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Collection Highlights

The Routledge Handbook of Contemporary English

Pronunciation 1st Edition Okim Kang

Critical Issues in Teaching English and Language

Education: International Research Perspectives 1st Edition
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American English Phonetics and Pronunciation Practice Paul

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English After RP: Standard British Pronunciation Today

Geoff Lindsey
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 Research and Practice in Applied Linguistics
Series Editors: Christopher N. Candlin and Jonathan Crichton

English Pronunciation
Teaching and Research
Contemporary Perspectives

Martha C. Pennington and

Pamela Rogerson-Revell
 Research and Practice in Applied Linguistics

Series Editors
Christopher N. Candlin
Macquarie University
Sydney, NSW, Australia

Jonathan Crichton
University of South Australia
Adelaide, SA, Australia

“English Pronunciation Teaching and Research: Contemporary Perspectives breaks

new ground in presenting an applied, sociolinguistic orientation to pronuncia-
tion teaching and research that is both up-to-date and comprehensive in scope.
Written by two well-known pronunciation specialists, one British and one
American, the book is a welcome addition to the pronunciation literature that
should be on the reading lists of all language teachers and applied linguists.”
—Rodney H. Jones, University of Reading, UK

“This interesting and informative book makes a valuable contribution by con-

necting research and practice while providing a comprehensive scope. This is
much appreciated given the extensive amount of research in the field as well as
in related areas.”
—Jose Antonio Mompean Gonzalez, University of Murcia, Spain
This flagship series was created and overseen by Professor Christopher
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between research in applied linguistics and its practical applications in
the professions. Books in the series address the growing need for profes-
sionals concerned with language and communication issues to keep up to
date with applied linguistic research relevant to their practice. Central to
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and authoritative access to current scholarship and research on key topics
in language education and professional communication more broadly,
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tifying: research evidence for the main ideas and concepts competing
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and ideas a synopsis of important issues open for action and practice-­
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 Martha C. Pennington
Pamela Rogerson-Revell

English
Pronunciation
Teaching and
Research
Contemporary Perspectives
Martha C. Pennington Pamela Rogerson-Revell
SOAS and Birkbeck College English
University of London University of Leicester
London, UK Leicester, UK

Research and Practice in Applied Linguistics

ISBN 978-1-4039-4235-7    ISBN 978-1-137-47677-7 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-47677-7

Library of Congress Control Number: 2018946548

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 Preface

This book is the product of a collaboration between two pronunciation

specialists, one educated and based in the United Kingdom (Rogerson-­
Revell) and one in the United States (Pennington). We got to know each
other and our common interest and work in pronunciation as colleagues
in the English Department of City University (then Polytechnic) of Hong
Kong under the Headship of Professor Jack C. Richards in the 1990s,
and since that time, we have remained in touch and kept interacting
about our work. It was therefore natural that we became partners in this
book project, first commissioned by Prof. Chris Candlin with Martha
and later reconceptualized as a coauthored work combining our two dif-
ferent orientations and backgrounds and incorporating a wide range of
knowledge and perspectives on pronunciation teaching and research.
We have written this book aiming to present a novel, state-of-the-art
and issues-centered view of the teaching of English pronunciation that
also connects teaching to research. There are many books available on
pronunciation, including textbooks for teachers with practical teaching
ideas and introductory books on phonology and phonetics. However,
there is still little that has been written which brings together research
and teaching or relates pronunciation to wider contexts. This book aims
to fill this gap, helping teachers to see the relevance of research to teach-
ing and presenting phonology in a wide-angle view as a crucial compo-
nent of communication, identity, and the presentation of self.
v
vi Preface

