ISCA Archive Interspeech 2023
ISCA Archive Interspeech 2023

Rhythmic Characteristics of L2 German Speech by Advanced Chinese Learners

Lindun Ge, Min Xu, Hongwei Ding

The rhythm of speech produced by advanced Chinese learners can still be problematic. In order to improve their pronunciation, it is necessary to investigate L2 rhythmic deviance. In this study, read-aloud materials of 10 German L1 speakers selected from MULTEXT and parallel recordings of 14 Chinese L2 learners were analyzed by comparing six widely used rhythmic metrics, speech rate, and vowel deletion ratio. A correlation analysis was also conducted between these rhythmic features and the degree of perceived foreign accent. The results indicated that speech rate, varcoC, and vowel deletion ratio were significantly different between L1 and L2 speakers, and that speech rate and vowel deletion ratio had a strong correlation with perceived foreign accent within L2 speech. These findings suggest that complex consonantal intervals and vowel deletion are still challenging for advanced learners and should be given more attention in pronunciation training.