Field, John

Intelligibility and the listener: The role of lexical stress

I. Introduction

Studies have traced correlations between feature of nonnative speech and native speakers’

intelligibility judgments. The present article focuses on single prosodic

element, lexical stress, and shifts the focus of study to the listener.

NLs = native listenersNNLs = nonnative listeners

Characteristically Characteristically

Intelligibility : The ConstructIntelligibility : The Construct

Contributory FactorsContributory Factors Jenner’s [1989]Jenkins [2000]

Supra-segmental FeaturesSupra-segmental Features

The characteristics of the segments (i.e. individual sounds) of speech: place and manner of articulation and voicing for consonants; tongue height and advancement, lip rounding, and tenseness for vowels.

The characteristics of supra-segmental of speech: speech sounds may also have length, intonation, tone, and stress.

Segmental VS Suprasegmental Segmental VS Suprasegmental FeaturesFeatures

Lexical StressLexical Stress

Lexical StressLexical Stress

Materials

WS= Weak strongSW = Strong weak

Participants

NNL

NL