Effects of speech style on the use of temporal and spectral cues in the production and perception of a non-native vowel contrast

Abstract

This paper examined Catalan/Spanish EFL learners’ perception and production of the English /іː/- /ɪ / vowel pair. The main objective was to see whether changes in speech style affect the quality and quantity of the vowels and whether the non-native speakers’ perception and production were related. Little research has been carried out about the effects of speech style in second language speech production and the research about the perception-production relation has presented inconclusive results. It was hypothesized that speech style would affect the spectral and temporal dimensions of the two vowels. Spanish/Catalan EFL learners have been shown to rely on temporal properties in the perception of this vowel contrast, whereas native English speakers perceive the contrast in terms of spectral and temporal cues. It was expected that the non-native speakers’ reliance on duration would be reflected in the production. The results suggest that the Catalan/Spanish bilinguals had created categories for the English vowels, although perception of the vowels was not native-like. A correlation between perception and production was found for the non-native speakers. The non-native speakers were highly affected by changes in the speech style, supporting the hypothesis that in fast speech vowels became more centralized. The results are discussed in light of foreign language phonetic training.