Studie z Aplikované Lingvistiky (Jun 2016)
Vliv temporálních manipulací na vnímání kompetence mluvčího / Effect of Temporal Manipulations on the Perception of Speaker Competence
Abstract
Speech communication research based on psychological methods currently stands at the forefront of scientific interest. Speech is an integral part of the social identity of a person and has a significant impact on the perception of the speaker by his surroundings. The present study aims to chart the effect of the temporal organization of utterances on the perception of a speaker’s competence. Recordings of four Spanish native speakers were manipulated in a way which destabilized the regular temporal structure of their utterances. A perception test was administered to forty Czech listeners differing in level of proficiency with the Spanish language. The aim of the test was to reveal the listeners’ positive or negative judgments of the original (regular) and manipulated (dysfluent) items. The basis for the perception test was the Big Five personality traits model, with the factor evaluated being the speakers’ competence that is the ability and readiness to effectively deal with tasks. The results confirmed our main hypothesis, which assumed that both groups of listeners will, in terms of competence, evaluate the manipulated items negatively. Students of Spanish studies were more perceptive of the temporal manipulations, most likely due to their familiarity with the prosodic structure of Spanish and their understanding of the meaning of the tested utterances.
