The aim of this paper is to introduce the reader to the Phenomenon of the Foreign Accent Syndrome (FAS) and to work out the similarities and differences between the syndrome and a real foreign accent. For this, various case studies will be introduced and their results will be drawn together in order to list up the main facts and characteristics of the foreign accent syndrome. Following, a reflection about the probable causes of the syndrome will be done. There has not been a lot of research about the foreign accent syndrome and only little is known about the real pathologic cause of FAS. The FAS is to separate from other disorders such as apraxia (and aphasia), despite the fact that they share a lot of common features and the FAS is considered to be a subtype of the AoS. Although there is no detailed knowledge about the cause of foreign accent syndrome, the theories about its pathologic reasons will be discussed as well. Although there are several known kinds of the foreign accent syndrome, this paper will focus on the ones following a stroke or other lesions affecting the human brain.
On the following pages the characteristics of a real foreign accent will be compared to the ones of the foreign accent syndrome with the aim to find out which factors lead to the perception of the individuals´ speech as foreign and to reveal the actual differences. In final the results will be discussed.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction
2. The Foreign Accent Syndrome
3. Characteristics of a Foreign Accent
4. Three Cases and Revealed Characteristics of FAS
4.1 Blumstein et al. 1987
4.2 Kurowski et al. 1996
4.3 Dankovicová et al. 2001
5. Discussion
Objectives and Topics
The primary objective of this paper is to examine the phenomenon of Foreign Accent Syndrome (FAS), specifically by comparing it to the characteristics of a real foreign accent in order to determine why affected speech is perceived as foreign and to identify underlying neurological and linguistic factors.
- The distinction between Foreign Accent Syndrome and natural foreign language accents.
- Neurological causes of FAS, focusing on brain lesions following strokes.
- Analysis of segmental phonetic features and prosody in FAS patients.
- Comparison of three key case studies to identify common and unique characteristics of the syndrome.
- The role of the listener's perception in categorizing speech as foreign.
Excerpt from the Book
4.1 Blumstein et al. 1987
One of those cases is a 62 years old woman from Boston who had a left hemisphere stroke followed by a change in her speech which sounded foreign to listeners. Her speech was analyzed by Blumstein et al. in 1987. “Her articulation seemed only mildly abnormal, whereas melody line was very abnormal […]. Language was generally fluent.” (Blumstein et al. 1987: 220) Apart from that the findings in writing, repetition and recitation, reading and singing were normal. The speech analysis revealed that listeners can´t decide which accent the patient had and gave several indications about probable causes of this perception. Using some test words there was an acoustic analysis being conducted to figure out the differences between the patient´s production of stop consonants and the one of native speakers of English. The first analysis was done watching the Voice-Onset Time (VOT). Generally the patient had pretty normal VOT productions, but they found her prevoicing - “particularly for labial and alveolar stops” (Blumstein et al. 1987: 224) - to be very long for native speakers of English. However, the place of articulation was found to be normal. The manner of articulation, in particular the realization of flaps vs. full stops was analyzed by measuring the duration. The patient´s utterances showed that she is rather using full stops instead of flaps for [t d]. The acoustic analysis of vowels revealed that her vowel production was average apart from monosyllabic words where the patient was found to produce another vowel after “the final stop [d]” (Blumstein et al., 1987: 229). This causes a change in the syllable structure as well as the speech rhythm.
Summary of Chapters
1. Introduction: This chapter introduces the Foreign Accent Syndrome (FAS) and sets the research goal of comparing it to actual foreign accents through selected case studies.
2. The Foreign Accent Syndrome: The chapter defines FAS as a rare motor speech disorder typically resulting from brain lesions and provides an overview of the affected brain regions.
3. Characteristics of a Foreign Accent: This chapter defines the concept of a foreign accent in L2 speakers and identifies key linguistic factors like pronunciation and prosody that contribute to its perception.
4. Three Cases and Revealed Characteristics of FAS: This chapter analyzes three specific case studies (Blumstein et al., Kurowski et al., and Dankovicová et al.) to identify linguistic patterns found in FAS patients.
5. Discussion: The final chapter synthesizes the findings, arguing that FAS is not a true foreign accent and highlighting the variability of symptoms and the ongoing challenges in identifying consistent neurological patterns.
Keywords
Foreign Accent Syndrome, FAS, Speech disorder, Stroke, Perisylvian area, Prosody, Segmental features, Brain lesion, Language production, Phonetic inventory, Motor impairment, Acoustic analysis, Vowel production, Intonation, Speech rhythm.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the fundamental subject of this paper?
The paper examines the Foreign Accent Syndrome (FAS), a rare speech disorder where a patient's speech changes after a brain injury in a way that sounds like a foreign accent to others.
What are the central thematic fields covered?
The work covers linguistics, specifically phonetics and prosody, alongside neurological aspects related to speech production and brain damage.
What is the primary research goal?
The goal is to determine the similarities and differences between FAS and a genuine foreign accent and to understand the factors that lead listeners to perceive FAS-affected speech as a specific foreign accent.
Which scientific methods were utilized?
The author employs a comparative approach, analyzing existing case studies and their documented acoustic and impressionistic speech analyses to evaluate the characteristics of FAS.
What topics are addressed in the main body?
The main body details the neurological basis of FAS, defines the characteristics of normal foreign accents, and provides an in-depth analysis of three distinct clinical case studies.
Which keywords best describe the research?
Key terms include Foreign Accent Syndrome, speech disorder, motor speech production, prosody, segmental features, brain lesions, and phonetics.
How does the case of Dankovicová et al. (2001) differ from the others?
Unlike the other cases where patients suffered left hemisphere lesions, the patient in this study had a right hemisphere lesion, and her speech did not show the same prosodic impairments, suggesting that FAS symptoms can vary significantly.
Why is it difficult to determine the "type" of accent in FAS patients?
As noted in the discussion, FAS does not contain consistent features of any specific native language; rather, it produces idiosyncratic sound changes that are often perceived as "foreign" simply because they deviate from the listener's native norm.
- Quote paper
- Sarah Darwish (Author), 2017, The Phenomenon of the Foreign Accent Syndrome, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/429054
