The role of audiovisual speech and orthographic information in nonnative speech production

Visual information from the face is an integral part of speech perception. Additionally, orthography can play a role in disambiguating the speech signal in nonnative speech. This study investigates the effect of audiovisual speech information and orthography on nonnative speech. Particularly, orthographic depth is of interest. Turkish (transparent) and Australian English (opaque) speakers were tested for their production of nonwords in Spanish (transparent) and Irish (opaque). We found that transparent orthography enhanced pronunciation and orthographic responses. Results confirm previous findings that visual information enhances speech production and extend them to show the facilitative effects of orthography under certain conditions. Implications are discussed in relation to audiovisual speech perception and orthographic processing and practical considerations such as second language instruction.