Repository logo
 

Automatic detection of accent and lexical pronunciation errors in spontaneous non-native English speech

Accepted version
Peer-reviewed

Type

Conference Object

Change log

Authors

Kyriakopoulos, Konstantinos  ORCID logo  https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7659-4541
Knill, KM 
Gales, MJF 

Abstract

Detecting individual pronunciation errors and diagnosing pronunciation error tendencies in a language learner based on their speech are important components of computer-aided language learning (CALL). The tasks of error detection and error tendency diagnosis become particularly challenging when the speech in question is spontaneous and particularly given the challenges posed by the inconsistency of human annotation of pronunciation errors. This paper presents an approach to these tasks by distinguishing between lexical errors, wherein the speaker does not know how a particular word is pronounced, and accent errors, wherein the candidate's speech exhibits consistent patterns of phone substitution, deletion and insertion. Three annotated corpora of non-native English speech by speakers of multiple L1s are analysed, the consistency of human annotation investigated and a method presented for detecting individual accent and lexical errors and diagnosing accent error tendencies at the speaker level.

Description

Keywords

pronunciation, CAPT, CALL, speech recognition

Journal Title

Proceedings of the Annual Conference of the International Speech Communication Association, INTERSPEECH

Conference Name

Interspeech 2020

Journal ISSN

2308-457X
1990-9772

Volume Title

2020-October

Publisher

ISCA

Rights

All rights reserved
Sponsorship
Cambridge Assessment (unknown)
Cambridge Assessment (Unknown)