In this paper we argue that a comparison of vowel systems of L1 and L2 should not be limited to measuring formants and vowel duration in speech production but should also include a contrastive... Show moreIn this paper we argue that a comparison of vowel systems of L1 and L2 should not be limited to measuring formants and vowel duration in speech production but should also include a contrastive study of the perceptual representations of the vowel systems entertained by native and non‐native users of the target language. An incorrect perceptual representation of the target sounds often lies at the heart of pronunciation difficulties of L2 speakers. To facilitate such perceptual research the present paper offers a universal vowel space in which 43 artificial sounds are sampled at perceptually equidistant steps along the dimensions of vowel height (7 steps), backness/lip rounding (9 steps). Duration can be added as an additional variable in as many steps as required by the researcher. The facility was provisionally tested in a study of the perceptual representation of the monophthongs of American English by American native listeners and by Persian learners of English. Several ways of analyzing the results of such a study are presented. The results show that native listeners distinguish tense and lax members of vowel pairs in English primarily by differences in vowel quality, while the Persian L2 listeners use vowel duration as the primary cue and largely ignore the quality cue. Show less
The present study investigates the effect of memory training through story retelling exercises and imagination tasks and their effect on the quality of interpretation by Farsi-to-English... Show moreThe present study investigates the effect of memory training through story retelling exercises and imagination tasks and their effect on the quality of interpretation by Farsi-to-English interpreter trainees. The effect of treatment on decreasing the rate of message omissions is studied as well. Two groups of student interpreters were formed. Participants were assigned to groups on the basis of their overall performance on a TOEFL pre-test, but with equal division between genders. The control group was then taught interpreting skills by the routine curriculum, while the other, experimental, group spent part of the time on memory training tasks and exercises, e.g. imagination and story retelling. Three raters assessed quality measures of accuracy, omissions, additions, grammar, expression, terminology, pace and accentuation of the interpreter trainees in pre-test and post-test performance. Statistical analysis shows that the memory training had a positive effect on the quality of interpretation and also on decreasing the rate of message omission. The results have pedagogical implications for curriculum designers, interpreting programs for training future interpreters, material producers and all who are involved in interpreting studies and its pedagogy. Show less
The present study investigates the effect of memory training through story retelling exercises and imagination tasks and their effect on the quality of interpretation by Farsi-to-English... Show moreThe present study investigates the effect of memory training through story retelling exercises and imagination tasks and their effect on the quality of interpretation by Farsi-to-English interpreter trainees. The effect of treatment on decreasing the rate of message omissions is studied as well. Two groups of student interpreters were formed. Participants were assigned to groups on the basis of their overall performance on a TOEFL pre-test, but with equal division between genders. The control group was then taught interpreting skills by the routine curriculum, while the other, experimental, group spent part of the time on memory training tasks and exercises, e.g. imagination and story retelling. Three raters assessed quality measures of accuracy, omissions, additions, grammar, expression, terminology, pace and accentuation of the interpreter trainees in pre-test and post-test performance. Statistical analysis shows that the memory training had a positive effect on the quality of interpretation and also on decreasing the rate of message omission. The results have pedagogical implications for curriculum designers, interpreting programs for training future interpreters, material producers and all who are involved in interpreting studies and its pedagogy. Show less
We administered six functional intelligibility tests, i.e., spoken and written versions of (i) an isolated word recognition test, (ii) a cloze test at the sentence level and (iii) a picture-to-text... Show moreWe administered six functional intelligibility tests, i.e., spoken and written versions of (i) an isolated word recognition test, (ii) a cloze test at the sentence level and (iii) a picture-to-text matching task at the paragraph level. The scores on these functional tests were compared with each other and with intersubjective measures obtained for the same materials through opinion testing, i.e., estimated and perceived intelligibility. The native language of the speakers and listeners belonged to one of three groups of European language families, i.e., Germanic (Danish, Dutch, English, German, Swedish, yielding 20 within- family pairs of different speaker and listener languages), Romance (French, Italian, Portuguese, Romanian, Spanish, yielding 20 language pairs) and Slavic (Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Polish, Slovak, Slovene, i.e., 30 pairs). Results from 13,566 participants were analyzed for the 70 within-family combinations of speaker and listener languages. The word recognition test and the cloze test revealed similar patterns of intelligibility but correlated poorly with the picture-to-text matching scores. Both measures of judged intelligibility (estimated and perceived) correlated highly with one another and with the functional test scores, especially those of the cloze test. We conclude that lay listeners are able to judge the intelligibility of a non-native test language from within their own language family. Moreover, participants understood writ- ten language better than the spoken forms. Advantages and disadvantages of the various intelligibility measures we used are discussed. We conclude that the written cloze procedure which we developed is the optimal cross-language intelligibility test in the European language area. Show less
