142 research outputs found

    Inter-generational transmission in a minority language setting: Stop consonant production by Bangladeshi heritage children and adults

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    Aims and objectives: The purpose of this study was to gain a better understanding of speech development across successive generations of heritage language users, examining how cross-linguistic, developmental and socio-cultural factors affect stop consonant production. Design: To this end, we recorded Sylheti and English stop productions of two sets of Bangladeshi heritage families: (1) first-generation adult migrants from Bangladesh and their (second-generation) UK-born children, and (2) second-generation UK-born adult heritage language users and their (third-generation) UK-born children. Data and analysis: The data were analysed auditorily, using whole-word transcription, and acoustically, examining voice onset time. Comparisons were then made in both languages across the four groups of participants, and cross-linguistically. Findings: The results revealed non-native productions of English stops by the first-generation migrants but largely target-like patterns by the remaining sets of participants. The Sylheti stops exhibited incremental changes across successive generations of speakers, with the third-generation children’s productions showing the greatest influence from English. Originality: This is one of few studies to examine both the host and heritage language in an ethnic minority setting, and the first to demonstrate substantial differences in heritage language accent between age-matched second- and third-generation children. The study shows that current theories of bilingual speech learning do not go far enough in explaining how speech develops in heritage language settings. Implications: These findings have important implications for the maintenance, transmission and long-term survival of heritage languages, and show that investigations need to go beyond second-generation speakers, in particular in communities that do not see a steady influx of new migrants

    Hearing the Inner Voices of Asian English Poets

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    Poetry is often, even if not always, thought ofas a work to be read audibly. Literary analyses of eachpoem and biographical information of the poet aim atproviding deeper understanding, but few students ofliterature actually attend seriously to the poet’sphonology. By first providing an analysis of the tonalityHong Kong English with side view glances to Singapore,this paper provides arguments for how much moreexciting poetry can be not just for new Englishes, but forall languages in today’s world where so many languagesand cultures are in contact

