Cross-dialectal speech processing: perception of lexical stress by Indian English listeners

Abstract

In English, lexical stress provides essential information guiding lexical activation. However, little is known about the processing of lexical stress in postcolonial Englishes. The present study examines the perception of lexical stress in disyllabic words by adult speakers of Standard Indian English. Results show that in iambic words (second syllable stressed), participants perform at about 54% accuracy, regardless of social background. In trochaic words, participants with private schooling perform significantly better (60% accuracy; p<0.05) than those with a government school background, approaching the level of accuracy reported for Australian English listeners. Our results suggest that p..