A Contrastive Study Of Prosodic Features Of Information Structure In Passage Reading-aloud Between Changchun English Learners And Native English Speakers

Research on information structure has a long history,and research on prosodic features is also flourishing.However,research on these two disciplines is generally done separately.Few scholars throw themselves into the research of the prosodic features of information structure in passage reading-aloud.What’s more,research on the prosodic features of information structure in passage reading-aloud by English learners in a specific dialectical area is still a research gap.However,in daily communication,the key information in sentences should be given more attention so as to achieve better communication.Therefore,the importance of the research on the prosodic features of information structure in passage reading-aloud is obvious.Due to the influence of mother tongue dialect,and improper phonetic acquisition,Changchun English learners’ pronunciation and intonation in passage reading-aloud is not very standard.In addition,they don’t realize that the different information status should be given different degree of prominence in passage reading-aloud.Therefore,from the perspective of experimental phonetics,this study compares the prosodic features of information structure in passage reading-aloud between Changchun English learners and native English speakers and focuses on the following three questions:1.What are the prosodic differences of information structure between Changchun English learners and native English speakers in passage reading-aloud?2.What are the reasons for these differences?3.What measures can Changchun English learners take to improve their passage reading-aloud?In this study,the North Wind and the Sun,read by 10 native English speakers(Americans)and 10 Changchun English learners is selected from the AESOP corpus as the research corpus.The acoustic analysis software Praat and IVi E labeling system are used to annotate the corpus and extract relevant data.And these data are further analyzed by using SPSS and Excel.By comparing the prosodic features of words or expressions in different information status in passage reading-aloud,and the prosodic features of the information structure in general in passage reading-aloud between Changchun English learners and native English speakers,the following research results are obtained:For native English speakers,their pitch,sound intensity and duration of new information are all higher than that of given information.And these differences have reached a significant level,which means that native English speakers can use pitch,sound intensity and duration to differentiate different types of information status in passage reading-aloud.Changchun English learners,however,are different.Their prosodic features of new information and given information in passage reading-aloud are irregular.In general,the new information has a higher pitch,a stronger intensity,but a shorter duration than the given information.And there are still some inaccurate cases of individual words or expressions.In addition,the differences of pitch,sound intensity and duration between the new information and the given information have not reach a significant level,indicating that Changchun English learners could not well use pitch,sound intensity and duration to distinguish different information status in passage reading-aloud.What’s more,the pitch,sound intensity and duration of Changchun English learners are significantly higher than those of native English speakers,whether the information is new information or given information.That is to say,generally Changchun English learners highlight information by using a higher pitch,stronger intensity and longer duration,regardless of whether it is new information or given information.In summary,native English speakers can make a comprehensive use of the three prosodic parameters,pitch,sound intensity and duration,to achieve the purpose of highlighting new information and weakening given information.However,Changchun English learners can not distinguish different types of information status by means of prosodic features.The reasons of this phenomenon are complex and varied,but the decisive ones are listed as following: 1.The negative transfer of mother tongue,including the negative transfer of prosodic features and the negative transfer of dialect in Northeast China.Since Chinese and English belong to different language families and have different prosodic features,this transfer is inevitable and will definitely affect Changchun English learners’ acquisition of the prosodic features of English.2.Changchun English learners’ lack of the requisite information structure and prosody knowledge can also account for their inability to use pitch,sound intensity and duration to distinguish different information status in passage reading-aloud correctly.In view of the above phenomenon and reasons,this paper also provides some corresponding measures to help Changchun English learners improve their passage reading-aloud ability.To be specific: 1.Viewing the transfer of mother tongue dialectically,understanding the commonness and differences between these two languages correctly,and giving full play to the positive role of mother tongue.2.Formulating new teaching objectives,adding the effectiveness of communication into teaching objectives,and teaching relevant information structure and prosody knowledge.3.Using new teaching methods such as visualization technology in daily teaching activities.