IMITATED OR AUTHENTIC? LISTENERS' JUDGEMENTS OF FOREIGN ACCENTS

Sara Neuhauser & Adrian P. Simpson
Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena

ID 1335
[full paper]

This paper presents a perception experiment which investigates (1) whether listeners are able to distinguish between authentic non-native accents and non-authentic (imitated) accents and (2) whether they are able to identify the accents being produced. The results show that native-German-speaking listeners are able to identify (to name) imitated accents better than authentic non-native accents, probably due to the presence or absence of stereotypical patterns being used by the speakers. However, listeners were less able to judge the authenticity of the presented accents which probably can be related to the wide variation in the speakers' ability to imitate an accent.