The present study investigates the effect of memory training through story retelling exercises and imagination tasks and their effect on the quality of interpretation by Farsi-to-English... Show moreThe present study investigates the effect of memory training through story retelling exercises and imagination tasks and their effect on the quality of interpretation by Farsi-to-English interpreter trainees. The effect of treatment on decreasing the rate of message omissions is studied as well. Two groups of student interpreters were formed. Participants were assigned to groups on the basis of their overall performance on a TOEFL pre-test, but with equal division between genders. The control group was then taught interpreting skills by the routine curriculum, while the other, experimental, group spent part of the time on memory training tasks and exercises, e.g. imagination and story retelling. Three raters assessed quality measures of accuracy, omissions, additions, grammar, expression, terminology, pace and accentuation of the interpreter trainees in pre-test and post-test performance. Statistical analysis shows that the memory training had a positive effect on the quality of interpretation and also on decreasing the rate of message omission. The results have pedagogical implications for curriculum designers, interpreting programs for training future interpreters, material producers and all who are involved in interpreting studies and its pedagogy. Show less
We administered six functional intelligibility tests, i.e., spoken and written versions of (i) an isolated word recognition test, (ii) a cloze test at the sentence level and (iii) a picture-to-text... Show moreWe administered six functional intelligibility tests, i.e., spoken and written versions of (i) an isolated word recognition test, (ii) a cloze test at the sentence level and (iii) a picture-to-text matching task at the paragraph level. The scores on these functional tests were compared with each other and with intersubjective measures obtained for the same materials through opinion testing, i.e., estimated and perceived intelligibility. The native language of the speakers and listeners belonged to one of three groups of European language families, i.e., Germanic (Danish, Dutch, English, German, Swedish, yielding 20 within- family pairs of different speaker and listener languages), Romance (French, Italian, Portuguese, Romanian, Spanish, yielding 20 language pairs) and Slavic (Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Polish, Slovak, Slovene, i.e., 30 pairs). Results from 13,566 participants were analyzed for the 70 within-family combinations of speaker and listener languages. The word recognition test and the cloze test revealed similar patterns of intelligibility but correlated poorly with the picture-to-text matching scores. Both measures of judged intelligibility (estimated and perceived) correlated highly with one another and with the functional test scores, especially those of the cloze test. We conclude that lay listeners are able to judge the intelligibility of a non-native test language from within their own language family. Moreover, participants understood writ- ten language better than the spoken forms. Advantages and disadvantages of the various intelligibility measures we used are discussed. We conclude that the written cloze procedure which we developed is the optimal cross-language intelligibility test in the European language area. Show less
We administered six functional intelligibility tests, i.e., spoken and written versions of (i) an isolated word recognition test, (ii) a cloze test at the sentence level and (iii) a picture-to-text... Show moreWe administered six functional intelligibility tests, i.e., spoken and written versions of (i) an isolated word recognition test, (ii) a cloze test at the sentence level and (iii) a picture-to-text matching task at the paragraph level. The scores on these functional tests were compared with each other and with intersubjective measures obtained for the same materials through opinion testing, i.e., estimated and perceived intelligibility. The native language of the speakers and listeners belonged to one of three groups of European language families, i.e., Germanic (Danish, Dutch, English, German, Swedish, yielding 20 within- family pairs of different speaker and listener languages), Romance (French, Italian, Portuguese, Romanian, Spanish, yielding 20 language pairs) and Slavic (Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Polish, Slovak, Slovene, i.e., 30 pairs). Results from 13,566 participants were analyzed for the 70 within-family combinations of speaker and listener languages. The word recognition test and the cloze test revealed similar patterns of intelligibility but correlated poorly with the picture-to-text matching scores. Both measures of judged intelligibility (estimated and perceived) correlated highly with one another and with the functional test scores, especially those of the cloze test. We conclude that lay listeners are able to judge the intelligibility of a non-native test language from within their own language family. Moreover, participants understood writ- ten language better than the spoken forms. Advantages and disadvantages of the various intelligibility measures we used are discussed. We conclude that the written cloze procedure which we developed is the optimal cross-language intelligibility test in the European language area. Show less
The present study investigates the effect of memory training through story retelling exercises and imagination tasks and their effect on the quality of interpretation by Farsi-to-English... Show moreThe present study investigates the effect of memory training through story retelling exercises and imagination tasks and their effect on the quality of interpretation by Farsi-to-English interpreter trainees. The effect of treatment on decreasing the rate of message omissions is studied as well. Two groups of student interpreters were formed. Participants were assigned to groups on the basis of their overall performance on a TOEFL pre-test, but with equal division between genders. The control group was then taught interpreting skills by the routine curriculum, while the other, experimental, group spent part of the time on memory training tasks and exercises, e.g. imagination and story retelling. Three raters assessed quality measures of accuracy, omissions, additions, grammar, expression, terminology, pace and accentuation of the interpreter trainees in pre-test and post-test performance. Statistical analysis shows that the memory training had a positive effect on the quality of interpretation and also on decreasing the rate of message omission. The results have pedagogical implications for curriculum designers, interpreting programs for training future interpreters, material producers and all who are involved in interpreting studies and its pedagogy. Show less
