Hard-Core Thinnings of Germ‒Grain Models with Power-Law Grain Sizes

Random sets with long-range dependence can be generated using a Boolean model with power-law grain sizes. We study thinnings of such Boolean models which have the hard-core property that no grains overlap in the resulting germ‒grain model. A fundamental question is whether long-range dependence is preserved under such thinnings. To answer this question, we study four natural thinnings of a Poisson germ‒grain model where the grains are spheres with a regularly varying size distribution. We show that a thinning which favors large grains preserves the slow correlation decay of the original model, whereas a thinning which favors small grains does not. Our most interesting finding concerns the c…

Teaching classic put to the test: Do tongue twisters work for L2 pronunciation?

Tongue twisters are a controversial pronunciation teaching classic. Whereas some see tongue twisters difficult and frustrating for learners, others find them fun and motivating. This study was inspired by these opposing views and the fact that previous studies have failed to offer convincing proof of whether this technique works for L2 pronunciation learning. This study approaches the question with a teaching experiment. Participants were 28 learners of L2 Swedish. Half of them trained with tongue twisters and half with authentic sentences. Training focussed on two sounds typically difficult for the learners, who were tested before and after the training period. Further, the participants we…

Kazoo training for L2 pronunciation practice and reduced foreign accentedness?

This paper presents a controlled pretest–training–posttest study on using a small membraphone instrument called kazoo for L2 pronunciation practice and reducing foreign accentedness. Learners were recorded for free speech before and after a six-week pronunciation and oral skills course including L2 prosody training with personal kazoos. A control group did not receive any kazoo training but did similar tasks in regular speech. Samples of all learners’ free speech before and after the course were rated for foreign accentedness by L1 speakers. In addition, learners taking part in the kazoo group were interviewed in focus groups to ascertain their views on kazoo training. The results imply tha…

Avancerade finskspråkiga inlärares uttal av segment i sverigesvenska

I den här studien analyseras finskspråkiga inlärares uttal av segment i sverigesvenskt standarduttal (mellansvenska). Talarna (n=15) är universitetsstudenter med svenska som huvud- eller biämne. Deras uttal har undersökts auditivt och två talares uttal har också analyserats akustiskt i en långtidsstudie (tre år mellan testtillfällena). De ljud som orsakar mest problem för talargruppen är [ʉ̟ː], [ɵ], [ɑː], [ɧ] och [ɕ], dvs. ljud som saknas i finska och/eller som kan betraktas som fonologiskt markerade. Också aspirerade klusiler och supradentala konsonanter orsakar en del problem för talargruppen. Typiskt för uttalet är målspråksavvikande intrapersonell variation i segmentkvalitet. En viss po…

Creaky voice and utterance fluency measures in predicting perceived fluency and oral proficiency of spontaneous L2 Finnish

While utterance fluency measures are often studied in rela tion to perceived L2 fluency and proficiency, the effect of creaky voice remains ignored. However, creaky voice is frequent in a number of languages, including Finnish, where it serves as a cue for phrase-boundaries and turn-taking. In this study we inves tigate the roles of creaky voice and utterance fluency measures in predicting fluency and proficiency ratings of spontaneous L2 Finnish (F2) speech. In so doing, 16 expert raters participated in assessing narrative spontaneous speech samples from 160 learn ers of Finnish. The effect of creaky voice and utterance fluency measures on proficiency and fluency ratings was studied using …

Faktorer som påverkat ordintonationen och kvantiteten i finlandssvenskan

Olika fonetiska drags relativa betydelse för upplevd inföddlikhet i svenska

I den här undersökningen analyseras olika fonetiska drags betydelse för upplevd inföddlikhet i sverigesvenska som andraspråk. Lyssnarna (n = 39) bedömde uttalets målspråklighet i imiterade talprov. Resultaten visar att de segmentella målspråksavvikelserna hade störst betydelse för upplevd inföddlikhet. Målspråksavvikelserna i yttrandeintonation, rytm och tonaccenterna påverkade inte lyssnarna i samma utsträckning som de segmentella bristerna. Prov med L2-intonation och målspråkliga segment fick lika bra bedömning – på gränsen mellan uppfattbar och icke-uppfattbar brytning – som prov med målspråklig intonation och målspråkliga segment. Om segmenten var målspråkliga, fick prov med L2-aktig ry…

