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Forming New Vowel Categories in Second Language Speech: The Case of Polish Learners' Production of English /I/ and /e/

100%
Rojczyk A.
Research in Language
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2010
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vol. 8
85-97
EN
The paper concentrates on formation of L2 English vowel categories in the speech of Polish learners. More specifically, it compares distribution of two English categories - /I/ and /e/ relative to neighbouring Polish vowels. 43 participants recorded Polish and English vowels in a /bVt/ context. First two formants were measured at a vowel midpoint and plotted on a vowel plane. The results reveal that while a separate /I/ category is formed fairly effectively in Polish learners pronunciation of English, a category of /e/ is almost completely subsumed by a Polish vowel /ϵ/
2
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Forming New Vowel Categories in Second Language Speech: The Case of Polish Learners' Production of English /I/ and /e/

100%
Rojczyk A.
Research in Language
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2010
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vol. 8
1-13
EN
The paper concentrates on formation of L2 English vowel categories in the speech of Polish learners. More specifically, it compares distribution of two English categories - /I/ and /e/ relative to neighbouring Polish vowels. 43 participants recorded Polish and English vowels in a /bVt/ context. First two formants were measured at a vowel midpoint and plotted on a vowel plane. The results reveal that while a separate /I/ category is formed fairly effectively in Polish learners pronunciation of English, a category of /e/ is almost completely subsumed by a Polish vowel /ϵ/
3
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Sound symbolism in vowels: Vowel quality, duration and pitch in sound-to-size correspondence

100%
Rojczyk A.
Poznań Studies in Contemporary Linguistics
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2011
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vol. 47
602
EN
The study investigates sound symbolism, concentrating on vowel quality, duration, and pitch in sound-to-size correspondences. Thirty-one native speakers of Polish were asked to rate presented stimuli on a 1–7 point scale ranging from “small” to “big”. The stimuli consisted of /CVC/ sequences, with all six non-nasalized Polish vowels, blocked in three groups. In the first group, vowel quality was investigated, with duration and pitch unaltered. In the second group, vowel was manipulated to increase its duration by 50% relative to a baseline condition. In the third group, F0 of a vowel was linearly downshifted by a scaling factor of 0.8. The results revealed that neither vowel quality nor lowered pitch significantly influenced size ratings. Vowel duration, however, yielded significantly different ratings compared to a baseline condition. Longer durational values yielded “bigger” measures relative to normal duration. This result is taken as evidence that vowel duration has a relatively more robust effect on perception of size in Polish compared to vowel quality and pitch.
4
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The perception of English lenis plosive consonants word-finally and word-initially by the Poles

100%
Rojczyk A.
Linguistica Silesiana
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2005
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vol. 26
91-104
EN
The study endeavours to probe into the perception of English lenis plosive consonants word-initially and word-finally by the Poles without any experience with English either in form of formal classroom teaching or contacts with native speakers. It proceeds from a concise contrastive articulatory and acoustic juxtaposition of Polish and English plosives, grouped into respective phenomena, to the analysis of research data. The research is expected to shed some light upon efficiency of the perception of lenis plosives by the Poles, who utilise the voiced - voiceless rather than fortis - lenis distinction as a functional contrast. Then, more detailed questions are posed concerning the potential influence of neighbouring sounds, such as vowels of front or back quality, on the perception. Finally, certain observed tendencies and regularities are indicated.
5
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Categorisation of speech sounds in auditory perception

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Rojczyk A.
Linguistica Silesiana
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2006
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vol. 27
35-44
EN
The paper aims to present the phenomenon of categorization in speech perception. It commences with showing the diversity and distribution of speech sounds in the world's languages. Next, certain distributional tendencies, such as back vowel rounding and low vowel nasalization, are presented and discussed in the light of auditory and acoustic principles. Categorical perception, as the pivotal concept of the paper, is delineated from a procedural and methodological point of view. Last but not least, the article discusses the arguments against categorization is speech perception as well as various attempts to define a unit of perception other than a phonetic segment As a conclusion, proposals for the reconciliation between categorical and continuous modes of perception are shown.
6
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Release burst in Polish homorganic stop geminates

