Segmental and Prosodic Reasons for Non-Native Timing of her in Polish Learners, English Speech

Abstract

Foreign speech timing problems depend on both segmental and prosodic factors. Thus inadequate durations and duration proportions may result from segmental substitutions involving sounds of different intrinsic length, activation of L1 instead of FL sandhi processes and generally non-native temporal organisation of utterances caused by the use of L1 rhythmic patterns. This paper focuses on absolute duration and timing relations of the unstressed pronoun her pronounced by a group of Polish learners in three phrases appearing in a read text: (1) but everyone called her Cinders. (2) When her sisters had gone, (3) It was her fairy godmother. The respondents, thirteen college students of English, were recorded at the beginning of their first year and seven months later, after two semesters of general English and practical phonetic training. The data were then compared to native Southern British English production recorded in the IViE database. Discrepancies in absolute and relative duration of the pronoun are believed to be connected with the substitution of /x/ for /h/, a consonant prone to elision in native English speech, insufficient vowel reduction, and rhoticity of the coda. The data show the scale of the problem and Polish learners’ development in the course of practical phonetic training. The first recording reveals significantly longer durations in Polish learners’ performance, magnified by fluency problems. The second recording, preceded by pronunciation training, indicates smaller length differences between Polish and English speakers. It also turns out that the duration of onset in Polish learners’ performance contributes more to non-native timing of the weak form than its rhyme.

Research supported by a grant from Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education (0576/B/H03/2010/38).

Appendix

Test Passage

Once upon a time there was a girl called Cinderella. But everyone called her Cinders. Cinders lived with her mother and two stepsisters called Lily and Rosa. Lily and Rosa were very unfriendly and they were lazy girls. They spent all their time buying new clothes and going to parties. Poor Cinders had to wear all their old hand-me-downs! And she had to do the cleaning!

One day, a royal messenger came to announce a ball. The ball would be held at the Royal Palace, in honour of the Queen’s only son, Prince William. Lily and Rosa thought this was divine. Prince William was gorgeous, and he was looking for a bride! They dreamed of wedding bells!

When the evening of the ball arrived, Cinders had to help her sisters get ready. They were in a bad mood. They’d wanted to buy some new gowns, but their mother said that they had enough gowns. So they started shouting at Cinders. ‘Find my jewels!’ yelled one. ‘Find my hat!’ howled the other. They wanted hairbrushes, hairpins and hair spray.

When her sisters had gone, Cinders felt very down, and she cried. Suddenly, a voice said: ‘Why are you crying, my dear?’. It was her fairy godmother!