Second Language Accent Faking Ability Depends on Musical Abilities, Not on Working Memory
Studies involving direct language imitation tasks have shown that pronunciation ability is related to musical competence and working memory capacities. However, this type of task may measure individual differences in many different linguistic dimensions, other than just phonetic ones. The present st...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2019-02-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Psychology |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00257/full |
| _version_ | 1831518218568597504 |
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| author | Marion Coumel Marion Coumel Markus Christiner Markus Christiner Susanne Maria Reiterer Susanne Maria Reiterer |
| author_facet | Marion Coumel Marion Coumel Markus Christiner Markus Christiner Susanne Maria Reiterer Susanne Maria Reiterer |
| author_sort | Marion Coumel |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Studies involving direct language imitation tasks have shown that pronunciation ability is related to musical competence and working memory capacities. However, this type of task may measure individual differences in many different linguistic dimensions, other than just phonetic ones. The present study uses an indirect imitation task by asking participants to a fake a foreign accent in order to specifically target individual differences in phonetic abilities. Its aim is to investigate whether musical expertise and working memory capacities relate to phonological awareness (i.e., participants’ implicit knowledge about the phonological system of the target language and its structural properties at the segmental, suprasegmental, and phonotactic levels) as measured on this task. To this end, French native listeners (N = 36) graded how well German native imitators (N = 25) faked a French accent while speaking in German. The imitators also performed a musicality test, a self-assessment of their singing abilities and working memory tasks. The results indicate that the ability to fake a French accent correlates with singing ability and musical perceptual abilities, but not with working memory capacities. This suggests that heightened musical abilities may lead to an increased phonological awareness probably by providing participants with highly efficient memorization strategies and highly accurate long-term phonetic representations of foreign sounds. Comparison with data of previous studies shows that working memory could be implicated in the pronunciation learning process which direct imitation tasks target, whereas musical expertise influences both storing of knowledge and later retrieval here assessed via an indirect imitation task. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-12T13:24:45Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-97be1b513897454f97b1746a779d3ffb |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1664-1078 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-12T13:24:45Z |
| publishDate | 2019-02-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Psychology |
| spelling | doaj.art-97be1b513897454f97b1746a779d3ffb2022-12-22T00:23:12ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782019-02-011010.3389/fpsyg.2019.00257415462Second Language Accent Faking Ability Depends on Musical Abilities, Not on Working MemoryMarion Coumel0Marion Coumel1Markus Christiner2Markus Christiner3Susanne Maria Reiterer4Susanne Maria Reiterer5Department of Linguistics, University of Vienna, Vienna, AustriaDepartment of Psychology, University of Warwick, Coventry, United KingdomDepartment of Linguistics, University of Vienna, Vienna, AustriaDepartment of Neurology, Section of Biomagnetism, University of Heidelberg Medical School, Heidelberg, GermanyDepartment of Linguistics, University of Vienna, Vienna, AustriaTeacher Education Center, University of Vienna, Vienna, AustriaStudies involving direct language imitation tasks have shown that pronunciation ability is related to musical competence and working memory capacities. However, this type of task may measure individual differences in many different linguistic dimensions, other than just phonetic ones. The present study uses an indirect imitation task by asking participants to a fake a foreign accent in order to specifically target individual differences in phonetic abilities. Its aim is to investigate whether musical expertise and working memory capacities relate to phonological awareness (i.e., participants’ implicit knowledge about the phonological system of the target language and its structural properties at the segmental, suprasegmental, and phonotactic levels) as measured on this task. To this end, French native listeners (N = 36) graded how well German native imitators (N = 25) faked a French accent while speaking in German. The imitators also performed a musicality test, a self-assessment of their singing abilities and working memory tasks. The results indicate that the ability to fake a French accent correlates with singing ability and musical perceptual abilities, but not with working memory capacities. This suggests that heightened musical abilities may lead to an increased phonological awareness probably by providing participants with highly efficient memorization strategies and highly accurate long-term phonetic representations of foreign sounds. Comparison with data of previous studies shows that working memory could be implicated in the pronunciation learning process which direct imitation tasks target, whereas musical expertise influences both storing of knowledge and later retrieval here assessed via an indirect imitation task.https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00257/fullphonological awarenessmusical abilitiesworking memorypronunciation abilityimitation taskaccent faking |
| spellingShingle | Marion Coumel Marion Coumel Markus Christiner Markus Christiner Susanne Maria Reiterer Susanne Maria Reiterer Second Language Accent Faking Ability Depends on Musical Abilities, Not on Working Memory Frontiers in Psychology phonological awareness musical abilities working memory pronunciation ability imitation task accent faking |
| title | Second Language Accent Faking Ability Depends on Musical Abilities, Not on Working Memory |
| title_full | Second Language Accent Faking Ability Depends on Musical Abilities, Not on Working Memory |
| title_fullStr | Second Language Accent Faking Ability Depends on Musical Abilities, Not on Working Memory |
| title_full_unstemmed | Second Language Accent Faking Ability Depends on Musical Abilities, Not on Working Memory |
| title_short | Second Language Accent Faking Ability Depends on Musical Abilities, Not on Working Memory |
| title_sort | second language accent faking ability depends on musical abilities not on working memory |
| topic | phonological awareness musical abilities working memory pronunciation ability imitation task accent faking |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00257/full |
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