Perception of non-native clear speech: Accentedness and emotional index

A growing body of research has investigated acoustic modifications in clear speech produced by non-native populations (e.g., Jung & Dmitrieva, 2023b). However, relatively little is revealed about how non-native, foreign-accented clear speech is perceived by listeners in general. While limited evidence exists regarding its intelligibility (e.g., Jung & Dmitrieva, 2023a), it remains unexplored how listeners perceive it in terms of accentedness and emotional index, both of which can impact the effectiveness of communication (e.g., Morgan & Ferguson, 2017). The present study aims to examine how Korean-accented English clear speech is perceived by listeners who share the same native language background, with respect to these two parameters, and compare it to native English clear speech. In the experiment, each of the listeners was presented with either Korean-accented or native English clear speech samples and asked to provide a rating of accentedness (on a 1 to 7 scale) as well as to select one emotion category from six forced-choice alternatives. Findings obtained from 32 listeners reveal that accent ratings increased in clear speech, but only when it was produced by Korean speakers. Further, most of the clear speech samples were perceived as neutral.