    Eesti ja vene emakeelega kÔnelejate eesti keele palatalisatsiooni hÀÀldamine

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    VĂ€itekirja elektrooniline versioon ei sisalda publikatsiooneOlen huvitatud keele vĂ€ikseimatest tĂ€henduslikest ĂŒksustest – hÀÀlikutest. SĂ”nad koosnevad hÀÀlikutest ja sĂ”nadel on tĂ€hendus, mis vĂ”ib kergesti muutuda, kui teha vĂ€ikeseid muudatusi nende hÀÀldusviisis. Ühte sellist muudatust nimetatakse palatalisatsiooniks ehk peenenduseks. Selle kĂ€igus muutub kaashÀÀlikute hÀÀlduskoht sarnaseks lĂ€hedal asuva tĂ€ishÀÀlikuga. NĂ€iteks on meil palataliseerimise tulemusel eesti keeles hulk pealtnĂ€ha sarnaseid sĂ”napaare nagu palk (palga) ja palk (palgi) vĂ”i sulg (sulu) ning sulg (sule). Oma doktoritöös otsisin vastust kĂŒsimustele: kas kaashÀÀliku palataliseerimine hĂ”lmab ainult konkreetset kaashÀÀlikut vĂ”i on see osa suuremast kĂ”ne planeerimise protsessist ja millised on peamised hÀÀlduslikud tunnused, mis eesti keele palatalisatsiooni kirjeldavad? Uurisin ka seda, kuidas Eestis sĂŒndinud ja siin elavate vene keelt emakeelena kĂ”nelejad tulevad eesti keele palatalisatsiooniga toime. Töö lĂ€htub hĂŒpoteesist, et see on neile problemaatiline ja tekitab kĂ”neaktsenti. Keele omandamise teooriad ĂŒtlevad, et aktsent tekib, kuna me oleme oma hÀÀlduses mĂ”jutatud oma emakeelest. SeetĂ”ttu on teist keelt Ă”ppides tihti vaja oma hÀÀldust kohandada, et see vastaks Ă”pitavale keelele. AnalĂŒĂŒsin ka lĂŒhidalt hÀÀldustreeningu potentsiaali palatalisatsiooni hÀÀlduse parendamisel. Tulemustest selgus, et palatalisatsiooni planeeritakse juba alates sĂ”na algusest ning keel on juba alguses palju kĂ”rgemas asendis. Selle pĂ”hjus on seotud kĂ”ne ökonoomsuse printsiibiga. Me ĂŒritame kulutada kĂ”nelemisel vĂ€he energiat ning vĂ€ldime jĂ€rske hÀÀlduslikke hĂŒppeid, et kĂ”ne oleks sujuvam. Tööst selgus, et kĂ”ige suuremad muutused olid nĂ€ha peamiselt konsonandile eelnevas tĂ€ishÀÀlikus, mitte palataliseeritud kaashÀÀlikus endas. Andmetest oli ka nĂ€ha, et kĂ”neleja emakeelel on tema hÀÀldusele tugev mĂ”ju ning see pĂ”hjustab aktsenti. Vene emakeelega kĂ”nelejad, kes palataliseerisid eesti keele kaashÀÀlikuid, ei hÀÀldanud neid tihti nii nagu emakeelsed kĂ”nelejad. Vene emakeelega kĂ”nelejate grupis oli ka palju varieerumist – osad palataliseerisid seal, kus vaja, teised mitte. Saadud doktoritöö tulemusi vĂ”ib kasutada, et anda suuniseid keeleĂ”petajatele ja keeleĂ”ppijatele.I am interested in phonemes – the smallest meaningful units of a language. Words are made up of phonemes, and words have meanings that can easily be changed by making small adjustments in pronunciation. Sometimes the changes in vowels or consonants occur when they are adjacent to other phonemes. For instance, a consonant can be palatalized near a high vowel. Palatalization is the reason Estonian has several orthographically similar word pairs like palk (palga) and palk (palgi) or sulg (sulu) and sulg (sule). My thesis concentrated on questions like: does the palatalization of a consonant only affects the consonant itself, or is it a part of a more extensive speech planning process? What are the main articulatory properties that describe Estonian palatalization? I also wanted to know how native Russian speakers produce Estonian palatalization. The thesis is based on the hypothesis that Estonian palatalization is difficult for the native Russian learners of Estonian and contributes to their speech accent. Language acquisition models state that speech accent is present because of the effect that our native language has on our pronunciation. When we learn another language, we have to constantly adjust our pronunciation to sound more natural. The results of the thesis showed that we unconsciously plan ahead of the movements of the tongue while speaking. We are constantly trying to be economical in the way we speak, and we try to be quicker and smoother in the way we articulate words and sentences. The results also showed that the changes that palatalization caused were mainly observable in the preceding vowel. The data also showed that the native language of the speaker affects the way we produce another language and contributes to speech accent. There was a lot of variation in the native Russian group. Some speakers did not use palatalization where necessary, and others did. The ones that did palatalize had a slightly different pronunciation than native speakers.https://www.ester.ee/record=b552436

    Constraints on variability in the voice onset time of L2 English stop consonants

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    Non-native speech production is frequently characterized by its deviation from native pronunciation. Among segments, previous work has largely focused on describing the separation between native and non-native speakers at the level of individual phonetic categories. An additional hallmark of L1 pronunciation is the presence of systematic relationships within and among phonetic categories. For example, mean voice onset times (VOT) strongly covary among aspirated stop consonants across L1 speakers of American English. The present study examined whether L2 English speakers from various L1 backgrounds differ from native speakers in the relationship of VOT among word-initial /ptk/. Despite differences in the overall realization, L2 speakers resembled native English speakers in the degree of VOT covariation between stop-specific means and variances, as well as between /ptk/. These findings have important implications for the perception of accented speech, as listeners could employ structured relationships to facilitate adaptation despite non-native realizations of individual phonetic categories

    Planting the seed for sound change: Evidence from real-time MRI of velum kinematics in German

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    Velum movement signals generated from real-time magnetic resonance imaging videos of thirty-five German speakers were used to investigate the physiological conditions that might promote sound change involving the development of contrastive vowel nasality. The results suggest that, in comparison to when a nasal consonant precedes a voiced obstruent, the velum gesture associated with a nasal consonant preceding a voiceless obstruent undergoes gestural rescaling and temporal rephasing. This further suggests that the diachronic development of contrastive vowel nasality comprises two stages: the first stage involves gestural shortening and realignment, while the second stage involves a trading relationship between source and effect

    Planting the seed of sound change: Evidence from real-time MRI of velum kinematics in German

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    Velum movement signals generated from real-time magnetic resonance imaging videos of thirty-five German speakers were used to investigate the physiological conditions that might pro-mote sound change involving the development of contrastive vowel nasality. The results suggest that, in comparison to when a nasal consonant precedes a voiced obstruent, the velum gesture as-sociated with a nasal consonant preceding a voiceless obstruent undergoes gestural rescaling and temporal rephasing. This further suggests that the diachronic development of contrastive vowel nasality comprises two stages: the first stage involves gestural shortening and realignment, while the second stage involves a trading relationship between source and effect

