This paper investigates intelligibility and comprehensibility in the production of English sibilants by Korean L2 learners of English. Identification and goodness of fit experiments were performed by native English speakers in order to measure intell...
This paper investigates intelligibility and comprehensibility in the production of English sibilants by Korean L2 learners of English. Identification and goodness of fit experiments were performed by native English speakers in order to measure intelligibility and comprehensibility. Various factors, such as position of English sibilants in words, frequency of words, types of English sibilants and proficiency of L2 learners were found to be influential on intelligibility and comprehensibility in a complex way. The effects of frequency and sibilant were inconsistent across positions, as measured by intelligibility and comprehensibility alike. The effect of frequency was inconsistent across sibilant pairs as measured by intelligibility, whereas the effect was consistent across sibilants according to comprehensibility. In addition, the effect of position was inconsistent across proficiency levels measured by comprehensibility, but not by intelligibility. The results of the study indicate that intelligibility and comprehensibility of L2 speech may be partially independent.