We want to encourage and disseminate a view of pronunciation

research and teaching, and of research and pronunciation practice more
generally, as connecting in a two-way process in which research and prac-
tice function synergistically, in a trading relationship in which (i) the
results of research inform practice and (ii) the contexts of practice provide
sites for research and research results that inform future research. This
creates an ongoing cycle in which practice, rather than evolving in rela-
tive independence from research, is continually referenced to it, thus cre-
ating applied knowledge. The synergy between research and practice also
ensures that theory, rather than evolving in isolation from practice,
evolves with it, at the intersection of research and practice, so that theory
has applicability in real-life contexts.
The book takes a broad-based look at English pronunciation teaching
and research in a twenty-first century context of widespread knowledge
of English as a second or international language and changing views of
the importance of pronunciation in language teaching and communica-
tion. It aims to situate pronunciation teaching and research within a
wider context that includes language learning theory, language assess-
ment, technological developments, and the broader relevance of pronun-
ciation in both education and employment. The view of pronunciation
that we present encompasses the production and perception of meaning-
ful sound contrasts in English consonants and vowels as well as prosodic
or suprasegmental contrasts in stress, intonation, and other features that
contribute not only to denotative meaning, and so to intelligibility, but
also to many aspects of pragmatic meaning (e.g., in expression of style,
identity, stance, and politeness), and so to understanding in a larger sense
and the impact that a speaker has on a listener. We also include discussion
of voice quality and fluency as aspects of spoken language performance
that are considered to be part of pronunciation, and consider the nature
of accent and its place in pronunciation teaching. The contexts in which
pronunciation is considered include language classrooms and many kinds
of real-world contexts, from courtrooms, to doctor’s offices and hospitals,
to call centers. They also incorporate testing as an important aspect of
pronunciation practice and research.
One goal of the book is to offer up-to-date information on these dif-
ferent aspects of pronunciation, as a form of continuing education and
 Preface
   vii

inspiration for teachers and as directions for researchers. The book is

aimed primarily at those who teach pronunciation or wish to teach pro-
nunciation, both in-service and pre-service teachers, whether teaching in
countries where English is the primary or a secondary language, and
whether teaching classes specifically focused on pronunciation or not. It
will also be of value to those in the research and testing communities with
an interest in pronunciation, in addition to those who have a concern
with pronunciation as a job-related issue for employers, employees, and
customers. We believe that our book offers something for all of these
audiences, and we hope all readers will find it informative, original, and
interesting, in its broad scope, its up-to-date coverage, and the range of
topics discussed.
The book is structured in eight chapters providing in-depth coverage
with extensive and current references to literature. Chapter 1 addresses
the nature of pronunciation in our broad conception and the types of
meanings and functions it fulfills in communication, as we attempt to
show that it has a greater importance in communication than is often
realized, and so should command significant attention in teaching.
Chapter 2 considers language learning with a focus on second language
(L2) acquisition in instructed and uninstructed contexts and as con-
trasted with first language (L1) acquisition. Chapter 3 sets the teaching of
pronunciation in a historical, theoretical, and international context and
considers the factors that can be involved in making curriculum and
teaching decisions about pronunciation and how these decisions might
be influenced by research. Chapter 4 continues the focus on teaching by
looking more closely at teachers and teaching approaches and methods.
Chapter 5 is devoted to educational technologies and their potential for
enhancing pronunciation teaching, learning, and assessment. Chapter 6
then turns to assessment and the many issues associated with the stan-
dardized testing of pronunciation as part of speaking proficiency or as a
separate aspect of proficiency, with implications drawn for classroom-­
level assessment and for testing research. Chapter 7 considers the wider
applications of pronunciation beyond the L2 speaking or pronunciation
classroom, including in L1 literacy, speech therapy, and teacher educa-
tion; in forensic linguistics, healthcare, and business and professional
communication; and in the styling of speech in politics and social
viii Preface

c­ ommunication. The final chapter, Chap. 8, offers a reconsideration of

teaching and research in pronunciation and of the importance of con-
tinually relating research to practice and practice to research, and of
cross-­fertilizing different areas of knowledge.

