Research methods and intelligibility studies

This paper first briefly reviews the concept of intelligibility as it has been employed in both English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) and world Englishes (WE) research. It then examines the findings of the Lingua Franca Core (LFC), a list of phonological features that empirical research has shown to be important for safeguarding mutual intelligibility between non-native speakers of English. The main point of the paper is to analyse these findings and demonstrate that many of them can be explained if three perspectives (linguistic, psycholinguistic and historical-variationist) are taken. This demonstration aims to increase the explanatory power of the concept of intelligibility by providing some theoretical background. An implication for ELF research is that at the phonological level, internationally intelligible speakers have a large number of features in common, regardless of whether they are non-native speakers or native speakers. An implication for WE research is that taking a variety-based, rather than a features-based, view of phonological variation and its connection with intelligibility is likely to be unhelpful, as intelligibility depends to some extent on the phonological features of individual speakers, rather than on the varieties per se

Singapurski engleski u suvremenim medijima

In the present paper, Singaporean English is analysed on the basis of different online sources. The thesis starts with a short historical and sociolinguistic background of this variety. Different theoretical frameworks are then clarified. Regardless of their differences, they all agree that Singaporean English is not one unified variety. Rather, it encompasses everything from Colloquial Singaporean English (called Singlish) to Standard Singaporean English, whose main difference from Standard British English lies in pronunciation. In the empirical part of this thesis, Singaporean English in different Internet sources is analysed on the phonological, grammatical and lexical level. It is shown that different manifestations of Singaporean English are present in different online sources: from the acrolectal variety in minister’s speech to the varieties closer to the basilectal end of the continuum in satirical texts and mrbrown’s video. In the conclusion of this thesis, it is remarked that each particular variation of Singaporean English depends on the type of discourse in different contemporary media forms

A sociolinguistic look at intrusive /r/

This paper will look at the use of intrusive "r" in different varieties of English across the world. The main purpose of the paper will be to examine how native speakers of English use intrusive "r" and how this usage correlates with sociolinguistic factors like social class, age, gender and level of education. With this aim in mind, I have selected a range of empirical studies conducted from the 1970s onwards to illustrate my arguments. The discussion of the results of these studies has confirmed two of the ideas I had before I embarked on writing this paper. First, that varieties of English worldwide are shifting towards greater rhoticity, and second, that not only does a negative correlation between the occurrence of intrusion and socioeconomic status exist, but speakers who show intrusive "r" are also the target of social stigmatization

ANALYZING LANGUAGE STYLE OF VOCATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL ACCREDITATION ‘SUGGESTION AND RECOMMENDATION’ TEXT

Accreditation of schools/madrasah is the process of comprehensive assessment of the feasibility of a unit or educational program, the results realized in the form of recognition and ranking worthiness issued by an institution and independent professionals. One of the final stages of the accreditation process is the drafting suggestions and recommendations formulated by the team drafting suggestions and recommendations based on school level. Formulation of suggestions and recommendations includes eight national education standards, all of which were written using Indonesian. The method used is the study of the text. Text was used as the main data is the result of the analysis and recommendations for the level of Vocational High School (SMK) at DIY in the period of 2014. The study of the text is based on several important parameters in the language style, such as: 1) the structure and types of Indonesian sentences used in the text of suggestion and recommendation, 2) coherence and cohesive in paragraphs, and 3) the punctuation used in text. From the analysis conducted on the text suggestion and recommendation on accreditation results for the level of Vocational High School in 2014, it is found some form of language style as follows: 1) The inconsistency of the structural integrity of the sentence, 2) The process of removal the subject in a few sentences, 3) The use of variations in sentences, and 4) The use of punctuation as a liaison sentence