Hong Kong + Malaysian — HK1 : 154
S1 = Hong Kong male
S2 = Malaysian female
Context: S2 asked S1 about why he chose to become an artist, and he is talking about the choice of subject for one's studies.
S1 : ... what subject you chose to (.) study. (0.7) for your <spel> m a </spel>? your you know f- (.) terminal degree? (.) base on (1.0) your interest.
Intended Words : terminal
Heard as : common
Discussion : S2 could not understand this word, so she guessed common.
The word terminal is pronounced as [tɜːmu], i.e. with two syllables, and with final L-vocalisation, so the syllabic /l/ is pronounced as vocalic [u]. However, the main problem is that the phrase terminal degree is common in American usage (it occurs 40 times in the COCA data) to refer to the highest degree one studies, but it is not so widely used in the UK or in most of Southeast Asia, and this is why S2 was unable to understand it.