London, UK Martha C. Pennington

Leicester, UK  Pamela Rogerson-Revell
 Acknowledgements

Martha would like to acknowledge the profound and enduring influence

on her thinking and writing of the thinking and writing on phonology of
Dwight Bolinger and David Brazil, each of whom she met only once but
whose works she continues to benefit from studying, and of the thinking
and writing in language learning and language teaching of Nick C. Ellis,
Michael H. Long, and Jack C. Richards, all of whom she had the pleasure
to work with for a period of time that set an ongoing interest in their
ideas. She also owes continuing debts for both inspiration and knowledge
of linguistics in general and phonology in particular to William Labov
and Michael Halliday. Each of these scholars has influenced her contribu-
tion to this book through various stages of development.
Pamela has similarly been influenced by the many great phonologists
and linguists who have helped take the field forward in recent decades
and by the dedicated individuals, such as Richard Cauldwell, Judy
Gilbert, John Levis, and many others, who have shown the importance of
relating pronunciation research to pedagogic practice.
We also wish to thank two contemporary pronunciation specialists,
José Antonio Mompéan González of the Universidad de Murcia and
Jonás Fouz-González of the Universidad Católica San Antonio, for read-
ing the preliminary version of our manuscript and giving detailed feed-
back on it. Their combined expertise in pronunciation theory, research,
teaching, and technologies meant that they were able to provide us with
ix
x Acknowledgements

many kinds of perceptive input that we could use in revising our work
towards the present version, while also drawing our attention to several
relevant references that we have included in the final work. Further
thanks go to the series editor, Jonathan Crichton, for his review and
encouraging comments on our initial manuscript. If any errors of lan-
guage or fact remain, these are of course our own.
In addition, we would both like to publicly acknowledge the value of
putting together our differing but overlapping areas of experience and
knowledge, and working out the common ground over the years spent
writing this book. As admirers of each other’s work with a long-term
association, we had a good starting basis for conceptualizing and writing
this book together—largely at a distance but with periodic face-to-face
contacts—and for sustaining our joint efforts over a long period. The
book created from our collaboration has evolved as a product of our
mutual and highly interactive engagement, with equal effort on both
sides. We believe that this collaboration has resulted in a much more
original, comprehensive, and deeply considered book than either of us
would have produced alone.
 Contents

1 The Nature of Pronunciation   1

2 Phonology in Language Learning  57

3 Framing the Teaching of Pronunciation 119

4 Pronunciation in the Classroom: Teachers and Teaching

Methods 173

5 Using Technology for Pronunciation Teaching, Learning,

and Assessment 235

6 Assessing Pronunciation 287

7 Beyond the Language Classroom: Wider Applications

of Pronunciation Research and Practice 343

8 Relating Pronunciation Research and Practice 401

xi
xii Contents

A
 uthor Index 465

Subject Index 481
 List of Figures

Fig. 1.1 Dimensions of pronunciation 7

Fig. 1.2 Not free at three 11
Fig. 3.1 Essential features of Jenkins’ Lingua Franca Core (adapted from
Jenkins, 2002, pp. 96–97) 137
Fig. 3.2 Nonessential features of the Lingua Franca Core (Jenkins,
2002, p. 98) 138
Fig. 3.3 Summary of “Amalgum English” phonological core (Cruttenden,
2008, p. 329) 139
Fig. 3.4 Summary of “International English” phonological core
(Cruttenden, 2008, p. 333) 140
Fig. 5.1 Screenshot of acoustic feedback in Pronunciation Power242
Fig. 5.2 Talking head Baldi (Ouni, Cohen, & Massaro, 2005) 253
Fig. 5.3 Ville screenshot—Pronunciation exercise 254
Fig. 5.4 DEAL screenshot 256
Fig. 5.5 Screenshot from Tactical Iraqi258
Fig. 5.6 RALL with IROBIQ (left) and RALL with ROBOSEM (right)
(Park, Han, Kang, & Shin, 2011) 260
Fig. 6.1 The CEFR phonological control scale (Council of Europe, 2001,
p. 117)315
Fig. 6.2 Extract from the CEFR phonological control descriptor scale
(Council of Europe, 2017, p. 134) 317

