THE RECOGNITION OF FRENCH VOWELS BY AMERICAN LISTENERS
Abstract
This study was concerned with the effect of French accent on the intelligibility of English one-syllable words for Amerillus. tables (Technical rept. no. 61) (Contract AF 19 (604)6179) (AFCCDD TN 61-42)Unclassified report DESCRIPTORS: *Intelligibility, Communication theory, *Language, Stimulation, Sound, *Hear ing, *Speech transmission, *Speech. Open-ended Terms: Speech recognition. This study was concerned with the effect of French accent on the intelligibility of English one-syllable words for American listeners. The French accent was artificially created by substituting most nearly equivalent French vowel sounds in English words. O thographic problems of misspelling were eliminated. Listeners were American University students selected from the Central States region of the United States. The results indicate: (1) when substitution of sounds occurs because of a French accent, a loss of comprehension is to be expected; (2) sounds of one language cannot be presumed to be equivalent to those of another language; (3) certain errors can be predicted when the French phonetic pattern is substituted for English; an (4) single vowels are less intelligible than diphthongs pronounced as separate sounds. 9author)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Mar 01, 1961
- Accession Number
- AD0260558
Entities
People
- Henry M. Moser
- Pierre Leon
Organizations
- Ohio State University