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Phone durations in multi-syllable words with Czech analogues in Czech English
Růžek, Jan ; Volín, Jan (advisor) ; Skarnitzl, Radek (referee)
This diploma thesis examines the foreign accent of Czech speakers in English. We focus on the factor of phone duration, which relates to both segmental and prosodic levels of phonetic description and is one of the correlates of prosodic prominence and speech rhythm. 84 words were selected from the texts avaible in the Prague Phonetic Corpus that have analogues in the loanword lexicon of Czech. Pronunciations of these words by native speakers (professional radio reporters) were compared with productions by Czech university students. The students were recorded prior to atteding a course in English phonetics. Based on our observations of durational patterns, we infer some plausible tendencies to be expected in Czech production of English. As durational interference from Czech into English has up to this date been a relatively unresearch domain, the present study adopts a qualitative research methodology. Keywords: Duration, Foreign Accent, Czech English, Interference 6
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Perceptual evaluation of rhythmic features in Czech English
Hanzlíková, Dagmar ; Volín, Jan (advisor) ; Klégr, Aleš (referee)
The aim of this thesis is to investigate the effect of changes in speech rhythm on the perception of personality traits which are detectable in speech. The theoretical part is concerned with the description of some important theories in the field of psychology of personality, then with summarizing research done in the effects of foreign-accented speech on perception, and finally with presenting the issue of speech rhythm with a focus on representative studies of speech rhythm and its effect on speech perception. In an independently designed experiment, the changes in speech rhythm were created by manipulating the durational patterns and pitch contours. Subsequently a perceptual test was prepared. Twenty subjects were asked to evaluate individual speech samples and rate to what extent they would characterize the speaker by the given personality trait. The results from the perceptual tests were analyzed from multiple points of view: the effects of the manipulations on the perception in general, and then in relation to the nationality of the speaker (native vs. non-native speaker), to the personality trait in question, and in relation to the individual speakers and items. The results showed some tendencies for example in perception of honesty in relation to durational patterns, or in perception of...
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Durational variation of segments in read speech of Czech and British speakers of English
Urbanová, Darina ; Volín, Jan (advisor) ; Studenovský, David (referee)
The study focuses on durational variation of segments in read speech of Czech and British speakers of English. The variation in segmental duration was examined in the speech of three Czech and three British speakers with respect to individual vowel and consonant categories. Furthermore, stress and intonation phrase boundary were explored as possible factors influencing segmental duration. The theoretical part of the study focuses on two main topics. The first is foreign accent with regard to accentedness, intelligibility and comprehensibility as well as in connection to its implications and factors which might influence its degree. The second part contains theoretical background about the time domain of speech concerning segmental duration in Czech and English, the area of rhythm, the importance of durational cues in perception and a short survey of factors reported to affect segmental duration. Czech accent in English and the importance of duration in foreign language are also covered. In the empirical part of the study, Czech speakers were found to miss the appropriate proportions between individual vowel categories and realize their long vowels as slightly too short. They lacked an adequate degree of durational contrast in stressed and unstressed vowels when compared to the British speakers. With regard...
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Relationship between the strength of foreign accent and the presence of glottalization
Moravcová, Jana ; Skarnitzl, Radek (advisor) ; Weingartová, Lenka (referee)
In this paper, we are interested in what the part of glottalization is in a foreign accent. We focus on Czech speakers of English and an evaluation of their utterances. Those speakers analyzed for the purposes of this paper were evaluated in advance by a perceptual test. In accordance with the results of the test, they were divided into three groups: A, containing those speakers with an English close to the native standard; C, containing speakers with a strong Czech accent; and B, containing speakers with a detectable foreign accent which, however, is not evaluated as a Czech one. The aim of this paper is to determine in what way speakers of each group use glottalization and whether the use is identical to the assumptions of the previous studies.
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Impact of Intersonorant Voicing on the Perception of Foreing Accent in the Speech of Advanced Czech Learners of English
Dvořáková, Martina ; Červinková Poesová, Kristýna (advisor) ; Matuchová, Klára (referee)
This thesis aims at exploring the impact of intersonorant voicing (/ˈbeɪzɪk/ instead of /beɪsɪk/) that frequently occurs in the speech of Czech learners of English on the degree of foreign accentedness. To evaluate this phenomenon, the method of a perception test was used. The sample phrases with and without the aforementioned mistake were evaluated by native speakers of the English language. The result of their observation, the level of foreign accentedness, was marked on a seven point scale and analysed by the author with the aim of either confirming or rejecting two original hypotheses concerning the relationship between the intersonorant voicing and foreign accentedness when featured in various positions.
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Relationship between the strength of Czech accent and the duration of vowels before obstruents
Fejlová, Dita ; Skarnitzl, Radek (advisor) ; Tichý, Ondřej (referee)
This bachelor thesis aims to inspect the presence or absence of a feature called pre- fortis shortening in English spoken by Czechs. The term denotes the shortening of a vowel preceding a voiceless obstruent. This feature is known to appear in various languages like Russian, French, Italian; indeed, Matthew Chen even suggests it is language-universal. In English the feature is very prominent and because it affects speech perception, it is even considered a primary indicator of the voicing of the following obstruent. A study included in this thesis examines the extent to which 12 female speakers of Czech English, sorted into 3 categories according to their proficiency in pronunciation, mark the distinction between words like "bet" and "bed" by vowel shortening. The study does not exploit minimal pairs like these, but vowel-obstruent sequences taken from long read passages of BBC news. The the fortis/lenis character of the final obstruent contained in these sequences is a discerning parameter which always separates the data into two groups, the vowel durations of which are then compared. Statistical analysis of the data showed that contrary to the expectations, speakers with native-like pronunciation were not the ones who displayed the most massive usage of pre-fortis shortening. Possible reasons for...
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Acoustic analysis of the vowel /æ/ in the Czech pronunciation of English
Šturm, Pavel ; Skarnitzl, Radek (advisor) ; Marková, Petra (referee)
The subject of the thesis is acoustic analysis of the open front vowel /æ/ in the read speech of Czech students of English. The thesis deals with the differences between Czech students and native speakers of British English, as well as the differences among individual Czech speakers. The focus on this particular area in the vocalic space derives from the widespread difficulty encountered at the acquisition of the open front vowel by Czech students. Foreign accent in general is nowadays of great interest, in both general and applied research. The theoretical part of the thesis is therefore concerned not only with issues of acoustic description of vowels (formants and vocal tract resonances) and vowel systems of the languages in question (including regional differences), but also with second language acquisition. Important concepts discussed here are contrast and linguistic categories, interference of native language, and the relationship between production and perception. Since a systematic description of Czech English is yet missing, the thesis aims to contribute a more thorough investigation in this area, which could also have practical application in ESL environment.
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