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ERIC Number: EJ1291249
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2021-Apr
Pages: 27
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0267-6583
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
Prosodic Cues in Second-Language Speech Processing: A Visual World Eye-Tracking Study
Second Language Research, v37 n2 p349-375 Apr 2021
Listeners interpret cues in speech processing immediately rather than waiting until the end of a sentence. In particular, prosodic cues in auditory speech processing can aid listeners in building information structure and contrast sets. Native speakers even use this information in combination with syntactic and semantic information to build mental representations predictively. Research on second-language (L2) learners suggests that learners have difficulty integrating linguistic information across various domains, likely subject to L2 proficiency levels. The current study investigated eye-movement behavior of native speakers of English and Chinese learners of English in their use of contrastive intonational cues to restrict the set of upcoming referents in a visual world paradigm. Both native speakers and learners used contrastive pitch accent to restrict the set of referents. Whereas native speakers anticipated the upcoming set of referents, this was less clear in the L2 learners. This suggests that learners are able to integrate information across multiple domains to build information structure in the L2 but may not do so predictively. Prosodic processing was not affected by proficiency or working memory in the L2 speakers.
SAGE Publications. 2455 Teller Road, Thousand Oaks, CA 91320. Tel: 800-818-7243; Tel: 805-499-9774; Fax: 800-583-2665; e-mail: journals@sagepub.com; Web site: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2814
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A