The present study investigates the effect of memory training through story retelling exercises and imagination tasks and their effect on the quality of interpretation by Farsi-to-English... Show moreThe present study investigates the effect of memory training through story retelling exercises and imagination tasks and their effect on the quality of interpretation by Farsi-to-English interpreter trainees. The effect of treatment on decreasing the rate of message omissions is studied as well. Two groups of student interpreters were formed. Participants were assigned to groups on the basis of their overall performance on a TOEFL pre-test, but with equal division between genders. The control group was then taught interpreting skills by the routine curriculum, while the other, experimental, group spent part of the time on memory training tasks and exercises, e.g. imagination and story retelling. Three raters assessed quality measures of accuracy, omissions, additions, grammar, expression, terminology, pace and accentuation of the interpreter trainees in pre-test and post-test performance. Statistical analysis shows that the memory training had a positive effect on the quality of interpretation and also on decreasing the rate of message omission. The results have pedagogical implications for curriculum designers, interpreting programs for training future interpreters, material producers and all who are involved in interpreting studies and its pedagogy. Show less
The present study investigates the effect of memory training through story retelling exercises and imagination tasks and their effect on the quality of interpretation by Farsi-to-English... Show moreThe present study investigates the effect of memory training through story retelling exercises and imagination tasks and their effect on the quality of interpretation by Farsi-to-English interpreter trainees. The effect of treatment on decreasing the rate of message omissions is studied as well. Two groups of student interpreters were formed. Participants were assigned to groups on the basis of their overall performance on a TOEFL pre-test, but with equal division between genders. The control group was then taught interpreting skills by the routine curriculum, while the other, experimental, group spent part of the time on memory training tasks and exercises, e.g. imagination and story retelling. Three raters assessed quality measures of accuracy, omissions, additions, grammar, expression, terminology, pace and accentuation of the interpreter trainees in pre-test and post-test performance. Statistical analysis shows that the memory training had a positive effect on the quality of interpretation and also on decreasing the rate of message omission. The results have pedagogical implications for curriculum designers, interpreting programs for training future interpreters, material producers and all who are involved in interpreting studies and its pedagogy. Show less
We administered six functional intelligibility tests, i.e., spoken and written versions of (i) an isolated word recognition test, (ii) a cloze test at the sentence level and (iii) a picture-to-text... Show moreWe administered six functional intelligibility tests, i.e., spoken and written versions of (i) an isolated word recognition test, (ii) a cloze test at the sentence level and (iii) a picture-to-text matching task at the paragraph level. The scores on these functional tests were compared with each other and with intersubjective measures obtained for the same materials through opinion testing, i.e., estimated and perceived intelligibility. The native language of the speakers and listeners belonged to one of three groups of European language families, i.e., Germanic (Danish, Dutch, English, German, Swedish, yielding 20 within- family pairs of different speaker and listener languages), Romance (French, Italian, Portuguese, Romanian, Spanish, yielding 20 language pairs) and Slavic (Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Polish, Slovak, Slovene, i.e., 30 pairs). Results from 13,566 participants were analyzed for the 70 within-family combinations of speaker and listener languages. The word recognition test and the cloze test revealed similar patterns of intelligibility but correlated poorly with the picture-to-text matching scores. Both measures of judged intelligibility (estimated and perceived) correlated highly with one another and with the functional test scores, especially those of the cloze test. We conclude that lay listeners are able to judge the intelligibility of a non-native test language from within their own language family. Moreover, participants understood writ- ten language better than the spoken forms. Advantages and disadvantages of the various intelligibility measures we used are discussed. We conclude that the written cloze procedure which we developed is the optimal cross-language intelligibility test in the European language area. Show less
