• Phonetics 2026 Hong Kong

    Jette Hansen Edwards

    The Chinese University of Hong Kong

    J Edwards

    Main areas of research

    • Second Language Acquisition
    • Applied Linguistics
    • Language Development
    • L2 phonology
    • World Englishes
    • L2 writing
    Publications

    Bio

    Jette G. Hansen Edwards is Professor of Applied English Linguistics at The Chinese University of Hong Kong. Originally from Denmark and educated in the United States, she has worked in Hong Kong since 2003. Her research focuses primarily on the acquisition and use of a second language sound system, the social and linguistic factors that foster and constrain acquisition and use, and speech intelligibility, particularly in world Englishes contexts. She has published seven books to date, including four books on phonetics and phonology: Social Factors and L2 Phonetics and Phonology(2024, Cambridge University Press), The Sounds of English around the World: An Introduction to Phonetics and Phonology (2023, Cambridge University Press), Phonology and Second Language Acquisition (2008/2011, John Benjamins), and Acquiring a nonnative phonology: Linguistic Constraints and Social Barriers (2006, Continuum Publishers).

    Her recent book, The Sounds of English around the World: An Introduction to Phonetics and Phonology (2023, Cambridge University Press), is the first to place world Englishes and sociolinguistic variation at the center of the discussion of English phonetics and phonology. She has also contributed chapters on phonetics and phonology to key volumes and journals in the field including The Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedia of World Englishes, The Encyclopedia of Applied Linguistics, The Routledge Handbook of Second Language Acquisition and Sociolinguistics, Social Dynamics in Second Language Accent, The Routledge Handbook of Contemporary English Pronunciation, Language Learning, Applied Linguistics, Studies in Second Language Acquisition World Englishes, Multilingua, Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, English World-Wide, and Asian Englishes.

    Research Interests

    • Social factors and the acquisition of a second language phonology
    • The phonology of World Englishes
    • Sociolinguistic variation in World Englishes
    • Speech intelligibility
    • Peer response in second language writing classrooms
    Keynote Lecture

    Speech Intelligibility in a Multilingual World

    This keynote begins by reframing a familiar but enduring question: what does it mean for speech to be intelligible in an increasingly multilingual world? While speech intelligibility has long been examined within second language acquisition and World Englishes research, the talk argues that intelligibility is not a fixed property of speech, but a dynamic, relational phenomenon that emerges at the intersection of speakers, listeners, languages, and social contexts. By foregrounding the constructs of intelligibility, comprehensibility, accentedness, and acceptability, the keynote highlights how judgments about speech are shaped as much by expectations and ideologies as by acoustic or phonological form, with particular consequences for English and other global languages.

    The plenary then explores the complex constellation of linguistic and social factors that shape intelligibility. Linguistic features at multiple levels—segmental and suprasegmental patterns, fluency, and semantic grammatical choices—interact with speaker and listener variables such as proficiency, prior experience with languages and varieties, and deeply held attitudes toward speakers and cultures. These interactions reveal intelligibility as a shared accomplishment rather than an individual deficit, challenging traditional speaker centered models and underscoring the role of listeners in the co construction of meaning.

    A central focus of the keynote concerns linguistic bias, particularly in relation to accented speech. Although decades of research have demonstrated that phonological features influence intelligibility, there is still no consensus on which features matter most, or how their impact varies across listener backgrounds. The keynote argues that social evaluations of accent frequently outpace actual communicative breakdown, reinforcing inequities and privileging certain varieties over others. Recognizing and interrogating these biases is presented as essential for advancing theory, informing pronunciation pedagogy, and promoting more equitable communicative practices in multilingual and multicultural settings.

    The keynote concludes by looking ahead to new methodological and technological frontiers in speech intelligibility research. Emerging tools such as eye tracking, functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), and artificial intelligence open new possibilities for examining real time processing and neural alignment during interaction. By integrating linguistic theory, social insight, and cutting edge technology, the plenary envisions a future of intelligibility research that is not only more precise, but also more humane, inclusive, and responsive to the realities of global communication.

    Relevant publications:

  • Phonetics 2026 Hong Kong

    Carlos Gussenhoven

    Radboud University, Netherlands

    Carlos Gussenhoven

    Main areas of research

    • Phonetics
    • Phonology
    • Intonation
    • Limburgish
    • Tone Languages
    Publications

    Bio

    Language prosody has been the focus of my teaching and research. My 1984 dissertation On the Grammar and Semantics of Sentence Accents (Foris/Walter de Gruyter), contained nine chapters, eight of which were also published elsewhere. My colleagues and myself have adopted a typological perspective and have published experimenal research on tonal dialects of Limburgish (1999, Netherlands and Germany), showing how lexical tone is integrated in their intonation systems, Yucatec Maya (2006, Mexico), showing that the language does not express focus prosodically, Nubi (2006, Uganda), showing it has tonal rules that in part mimic the word and sentence prosody of Arabic (2006), Zwara Berber (2018, Libya), showing that unlike Moroccan varieties it has word stress (2017), Zhumadian Mandarin (2020, China), showing that question vs statement intonation is expressed paralinguistically, and Cantonese (2024, China), showing that the same contrast is expressed linguistically. I worked at Radboud University (twice), UC Berkeley, Queen Mary University, Nanjing University and the National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, besides studying and working at Stanford University, UC Berkeley and the University of Konstanz. I am a Fulbright scholar, with life memberships of Laboratory Phonology, IPA and Academia Europaea, and currently an emeritus professor at Radboud University.

