Are we equally accented in L2 and L3? Perception of foreign accentedness and comprehensibility in multilingual speakers

Abstract

Aims and objectives:

We examined whether the language status (L2 vs L3/Ln), the presence of grammatical errors, and the degree of speech monitoring affect the perceived global foreign accent and comprehensibility in L1 Polish multilingual learners speaking L2 English and L3/Ln Norwegian.

Methodology:

We conducted a foreign accentedness rating study in two non-native languages with speech samples in three different conditions, including language status (L2 vs L3/Ln), speaking mode (read vs extemporaneous), and grammaticality (error-free vs erroneous).

Data and analysis:

To analyze the results obtained in the accentedness and comprehensibility rating tasks, we fitted four identical linear mixed-effects models for ordinal response variables, independently for accentedness ratings and for comprehensibility ratings in L2 English and in L3/Ln Norwegian.

Findings:

We found that speaking mode influenced comprehensibility ratings in L2, but not in L3/Ln. Sentence type (i.e., extemporaneous error-free or extemporaneous erroneous) influenced both the perceived level of accentedness and comprehensibility in L2 and comprehensibility in L3.

Originality:

The study is one of the first attempts to systematically compare the levels of accentedness and comprehensibility in two non-native languages in the same group of speakers.

Significance:

Our findings clearly confirm that foreign-accented speech perception and comprehension is modulated by several factors, including language status, the speaking mode, and the presence of grammatical errors.