Discusses foreign language pronunciation from phonetic difference and phonetic learning viewpoints. Proposes phonological translation hypothesis based on assumption that neither physiological maturation nor neurological reorganization is as important for adults learning a foreign language without an accent as the tendency of mature speakers to…

Describes use of strong and weak vowel forms in English and suggests use of tape recordings and drills to teach weak forms to English as a second language classes. (BK)

Discusses the disappearance of the opposition between two phonemes in modern spoken French, and cites examples from popular songs and sketches. (Text is in French.) (AM)

The study examined the relationship between induced mood states of elation or depression and interviewee verbal behavior. Affective states were manipulated by an autosuggestion technique (mood induction procedure). Subjects were 45 female college students, assigned to treatment conditions of elation, depression, or neutral mood induction. Data…

Librarians often have communication "accidents" with reference questions as initially presented. This article presents linguistic analysis of query categories, including: simple failures of hearing, accidents involving pronunciation or homophones, accidents where users repeat earlier misinterpretations to librarians, and accidents where…

The articles in this special journal issue on hypercorrection are reviewed and related to accommodation theory. A heuristic model is presented that places hypercorrection in a theoretical framework designed to explore its antecedents and consequences in a variety of settings. Directions for future research are also suggested. (30 references) (LB)

Multiple recordings of a message in various accents were heard by 218 college students, including 26 nonnative English speakers. Ranked English accents in descending order were General American, British, Australian, Indian, Estuary, and Japanese. Perceptual differences were related to gender, ethnicity, nationality, and region. Implications for…

Examined the effect of familiarity with different English accents, investigating Japanese college students' intelligibility and comprehensibility judgements of familiar and unfamiliar English (American and Irish English). Results indicated that familiarity and exposure contributed to higher perceived comprehensibility, but not necessarily to…

Investigates suitability of deploying speech technology in computer-based systems that can be used to teach foreign language skills. In reviewing the current state of speech recognition and speech processing technology and by examining a number of voice-interactive computer-assisted language learning applications, suggests how to create robust…

Reports the results of research on the extent to which global foreign accent in English is related to a discrete segmental feature of pronunciation, substitution of the Japanese flap for /l/ and /r/ in two phonological environments. Results showed a strong negative correlation between a nativelike accent and flap substitution. (Author/VWL)

In an investigation of the relationship between mimicry skill and neural plasticity, 28 monolingual Japanese subjects aged 4-17 repeated a list of simple English words containing /r/ and /l/. Analyses were made of individual and age-group scores and of consistency of individuals' pronunciation across word tokens. Results indicated mimicry ability…