Come valutano i parlanti nativi la pronuncia dei non nativi?

Indagine esplorativa s’un campione d’apprendenti italofoni di spagnolo LS

Abstract

This contribution presents the results of an exploratory investigation on how native speakers perceive and evaluate the Italian accent of FL Spanish. The questionnaire was designed to evaluate four dimensions: comprehensibility, “fluency”, “foreign accent” and “irritability”. The four dimensions are assessed using Likert scales; for fluency and foreign accent the evaluators are also asked to express a score for each of a series of aspects pre-selected by the author. For a more refined evaluation, open questions are provided for the dimensions “comprehensibility”, “foreign accent” and “irritability”.

We attempted to answer two main questions: 1. What kind of interaction can be observed between the four dimensions? 2. What are the concrete linguistic aspects that determine the perceptual evaluations of the evaluators, in relation to foreign accent? The results show an intense correlation between accentedness, on the one hand, and irritability and fluency, on the other. As for the second question, realization of final consonants, excessive closing or opening of mid vowels and markedly ascending contour in continuative or assertive intonation are the most frequently reported aspects.