Foreign accent syndrome (FAS) is an acquired neurologic disorder in which an individual suddenly and unintentionally speaks with an accent which is perceived as being different from his/her usual accent. This study presents an acoustic-phonetic description of two Quebec French-speaking cases. The first speaker presents a perceived accent shift to…

Foreign accent syndrome (FAS) is an acquired neurogenic disorder characterized by altered speech that sounds foreign-accented. This study presents a British subject perceived to speak with an Italian (or Greek) accent after a brainstem (pontine) stroke. Native English listeners rated the strength of foreign accent and impairment they perceived in…

The phonological system of the French of Frenchville, Pennsylvania (USA) demonstrates a dramatic case of transfer in the latest (and last) generation of bilingual French-English speakers: the mid front round vowels, [ligature of o and e] and [slashed o], have often been replaced by the English rhoticized schwa as found in the word "sir."…

It is generally agreed among French linguists that the word has no phonetic or phonological status in French. This position reflects mostly pedagogical considerations and preoccupation with surface phonetic facts and demarcative signals. Investigation of processes of a more abstract nature reveals, however, that a certain number of rules…

French linguists generally agree that the word in French has no phonetic or phonological status. This article examines this position and studies several vowel-consonant sequences, mute-"e" deletion and post-consonantal deletion and suggests that the role of French word-boundaries is more important than is generally acknowledged. (CHK)

The frequency of liaison in French is studied in the context of the grammatical function of contiguous words involved, the phonetic characteristics of the liaison consonant and a number of paralinguistic variables such as sex, age, occupation, syllabic rate, loudness, attitude of the speaker and subject matter. Results are tabulated. Available…

An analysis of rhythm in French. The research project concentrated on two points: the perception of a "click" superimposed on an utterance and the reproduction of the click by a knock simultaneous with the stimulus. Conclusions based on linguistic and non-linguistic aspects are drawn. (Text is in French.) (AMH)

A COMPARISON OF ENGLISH, GERMAN, SPANISH, AND FRENCH SYLLABLE-LENGTH DATA SHOWS THAT THE EFFECT OF STRESS AND OF PLACE IN THE SENSE-GROUP VARIES MARKEDLY AMONG THESE LANGUAGES, WHEREAS THE EFFECT OF SYLLABLE TYPE (CLOSED/OPEN) HAS A NEARLY IDENTICAL RATIO IN ALL FOUR. AMONG THE THREE LANGUAGES WITH VARIABLE INTENSITY AND PLACE OF STRESS, THE…

THE PHONETIC FEATURES NECESSARY FOR GOOD PRONUNCIATION AND EFFECTIVE USE OF LANGUAGES WERE STUDIED. A FOUR-WAY RESEARCH TECHNIQUE WAS DEVELOPED FOR COMPARISON AMONG LANGUAGES (1) INVOLVING SPECTROGRAPHIC ANALYSIS, (2) SPECTROGRAPHIC SYNTHESIS, (3) MOTION PICTURE ANALYSIS, AND (4) STATISTICAL ANALYSIS. THE ELECTRONIC INSTRUMENTATION CONSTRUCTED FOR…

Although a great many textbooks of general phonetics deal with the articulation and the acoustics of speech sounds, these works generally deal only briefly with the facts of suprasegmental phonetics--rythm, accent, and intonation. The author feels "it is precisely suprasegmental phonetics which is the most important in our French classes because…

A report on a diagnostic study of the Sicilian way of pronouncing the French /y/. On the basis of this study, a quantitative analysis of verbo-tonal methods of correction is made. Some such methods are based on intonation, rhythm, syllabication and combinatory phonetics. (Text is in French.) (AMH)

A report on research on agraphia using subjects afflicted with sensory aphasia. It compares performance in Italian, a phonetic language, with performance in French. The disorders in the Italian language appear less varied than in French. (Text is in French.)

Studies the sounds of the Parisian French /R/ consonant by examining sound spectrograms and X-ray photographs of speakers' pharynxes. Illustrates the phonetic distinctions and compares the Parisian consonantal usage to usage in other languages, including American English. (AM)

Compares frequencies of cooccurrences in infant babbling between phonetic and contextual categories to expected frequencies, and considers deviations to be patterns in babbling. Results are provided of an examination of utterances of three Canadian-English and three Parisian-French infants whose babblings were transcribed and categorized according…

Handbooks of French phonetics disagree with the findings of phonetic research. Discussed are: differentiating between teaching pronunciation and auditory perception: the difference between acoustic and semantic hearing; and the importance of nasal regressive and progressive assimilation in contemporary spoken French. (Text is in German.) (IFS/WGA)