Effect of hesitation sound phonetic quality on perception of language fluency and accent

Although research shows that pauses are an essential part of a complete linguistic repertoire, second language learners are not taught how to hesitate in their second language. This project informs whether teaching second language speakers how to hesitate in their second language is necessary to achieve perceived fluency and a native-like accent. This project also informs how listeners construct perceptions of accent and fluency. Nonnative speech differs from native speech in various ways, including different pausing patterns such as where, how often, and how long speakers pause between words. There are two types of pauses: filled and unfilled. Unfilled pauses are silent. During filled pauses, speakers make a sound. Different languages use different sounds for filled pauses; this is described as phonetic quality. English speakers often use [ə] (“uh”) to hesitate. Spanish speakers often use [e] (“eh”) to hesitate. When the phonetic quality of a hesitation sound is consistent with the hesitation sound used by native speakers, the hesitation sound is “native.” A hesitation sound with phonetic quality inconsistent with a native speaker hesitation sound is “non-native.” Production studies show that proficiency and speech community influence whether second language speakers produce native or nonnative hesitation sounds. However, no study has investigated the perceptual consequences using nonnative versus native hesitation sounds. This study investigates the effect of hesitation sound phonetic quality on perception of language fluency and accentedness in two experiments. In Experiment 1, participants rate sentences for fluency and accent. In Experiment 2, participants listen to two sentences with different hesitation sounds and choose which sentence sounds more accented and more fluent. Experiment 2 data is being collected and analyzed. Experiment 1 results show that hesitation sound phonetic quality does not impact listener judgements about accentedness or fluency, indicating that listeners do not attend to what sound speakers use to hesitate when making judgements about fluency or accentedness. This project has important implications for language teaching curriculum and for how learners treat pausing when practicing their second language.