TL pairings, and also mostly restricted to the level of phonetic realisation and distribution. The results suggest that there may be universal patterns in acquiring the intonation system of an L2. |
| Exploitation Route | Our expertise with developing techniques for handling our large corpus have led to similar methods being used by Dr Fredrik Karlsson in a project on Parkinson's Disease at the Department of Clinical Sciences, Speech Therapy Unit, Umeå University. Dr Kuschmann and Dr Lowit at the University of Strathclyde use this methodology to assess the underlying difficulty of prosodic difficulties in a number of motor speech disorders, e.g. ataxia of speech, dysarthria, foreign accent syndrome. It appears that our methodology is suitable for a wider population than originally envisaged, and we believe it can help identify the underlying source of prosodic difficulties in (first and second) language acquisition, as well as in a range of clinical populations, including people with aphasia, dysarthria, stuttering, cerebral palsy, hearing impairment, etc. It may also be useful in teaching and speech therapy. |
| Sectors | Education,Healthcare |
| Description | The early impacts of the project have been mostly scientific. First, we have developed an innovative research approach. The novelty of the method lies in its departure from the target deviation approach and its focus on similarities between learners and their longitudinal development along four dimensions of the intonational system. This novel research approach has already been adopted by other researchers in this and associated fields, and has led to new research initiatives. For example, Dr Aoju Chen (our collaborator at the MPI) adopted a similar approach in her research on child acquisition of intonation. Our approach has also been adopted in the field of clinical linguistics and neuroscience: Anja Kuschmann and Dr Anja Lowit (University of Strathclyde), have used it in their work on patients with Foreign Accent Syndrome; and Amaia Munarriz and Dr Maria-José Ezeizabarrena (University of the Basque Country) have used it in their work on bilingual aphasia. Their studies show the enormous potential of this approach to identify the underlying nature of intonation disorders in a variety of clinical populations and it is hoped that this will ultimately increase the effectiveness of clinical management. Secondly, we have carried out a large number of dissemination activities. So far, we have presented 8 papers at conferences (of which two key note addresses) and workshops, published 1 conference paper (Mennen et al. 2010, see ESRC Society Today), created a project website (http://bilingualism.bangor.ac.uk/research/intonation.php.en), and made our e-LiLT corpus available to the public (http://corpus1.mpi.nl/ds/imdi_browser/ under MPI corporaAcquisitionL2 Acquisitione-LiLt) and publicised it through the ESRC Centre for Research on Bilingualism in Theory and Practice and our website. We also described our methodology in two book chapters aimed at researchers and practitioners in the field of stuttering (Mennen, in press) and motor speech disorders (Kuschmann et al., in press) (see ESRC Society Today). We aimed to disseminate to a variety of audiences, including clinical linguists (i.e. by inviting researchers to visit our lab), neuroscientists (Workshop on Neurobilingualism, 2009), linguists and speech technologists (at Speech Prosody 2008), second language acquisition and language pedagogy (EuroSLA, 2009, New Sounds 2010), and phoneticians (BAAP 2010). Finally, our expertise with developing techniques for handling our large corpus have led to similar techniques (especially those for data extraction and file organisation) being used by our former research fellow in a project on Parkinson's Disease at the Department of Clinical Sciences, Speech Therapy Unit, Umeå University. It has since also been used by Dr Kuschmann and Dr Lowit in their studies of various clinical populations. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2010 |
| Sector | Education,Healthcare |
| Impact Types | Societal |
| Title | e-LiLT corpus - electronic longitudinal intonation learning transcripts |
| Description | The e-LiLT corpus includes intonationally labeled speech of free conversations of (i) two groups of speakers from a structurally different source languages (SL), Punjabi and Italian, learning the same target languages (TL), English, and (ii) two groups with the same SL (Italian) learning a different TL (English and German). |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2010 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | The most important impact of this database is that it has led directly to the development of a model to account for second and foreign language acquisition of L2 prosody, the LILT model. |
| URL | http://corpus1.mpi.nl/ds/imdi_browser/?openpath=MPI14765%23 |
| Description | A "basic variety" in intonation? : similarities between acquisition and breakdown of intonation in bilingual and aphasic speakers |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | AHRC workshop series - One brain, two languages: bridging neuroscience and linguistics. Workshop 3 - Bilingualism and Aphasia: Assessment and intervention None so far |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2009 |
| URL | http://bilingualism.bangor.ac.uk/events/documents/ProgrammeWorkshop3.pdf |
| Description | Apo pou eisai : how pronunciation can reveal your language background |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Undergraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Invited paper presented at the Department of Language and Literature, University of Patras, Greece (24 May 2011) Resulted in invitation for another presentation elsewhere |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2011 |
| Description | Colloquium : characterising pronunciation talent in L2 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Scientific meeting (conference/symposium etc.) |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Type Of Presentation | workshop facilitator |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.) |
| Results and Impact | Special Colloquium held at the 7th International Symposium on Bilingualism (ISB7). Utrecht, 8-11 July 2009. Convener: I. Mennen. None I am aware of |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2009 |
| URL | http://cms.hum.uu.nl/isb7/programme.php |
| Description | Evidence for language (in)dependent phonetic representation in the bilingual mind : a case of acquired apraxia of speech |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.) |
| Results and Impact | Poster presentation None I am aware of |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2010 |
| URL | http://www.bcbl.eu/events/neurobilingualism/speakers/desde0/ver/137/ |
| Description | How pronunciation can reveal your language background |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Undergraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Invited paper presented at the Department of Language and Literature, University of Padova, Italy (10 March 2011). Further collaboration with academics at Padova Uni |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2011 |
| Description | Pitching it differently : prosody in second language speech learning |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Invited paper presented at the Linguistic Circle, School of Linguistics and English Language There was more interest from students in this type of research. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2011 |
| Description | Prosody in L2 speech learning |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Invited paper presented at the Phonology Colloquium This directly resulted in more requests for information |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2010 |
| Description | Question intonation in untutored L2 English learners : a cross-linguistic and longitudinal study |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.) |
| Results and Impact | Paper presented at the Learner Varieties project meeting None I am aware of |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2009 |
| URL | http://www.learner-varieties.eu/Paris2009/L2project_meeting_Paris_Mennen_Karlsson_Chen.pdf |
| Description | Second language intonation : theory, practice, and the way forward |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.) |
| Results and Impact | Invited paper presentation at the Department of Linguistics and Phonetics Further collaboration with staff at Uni Lund |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2011 |
| URL | http://www.sol.lu.se/current/calendarEventsBySubject.html?subjectId=45&type=guest_lecture&expand_men... |
| Description | Theoretical and practical issues in intonation research |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Undergraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Invited paper presented at the Department of Language and Literature, University of Padova, Italy (10 March 2011). Resulted in an invitation for a plenary at a conference the year after, and collaboration with an academic there. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2011 |
| Description | Where are you from? : how pronunciation can reveal your language background |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Public lecture presented at the Public Lecture Series Requests from public for more information |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2011 |
| URL | http://bilingualism.bangor.ac.uk/public_lecture.php.en?catid=&subid=8381 |