100%
Rojczyk A.
Linguistica Silesiana
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2008
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vol. 29
75-86
EN
The paper endeavours to verify a commonly accepted observation that Polish hornorganic stop geminates are unreleased. Fifteen Polish subjects participated in the experiment, producing stop gerninates in different contexts specified for the place of articulation, articulatory tempo, and voiced-voiceless distinction. The collected samples were acoustically analysed for presence or absence of the release burst. The results do not corroborate a putative unreleased status of Polish homorganic stop geminates. They show, however, that the frequency of released geminates strongly depends on the place of articulation, with dental It, dl released most frequently. Voiceless stops tend to be more readily released than voiced stops, though this tendency is only close to significant. Moreover, a significant impact of the tempo of articulation on the occurrence of the release burst has been demonstrated for both voiced and voiceless stops - longer utterances are conducive to unreleased realisations of geminates.
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Brat Adama vs brata dama: temporal phonetic parameters signalling word boundaries in Polish

100%
Rojczyk A.
Linguistica Silesiana
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2009
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vol. 30
59-73
EN
The paper presents the results of an acoustic analysis of temporal phonetic parameters cueing word boundaries in Polish. Durational variability has been well documented for different languages. Word-final lengthening, word-initial lengthening, and polysyllabic shortening, all predict that segments neighbouring a word boundary will differ in their durations whatever direction such shortening or lengthening should take. In the present study, we obtained two Polish sequences brat Adama versus brata dama from 24 native speakers of Polish. The obtained results point to a complicated pattern of temporal variability caused by the boundary location in Polish.
8
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Imitation of English vowel duration upon exposure to native and non-native speech

63%
Zając M., Rojczyk A.
Poznań Studies in Contemporary Linguistics
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2014
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vol. 50
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issue 4
495-514
EN
The study reproduces pilot work concerned with the imitation of English vowel duration by Polish learners (Zając 2013). Its aim was to expand on the findings of the previous study, i.e. determine if the magnitude of imitation may depend on the native/non-native status of the model talker and investigate whether the provision of explicit instructions to imitate at the beginning of the experiment affects convergence strategies of the participants. The dependent variable was the duration of three English front vowels analysed in shortening and lengthening contexts. The stimuli included pre-recorded English word pairs pronounced by a native and a non-native model talker. The experimental procedure consisted of three tasks: (1) reading the English word pairs displayed sequentially on a computer screen (baseline condition), producing the English words after exposure to (2) the native model talker’s voice and (3) the non-native model talker’s voice (shadowing conditions). The results show that the magnitude of imitation in the pronunciation of L2 learners may differ as a function of the model talker (native vs. non-native). The provision of explicit instructions to imitate at the beginning of the experimental procedure was found not to have a significant impact on the convergence strategies of the subjects.
9
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Complex Patterns in L1-to-L2 Phonetic Transfer: The Acquisition of English Plosive and Affricate Fake Geminates and Non-Homorganic Clusters by Polish Learners

63%
Porzuczek A., Rojczyk A.
Research in Language
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2021
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vol. 19
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issue 1
1-13
EN
This paper analyses the way that Polish learners of English articulate plosive and affricate consonants preceding another obstruent occlusive in both L1 and L2. Considering that English allows unreleased plosives before any stop, that is in a wider range of contexts than Polish, a Polish learner may find it confusing that it is regarded unacceptable to block the affricate release before another (in English always homorganic) affricate. In Polish the first of two homorganic affricates is often reduced to the occlusion phase, while unreleased plosives appear very rarely in non-homorganic contexts. This apparent paradox in the treatment of affricate and plosive consonant clusters may lead to complicated transfer patterns, which we examine by observing the release suppression tendencies in Polish and English phrases and sentences read by phonetically trained and untrained Polish learners of English. The results indicate strong negative transfer tendencies and suggest a connection between gemination patterns and unreleased occlusive distribution in a language.
10
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Gemination Strategies in L1 and English Pronunciation of Polish Learners