    Learning of second language sound contrasts: Effects of training on the perception and production of second language vowel and consonant duration

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    Listen-and-repeat training has been shown to be an effective tool for the learning of non-native phoneme contrasts. The aim of this thesis was to examine the learning of non-native duration contrasts using short-term listen-and-repeat training with adult learners. Learning results were examined with event-related potentials, behavioral discrimination and identification tasks, and production tasks. In addition, the learning of non-native vowel duration in a classroom setting was investigated. Study I focused on listen-and-repeat training with articulation instructions in the learning of a non-native vowel quality contrast. The results showed that the participants were able to adjust their production of the contrast after only one training session. In Studies II and III, participants underwent two days of training with a nonnative vowel duration contrast, and their performance was measured on trained, untrained and non-linguistic duration contrasts. Study II used behavioral discrimination and production tasks, and Study III additionally used the electric event-related potentials MMN and N1. Study II showed tentative training-related improvements in the discrimination and production of the trained contrast. Study III found increased MMN amplitudes, decreased N1 latencies and improved behavioral discrimination performance for the trained stimuli. Changes to general detection of acoustic duration contrasts were also seen in the elicitation of an N1 response for the untrained contrast. No training-related changes in production were observed. Study IV used a two-day training paradigm on stop and sibilant duration contrasts, measuring learning results with MMN, behavioral discrimination and a production task. No training-related improvement was observed, but a clear difference emerged between the consonant types, with sibilants proving less difficult for the participants than stops. Study V examined the learning of non-native vowel duration contrasts on an intensive language course. Similarly to the listen-and-repeat studies, perceptual identification performance improved, but no improvement was observed in production. Overall, these results suggested that perception of non-native vowel duration contrasts can be improved fairly quickly, and they are learned more easily than production. More research is needed regarding the learning of consonant duration.Vieraan kielen ÀÀnne-erojen oppiminen: Harjoittelun vaikutus vieraan kielen vokaali- ja konsonanttikestoerojen havaitsemiseen ja tuottoon Kuuntele ja toista –harjoittelun on osoitettu olevan tehokasta vieraan kielen ÀÀnneerojen oppimisessa. TĂ€mĂ€n opinnĂ€ytetyön tavoitteena oli tutkia vieraan kielen kestoerojen oppimista aikuisilla oppijoilla lyhyen kuuntele ja toista –harjoittelun avulla. Oppimistuloksia mitattiin herĂ€tevasteilla, behavioraalisilla erottelu- ja identifikaatiokokeilla, sekĂ€ tuottokokeilla. LisĂ€ksi tutkittiin vieraan kielen vokaalikestoerojen oppimista luokkahuoneessa. Osatutkimus I tutki artikulaatio-ohjeilla tuettua kuuntele ja toista –harjoittelua vieraan kielen vokaalilaatueron oppimisessa. Tulokset osoittivat, ettĂ€ osallistujat pystyivĂ€t muokkaamaan tuottoaan jo yhden harjoituskerran jĂ€lkeen. Osatutkimuksissa II ja III kĂ€ytettiin kahden pĂ€ivĂ€n kuuntele ja toista –harjoitusta vieraan kielen vokaalikeston oppimiseen. Oppimista mitattiin harjoitellulla, harjoittelemattomalla ja ei-kielellisellĂ€ kestoerolla. Osatutkimuksessa II kĂ€ytettiin behavioraalista erottelua ja tuottokoetta, ja osatutkimuksessa III lisĂ€ksi MMN- ja N1-herĂ€tevasteita. Osatutkimuksessa II todettiin alustavia parannuksia harjoitellun eron havaitsemisessa ja tuotossa. Osatutkimuksessa III havaittiin harjoitellulla erolla kasvanut MMN-amplitudi, laskenut N1-vasteen latenssi sekĂ€ parantunut behavioraalinen erottelukyky. N1-vasteen elisitoituminen harjoittelemattomalle erolle viittasi myös yleisen akustisen erottelukyvyn paranemiseen. Tuoton suhteen muutoksia ei havaittu. Osatutkimuksessa IV kĂ€ytettiin kaksipĂ€ivĂ€istĂ€ harjoittelua vieraan kielen klusiili- ja sibilanttikestoerojen harjoitteluun. Oppimista mitattiin MMN:n, erottelukokeen sekĂ€ tuottokokeen avulla. Harjoittelu ei parantanut konsonanttien havaitsemista eikĂ€ tuottoa, mutta konsonanttien vĂ€lillĂ€ havaittiin selkeĂ€ ero, jonka perusteella sibilantit olivat koehenkilöille helpompia kuin klusiilit. Osatutkimus V tarkasteli vieraan kielen vokaalikestoerojen oppimista intensiivisellĂ€ kielikurssilla. Kuten aiemmissa osatutkimuksissa, behavioraalinen havaitseminen kehittyi, mutta tuotossa ei havaittu parannusta. Kokonaisuudessaan tutkimukset viittasivat siihen, ettĂ€ vieraan kielen vokaalikestoerojen havaitsemista voidaan parantaa suhteellisen nopeasti harjoittelulla, ja se kehittyy helpommin kuin kestoerojen tuotto. Konsonanttien keston oppimisen suhteen tarvitaan jatkotutkimusta