    Publications:

    Wang, L., Ven, M.A.M. van de & Gussenhoven, C. (2025). Dipping and Falling as competing strategies for maintaining the distinctiveness of the low tone in the four-tone system of Kaifeng Mandarin. Journal of Phonetics, 109:101391. doi: 10.1016/j.wocn.2025.101391

    Yang, Y., Gussenhoven, C., Reshetnikova, V. & Ven, M.A.M. van de (2024). Functional and phonetic determinants of categorical perception in two varieties of Chinese. In Y. Chen, A. Chen & A. Arvanati (Eds.), Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Speech Prosody (pp. 642-646)

    Keynote Lecture

    Dissecting language prosody

    The prersence and nature of prosodic structures in languages has proved to be a persistent problem in language description and by extension in language typology. There are three broad issues. The first concerns the dividing line between paralinguistic and linguistic intonation. Among those who recognize the distinction, there are often doubts about the existence of a clear cut-off point as opposed to a grey zone in which the dividing line is more fuzzy. The second issue concerns reports of word stress in languages which phonetic research has recently identified as not having word stress. A common source of such ‘stress ghosting’, to use a term introduced by Marija Tabain and colleagues, is an illusory  perception of stress by speakers of languages with stress. A third issue concerns the presence of tone contrasts that are hard to hear for speakers of atonal languages. This less common problem may arise in the description of New Englishes with tonal substrates. In all cases, solutions should be sought in experimental research.

    First, a categorical perception experiment involving an identification and a discrimination task will illustrate the experimental approach towards determining the paralinguistic or linguistic status of intonation. A Cantonese and a Mandarin group of speakers responded to lexical and intonational contrasts in their own language to establish to what extent their results would reflect the functional status of monosyllabic pitch contours. Each group was presented with stimuli that came either from continua between lexical tones or from continua between interrogative and declarative intonations of a single tone. The results for Mandarin showed that lexical tone contrasts were perceived discretely and the intonational contrast gradiently. However, in Cantonese both lexical tone contrasts and the intonation contrast were perceived discretely. On the basis of these results, it would appear that intonation contrasts that are expressed through pitch height variation can be or are gradient, while intonation contrasts expressed through pitch shape differences and all lexical contrasts are discrete.

    Second, phonetic measurements of variables that have been related to speech effort, like duration and spectral tilt, yielded no evidence for word stress in Ambon Malay, a language that had been described as having regular penultimate word stress, with exceptional final stress. Part of the explanation of the attribution of word stress to languages that do not have it lies in the obligatory nature of stress. A speaker of a language with stress cannot pronounce a polysyllabic word without assigning main stress to one of its syllables. Subtle timing differences of intonational pitch peaks in Ambon Malay must have caused Ambon to be described as having penunultimate stress, but tamang ‘friend’ as having final stress by the linguistist. Earlier perception research had led Rob Goedemans and Ellen van Zanten to conclude that Indonesian has a melodic structure at phrasal boundaries as opposed to word boundaries.or syllables.

    Similar reports of Nigerian English words are responsible for pervasive claims of rightward stress shifts from their position in British English. As a result, contact, helicopter and short track are described as having main stress on tact, copter and track respectively. This description only makes sense if Nigerian English is taken to be a foreign-accented version of British English. However, Educated Nigerian English is a highly standardized variety of English in its own right, most strikingly so for its prosodic features. By not treating it as an autonomous language, whatever prosodic features there are wil run the risk of being overlooked. Our third issue is illustrated by perceptual research that showed that the language has two prosodic word types. One type has a High tone on the first syllable and the other has a H tone on the second. In both cases, H is preceded by a Low tone, which triggers downstep on H when the word occurs after another major-class word in the intonation phrase. The (downstepped) H spreads through the word. If the above examples are utterance-final, they will end with an intonational L% boundary tone which creates a fall in pitch that speakers of British English may hear as final stress. The sentences in (1) illustrate the Nigerian English contrast in their last words. The italic L is unassocated, for lack of a free syllable. In (1a) the pitch of the first syllable of oranges contrasts with lower pitch on the first syllable of bananas. Function words have L.

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