Hierarchical log Gaussian Cox process for regeneration in uneven-aged forests

We propose a hierarchical log Gaussian Cox process (LGCP) for point patterns, where a set of points x affects another set of points y but not vice versa. We use the model to investigate the effect of large trees to the locations of seedlings. In the model, every point in x has a parametric influence kernel or signal, which together form an influence field. Conditionally on the parameters, the influence field acts as a spatial covariate in the intensity of the model, and the intensity itself is a non-linear function of the parameters. Points outside the observation window may affect the influence field inside the window. We propose an edge correction to account for this missing data. The par…

Segment duration in Finnish as imitated by Russians

The paper reports findings of a study in which Russian speakers without any prior knowledge of Finnish imitated utterances in that language, and, in particular, how they succeeded in imitating segmental duration. The data was analysed using acoustic measurements of segment duration as well as auditory analysis by four judges. The results show that Russian speakers faced difficulties in imitating some aspects of the complicated Finnish quantity system. On the other hand, many of the imitated words were judged as comprehensible. Index Terms: duration, length, Finnish, imitation, language learning

Inlärningen av de svenska tonaccenterna hos finska S2-talare – automatiseras uttalet?

Swedish has two tone accents, accents 1 and 2. There are approximately 350 minimal pairs such as ánd-en (duck) and ànde-n (spirit) differentiated only by tone accent. As all stressed words in Swedish have a tone accent, tones are important for achieving nativelike pronunciation. However, this is a challenging task for L2 speakers. In Swedish, the tone accents are potentially difficult both acoustically (cf. phonetic realization) and lexically (cf. morphological distribution). The present study focuses on the learning of Central Swedish tones by advanced L2 speakers with Finnish as their L1 (n = 10). The aim is to reveal if the learning of tones is a realistic goal for advanced adult learner…

Uttalsinlärning med fokus på svenska

The role of pause location in perceived fluency and proficiency in L2 Finnish

Fluency is a commonly used descriptor of second language (L2) speaking skills. Unplanned and too frequent pauses, hesitations, and repetitions disrupt the flow of speech and can cause temporal irregularities at all levels of speech hierarchy, from syllable rate to phrasing. However, most studies that attempt to quantify fluency disregard pause locations. The current study investigates, whether and which pause locations affect the perceived fluency and proficiency in L2 Finnish. Several pause parameters were computed from spontaneous L2 Finnish speech samples. Pause locations were investigated with regards to clauses and phrases as well as incomplete words. The effect of pause locations to h…

Prosody and fluency of Finland Swedish as a second language: Investigating global parameters for automated speaking assessment

This study investigates prosody and fluency of Finland Swedish as a second language (L2). The main objective is to investigate global measures of prosody and fluency as predictors of overall oral proficiency, fluency, and pronunciation ratings. We analyzed parameters related to temporal fluency, timing (based on syllable durations), and f0 change from spontaneous speech produced by 30 native and 235 non-native speakers of Finland Swedish representing proficiency levels from beginner to intermediate. We used pairwise comparisons to investigate the differences between native speech (L1) and L2 samples from different proficiency levels. To study the predictability of ratings with acoustic para…

Bryter finlandssvenskarna när de talar finska?