    Konsonandikeskne vĂ€ltesĂŒsteem eesti ja inarisaami keeles

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    VĂ€itekirja elektrooniline versioon ei sisalda publikatsiooneKolme pikkuskategooriaga konsonandikeskne vĂ€ltesĂŒsteem esineb vĂ€ga vĂ€hestes keeltes, teadaolevalt ainult soome-ugri keeltes: eesti, liivi ja inarisaami keeles ning veel mĂ”ningates saami keeltes. Doktoritöö keskendub neist kahele – eesti ja inarisaami keelele, millest esimene kuulub soome-ugri keelte lÀÀnemeresoome ja teine saami keelterĂŒhma. Eesti keeles esineb keerukas kolmevĂ€ltesĂŒsteem, kus vastandus moodustatakse nii vokaalide, konsonantide kui ka mĂ”lema pĂ”hjal. Inarisaami keeles leiab kolm pikkuskategooriat vaid konsonantide puhul, vokaalidel esineb kahene vastandus. Eksperimentaalfoneetiline vĂ€itekiri uurib, kuidas kolmene konsonandikeskne kvantiteedisĂŒsteem nendes keeltes foneetiliselt avaldub kĂ”netaktis. Vaadeldakse omadusi, mis kolme vĂ€ldet ĂŒksteisest eristavad. Teise suurema teemana kĂ€sitleb doktoritöö segmentaalse konteksti rolli eesti keele konsonandivĂ€lte avaldumisel. Töö tulemused nĂ€itavad, et kolme konsonandikeskset vĂ€ldet eristab nii eesti kui ka inarisaami keeles konsonandi enda kestus, mis on suuremas vĂ€ltes pikem. Keeltevahelised erinevused tulevad vĂ€lja kategooriate omavaheliste kestussuhete kaudu: eesti keeles eristuvad teineteisest rohkem esimene ja teine vĂ€lde, inarisaamis aga teine ja kolmas vĂ€lde. Kui eesti keeles lĂŒheneb konsonandile jĂ€rgnev rĂ”hutu silbi vokaal vastavalt konsonandivĂ€lte kasvades, siis inarisaamis lĂŒhenevad mĂ”lemad, nii konsonandile eelnev rĂ”hulise silbi vokaal kui ka sellele jĂ€rgnev rĂ”hutu silbi vokaal. PĂ”hitoonikontuurid inarisaami eri struktuuriga kahesilbilistes sĂ”nades mĂ€rkimisvÀÀrselt ei varieeru, kuid konsonandivĂ€lte kasvades intensiivsuse vÀÀrtuste erinevus esimese ja teise silbi vokaali vahel suureneb. Samas eri vĂ€ltes oleva vokaalidevahelise helilise konsonandi enda intensiivsus ei muutu. PĂ”hitoon on eesti keeles oluline teise ja kolmanda vĂ€lte eristamisel, kuid klusiilide puhul, kus pĂ”hitooni liikumist jĂ€lgida ei saa, on ka leitud, et vĂ€lte tajumiseks piisab kestuslikest tunnustest. Doktoritöö eesti keele artikulatsioonikatse tulemused nĂ€itavad, et kolmese konsonandikeskse vĂ€lte avaldumisel on oluline osa segmentaalsel kontekstil. Kui mĂ”ningate artikulatoorsete liigutuste puhul saab nĂ€ha vĂ€ltega seotud kolmeseid mustreid (huulte sulgemisliigutuse kestuses konsonandi hÀÀldamisel, keeleliigutuste kestuses ĂŒleminekul konsonandile eelnevalt vokaalilt jĂ€rgnevale), siis erineva sĂ”naalgulise konsonandi ja ĂŒmbritseva vokaalikonteksti tĂ”ttu esineb varieerumist, kus esimene ja teine vĂ€lde vastanduvad kolmandale vĂ”i vastandub esimene vĂ€lde teisele ja kolmandale. Ka spontaankĂ”ne materjali pĂ”hjal tehtud akustiline analĂŒĂŒs nĂ€itas, et erinevate konsonantide puhul realiseerub kolmene vĂ€lde mĂ”nevĂ”rra erinevalt ning sealjuures on oluline seos konsonandi ja seda ĂŒmbritsevate vokaalide omaduste vahel.Quantity systems with three length categories for consonants can be found in a small number of languages, all of which belong to the Finno-Ugric languages: Estonian, Livonian, Inari Saami, and some other Saami languages. The focus of this dissertation is on two of them, Estonian and Inari Saami, the former belonging to the Finnic and the latter to the Saamic branch. Estonian exhibits a complex quantity system forming ternary length categories with vowels, consonants, or combinations of both. In Inari Saami, ternary length distinction is found for consonants, while vocalic quantity shows binary oppositions. This thesis comprises experimental phonetic studies answering two main questions: how is ternary consonantal quantity in Estonian and Inari Saami realized phonetically, and how does quantity interact with segmental context. The results showed that, in both languages, the three-way consonantal quantity is manifested in consonant durations that are longer in higher quantity degrees. While Estonian first and second quantity are further apart from each other, in Inari Saami second and third quantity are more distinct. Cross-linguistic differences also appear in the relations between intervocalic consonants and neighboring vowels. In Estonian, the vowel following the consonant is shorter after a long and overlong consonant than after a short one. Quantity differences in Inari Saami are realized in shorter durations of both vowels in terms of increasing consonantal quantity. Fundamental frequency contours in Inari Saami are roughly the same in words with different structures. Intensity measures, however, show greater differences between the vowels surrounding the consonant when the quantity of the consonant increases. The intensity of the sonorant consonant does not change in different quantities. The results of the articulatory study of this thesis show variation in quantity manifestations in Estonian geminate consonants due to varied segmental context. Some articulatory movements exhibit three-way patterns associated with quantity categories (in the duration of the lip closing gesture for the consonant and tongue transition gesture from the preceding vowel to the following vowel); for others the first and second quantity are opposed to the third quantity or the first quantity degree is opposed to the second and third ones. Similar patters were found in the acoustic data from spontaneous speech. The durational properties of ternary quantity are realized differently for different intervocalic consonants, and variation is also caused by coarticulatory effects of the surrounding vowels.https://www.ester.ee/record=b524109

