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33 - Bilingual Speech Intelligibility

from Part VI - Variables and Outcomes of Bilingual Speech

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 November 2024

By
Ann R. Bradlow
Edited by
Mark Amengual
Mark Amengual
Affiliation:
University of California, Santa Cruz
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Summary

This chapter presents the Talker–Listener–Language, or TL2, framework for analyzing variation in speech intelligibility in conversational interactions between interlocutors from different language backgrounds. The TL2 framework is based on three fundamental relations: (a) the relation between the talker and the language being spoken (Talker–LBS), which can vary from low proficiency L2 to L1; (b) the relation between the listener and the language being spoken (Listener–LBS), which also varies from low proficiency L2 to L1; and (c) the relation between the language repertoires of the interlocutors (Talker–Listener), which can either match or mismatch. The central claim of the TL2 framework is that each of the three language relations influences speech intelligibility both independently and through modulation of the others. Evidence from various independent strands of research on speech intelligibility for L1 and L2 talkers and listeners is reviewed to support this claim. The TL2 framework is thus presented as both a coherent perspective on prior research on bilingual speech intelligibility and a map for future research.

Keywords

speech intelligibilityinterlanguage intelligibilityclear speechperceptual adaptation to L2 speechconversational interaction
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Handbook of Bilingual Phonetics and Phonology , pp. 746 - 766
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

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