63%
Porzuczek A., Rojczyk A.
Research in Language
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2014
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vol. 12
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issue 3
291-300
EN
Polish is a language where true geminates appear and the occurrence of a double consonant letter in spelling corresponds with double or at least prolonged consonant articulation regardless of the morphological structure of the word. The above principle also concerns most borrowings, such as the English word ‘hobby’, for instance. In English, true geminates do not occur and a morpheme-internal double consonant letter is only a fairly reliable indication of the way the preceding vowel should be pronounced. This discrepancy may lead to negative transfer in Polish learners of English. Our recent research of native Polish speech (Rojczyk and Porzuczek, in press) generally confirmed the results reported by Ladefoged and Maddieson (1996), among others, who found geminates to be 1.5-3 times longer than singletons. In our study we investigate the influence of double consonant letters on L1 and English pronunciation of Polish learners. They read trochaic family names containing intervocalic . Each name is preceded by a first name suggesting the nationality (Polish, English, German or Italian) of the person mentioned. By placing each tested item in a Polish and an English semantically and rhythmically equivalent sentences (This is .../To jest...), we measure the level of consonant length variation with respect to the language in which the potential geminates appear, the language context and the learning experience of the students. In this way we collect evidence and formulate observations concerning the learners’ awareness of the status of geminates in various languages and the probability of transfer in EFL learning.
11
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Gemination Strategies in L1 And English Pronunciation of Polish Learners

63%
Porzuczek A., Rojczyk A.
Research in Language
|
2014
|
vol. 12
|
issue 3
291-300
EN
Polish is a language where true geminates appear and the occurrence of a double consonant letter in spelling corresponds with double or at least prolonged consonant articulation regardless of the morphological structure of the word. The above principle also concerns most borrowings, such as the English word ‘hobby’, for instance. In English, true geminates do not occur and a morpheme-internal double consonant letter is only a fairly reliable indication of the way the preceding vowel should be pronounced. This discrepancy may lead to negative transfer in Polish learners of English. Our recent research of native Polish speech (Rojczyk and Porzuczek, in press) generally confirmed the results reported by Ladefoged and Maddieson (1996), among others, who found geminates to be 1.5-3 times longer than singletons. In our study we investigate the influence of double consonant letters on L1 and English pronunciation of Polish learners. They read trochaic family names containing intervocalic . Each name is preceded by a first name suggesting the nationality (Polish, English, German or Italian) of the person mentioned. By placing each tested item in a Polish and an English semantically and rhythmically equivalent sentences (This is .../To jest...), we measure the level of consonant length variation with respect to the language in which the potential geminates appear, the language context and the learning experience of the students. In this way we collect evidence and formulate observations concerning the learners’ awareness of the status of geminates in various languages and the probability of transfer in EFL learning.
12
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English Word Stress in Polish Learners’ Speech Production and Metacompetence

63%
Porzuczek A., Rojczyk A.
Research in Language
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2017
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vol. 15
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issue 4
313-323
EN
This paper focuses on the relations between conscious and subconscious aspects of English word stress acquisition. Using two tasks – reading and written word stress identification, we test metacompetence and production accuracy in the pronunciation of Polish learners, first year and third year English studies majors. The analysis of the collected data and correlations between the students’ metalinguistic knowledge and production accuracy, including error patterns and proportions, leads to conclusions concerning the significance of language awareness, learning experience and, indirectly, explicit didactic instruction for English word stress realization. Our results indicate that Polish learners tend to stress the word-initial syllable rather than the penult, typical of their native language. We have also observed a generally large, though smaller in more proficient learners, discrepancy between metacompetence and performance.
13
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Detection of Non-native Speaker Status from Backwards and Vocoded Content-masked Speech

63%
Rojczyk A., Porzuczek A.
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2020
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vol. 6
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issue 2
87-105
DE
Die Studie befasst sich mit der Erkennung eines fremden Akzents in der englischen vokodierten und rückwärts gerichteten Sprache. Beide Verarbeitungsverfahren eliminieren eine semantische Information und teilweise (rückwärts gerichtete Sprache) oder vollständig (vokodierte Sprache) eine Spektralinformation, während die rhythmischen Merkmale der Sprache beibehalten werden, die als Differenzierungsgrad der Dauer von prosodischen Einheiten verstanden werden, die zur Unterscheidung von Proben des einheimischen und fremden Akzents dienen könnten. An der Untersuchung nahmen englische Muttersprachler und Polen teil, die diese Sprache auf fortgeschrittenem Niveau gebrauchen. Die Ergebnisse zeigten, dass weder Engländer noch Polen in der Lage sind, einen fremden Akzent in den verarbeiteten Sprachproben nur aufgrund der zeitlichen Verteilung der Akzente (vokodierte Sprache) und des Differenzierungsgrades der Länge von prosodischen Einheiten (rückwärts gerichtete Sprache) zu erkennen.
EN
This paper addresses the issue of speech rhythm as a cue to non-native pronunciation. In natural recordings, it is impossible to disentangle rhythm from segmental, subphonemic or suprasegmental features that may influence nativeness ratings. However, two methods of speech manipulation, that is, backwards content-masked speech and vocoded speech, allow the identification of native and non-native speech in which segmental properties are masked and become inaccessible to the listeners. In the current study, we use these two methods to compare the perception of content-masked native English speech and Polish-accented speech. Both native English and Polish-accented recordings were manipulated using backwards masked speech and 4-band white-noise vocoded speech. Fourteen listeners classified the stimuli as produced by native or Polish speakers of English. Polish and English differ in their temporal organization, so, if rhythm is a significant contributor to the status of non-native accentedness, we expected an above-chance rate of recognition of native and non-native English speech. Moreover, backwards content-masked speech was predicted to yield better results than vocoded speech, because it retains some of the indexical properties of speakers. The resultsshow that listeners are unable to detect non-native accent in Polish learners of English from backwards and vocoded speech samples.
14
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Self-reported vs. self-rated pronunciation in a non-native language