xiii
 List of Tables

Table 3.1 Factors involved in deciding pronunciation teaching priori-

ties (adapted from Rogerson-Revell, 2011, p. 247) 154
Table 5.1 Some skill-focused non-CAPT resources 265
Table 7.1 Key to transcription conventions (Adapted from Rogerson-
Revell, 1995, p. 244) 363
Table 8.1 Pedagogical research themes 403
Table 8.2 Summary of key findings of pronunciation effectiveness
research418

xv
 1
The Nature of Pronunciation

Introduction
Pronunciation is a much more important and pervasive feature of com-
munication than is generally recognized. It is the crucial starting point
for all spoken language, since thoughts must be articulated in sound in
order to be heard and so to become a message that can be communicated
to another person. Pronunciation is required not merely for talking, but
for communicating and making sense to another person, that is, for
making meaning in both an audible and an understandable form. A per-
son’s pronunciation ensures the clarity required for a listener to be able
to pick out words from the stream of speech and put them together in
meaningful, comprehensible patterns, and also projects information
about the speaker and the context of communication that makes a cer-
tain impression and establishes the common ground between speaker
and listener that is needed for effective communication. In both of these
aspects, pronunciation is the foundation of messaging in speech—
through articulating words and their combinations in grammatical and

© The Author(s) 2019 1

M. C. Pennington, P. Rogerson-Revell, English Pronunciation Teaching and Research,
Research and Practice in Applied Linguistics,
https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-47677-7_1
2 M. C. Pennington and P. Rogerson-Revell

discourse units and through projecting multiple facets of social and con-
textual meaning.
Research into pronunciation in real-world contexts, which today
incorporate people’s transglobal movements and interactions, is making
its centrality and multiple functions in communication increasingly
clear. A growing body of research demonstrates that pronunciation is an
aspect of language and communication which demands attention in edu-
cational and workplace contexts where speakers who have different
mother tongues seek to communicate in a common language, which in
the world today is often English. The emphasis of this book is on pro-
nunciation practice and research focused on teaching, learning, and
using English in these real-world contexts of transglobal and interna-
tional communication.
In this chapter, we take an in-depth look at the nature of pronuncia-
tion as a component of language and communication, in its many
aspects as both production and perception of speech, and in its many
functions for conveying meaning of different types. We begin by dif-
ferentiating the terms and disciplines that are associated with the study
of speech sounds, in order to make clear to readers our own references
to pronunciation in this book. Next, we review the features of pronun-
ciation and the different types of linguistic and social meaning expressed,
first by the pronunciation of individual sounds and then by the pro-
nunciation of stretches of speech. In that part of the discussion, we give
many examples of the kinds of meaning conveyed by pronunciation
and how misunderstanding may result from unclear pronunciation or
different conventions for pronunciation and the interpretation of
speech in different speech communities. That review is followed by a
consideration of pronunciation as a feature of group and individual
identity. The chapter also provides a review of key concepts as they are
used in the different areas of pronunciation research and practice
included in this book. By reviewing the multifaceted nature of pronun-
ciation as a pervasive dimension of communication and introducing
key terms and concepts for talking about pronunciation in its many
manifestations, this introductory chapter lays the foundation for the
remainder of the book.
 The Nature of Pronunciation 3

