Presentation
Authors: Kate Yaw (University of South Florida) , Tania Ferronato (University of South Florida)
Questions are important speech acts in everyday communication and are thus introduced early to foreign language (FL) learners. Languages such as Italian mark polar (yes/no) questions only through intonation rather than using syntactical or lexical markers, hence elevating the pragmatic role of intonation for intelligibility. Yet regional varieties of Italian display different intonation patterns for the same utterance type, further impacting the intelligibility of the message. The present study investigated Italian as a Foreign Language (IFL) learners' ability to distinguish between Italian statements and polar questions by exploring the impact of listeners' (accent familiarity, contact with Italian speakers, L1, heritage learner status) and speakers' (regional accent) background factors on these perceptions. Fifty intermediate/advanced university IFL students listened to a total of 18 recordings from six Italian native speakers and indicated whether each was a question or a statement. Data were analyzed in a logistic mixed-effects regression. Findings revealed 1) lower accuracy rates in identifying polar questions regardless of speaker accent and 2) benefits of an L1 Romance language background and contact with Italian speakers in accurate intonation perception. Results offer implications for classroom language learning, emphasizing the pragmatic importance of Italian intonation for effective real-world communication among learners.
Keywords: Italian as a foreign language, intelligibility, intonation, regional variation, listener background factors
How to Cite: Yaw, K. & Ferronato, T. (2025) “Pragmatic Impact of Italian Intonation on FL Learners' Perceptions of Statements and Polar Questions”, Pronunciation in Second Language Learning and Teaching Proceedings. 15(1). doi: https://doi.org/10.31274/psllt.18433
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