63%
Cieślicka E. G., Rojczyk A.
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2017
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vol. 3
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issue 2
EN
The study investigates how their own accent in English is self-perceived by Polish learners. More specifically, we compare how, and to what extent, self-reported pronunciation differs from self-rated pronunciation prior to and after the exposure to one’s recorded speech. Previous research on non-native accent rating has concentrated on scores obtained from native speakers or other proficient speakers of English. In the current study, we concentrate on how learners evaluate their own accent in English for parameters such as pronunciation, articulation and fluency. We also introduce an independent variable of proficiency. Both quantitative and qualitative analyses were conducted and the result showed that there are no major differences between how learners report their accent in English and how they rate it from the recording of their own speech. It indicates that the general self-image of one’s accent is fairly stable and exposure to the sample of one’s speech does not change the overall self-perception.   
15
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Perception of Allophonic Cues to English Word Boundaries by Polish Learners: Approximant Devoicing in English

51%
Rojczyk A., Schwartz G., Balas A.
Research in Language
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2016
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vol. 14
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issue 1
15-29
EN
The study investigates the perception of devoicing of English /w, r, j, l/ after /p, t, k/ as a word-boundary cue by Polish listeners. Polish does not devoice sonorants following voiceless stops in word-initial positions. As a result, Polish learners are not made sensitive to sonorant devoicing as a segmentation cue. Higher-proficiency and lower-proficiency Polish learners of English participated in the task in which they recognised phrases such as buy train vs. bite rain or pie plot vs. pipe lot. The analysis of accuracy scores revealed that successful segmentation was only above chance level, indicating that sonorant voicing/devoicing cue was largely unattended to in identifying the boundary location. Moreover, higher proficiency did not lead to more successful segmentation. The analysis of reaction times showed an unclear pattern in which higher-proficiency listeners segmented the test phrases faster but not more accurately than lower-proficiency listeners. Finally, #CS sequences were recognised more accurately than C#S sequences, which was taken to suggest that the listeners may have had some limited knowledge that devoiced sonorants appear only in word-initial positions, but they treated voiced sonorants as equal candidates for word-final and word-initial positions.
16
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Stop Release in Polish English - Implications for Prosodic Constituency

51%
Schwartz G., Balas A., Rojczyk A.
Research in Language
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2014
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vol. 12
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issue 2
131-144
EN
Although there is little consensus on the relevance of non-contrastive allophonic processes in L2 speech acquisition, EFL pronunciation textbooks cover the suppression of stop release in coda position. The tendency for held stops in English is in stark opposition to a number of other languages, including Polish, in which plosive release is obligatory. This paper presents phonetic data on the acquisition of English unreleased stops by Polish learners. Results show that in addition to showing a tendency for the target language pattern of unreleased plosives, advanced learners may acquire more native-like VC formant transitions. From the functional perspective, languages with unreleased stops may be expected to have robust formant patterns on the final portion of the preceding vowel, which allow listeners to identify the final consonant when it lacks an audible release burst (see e.g. Wright 2004). From the perspective of syllabic positions, it may be said that ‘coda’ stops are obligatorily released in Polish, yet may be unreleased in English. Thus, the traditional term ‘coda’ is insufficient to describe the prosodic properties of post-vocalic stops in Polish and English. These differences may be captured in the Onset Prominence framework (Schwartz 2013). In languages with unreleased stops, the mechanism of submersion places post-vocalic stops at the bottom of the representational hierarchy where they may be subject to weakening. Submersion produces larger prosodic constituents and thus has phonological consequences beyond 'coda' behavior.
17
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Stop Release in Polish English - Implications for Prosodic Constituency