 he Nature of Pronunciation and Why It Is

T
Important
A First Look at Phonology and Pronunciation

In linguistics, phonology refers to the sound system of a language, that

is, the distinctions in sounds that are meaningful for that language, or to
the sound stratum or level of language, as distinct from the other “higher”
strata (e.g., of lexis and syntax) of language. Phonology can be thought of
as the surface level, or the building blocks, of a language. All of the spo-
ken units of a language, from syllables up to whole discourses, are
expressed through or composed of speech sounds, segmental features or
phonemes (consonants and vowels) and suprasegmental features or
prosodies (properties of stretches of speech). Phonology is therefore one
of the aspects that can be described or analyzed about a language and its
individual elements (words, phrases, clauses, sentences, and discourses
such as conversations or speeches). It is also one of the aspects of speech
that can be described or analyzed with respect to individual speakers or
groups of speakers.
Phonology comprises the meaningful units of sound out of which all
spoken language is formed and connected, by convention, to meanings
that human beings recognize and respond to—both internally, in terms
of their thoughts and feelings, and externally, in terms of their interactive
moves. Phonology can therefore be viewed as having both psychological
and social dimensions. Phonology also has a cognitive dimension, since
the articulatory, auditory, psychological, and social patterning of spoken
language is imprinted in specific neural pathways. The brain is then able
to control and integrate all aspects of phonological performance, both
subconsciously and consciously, to ensure that speech is produced with a
high degree of understandability according to the speaker’s intention.
Pronunciation is a prominent term among a number of different
terms used within the realm of phonology and the various types of
research and practice connected to the sound stratum of language.
Although phonology is sometimes used as a cover term for all of the phe-
nomena related to linguistic sound, it is often restricted to the description
4 M. C. Pennington and P. Rogerson-Revell

or the study of meaningful distinctions in sound of a language, and on

this basis differentiated from phonetics, which refers to the description
or the study of the details of language sounds. Linguists regularly use
these two terms with this contrast in mind, phonology to refer to the sys-
tem and units of linguistic sound that are meaningful for a language and
phonetics to refer to the physical properties of those units. The emphasis
of theoretical linguists on theoretical phonology (or in some cases, the-
oretical phonetics) can be contrasted with the practical applications of
applied linguists, which can be referred to as applied phonology (or in
some cases, applied phonetics). The term pronunciation tends to have a
practical or applied emphasis and so is generally not used by theoretical
linguists and researchers in second language acquisition (SLA), who typi-
cally refer to phonology (or occasionally phonetics) as their area of study.
Language teachers generally use the term pronunciation, referring to an
area of proficiency in language learning or a type of skill in spoken lan-
guage performance, rather than phonology.
Researchers and practitioners with a practical or applied emphasis may
use any of these terms (phonology, pronunciation, or phonetics) together
with others, such as articulation, relating to the mechanics of producing
speech sounds (e.g., speech therapists), or accent, relating to the general
characteristics of speech that are associated with a certain geographical
locale or social group (e.g., managers and trainers in business). Social
psychologists may refer to pronunciation or accent as a focus of investiga-
tion on people’s attitudes to specific languages or speaker groups. Because
we aim to focus on the practical aspects of phonology, we will refer to
pronunciation for the most part, while using the other terms as appropri-
ate for our coverage of research and practice in the various disciplines and
areas of spoken language performance included in this book.
As a type of linguistic skill or language proficiency, pronunciation
involves learning to articulate and discriminate the individual sound ele-
ments or phonemes making up the system of consonants and vowels of a
language, sometimes referred to as segmental phonology, and the fea-
tures of connected speech making up its prosody or prosodic system,
sometimes referred to as suprasegmental phonology. The prosodic sys-
tem or suprasegmental phonology includes, at a minimum, tone and
intonation (defined by pitch), rhythm (defined by duration), and stress
 The Nature of Pronunciation 5

