The use of intonational cues marking new information in non-native speech

Abstract

Recent research on the use of English in L2 and English as an International Language contexts reflects a shift from the nativeness principle towards focus on intelligibility and establishing which aspects of non-native pronunciation promote intelligibility and communicative success (Levis, 2005). Discourse competence and discourse intonation have been foregrounded as core components of communicative competence (Chun, 2002). The present study focuses on the use of intonation in marking information structure and the realization of such prominence through nuclear pitch accent by native and non-native speakers. 10 conversations among 10 native and 10 non-native speakers from the Wildcat Corpus of Native-and Foreign-Accented English (Van Engen et al., 2010) were analyzed in order to map differences between native and non-native speakers in the use of f0 and intensity to mark new information. The data suggest that native speakers use f0 as the main cue, whereas non-native speakers do not rely exclusively on f0 but exploit the joint effect of an increased f0 and intensity.