The purpose of this study was to investigate if fluently bilingual Finland-Swedish speakers have an accent in their Finnish, and whether this possible accent can be heard by native Finnish listeners. Furthermore, the aim was to investigate what acoustical features characterize a possible accent in the Finnish spoken by Finland-Swedish speakers. To answer these questions two studies were carried out: a listening test with 55 native Finnish listeners who were asked to categorize 20 speakers as native or nonnative speakers of Finnish, and if the speakers were regarded as non-native, how strong the speaker’s accent was: weak, moderate, or strong. The 20 speakers included native Finnish informan…

Suullisen kielitaidon ja ääntämisen tutkimuksesta soveltavan kielentutkimuksen alalla Suomessa

AFinLA’s research network for Speech and Spoken Language Research was established in 2014. This is the first thematic publication from the network. This introductory article introduces and classifies the other articles in this collection. In addition, we examine earlier AFinLA publications from the preceding four decades and evaluate the extent of pronunciation or spoken language research in AFinLA’s publication series. In our analysis, we noticed that studies related to pronunciation or spoken language research formed ca. 12 % of the total volume of published articles. There has been a slight proportional decrease in number during the decades. Spoken language studies have been more common …

Kvantitativa perspektiv på L2-tal på olika färdighetsnivåer

The aim of this study is to investigate differences in the amount (the occurrence rate) of second language (L2) traits at different proficiency levels in spoken L2 Finland-Swedish. In the analysis, we focus on L2 features in segments, segment lengths, word stress and sentence stress. Further, we analyze the ability to produce speech and the complexity of production at different proficiency levels: the amount of speech, token length, token structure and speech rate. Through previous research, we know that pronunciation plays an important role for comprehensibility and foreign accent but also for the level of oral proficiency. Although pronunciation and different pronunciation features are us…

Suullisen kielitaidon ja ääntämisen tutkimuksesta soveltavan kielentutkimuksen alalla Suomessa


 
 
 AFinLA’s research network for Speech and Spoken Language Research was established in 2014. This is the first thematic publication from the network. This introductory article introduces and classifies the other articles in this collection. In addition, we examine earlier AFinLA publications from the preceding four decades and evaluate the extent of pronunciation or spoken language research in AFinLA’s publication series. In our analysis, we noticed that studies related to pronunciation or spoken language research formed ca. 12 % of the total volume of published articles. There has been a slight proportional decrease in number during the decades. Spoken language studies h…

På väg mot bättre språkundervisning - FOKUS på uttal

Nykytrendi kommunikatiivisuuden painottamiseen kieltenopetuksessa tuntuu tapahtuneen ääntämisen kustannuksella. Koska monet opettajat kokevat ääntämisen opettamisen liian haastavaksi, se jää usein taka-alalle tai kokonaan opettamatta kielten oppitunneilla. Hyvä ääntäminen on kuitenkin tärkeä osa suullista kielitaitoa. Se helpottaa sekä ymmärretyksi tulemista että muiden ymmärtämistä suullisessa vuorovaikutuksessa. Luottamus omaan suulliseen kielitaitoon myös lisää kielenoppijan rohkeutta käyttää kieltä. Sitä paitsi monet oppilaat haluavat oppia ääntämään. Mihin suuntaan kieltenopetusta pitäisi ryhtyä kehittämään ääntämisen osalta, jotta oppilaat osaisivat ja uskaltaisivat käyttää opiskelemi…

Differences in acoustically determined sentence stress between native and L2 speakers of Finland Swedish

This study describes a pilot attempt to use acoustically determined sentence stress in distinguishing native and L2 speakers of Finland Swedish at different proficiency levels. The study is part of the DigiTala project that examines and develops automatic tools for spoken L2 assessment. Stressed syllables were detected in 235 L2 and 30 L1 speech samples using combinations of f0, intensity, and duration. Differences were found in the relative number of stressed syllables between native and L2 speakers using f0 and duration or all three features. Further research with more consistent speech data is needed to establish reliable automatic measures of sentence stress. nonPeerReviewed

