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Intelligibility and Comprehensibility of American andIrish Englishes in Japan
Author(s) -
Matsuura Hiroko,
Chiba Reiko,
Fujieda Miho
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
world englishes
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.6
H-Index - 49
eISSN - 1467-971X
pISSN - 0883-2919
DOI - 10.1111/1467-971x.00121
Subject(s) - psychology , fluency , intelligibility (philosophy) , utterance , world englishes , linguistics , american english , perception , clarity , salient , variety (cybernetics) , history , philosophy , biochemistry , mathematics education , chemistry , archaeology , epistemology , neuroscience , artificial intelligence , computer science
The present study focuses on the effect of familiarity with different English accents. Specifically, the study investigates Japanese university students’ intelligibility and comprehensibility judgements of familiar and unfamiliar English – American English and Irish English, respectively. To see to what extent each variety was intelligible to them, subjects were asked to listen to self introductions of native speakers and fill missing words in blanks. To examine how comprehensible the varieties were, they were asked to indicate their judgements subjectively by using 7‐point scales. Findings include: (1) Even if the listeners felt an utterance was easy to understand, it did not necessarily mean they could transcribe the words or understand the message correctly; (2) the amount of exposure and familiarity seemed to be factors contributing to higher perceived comprehensibility but not necessarily to better understanding of the message; and (3) listeners’ perception of speech was likely to be affected by salient vocal features such as clarity, intonation, fluency and pauses. It is assumed that familiarity and exposure had at least a positive psychological effect on the listeners, which could lead to less inhibition, bias toward and more tolerance of different varieties of English.