We administered six functional intelligibility tests, i.e., spoken and written versions of (i) an isolated word recognition test, (ii) a cloze test at the sentence level and (iii) a picture-to-text... Show moreWe administered six functional intelligibility tests, i.e., spoken and written versions of (i) an isolated word recognition test, (ii) a cloze test at the sentence level and (iii) a picture-to-text matching task at the paragraph level. The scores on these functional tests were compared with each other and with intersubjective measures obtained for the same materials through opinion testing, i.e., estimated and perceived intelligibility. The native language of the speakers and listeners belonged to one of three groups of European language families, i.e., Germanic (Danish, Dutch, English, German, Swedish, yielding 20 within- family pairs of different speaker and listener languages), Romance (French, Italian, Portuguese, Romanian, Spanish, yielding 20 language pairs) and Slavic (Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Polish, Slovak, Slovene, i.e., 30 pairs). Results from 13,566 participants were analyzed for the 70 within-family combinations of speaker and listener languages. The word recognition test and the cloze test revealed similar patterns of intelligibility but correlated poorly with the picture-to-text matching scores. Both measures of judged intelligibility (estimated and perceived) correlated highly with one another and with the functional test scores, especially those of the cloze test. We conclude that lay listeners are able to judge the intelligibility of a non-native test language from within their own language family. Moreover, participants understood writ- ten language better than the spoken forms. Advantages and disadvantages of the various intelligibility measures we used are discussed. We conclude that the written cloze procedure which we developed is the optimal cross-language intelligibility test in the European language area. Show less
We administered six functional intelligibility tests, i.e., spoken and written versions of (i) an isolated word recognition test, (ii) a cloze test at the sentence level and (iii) a picture-to-text... Show moreWe administered six functional intelligibility tests, i.e., spoken and written versions of (i) an isolated word recognition test, (ii) a cloze test at the sentence level and (iii) a picture-to-text matching task at the paragraph level. The scores on these functional tests were compared with each other and with intersubjective measures obtained for the same materials through opinion testing, i.e., estimated and perceived intelligibility. The native language of the speakers and listeners belonged to one of three groups of European language families, i.e., Germanic (Danish, Dutch, English, German, Swedish, yielding 20 within- family pairs of different speaker and listener languages), Romance (French, Italian, Portuguese, Romanian, Spanish, yielding 20 language pairs) and Slavic (Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Polish, Slovak, Slovene, i.e., 30 pairs). Results from 13,566 participants were analyzed for the 70 within-family combinations of speaker and listener languages. The word recognition test and the cloze test revealed similar patterns of intelligibility but correlated poorly with the picture-to-text matching scores. Both measures of judged intelligibility (estimated and perceived) correlated highly with one another and with the functional test scores, especially those of the cloze test. We conclude that lay listeners are able to judge the intelligibility of a non-native test language from within their own language family. Moreover, participants understood writ- ten language better than the spoken forms. Advantages and disadvantages of the various intelligibility measures we used are discussed. We conclude that the written cloze procedure which we developed is the optimal cross-language intelligibility test in the European language area. Show less
The present study presents an experiment to investigate 1) whether judged fluency correlates with judged accuracy of consecutive interpreting performance; and 2) whether and how judged fluency can... Show moreThe present study presents an experiment to investigate 1) whether judged fluency correlates with judged accuracy of consecutive interpreting performance; and 2) whether and how judged fluency can be predicted on the basis of acoustic measures such as automatically calculated temporal measures of speech quality. In the experiment, ten raters judged six major quality measures related to accuracy and fluency of the consecutive interpreting performance (in this study from Chinese into English) recorded from seven BA trainees and five MA trainees based on the same recorded source speech. Six consecutive interpretations per participants were recorded, two of which were analyzed acoustically by means of the speech analysis tool PRAAT. The pauses detected by PRAAT and the disfluencies transcribed and labeled manually were automatically counted by the text analysis computer program of AWK, based on which 12 acoustic measures of fluency were calculated. The results show that 1) there is a strong positive correlation between judged accuracy and judged fluency in consecutive interpreting; 2) there are strong correlations between judged fluency and objective acoustic measures of fluency in consecutive interpreting; and 3) effective speech rate appears to be the best predictor of judged fluency in consecutive interpreting. The other important determinants of judged interpreting fluency are number of filled pauses, articulation rate, and mean length of pause. The results have practical implications for both developing an automatic assessment tool of fluency facilitating consecutive interpreting testing as well as for consecutive interpreting pedagogy. Show less
Restrictive and appositive relative clauses differ in their meaning and structure. The first restrict the class to which the antecedent refers, whereas the latter denote additional information on... Show moreRestrictive and appositive relative clauses differ in their meaning and structure. The first restrict the class to which the antecedent refers, whereas the latter denote additional information on the antecedent. In terms of structure, this difference concerns the relation between antecedent and relative clause, which is either narrow (restrictives) or loose (appositives). How these relations are encoded in prosody is the topic of investigation. Although there is considerable agreement on what prosodic cues distinguish restrictives and appositives across languages, claims mainly come from prescriptive literature. The current study investigates the structure-prosody interface experimentally by means of perception tests for Dutch and German. Results indicate that these languages differ in how prosody signals structural cohesion or breaking. Show less
Niioka, Y.; Caspers, J.; Heuven, V.J.J.P. van 2005