Vokaluttalets akustik i sverigesvenska, finlandssvenska och finska

Foneettisten piirteiden ja vieraan aksentin yhteydestä suomen kielessä

Tapaustutkimuksemme tarkoituksena on selvittaa muutaman foneettisen piirteen ja vieraan aksentin yhteytta suomen kielessa. Analysoimme ilmiota kuulijatestilla, akustisin mittauksin ja kirjoittajien tekemin kuulonvaraisin havainnoin. Puhujina ovat varsin edistyneet suomenpuhujat, jotka puhuvat suomea toisena tai vieraana kielenaan. Tuloksemme antavat uutta tietoa vieraan aksentin ja foneettisten piirteiden yhteyksista seka tarjoavat avauksia jatkotutkimukselle. Tutkitut piirteet ovat pitkien vokaalien etaisyydet, aannekestot, perustaajuuden (f0) vaihteluvali, f0:n vaihtelun jyrkkyys ja keskihajonta seka artikulaationopeus. Tuloksemme osoittavat, etta kaikilla piirteilla on yhteys vieraaseen …

Second Language Prosody and its Development : Connection between Different Aspects

This study focuses on the development of L2 prosody and, in particular, whether different aspects can affect each other. Finnish-speaking learners of Swedish took part in a pronunciation and oral skills course and were recorded for various speaking tasks before and after the experimental intervention. Read-aloud declarative sentences (statements) from nine learners were acoustically analysed for several tonal and temporal aspects, focusing on the marking of primary stress. The results reveal that the learning of Swedish tonal word accent 2 (H*LH) facilitates other tonal developments towards native-like utterance intonation. A link between tonal and temporal developments in the marking of pr…

Tonaccenterna i avancerade finska inlärares svenska – en akustisk studie.

Den här undersökningen syftar till att besvara frågan om vuxna inlärare med finska som S1 kan lära sig att producera inföddliknande melodier av de mellansvenska tonaccenterna. Nio universitetsstudenter med svenska som sitt huvud- eller biämne deltog i en sex veckor lång uttalskurs med fonetisk inriktning. Deras uttal testades akustiskt i början och i slutet av kursen. Start- och sluttestet jämfördes med talarnas uttal i S1- finska och hos mellansvenska S1-talare. Resultaten visar att en del inlärare lyckades tillägna sig en målspråkslik intonation av båda accenterna, medan vissa andra talare inte lärde sig någon av accenterna. Accent 1 och 2 var ungefär lika svåra att lära sig. Röstläget va…

Studier i uttalsinlärning i finska, svenska och engelska : litteraturöversikt

Denna översiktsartikel presenterar forskningsresultat om S2-uttal i andra- och främmandespråkskontexter hos talare med finska, svenska eller engelska som förstaspråk (S1) när målspråket (S2) är finska, svenska eller engelska. Det finns drygt 100 vetenskapliga studier i de undersökta kombinationerna men ingen tidigare översikt. Syftet med artikeln är att sammanfatta empiriska forskningsresultat om receptiva och produktiva aspekter av S2-uttal i dessa språkkombinationer. Forskningsresultaten illustrerar ytterligare hurdana svårigheter språkinlärare har med uttal och vilka drag som speciellt bör beaktas i språkundervisning. Artikeln är avsedd att vara till nytta för lärare och forskare som arb…

Fokus på uttalsinlärningen med svenska som mål- och källspråk : slutrapport

Young Russian Immigrants' Segmental Duration and Length in Finnish

This pilot study sheds light on how young Russian immigrants (n=10) produce Finnish segmental duration and length in read-aloud speech as compared to native Finnish speakers (n=5). Segment duration is distinctive in Finnish and an important feature of Finnish phonology, whereas in Russian it only plays a marginal role. The results show a general tendency of durational contrasts being difficult to learn with great interspeaker differences. peerReviewed

