Rebalancing the communicative burden: Production and perception of vowel variability in nonnative English speech

Interactions between native and nonnative speakers are increasingly common. Achieving mutual understanding in this context requires joint effort from both interlocutors. Prior research has focused on how nonnative speech exhibits unsystematic variability such that nonnative speakers should improve their pronunciation, neglecting the

role of the native listener, who forms half of a communicative pairing and can themselves adapt to nonnative

speech. This project aims to rebalance the "communicative burden", focusing specifically on rhythmically-governed vowel variability, investigating a) patterns of variability in vowel production among English native and nonnative speakers; and b) native listeners' adaptation to the variability in nonnative speech.