ISCA Archive Interspeech 2024
ISCA Archive Interspeech 2024

Exploring Impact of Pausing and Lexical Stress Patterns on L2 English Comprehensibility in Real Time

Sylvain Coulange, Tsuneo Kato, Solange Rossato, Monica Masperi

A significant obstacle to effective L2 English speech lies in the inappropriate use of pauses and lexical stress. We observed the impact of pauses within phrases (WP) and incorrectly stressed words on real-time perceived comprehensibility. Sixty native English listeners were asked, while listening to short recordings of L2 speakers, to click on a button whenever they were struggling to understand the speaker. Analysis showed that click frequency tends to increase after WP pauses and incorrectly stressed words, especially 2-3 s after onset, while it remains under the average click frequency after pauses between clauses and correctly stressed words. These results demonstrate that WP pauses and incorrect stress patterns directly impact the listener's perception, and that this impact can measured with a dynamic rating protocol. Moreover, such a protocol appears to be a promising tool to expand our knowledge about real-time comprehension of L2 speech.