Speaking rate data are reported for a group of 40 adult native speakers of Mandarin during their production of American English. The results are compared with a group of 40 adult native speakers of American English. Results of the analysis found Mandarin speakers to produce English with a slower speaking rate and articulation rate compared to American speakers. In addition, the Mandarin speakers inserted significantly more pauses between syllables compared to American speakers. The results confirm previous research suggesting a strong influence of a first (L1) language (in this case, Mandarin) on the production of a second (L2) language (in this case, English). The results are also discussed in terms of potential differences in the speech movement profiles between the two language groups.
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Chen et al. (2004) studied this question.
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