Suomenruotsin murteista, vaihtelusta ja muuttuvasta kielimaisemasta

Arvioidut teokset
 Ann-Marie Ivars: Dialekter och småstadsspråk. Svenskan i Finland – i dag och i går I:1. Skrifter utgivna av Svenska litteratursällskapet i Finland 798. Helsingfors: Svenska litteratursällskapet i Finland 2015. 464 s. isbn 978-951-583-336-5.
 Marika Tandefelt (toim.): Gruppspråk, samspråk, två språk. Svenskan i Finland – i dag och i går I:2. Skrifter utgivna av Svenska litteratursällskapet i Finland 799. Helsingfors: Svenska litteratursällskapet i Finland 2015. 252 s. isbn 978-951-583-337-2.

UTTAL AV S2-FINSKA MED FOKUS PÅ SVENSKSPRÅKIGA TALARE

I undersökningen analyseras 11 inföddliknande S2-talares uttal av finska. Sex av talarna har finlandssvenska som S1, fem av talarna har sverigesvenska, tyska, franska, ryska resp. spanska som S1. Talarnas uttal undersöktes dels genom ett test med finskspråkiga lyssnare (n=93), dels genom att S2-talarnas uttal jämfördes akustiskt med uttalet hos talare med finska som S1. Vidare jämfördes de finlandssvenska talarnas uttal av finska och svenska. Resultaten visar att finlandssvenska talare skiljer sig som grupp från infödda finskspråkiga talare och från talare med ett annat S1 än finlandssvenska. De flesta finlandssvenskar bröt mycket svagt. Stavelselängderna och intonationen i långa ord orsaka…

L1 listeners’ perception of L2 pronunciation: effect of prosody on accentedness ratings in Swedish


 
 
 This paper reports on a study in which L1 speakers (n = 53) of Swedish rated the accentedness of read-aloud sentences produced by L2 speakers (n = 6) of Swedish. The aim of the study was to investigate the effect of certain prosodic features on the accentedness ratings. These features include Swedish tone accents and and deviant speech rhythm (e.g. lack of primary stress, and realization of multiple stresses). The results reveal that utterances with deviant speech rhythm yielded perceptions of stronger foreign accent than utterances with target-like rhythm. As for the tone accents, their effect on the scores were non-existent or only marginal. As missing tone accents ha…

The impact of a short auditory training on L2 pronunciation in languages with different orthographic depth

It is sometimes assumed that the pronunciation of an L2 is more predictable and thus easier to learn if its orthography is transparent. This study aims to find out whether this assumption holds true in the first stages of L2 learning in languages with different orthographic depth. The study also examines the effect that a short auditory training (supported by simultaneous orthographic input) has on L2 pronunciation. A central finding was that the pronunciation of an L2 with a transparent orthography was not easier to learn for a naïve learner when compared to an L2 with an opaque orthography. A second finding was that even a short period of auditory training can introduce a significant impr…

Ihmisarvioijien näkemyksiä suullisen kielitaidon automaattisesta arvioinnista, digitaalisesta arviointiprosessista sekä puhesuorituksista arvioitavista ulottuvuuksista

Digitaaliset kielikokeet ovat nykypäivää muun muassa ylioppilastutkinnossa, ja lähes jokaisessa oppilaitoksessa on jonkinlainen digitaalinen oppimis- ja opetusalusta. Tekniikka on mullistanut kielitaidon testaamisen ja harjoittelun, mutta täysin automaattiset suullisen kielitaidon kokeet ovat vielä harvinaisia kansainvälisestikin. Tekoäly on kuitenkin arkipäiväistymässä monilla elämänalueilla, ja se herättää monenlaisia mielikuvia ja pohdintaa sen vaikutuksista ja eettisyydestä. Artikkelissa kartoitamme ja analysoimme ihmisarvioijien näkemyksiä digitaalisesti toteutetusta arviointiprosessista, jossa keräsimme ihmisarvioijilta arvioita suomen ja ruotsin puhenäytteisiin. Tutkimme myös arvioin…