    Can you tell by their English if they can speak Welsh? Accent perception in a language contact situation

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    Aims: The purpose of this research was to gain a better understanding of accent perception in language contact situations in which monolingual speakers of a contact variety and bilinguals live in the same community. Design: We investigated the English accents of monolinguals and bilinguals from the same area in South-West Wales, and listeners’ perceptions thereof, in three inter-related studies. Data: In Study 1, an accent perception experiment, participants from four different listener groups were asked to differentiate English monolinguals and Welsh-English bilinguals on the basis of short English speech samples. In Study 2, the same participants’ views about differences between the accentual features of monolinguals and bilinguals were examined in individual structured interviews. Finally, in Study 3, the speech samples from the accent perception experiment were analysed phonetically based on the accentual features mentioned in Study 2. Findings: Study 1 revealed that monolinguals and bilinguals can be identified above chance based on their English accent, but performance was unexceptional. Identification was better with greater accent familiarity, but unrelated to listeners’ ability to speak Welsh.Study 2 revealed the specific segmental and suprasegmental features that the listeners considered indicative of monolingual and bilingual speakers’ English accents, while Study 3 showed that only some of the listeners’ views are consistent with the production data from Study 1. Originality: This paper is the first to examine whether monolinguals and bilinguals from a bilingual area with historical language contact can be identified on the basis of their majority language accent, and on what grounds these identifications are made. Implications:This research shows that settings in which minority-language features originate from both historical language contact and individual bilingualism yield subtle accentual differences in the majority language between monolinguals and bilinguals to which even listeners from the same accent background may not be responsive
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