Comparison of the inter-accent variation of articulation rate between English and English with imitated Chinese accent speech

Abstract

This paper compares the articulation rate of 2 English speeches with different accents produced by Nigel Ng, a well-known stand-up comedian and youtuber, while he is taking the role of Uncle Roger and while he is not. Taking the role of Uncle Roger, Nigel Ng produces utterances with imitated Chinese accent to underline stereotypical Asian characteristics, and to contrast with his own “neutralish English accent”. The objective is to investigate the variation of articulation rate between 2 accents which are both produced by only one speaker. Based on the analysis of the articulation rate of Nigel Ng’s speeches, it is found that both accents display different articulation rates, despite being produced by the same speaker. This finding is in accord with the claim that the accent has an effect on the articulation rate variation. However, it seems that this study contrasts the claim that the articulation rate has low intra-speaker variation in literatures.