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Language Proficiency and F0 Entrainment: A Study of L2 English Imitation in Italian, French, and Slovak Speakers

Zheng Yuan, Štefan Beňuš, Alessandro D'Ausilio

TL;DR

This study examines how L2 English proficiency shapes F0 entrainment during L2–L2 speech imitation in Italian, French, and Slovak speakers using the ART dataset. It introduces a word-aligned F0 analysis pipeline with WhisperX for segmentation and five interpretable F0 features, measuring entrainment via Dynamic Time Warping ($DTW$) distances and normalizations ($E_{raw}$, $E_{opt}$). The results show a nuanced pattern: higher L2 proficiency associates with reduced entrainment in static pitch features at the individual level, but increases dyadic mimicry of pitch range within a dyad, indicating context-dependent prosodic adaptation. These findings advance understanding of how language skill modulates social prosody in L2–L2 interactions and offer a robust framework for quantifying F0 entrainment in speech imitation.

Abstract

This study explores F0 entrainment in second language (L2) English speech imitation during an Alternating Reading Task (ART). Participants with Italian, French, and Slovak native languages imitated English utterances, and their F0 entrainment was quantified using the Dynamic Time Warping (DTW) distance between the parameterized F0 contours of the imitated utterances and those of the model utterances. Results indicate a nuanced relationship between L2 English proficiency and entrainment: speakers with higher proficiency generally exhibit less entrainment in pitch variation and declination. However, within dyads, the more proficient speakers demonstrate a greater ability to mimic pitch range, leading to increased entrainment. This suggests that proficiency influences entrainment differently at individual and dyadic levels, highlighting the complex interplay between language skill and prosodic adaptation.

Language Proficiency and F0 Entrainment: A Study of L2 English Imitation in Italian, French, and Slovak Speakers

TL;DR

This study examines how L2 English proficiency shapes F0 entrainment during L2–L2 speech imitation in Italian, French, and Slovak speakers using the ART dataset. It introduces a word-aligned F0 analysis pipeline with WhisperX for segmentation and five interpretable F0 features, measuring entrainment via Dynamic Time Warping () distances and normalizations (, ). The results show a nuanced pattern: higher L2 proficiency associates with reduced entrainment in static pitch features at the individual level, but increases dyadic mimicry of pitch range within a dyad, indicating context-dependent prosodic adaptation. These findings advance understanding of how language skill modulates social prosody in L2–L2 interactions and offer a robust framework for quantifying F0 entrainment in speech imitation.

Abstract

This study explores F0 entrainment in second language (L2) English speech imitation during an Alternating Reading Task (ART). Participants with Italian, French, and Slovak native languages imitated English utterances, and their F0 entrainment was quantified using the Dynamic Time Warping (DTW) distance between the parameterized F0 contours of the imitated utterances and those of the model utterances. Results indicate a nuanced relationship between L2 English proficiency and entrainment: speakers with higher proficiency generally exhibit less entrainment in pitch variation and declination. However, within dyads, the more proficient speakers demonstrate a greater ability to mimic pitch range, leading to increased entrainment. This suggests that proficiency influences entrainment differently at individual and dyadic levels, highlighting the complex interplay between language skill and prosodic adaptation.
Paper Structure (16 sections, 5 equations, 3 figures, 2 tables)

This paper contains 16 sections, 5 equations, 3 figures, 2 tables.

Table of Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. Data
  3. The ART corpus
  4. L2 proficiency evaluation
  5. Method
  6. Word segmentation and alignment
  7. F0 Preprocessing
  8. Parameterization
  9. F0 Entrainment
  10. Results
  11. Partner vs non-partner experiment
  12. Individual speaker experiment
  13. Inner-dyad experiment
  14. Discussion
  15. Conclusions
  16. ...and 1 more sections

Figures (3)

  • Figure 1: F0 contour parameterization (median). On the x-axis is the utterance transcription separated into words and y-axis represents the parameter value. Yellow and blue lines are the plots of F0 parameters of the imitator and model utterance.
  • Figure 2: Heatmap of Pearson correlation coefficients between F0 entrainment measures and English proficiency scores. Cells indicate correlations of F0 distance (median, mean, range, slope, drop) with language scores (final, fluency, intonation, overall, pronunciation). Colour intensity reflects correlation strength (red: positive, blue: negative), with values in parentheses denoting p-values.
  • Figure 3: Heatmap of Pearson correlation coefficients between inner-dyad differences in English proficiency scores and F0 entrainment measures. Negative correlations are illustrated, with darker shades indicating stronger relationships. The correlation coefficients are accompanied by p-values in parentheses.