Examining the nexus between distance metrics and listener identification of English accents

Conference

Lian J. Arzbecker
13th Annual Postdoctoral Research Symposium, State University of New York at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY, 2023 Sep

Cite

APA Click to copy
Arzbecker, L. J. (2023). Examining the nexus between distance metrics and listener identification of English accents. Buffalo, NY: 13th Annual Postdoctoral Research Symposium.

Chicago/Turabian Click to copy
Arzbecker, Lian J. “Examining the Nexus between Distance Metrics and Listener Identification of English Accents.” Buffalo, NY: 13th Annual Postdoctoral Research Symposium, 2023.

MLA Click to copy
Arzbecker, Lian J. Examining the Nexus between Distance Metrics and Listener Identification of English Accents. 13th Annual Postdoctoral Research Symposium, 2023.

BibTeX Click to copy

@conference{lian2023a,
  title = {Examining the nexus between distance metrics and listener identification of English accents},
  year = {2023},
  month = sep,
  address = {Buffalo, NY},
  organization = {State University of New York at Buffalo},
  publisher = {13th Annual Postdoctoral Research Symposium},
  author = {Arzbecker, Lian J.},
  month_numeric = {9}
}

Abstract

This research examines the relationship between a quantitative distance metric and listener identification of accents of English. The measurement selected for the present study is Levenshtein distance (LD), which quantifies the minimum number of edits required to transform one string into another. Accented speech samples are narrowly transcribed to generate phonetic strings. High- and low-pass filters are applied to concentrate specific perceptual correlates of the speech signal. Four English accent varieties are included: Midland American (control), British/Australian, Hindi-influenced, and Mandarin-influenced. Hypotheses and predictions are formulated based on the documented correlations between LD and listeners' perception ratings of native-likeness and intelligibility. For monolingual American English-speaking listeners, frequent confusion is predicted between Midland American and British/Australian accents due to their similarly low LDs. Conversely, higher LDs are hypothesized for Hindi- and Mandarin-influenced English due to the influence of various first languages. The impact of filtering conditions on confusion is predicted to differ for each variety, with high-pass filtering affecting Hindi- influenced English due to consonant substitutions and low-pass filtering affecting both varieties due to vowel substitutions. However, fewer confusions are expected for Mandarin-influenced English due to the potential presence of tonal information.