This study presents detailed phonetic and acoustic analyses of the speech characteristics of two new cases of Foreign Accent Syndrome (FAS). Participants include a 48-year-old female who began speaking with an "Eastern European" accent following a traumatic brain injury, and a 45-year-old male who presented with a "British" accent following a subcortical cerebral vascular accident (CVA). Identical samples of the participants' pre- and post-morbid speech were obtained, thus affording a new level of control in the study of Foreign Accent Syndrome. The speech tasks consisted of oral readings of the Grandfather Passage and 18 real words comprised of the stop consonants /p/, /t/, /k/, /b/, /d/, /g/ combined with the peripheral vowels /i/, /a/ and /u/ and ending in a voiceless stop. Computer-based acoustic measures included: 1) voice onset time (VOT), 2) vowel durations, 3) whole word durations, 4) first, second and third formant frequencies, and 5) fundamental frequency. Formant frequencies were measured at three points in the vowel duration: a) 20%, b) 50%, and c) 80% to assess differences in vowel ‘onglides’ and ‘offglides’. The phonetic analysis provided perceptual identification of the major phonetic features associated with the foreign quality of participant's FAS speech, while acoustic measures allowed precise quantification of these features. Results indicated evidence of backing of consonant and vowel productions for both participants. The implications for future research and clinical applications are also considered.

What does it feel like to wake up one day speaking with a foreign accent from a country one has never visited? Why does someone wake up doing this? This book seeks to portray the broad and diverse experiences of individuals with a rare neurological speech disorder called Foreign Accent Syndrome (FAS). Through a combination of personal testimony and scientific commentary, the book aims to shed unprecedented light on the understanding of FAS by elucidating the complex links between how the brain produces speech, how listeners perceive speech and the role that accent plays in our perception of self and others. The first part of the book provides a comprehensive introduction to FAS and covers a number of key subject areas, including: • The definition and phenomenology of FAS • A history of research on FAS • The causes and psychosocial consequences of FAS • A guide to further reading and a glossary of specialized terms. The chapters in part two provide a unique insight into the condition through personal testimony and accounts from family members. This collection of 28 testimonies from across the world underlines the importance of listening carefully to patients explain their cases, and in their own words. The final section contains a questionnaire for use by clinicians to support case history taking. The authors are two leading global experts on FAS, and this is the first volume of its kind to provide such a broad and comprehensive examination of this rare and poorly understood condition. It will be of great interest to practising clinicians in neurology, psychiatry, psychology and speech and language therapy/pathology, as well as students in health disciplines relevant to neurorehabilitation, linguists and also to families and caregivers.

Language learning also implies the acquisition of a set of phonetic rules and prosodic contours which define the accent in that language. While often considered as merely accessory, accent is an essential component of psychological identity as it embodies information on origin, culture, and social class. Speaking with a non-standard (foreign) accent is not inconsequential because it may negatively impact communication and social adjustment. Nevertheless, the lack of a formal definition of accent may explain that, as compared with other aspects of language, it has received relatively little attention until recently. During the past decade there has been increasing interest in the analysis of accent from a neuroscientific perspective. This e-book integrates data from different scientific frameworks. The reader will find fruitful research on new models of accent processing, how learning a new accent proceeds, and the role of feedback on accent learning in healthy subjects. In addition, information on accent changes in pathological conditions including developmental and psychogenic foreign accent syndromes as well as the description of a new variant of foreign accent syndrome is also included. It is anticipated that the articles in this e-book will enhance the understanding of accent as a linguistic phenomenon, the neural networks supporting it and potential interventions to accelerate acquisition or relearning of native accents.

Seminar paper from the year 2009 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Linguistics, grade: B, University of Wales, Bangor, course: Speech and Language Disorders, language: English, abstract: After a brain injury, e.g. a stroke, areas of the brain can be damaged permanently. Thus, a lesion on the brain can have long-term consequences for the concerned person, such as paralyses, decreased reflexes, altered sensory perception, memory deficits, and/or speech and comprehension impairments. The latter may include aphasia (i.e. affection of Broca’s or Wernicke’s area causing an inability to produce or comprehend language), apraxia (impairment of voluntary movements), or foreign accent syndrome (also known as altered-accent syndrome). The foreign accent syndrome (FAS) is a disorder that is still not completely researched, since, according to Katz et al. (2008: 537), its “symptomotology and underlying bases are poorly understood.” Nevertheless, there are some cases that have been described and examined. This essay deals with the main speech characteristics of FAS and the relative extent to which segmental and prosodic features are affected in this disorder. Therefore, the syndrome will be defined and described first. In the succeeding section, the segmental and prosodic features of FAS are taken into consideration. The last part contains the classification of FAS with respect to other speech and language disorders, such as apraxia, aphasia, and dysarthria, whether it is a mere sub-type of these disorders or if it should be treated separately.

In this book, some of today’s leading neurolinguists and psycholinguists provide insight into the nature of phonological processing using behavioural measures, computational modeling, EEG and fMRI. The essays cover a range of topics including categorization, acoustic variability and invariance, underspecification, talker-specificity and machine learning, focusing on the acoustics, perception, acquisition and neural representation of speech.