or accentuation (defined by acoustic intensity, force of articulation, or

perceptual prominence). From the perspective of language teaching,
prosody may also include articulatory (or vocal) setting, a complex of
specific postures of the vocal organs (lips, tongue, jaw, and vocal folds),
and/or voice quality, the vocal characteristics resulting from such set-
tings, that are associated with different languages and pragmatic
meanings.
Phonemes are key to the makeup of words and their component
parts—syllables, the allowable individual phonemes and phoneme com-
binations that can carry stress (e.g., /a/ alone but not /b/ alone; vowel [V]
and consonant [C] in combination, /ba/ [C + V] and /ab/ [V + C]; and
the vowel flanked by consonants /bab/ [C + V + C] and //blabz/ /
[CC + V + CC]). Individual phonemes differentiate rhyming pairs (e.g.,
lap and cap, up and cup, seek and peak) as well as all kinds of minimal
pairs—pairs of words that differ in meaning based on a difference in one
phoneme (e.g., cab and cap, cup and cap, clap and cap, pick and peek).
Prosody comes into play when individual consonants and vowels are
joined together to make syllables, as the components of the meaning-­
units (morphemes) composing words, which are the building blocks of
phrases and all longer grammatical units and stretches of speech. Patterns
of rhythm, stress/accentuation, tone, and intonation delimit the struc-
ture and meaning of words and larger units.
Intonation is sometimes referred to as speech melody or, informally,
the “tunes” of language. Traditionally, American linguistics has made a
distinction between tone as referring to word-level pitch patterns and
intonation as referring to sentence-level or utterance-level pitch patterns
(and often incorporating stress patterns as well) that is not made in British
linguistics, where tone is a component of intonation (e.g., Halliday &
Greaves, 2008). In this book, we will sometimes use tone to refer to pitch
patterns or contours that function above the word level, reflecting the
British tradition followed in some studies. As in the case of other terms
connected to pronunciation teaching and research, we seek to avoid ter-
minological confusion and overload while also aiming to accurately rep-
resent the way that terms are currently being used.
The sound system of each language is unique, built on specific distinc-
tions in phonemes and prosodic features. Languages differ in the size of
6 M. C. Pennington and P. Rogerson-Revell

their phoneme inventories as well as in the specific phonetic features that

differentiate individual consonants, vowels, and prosodic patterns and
their cue value, that is, the relative importance of specific phonetic fea-
tures. While some languages have a small inventory of vowels (e.g.,
Hawaiian, Serbo-Croatian) or consonants (e.g., Cantonese, Japanese),
others have a large inventory of vowels (e.g., Danish, English, Finnish) or
consonants (e.g., Hindustani, Lithuanian). All languages have distinctive
patterns of rhythm and intonation within their grammatical units, but
languages differ in the prosodic basis of lexical (word-level) distinctions
and patterning. While in some languages (so-called tone languages) tone
(pitch levels or contours) is a defining feature of individual words and
word combinations (e.g., Hausa, Thai), in others, stress is a defining fea-
ture at the word level (e.g., Arabic, English). The consonant and vowel
phonemes and prosodic patterns of individual languages, the specific
phonetic features of their phonemes and prosodies, and the cue value of
the individual features will overlap but also differ to a greater or lesser
degree. The areas of overlap in phoneme inventories and prosodic charac-
teristics across languages provide a starting point for language learning
yet at the same time can lead a learner to give insufficient attention to
differences (see Chap. 2).
Figure 1.1 gives an overview of the many dimensions in which pro-
nunciation functions in language and communication. As a multi-level
and multi-dimensional phenomenon (see Fig. 1.1), pronunciation
assumes great importance in communication: it is a major aspect of
understanding and interpreting spoken language and speakers’ inten-
tions. Pronunciation is important not only for clarity of message and
denotative meaning (the type of meaning conveyed in dictionary defini-
tions of words), but also for subtleties of message meaning and connota-
tion (the type of meaning conveyed by the associations of words in their
contexts of use) and in conveying a certain impression of the speaker.
Viewed as a communicational resource, pronunciation is a key aspect of
communicative competence that goes far beyond being understood in
the sense of speaking in such a way that the audience is able to recognize
the words being spoken (i.e., intelligibility): it incorporates being under-
stood in the broader sense of speaking in such a way that the audience is
able to interpret many things about the speaker’s nature and orientation.
 The Nature of Pronunciation 7

