Across three experiments, the current study explored how accented speech and coarticulation impact how bilingual listeners comprehend code-switches in speech. Eye-tracking methodology was used to compare responses to single-language and code-switched sentences. Experiment 1 observed how accented speech influenced the costs involved in…

Individual speakers' speech patterns differ from one another, despite presumably similar language input. What are the sources of this individual variability? In this dissertation, I explore sources of individual differences in pronunciation of coronal obstruents (/s/, /t[superscript h]/, /c[superscript h]/, /c/) at the ends of nouns in Korean.…

Speech perception research has commonly relied on untrained listeners to provide impressionistic judgments of second language (L2) speech, and training listeners has been rare. The current study therefore explores the implications of training novice listeners (NLs) to rate accented speech. A total of 60 listeners were recruited, 30 who remained…

Purpose: Phonologically complex targets (e.g., [pl-]) are understood to facilitate widespread gains following speech sound intervention, and yet, available research largely features word-"initial" clusters. The present study investigates intervention effects following treatment of complex clusters presented in word-"final"…

Purpose: This study aims at investigating the phonological development of the six guttural consonants of Jordanian Arabic, /[chi]/, /[voiced uvular fricative]/, /[voiceless pharyngeal fricative]/, /[voiced pharyngeal fricative]/, /[glottal stop]/, and /h/. Method: An articulation test is designed to involve two tasks: picture naming and…

Background: The Beatalk technique is a speech therapy method, based on human beatboxing, involving intense, rapid repetitions of speech-like sounds. The goals of the current feasibility study were to test its effect in enhancing articulation accuracy and voice measures in a small group of adults with intellectual disability (ID), using a wide…

Variability in oral reading fluency (ORF), an indicator of foundational reading skills, has been linked to characteristics of texts. Such "text-based variability" in ORF has been traditionally attributed to text complexity, but substantial text-based variability has still been observed after accounting for text complexity. We consider…

This study investigates whether audiovisual phonetic training with hand gestures encoding visible or nonvisible articulation features has a differential impact on learning second language sounds. Ninety-nine Catalan-Spanish bilingual students were trained to differentiate English /ae/ and /[lambda]/, which differ in the visible lip aperture and…

Speech-to-text applications have great potential for helping students with English language comprehension and pronunciation practice. This study explores the functionality of five speech-to-text (STT) applications (Google Docs voice typing tool, Apple Dictation, Windows 10 Dictation, Dictation.io [a website service], and "Transcribe" [an…

Just as forming letters is the motor skill component of writing, pronouncing--forming sounds and other features of the spoken language--is the motor skill component of pronunciation. The motor task for L2 (second language) learners is to invent for themselves the actions needed for pronouncing L2, either from matching a model they hear (goal…

This study investigates the effects of native language experience and phonetic properties on the discrimination of labial-velar versus labial and velar contrasts, as well as voicing contrasts in labials, velars, and labial-velars. Research indicates that phonological perceptions are influenced by native language experience and the specific…

English language instructing that simply underscored on punctuation and jargon adapting as opposed to elocution learning had basically held up the second semester understudies in Islamic schools. Understudies imagined that elocution is something hard to learn in light of the fact that they are infrequently shown articulation in the homeroom.…

Covert contrast is the statistically reliable distinction between target language phonemes produced in the process of language acquisition that is nevertheless not perceived by a native speaker of that language. This paper examines the acquisition of contrasts in four Najdi Arabic fricatives, /s/, /[voiceless palato-alveolar fricative]/,…

Purpose: The clinical assessment of intelligibility must be based on a large repository and extensive variation of test materials, to render test stimuli unpredictable and thereby avoid expectancies and familiarity effects in the listeners. At the same time, it is essential that test materials are systematically controlled for factors influencing…

Purpose: This study investigated whether perceptual ratings of speech parameters were predictive of transcription intelligibility in quiet and in noise for speakers with Parkinson's disease (PD). Method: Ten speakers with PD and five healthy controls read 56 sentences. One group of 60 listeners orthographically transcribed the sentences in quiet,…