Using non-native error patterns to improve pronunciation verification

In this paper we show how a pronunciation quality measure can be improved by making use of information on frequent pronun­ ciation errors made by non-native speakers. We propose a new measure, called weighted Goodness of Pronunciation (wGOP), and compare it to the much used GOP measure. We applied this measure to the task of discriminating correctly from incor­ rectly realized Dutch vowels produced by non-native speakers and observed a substantial increase in performance when suffi­ cient training material is available.