The effect of non-conclusive melodic rises on Czech speech sounding French

Abstract

This paper is based on a study of first language attrition in Czechs living in France, which reveals that Czech expatriates in France use prominent rises in non-conclusive intonation patterns in their native language. We manipulated the speech of six expatriates by reducing the fundamental frequency ( f 0 ) range of non-conclusive rises in a phrase, and the speech of six Czech control speakers by expanding the f 0 range to mimic the French-like prominent rises. The manipulations served, alongside filler items, as the basis for a perception test in which 37 native Czech listeners assessed how much the speakers’ pronunciation manifested marks of a long-term stay in France. The results confirmed our hypothesis that expanding the control speakers’ f 0 range would increase the perceived effect of French. However, reducing the f 0 range in the expatriate group did not yield lower French-effect ratings, most likely due to the presence of other pronunciation features in their speech.