Pavel Šturm

P-centres in natural disyllabic Czech words in a large-scale speech-metronome synchronization experiment

Abstract The difficulty of pinpointing a specific event within words that would correspond to the p-centre is well known. The current experiment, investigating the position of p-centres in Czech, aims to replicate the findings from English and several other languages, and substantially increase the range of phonotactic types and the number of participants. In a speech-metronome synchronization task, 24 subjects pronounced a set of 37 natural disyllabic Czech words of differing complexity at two metronome rates. The beginning of the first vowel (V1) and the moment of the fastest increase in energy within the first syllable were the most consistent synchronization points, but the p-centre occurred earlier than at the V1 initial boundary. Synchronization intervals were significantly influenced by the complexity of the syllabic onset: the p-centre was positioned earlier (further from the V1) as more consonants were included in the onset. The effects of vowel length and final coda were also present, but weaker. In addition, various aspects of human musicality were found to correlate with the ability of speakers to synchronize their articulations with an isochronous auditory sequence.

Assimilation of Voicing in Czech Speakers of English: The Effect of the Degree of Accentedness

Abstract Czech and English are languages which differ with respect to the implementation of voicing. Unlike in English, there is a considerable agreement between phonological (systemic) and phonetic (actual) voicing in Czech, and, more importantly, the two languages have different strategies for the assimilation of voicing across the word boundary. The present study investigates the voicing in word-final obstruents in Czech speakers of English with the specific aim of ascertaining whether the degree of the speakers’ foreign accent correlates with the way they treat English obstruents in assimilatory contexts. L2 speakers, divided into three groups of varying accentedness, were examined employing categorization and a voicing profile method for establishing the presence/absence of voicing. The results suggest that speakers with a different degree of Czech accent do differ in their realization of voicing in the way predicted by a negative transfer of assimilatory habits from Czech.

Voicing Assimilation in Czech and Slovak Speakers of English: Interactions of Segmental Context, Language and Strength of Foreign Accent

This study focuses on voicing assimilation across word boundaries in the speech of second language (L2) users. We compare native speakers of British English to speakers of two West Slavic languages, Czech and Slovak, which, despite their many similarities, differ with respect to voicing assimilation rules. Word-final voicing was analysed in 30 speakers, using the static value of voicing percentage and the voicing profile method. The results of linear mixed-effects modelling suggest an effect of first language (L1) transfer in all L2 English speaker groups, with the tendency to assimilate being correlated with the strength of foreign accent. Importantly, the two language groups differed in assimilation strategies before sonorant consonants, as a clear effect of L1-based phonetic influence.

Experimental evidence on the syllabification of two-consonant clusters in Czech

Abstract This study examines syllabification preferences of 30 speakers of Czech in two behavioural experiments using real disyllabic words with 61 intervocalic CC clusters as stimuli. The aim was to evaluate competing theoretical predictions about syllable boundaries in Czech. Participants synchronized individual syllables with metronome pulses in Experiment 1 (induced pause insertion) and produced syllables in reversed order in Experiment 2 (syllable reversal). Logistic regression analyses revealed significant effects of cluster sonority type, phonological length of the preceding vowel and word-edge phonotactics (also in relation to frequency of occurrence). Morphological structure of the items significantly influenced syllable boundary placement as well. The results of both experiments converge towards the effects found in previous studies on English and some other languages. However, ambisyllabic responses were virtually non-existent in pause insertion and relatively low (8%) in syllable reversal, which differs from the results on Germanic languages. Finally, the findings do not support strict onset maximization but rather indicate an onset-filling strategy.

Accents of English at Czech schools: Students’ attitudes and recognition skills

Abstract The study investigates the attitudes of 254 Czech students towards English as the main language taught at secondary schools. The questionnaire enquired about their perspectives on learning English in general, British and American cultures and accents of English. Such preferences may have implications for pronunciation model selection in TEFL. In addition, the participants evaluated 12 words pronounced in British or American English for pleasantness, and also assigned them to one of the varieties. Despite the predominance of American culture and despite equal distribution of cultural preferences and equal aesthetic evaluation of the accents, the British variety was marked as more prestigious and was also identified more successfully. Interestingly, the findings differed between students from the capital city and those from regional schools.

Segmental duration as a cue to syllable boundaries in Czech

The aim of the study is to establish whether the acoustic signal contains cues to the syllabification of words that are perceptually relevant, as suggested by previous research. Syllabification preferences of 27 speakers of Czech were examined in a behavioural experiment using disyllabic nonsense words with 10 CC clusters as stimuli. The C1/C2 duration ratio of the intervocalic cluster was manipulated by shortening and lengthening of both consonants. Participants repeated auditorily presented stimuli by syllables, with clear pauses between them (a pause-insertion task). Logistic regression analyses revealed significant effects of sonority type of the cluster, word-edge phonotactics and syllabification strategy reported by the participants in a post-test interview (only half of the participants reported not to have followed any strategy). However, the manipulation condition did not turn out to be a significant predictor, although the C1/ C2 ratio correlated negatively with the rate of cluster division. The correlation was in compliance with the hypothesis stating that when C1 is longer than C2, the cluster has a higher probability of being maintained as the onset of the following syllable.

Pre-Fortis Shortening in Czech English: A Production and Reaction-Time Study

Abstract This study focuses on the production and perception of English words with a fortis vs. lenis obstruent in the syllable coda. The contrast is mostly cued by the duration of the preceding vowel, which is shorter before fortis than before lenis sounds in native speech. In the first experiment we analyzed the production of 10 Czech speakers of English and compared them to two native controls. The results showed that the Czech speakers did not sufficiently exploit duration to cue the identity of the word-final obstruent. In the second experiment we manipulated C and V durations in target words to transplant the native ratios onto the Czech-accented speech, enhancing the fortis-lenis contrast, and vice versa. 108 listeners took part in a word-monitoring task in which reaction times were measured. The hypothesized advantage to items in which the target word (with a fortis or lenis obstruent) was semantically congruent with the following context was not confirmed, and subsequent analyses showed that the words’ frequency of use and the collocations they enter into strongly affect speech processing and correlate to a large degree with the reaction times.