Intelligibility perspective on Finland-Swedes' typical pronunciation features in English
Keywords:
English, Finland-Swedish, intelligibility, pronunciationAbstract
The present investigation addresses the gravity of mispronunciation for the intelligibility of English spoken by L1 Finland-Swedish teenagers. Previous research on the topic has been scarce, and even though there is some knowledge about the typical pronunciation challenges faced by this learner group, there is hardly any empirical research on the extent to which the typical mispronunciations actually cause misunderstandings. To investigate this, speech samples were elicited from teenaged L1 Finland-Swedish learners of English, demonstrating typical mispronunciations. Then, an intelligibility test was arranged with L1 English listeners (n = 48) matching the speakers’ age. Results suggest that not all mispronunciations are equally crucial for intelligibility. Of the pronunciation features investigated in the present study, rising question intonation, deviate pronunciation of /θ, ð, v/ and pronouncing the letter <y> as an affricate /ʤ/ resulted in frequent misunderstandings. Hence, these features can be recommended for pronunciation teaching. However, the /i–ɪ/ opposition and word-final /z/ can be possibly left to less attention in teaching, because they as such are less likely to compromise intelligibility.
