English intonation in storytelling: a comparison of the recognition and production of nuclear tones by British and Hong Kong English speakers

Hudson, T., Setter, J. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7334-5702 and Mok, P. (2022) English intonation in storytelling: a comparison of the recognition and production of nuclear tones by British and Hong Kong English speakers. English World-Wide, 43 (3). pp. 357-381. ISSN 0172-8865 doi: 10.1075/eww.21035.hud

Abstract/Summary

This paper presents data for a tightly controlled perception and production study of English language intonation in reading by native speakers of British English and second language learners of English in Hong Kong. We demonstrate a relatively high correlation between the scores for the two studies when data are separated by utterance type (statement, echo, wh-question, etc.). Our finding that this cohort of English learners performs better at production of nuclear tones than in the corresponding perception study adds support to the claim that the perception-production link, a theory that production is contingent on perception, is not borne out by the empirical study of learners of World Englishes. Data collected for the British English speakers give insight into a changing intonational phonology, while Hong Kong data indicate differences in intonational categories, a different distribution of tones, and possibly tonal innovation.

Item Type	Article
URI	https://reading-clone.eprints-hosting.org/id/eprint/100443
Identification Number/DOI	10.1075/eww.21035.hud
Refereed	Yes
Divisions	Interdisciplinary Research Centres (IDRCs) > Centre for Literacy and Multilingualism (CeLM) Arts, Humanities and Social Science > School of Literature and Languages > English Language and Applied Linguistics
Publisher	John Benjamins
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