Pronunciation is the initial layer of talk through which speakers construct and
listeners decode and interpret linguistic signals, as an indicator of:

Focal Linguistic Units and Boundaries

- phonemes
- syllables
- words
- phrases
- clauses
- multi-clause units

Focal Information Units and Boundaries

- words and their component morphemes and syllables
- information units (e.g., phrases and clauses)
- key words in information units
- main parts of a discourse

Different Types of Information

- new vs. continuing topics
- background vs. foreground in a story line or topic
- turn continuation vs. turn transition points in conversation
- assertions (statements) vs. queries (questions) vs. demands (commands)

Pronunciation is also a major ingredient in first impressions and in the interpretation

of people’s meaning and intentions, as an indicator of:

Nature
- inherent characteristics (sex and age)

Nurture
- place of origin
- education level
- social or communal identity (e.g., ethnicity, social class)

Situational Positioning
- communicative role and position
- attitude towards the audience
- attitude towards the topic of speech

Fig. 1.1 Dimensions of pronunciation

8 M. C. Pennington and P. Rogerson-Revell

Pronunciation is a cue to the speaker’s origin, social background, per-

sonal and communal identity, attitudes, and motivations in speaking, as
well as the role(s) and position(s) which the speaker is enacting in a spe-
cific communicative context.
Pronunciation is an important aspect of spoken language proficiency
that includes speakers’ strategic competence:

Strategic competence is the way speakers use communicative resources to

achieve their communicative goals, within the constraints of their knowl-
edge and of the situation in which communication takes place. [In all com-
munication], pronunciation has pragmatic effects because of its function in
the affective framing of utterances and in defining social and individual
identity. Phonological competence has strategic value in terms of a speak-
er’s ability to relate to and express affiliation with others in a particular
social group or geographical area. It has value in terms of academic oppor-
tunity and other kinds of opportunities that might be open to a speaker
who has a certain type of pronunciation or who has mastery of a range of
varieties or styles. It also has value on the job and the job market in terms
of being able to communicate competently with specific types of custom-
ers, in terms of the image the speaker conveys and the employer wants to
promote, and in terms of the geographical range of customers that can be
effectively served…. (Pennington, 2015, p. 164)

In these many different ways, pronunciation is a social and expressive

resource that can be used in conjunction with other linguistic resources
to convey many different kinds of meaning. The wider value of pronun-
ciation and its application across many aspects of language and commu-
nication is a central concern of this book.

 honology as Key to Understanding

P
in Communication

People interpret speech within the whole context of utterance, which

includes not only the physical and situational features of the setting in
which an utterance occurs, but also the background knowledge and
assumptions people bring to the setting of communication. The context
 The Nature of Pronunciation 9

includes many types of background knowledge such as the participants’

linguistic competence and cultural background, their knowledge and
assumptions about people as individuals and as types, about the commu-
nication process in specific situations and, in general, about the world
and how it functions. Differences in participants’ observable characteris-
tics, such as their mode of talk, can have either a positive or a negative
impact on communication—as can any differences in purposes, prefer-
ences, and values that participants construe as relevant to the conduct
and interpretation of talk.
Since pronunciation is a main factor in participants’ identification of
differences in background, perception of each other, and construal of the
speech event, it has a major impact on interactive dynamics and the cre-
ation and interpretation of meaning. As a general rule, people process
speech by first attending to global features that allow them to form initial
impressions. These first impressions help to guide the process of interpre-
tation by cueing the speaker’s

• Affective state and attitude: compare Thanks a lot spoken with high
pitch (suggests pleasure, sincere thanks) vs. low pitch (suggests displea-
sure, sarcasm);
• Background knowledge and assumptions: compare the tag in My son
Ben’s a good boy, isn’t he spoken with rising tone (suggests asking to
know) vs. falling tone (suggests seeking agreement).

