Foreign Accents in Song and Speech
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Previous work on accents in song has focused on professional singers who modify their accents when they perform music that is associated with a particular regional accent (Trudgill, 1983, Gibson, 2010).We recorded twelve speakers: native and second-language speakers of English. They were asked to sing “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” and read a passage from “Goldilocks”. Native English listeners had more difficulty detecting an accent in the singing conditions and rated the speakers as having less of an accent. These results suggest that it is harder to detect an accent in song compared to speech even when the singers are not influenced to project a particular accent. An analysis of the recordings showed that vowel duration is generally longer in song and that the pitch track changes. We argue that accents are harder to detect in song because the rhythm and pitch of song mask important prosodic markers of accent.
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Copyright © 2016 the author(s). Theses may be used for non-commercial research, educational, or related academic purposes only. Such uses include personal study, research, scholarship, and teaching. Theses may only be shared by linking to Carleton University Institutional Repository and no part may be used without proper attribution to the author. No part may be used for commercial purposes directly or indirectly via a for-profit platform; no adaptation or derivative works are permitted without consent from the copyright owner.
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- 2016
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mageau-foreignaccentsinsongandspeech.pdf | 2023-05-04 | Public | Download |