The effect of proficiency level of Spanish learners of Dutch on accentedness, intelligibility and status.
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2016-05-30
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en
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This investigation is about Spanish accented Dutch, in which the relationship between proficiency level and the variables of intelligibility, accentedness and status was studied by the use of an audio fragment and a questionnaire. Spanish learners of Dutch of different proficiency levels recorded four sentences for the audiotape. Dutch native speakers were asked to listen to one fragment and evaluate the speaker’s intelligibility, accentedness and status. The differences between the proficiency levels in relationship to three variables were measured. Status showed one significant result, the only difference found was that native speakers were rated higher on status than non-native speakers. For the variables of intelligibility and accentedness as well significant differences were found. Although some exceptions were found concerning the relationship between the proficiency level of the Spanish learners of Dutch and intelligibility, we could state that as proficiency levels get higher, the speaker’s intelligibility as well gets higher. For the variable of accentedness we found that as proficiency levels get higher, the speaker’s accentedness gets lower.
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