Acoustic Correlates of English Lexical Stress Produced by Chinese Dialect Speakers Compared to Native English Speakers

English second language learners often experience difficulties in producing native-like English lexical stress. It is unknown which acoustic correlates, such as fundamental frequency (F0), duration, and intensity, are the most problematic for Chinese dialect speakers. The present study investigated the prosodic transfer effects of first language (L1) regional dialects on the production of English stress contrasts. Native English speakers (N = 20) and Chinese learners (N = 60) with different dialect backgrounds (Beijing, Changsha, and Guangzhou dialects) produced the same stimulus including both trochaic and iambic patterns. Results showed that (a) all participants produced the stressed syllable with greater values of F0, duration, and intensity; (b) Native speakers of English employed an exquisite combination of F0, duration, and intensity, while the dialect groups transfer their native prosody into their production of English lexical stress, resulting in the deviation or abnormality of acoustic cues. Results suggest that L1 native dialect background is considered as a potentially influential factor which may transfer in L2 speech encoding and decoding process.

Automated summary

This study investigated the difficulties that English second language learners face in producing native-like English lexical stress, and how these difficulties are related to their native dialect backgrounds. The results showed that native English speakers employed an exquisite combination of acoustic features, while learners with dialect backgrounds transferred their native prosody, resulting in deviations or abnormalities in acoustic cues.