51%
Schwartz G., Balas A., Rojczyk A.
Research in Language
|
2014
|
vol. 12
|
issue 2
131-144
EN
Although there is little consensus on the relevance of non-contrastive allophonic processes in L2 speech acquisition, EFL pronunciation textbooks cover the suppression of stop release in coda position. The tendency for held stops in English is in stark opposition to a number of other languages, including Polish, in which plosive release is obligatory. This paper presents phonetic data on the acquisition of English unreleased stops by Polish learners. Results show that in addition to showing a tendency for the target language pattern of unreleased plosives, advanced learners may acquire more native-like VC formant transitions. From the functional perspective, languages with unreleased stops may be expected to have robust formant patterns on the final portion of the preceding vowel, which allow listeners to identify the final consonant when it lacks an audible release burst (see e.g. Wright 2004). From the perspective of syllabic positions, it may be said that ‘coda’ stops are obligatorily released in Polish, yet may be unreleased in English. Thus, the traditional term ‘coda’ is insufficient to describe the prosodic properties of post-vocalic stops in Polish and English. These differences may be captured in the Onset Prominence framework (Schwartz 2013). In languages with unreleased stops, the mechanism of submersion places post-vocalic stops at the bottom of the representational hierarchy where they may be subject to weakening. Submersion produces larger prosodic constituents and thus has phonological consequences beyond ‘coda’ behavior.
18
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Immediate and Distracted Imitation in Second-Language Speech: Unreleased Plosives in English

51%
Rojczyk A., Porzuczek A., Bergier M.
Research in Language
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2013
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vol. 11
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issue 1
3-18
EN
The paper investigates immediate and distracted imitation in second-language speech using unreleased plosives. Unreleased plosives are fairly frequently found in English sequences of two stops. Polish, on the other hand, is characterised by a significant rate of releases in such sequences. This cross-linguistic difference served as material to look into how and to what extent non-native properties of sounds can be produced in immediate and distracted imitation. Thirteen native speakers of Polish first read and then imitated sequences of words with two stops straddling the word boundary. Stimuli for imitation had no release of the first stop. The results revealed that (1) a non-native feature such as the lack of the release burst can be imitated; (2) distracting imitation impedes imitative performance; (3) the type of a sequence interacts with the magnitude of an imitative effect
19
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Monitoring English Sandhi Linking – A Study of Polish Listeners’ L2 Perception

51%
Schwartz G., Rojczyk A., Balas A.
Research in Language
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2015
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vol. 13
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issue 1
61-76
EN
This paper presents a set of word monitoring experiments with Polish learners of English. Listeners heard short recordings of native English speech, and were instructed to respond when they recognized an English target word that had been presented on a computer screen. Owing to phonological considerations, we compared reaction times to two types of vowel-initial words, which had been produced either with glottalization, or had been joined via sandhi linking processes to the preceding word. Results showed that the effects of the glottalization as a boundary cue were less robust than expected. Implications of these findings for models of L2 speech are discussed. It is suggested that the prevalence of glottalization in L1 production makes listeners less sensitive to its effects as a boundary cue in L2.
20
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Phonological Factors Affecting L1 Phonetic Realization of Proficient Polish Users of English

51%
Schwartz G., Balas A., Rojczyk A.
Research in Language
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2015
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vol. 13
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issue 2
180-197
EN
Acoustic phonetic studies examine the L1 of Polish speakers with professional level proficiency in English. The studies include two tasks, a production task carried out entirely in Polish and a phonetic code-switching task in which speakers insert target Polish words or phrases into an English carrier. Additionally, two phonetic parameters are studied: the oft-investigated VOT, as well as glottalization vs. sandhi linking of wordinitial vowels. In monolingual Polish mode, L2 interference was observed for the VOT parameter, but not for sandhi linking. It is suggested that this discrepancy may be related to the differing phonological status of the two phonetic parameters. In the code-switching tasks, VOTs were on the whole more English-like than in monolingual mode, but this appeared to be a matter of individual performance. An increase in the rate of sandhi linking in the code-switches, except for the case of one speaker, appeared to be a function of accelerated production of L1 target items.
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