Languages are more than a means of communication: they define our identity and help us integrate into society. Multilingual education promotes inclusivity, mutual understanding, and peace, while helping to preserve minority and indigenous languages. This year’s International Mother Language Day highlights the important role young people play in advancing multilingual education.
In this context, UNRIC spoke with Dr. Lieke van Maastricht from Radboud University in the Netherlands about prosody – the sound patterns of language, such as lexical stress, intonation, speech rhythm or accents. In our globalized world, more people are communicating with non-native speakers of their mother tongue. A foreign accent is a natural part of language learning; it reflects the diversity of human expression and is a reminder of the courage it takes to embrace new languages and cultures. Find out what prosody is and why it matters in language acquisition.
What is prosody and why is it important?
Prosody concerns the sounds of a language that span beyond individual vowels and consonants, such as lexical stress (which syllable stands out in a word), intonation (the rising and falling patterns of voice frequency), and speech rhythm. These larger speech sounds shape our impression of a language (e.g., Swedish is often perceived as singsong-y, Italian is said to sound staccato). However, prosody is not only nice to have because it makes languages sound interesting or melodic, but also a must-have for effective communication. We use prosody to convey both meaning and emotion in speech. For example, when someone is anxious, the pitch of their voice and speech rate often increases, whereas a reduced pitch range and speech rate can be a sign of depression or boredom. Moreover, producing the right intonation pattern can make the difference between a question and a statement, or between irony and sincerity. Placing word stress incorrectly can lead to a completely different lexical meaning or misinterpretation of an entire sentence.
Why do language learners often transfer intonation, rhythm or word stress from their mother tongue into a new language?
The tricky thing is that languages can differ enormously in terms of their prosody. For example, while in French the last syllable of a word is always the most prominent (e.g., nu-mé-RO, té-lé-PHONE, ki-lo-MÈTRE, capital letters indicate word stress), in Spanish, lexical stress placement is flexible (e.g., te-LÉ-fo-no, ki-LÓ-me-tro) and can change the meaning of a word or even whole sentence (e.g., NÚ-me-ro refers to the noun ‘the number’, nu-ME-ro means ‘I number’ in the present tense, and nu-me-RÓ means ‘(s)he numbered’ in the past tense).
As speakers are often unaware of the prosodic patterns of both their native language and the one they are trying to learn, they tend to subconsciously copy those they know from their native language to their new language. Many educational methods lack instruction in prosody, and it is often left out of teacher training as well. So even if foreign language teachers are (more) aware of its relevance to communication, they still often do not have the tools to teach it properly in class. This is unfortunate, as research shows that with training, we can improve our prosodic proficiency.
Is it possible to eliminate a foreign accent? Can improving prosody significantly reduce it?
Research has shown that improving your prosody will help reduce a foreign accent. Native speakers also consider learners with better prosody to be easier to understand. Interestingly, the results for actual comprehension (e.g., in the form of a transcription task or a comprehension test) are mixed. Some studies show that improving prosody also improves intelligibility, while others do not. Importantly, in our increasingly globalized world, more and more people are becoming accustomed to communicating with non-native speakers of their mother tongue. And while a reduced foreign accent and perceived ease of comprehension remain important contributors to the impression that we have of people, it is a relief to know that foreign language errors, be it in prosody or other areas, do not necessarily impede our capability to understand each other.
Accents in foreign languages are often associated with social judgements. Why do accents carry stigma? In your view, is accent bias more about actual language ability, or about social attitudes and perceptions?
This is not my area of expertise, but research has shown that speakers with a foreign accent are also more likely to be judged negatively by mother-tongue speakers regarding their competence, intelligence, and charisma. Given that errors in prosody contribute to the perception of a foreign accent, we can conclude that incorrectly producing the prosody of a foreign language has important societal implications, for instance, when it comes to finding a job and maintaining social relationships. What is worse, this can become a bit of a vicious circle: if native speakers perceive communication with a learner to be difficult or the speaker themselves as less charismatic or intelligent, this reduces that learner’s chances of receiving valuable input from native speakers and practice in their foreign language, which would naturally reduce their chances of improving in the language, including its prosody. Alternatively, we know that learners with good prosody are also perceived as more fluent and proficient, which may even distract native listeners from errors they make in other areas of the language. This could be seen as a virtuous circle. In conclusion, it is crucial that we start providing teachers and learners with the necessary tools to practice and assess prosody in their classrooms.
Your research focuses on prosody. Could you tell us more about what you are currently working on?
My current research focuses on two things: on the one hand, I am involved in several studies assessing the benefits of hand gestures, facial expressions, and other forms of nonverbal communication on prosody acquisition by foreign language learners. Since prominence in speech – e.g., both at the level of words (stress) and sentences (intonation) – often co-occurs with hand gestures, head movements, and facial expressions (e.g., eyebrow raises), there have been quite a few studies looking at whether learners can use this nonverbal information to learn the prosody of a foreign language. So far, the results of these studies have been mixed; some researchers find benefits, but others do not. The usefulness of gestures in these contexts appears to also depend on the complexity of the task, the nature of the prosodic cue in question, and the characteristics of individual learners (e.g., with respect to working memory capacity or musical aptitude).
On the other hand, I am trying to create a test to assess the prosodic accuracy of speech. Such a test would not only be useful for teachers and learners of a foreign language but also for clinical therapists working with patients struggling with prosody production or the creators of technology aimed at understanding or producing speech (e.g., such as Siri or Alexa, voice-activated virtual assistants).
Could you briefly explain what the Prosodic Proficiency Test Battery is and what it aims to do?
The test is still under development, but when it is ready, it will be freely available to anyone. As such, it would help foreign language teachers and learners in a few different ways: it would allow them to evaluate prosodic accuracy, either in their own speech (for learners) or in their students’ speech (for teachers). The test can be used for one-time assessments or to track prosodic development over time. You could also use it to see which specific contexts are challenging for a speaker and determine their learning goals. For instance, they may produce word stress quite well, but are not yet able to use sentence intonation correctly in the context of indirect questions. This provides teachers and learners with a concrete area to focus on.
What would you say to learners who feel embarrassed about their accent in a language they have acquired?
Having a foreign accent is a completely normal aspect of learning and speaking a new language. It doesn’t necessarily impede communication and is nothing to be ashamed of. I like to see it as a reminder that I was brave enough to open myself up to a new language and culture, which is always enriching. Luckily, as more and more people speak a foreign language, we are also becoming increasingly accepting of variation in speech, both when spoken by learners and by native speakers with a regional accent. In my opinion, these differences among speakers should be celebrated, as they highlight our ability to remain in communication despite our different (language) backgrounds.
On International Mother Language Day, what message should we remember about accents and multilingualism?
Perhaps International Mother Language Day is a nice day to pay special attention to the accents that you hear around you, both regional ones and foreign ones. Try to guess where a speaker is from based on their accent. Do you think that your guess is based on the vowels and consonants that you hear, or because of the rhythm and melody of the speech? Once you become attuned to prosody, you will realize that it is all around you and that you use it to extract valuable information from speech about the speaker and their message. It’s like a secret superpower!
Dr. Lieke van Maastricht is a linguist specializing in phonetics and foreign language learning, as well as a Spanish teacher at Radboud University.
Further reading:
Why do children learn languages more effortlessly than adults?