In addition, global properties of speech in the way of prosodic informa-

tion help listeners identify the structure of the utterance and locate lin-
guistic units within that structure: compare no one has spoken on one
intonation contour with linking across the three words (no one/has) vs.
with two intonation contours and a break after the first word (no/one
has).
A person’s pronunciation in all its aspects—including the articulation
of specific phonemes, words, and phrases as well as the prosodies of con-
nected speech—is an important aspect of being understood as one
intends. Pronunciation is first of all a crucial determinant of whether a
person can be understood at all. Each language and language variety (or
dialect) of a language has different pronunciation features which must be
10 M. C. Pennington and P. Rogerson-Revell

mastered in order to be understood by those who speak that language or

variety. A certain “threshold level” of pronunciation clarity or accuracy
(Hinofotis & Bailey, 1980), according to the norms and experience of the
audience determining what is understandable to them, is required for
communication to take place. This threshold level of skill in pronuncia-
tion depends on achieving a basic knowledge of the sound pattern of the
language and ability to perceive its phonemic and prosodic elements and
distinctions, together with a certain level of skill and automaticity in the
mechanics of articulation required to produce those elements and
distinctions.
With the goal of maximizing meaningfulness and coherence, speakers
generally supply multiple cues to meaning in the way of the particular
words, expressions, and grammatical patterns they select and in the way
of prosodic and segmental features of their speech. Such multiple cues
offer a degree of redundancy that can aid a listener’s processing and
understanding of spoken language. However, a language learner’s limited
knowledge of the L2 reduces the options for supplying multiple and
redundant cues to meaning, and a learner’s limited automaticity of pro-
duction limits the ability to balance different aspects of utterance produc-
tion simultaneously.

S
 egmental Level

Inaccurate pronunciation of individual vowels or consonants can some-

times be compensated by other message elements and cues in the sur-
rounding context, but it can cause real problems in communication in
some situations. For example, pronunciation confusions or lack of dif-
ferentiation by international medical graduates (IMGs), such as between
the words breathing and bleeding (Wilner, 2007, p. 14), are critical to
patient health and might in some cases be matters of life and death (Labov
& Hanau, 2011). Although not all miscommunication is so serious, as in
the constructed example of Fig. 1.2, a lack of differentiation between one
phoneme and another can easily interfere with understanding and can
also lead to impression formation and triggering of stereotypes that may
have other kinds of impacts on communication (as discussed further
below).
 The Nature of Pronunciation 11

[Mr. Karen, a Division Manager at an Australian subsidiary of an international company,

has hired a non-native speaker of English as his secretary. She has just telephoned Mr.
Stevens, an employee, to set up an appointment.]

Secretary: Hello, Mr. Stevens. Mr. Karen would like to see you tomorrow to discuss
some matters relating to the budget planning meeting next week. Do you
have some time in the afternoon?

Mr. Stevens: I’m not free.

Secretary: Not free. How about four o’clock, then?

Mr. Stevens: No good.

Secretary: How about before free?

Mr. Stevens: No, I’m not free before three or after three. I’m busy all afternoon.

Secretary: Oh, sorry! How about in the morning?

Mr. Stevens: Yes, any time in the morning is OK.

Secretary: How about 9:00 am?

Mr. Stevens: Fine.

Secretary: Your appointment with Mr. Karen is confirmed for 9:00 tomorrow.

Mr. Stevens: [He hangs up.]

Fig. 1.2 Not free at three

As this constructed example indicates, segmental mispronunciation or

misperception may interfere with understanding and communicative
purpose to a greater or lesser degree. In addition to potentially causing
misunderstanding and miscommunication, segmental errors, substitu-
tions, and nonstandard pronunciation can cause listeners to become dis-
tracted from the content of speech and focused on its form, in some
cases, resulting in annoyance (e.g., Fayer & Krasinski, 1987) and/or
“switching off” and avoiding further contact with a speaker (Singleton,
1995).
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