The prosodic design of Modern Standard Arabic political monologues

The aim of this study is to describe and understand the prosodic design of Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) political monologues. To work towards this aim, we compare two political monologues produced by the same speaker with a broadcast news reading produced by a news announcer. Through comparison of political monologues and broadcast news reading, we highlight linguistic strategies which could be used in any genre of speech, and also what we argue to be persuasive strategies which contribute to the political work of persuasion. We rely on a combination of prosodic, syntactic, and discourse (semantic) evidence to account for linguistic strategies, and on a similar combination of prosodic, syntactic, and discourse (semantics and pragmatics) evidence to account for persuasive strategies, but our primary contribution is highlighting the use of prosody as a persuasive political strategy. A further contribution of this work to the field of knowledge is the elaboration of a set of fine-grained prosodic, syntactic, and discourse structures proposed for broadcast MSA monologues. The prosodic, syntactic, and discourse structures are first labelled independently according to a set of criteria (set out in Chapter 4 Methods). Then, we triangulate the results of labelling the prosodic, syntactic, and discourse structures independently, in Chapters 5-6 leading up to Chapter 7 where the major contribution of this work is highlighted, that is, the use of prosody as a persuasive strategy. The main argument in this work is structured in this gradual way because of the way the process of segmentation is carried out on all three data samples. The process of segmentation starts with identification of abstract forms, and then associates functions to these abstract forms based on detailed explanations of specific linguistic phenomena drawn from the process of triangulation. Therefore, the methodology implemented for broadcast MSA, which can also serve as a methodology for analysing MSA political monologues, is an integral and essential part of the main argument in this thesis

Analyzing Navajo Discourse: Investigating Form and Function of Intonational Units in Referential Discourse

Extensive research has been conducted on the Navajo verb complex (prefix morphology) and specific constructions (i.e. relative clause structure, subject-object-inversion), but to date the proposed establishment of a method to analyze actual discourse from a functional or usage based approach has not occurred. The goal of this study is twofold. The first is to establish a method to analyze spoken Navajo using the Intonation Units (IU) as a measure as it occurs in natural, uninterrupted speech, according to the parameters outlined by Chafe (1994), and show the influence of the morphological complexity of Navajo on the size of the IU. Secondly, analyzing the function of the IU within discourse from the intonation-as-information-flow\u27 approach (Couper-Kuhlen 2005) including deliberate manipulation by speakers in a sequential manner and the framing in which story threads are woven together expressing various points of view within a single text. IUs (Chafe 1994, DuBois et al. 1993) are portions of speech occurring under a single prosodic contour that reveal how speakers naturally segment their speech. Prosodic structure, including the suprasegmental phonetic cues of intonation, pitch, rhythm, duration and pauses, has been studied in many languages, but to date, there has not been an analysis of Navajo that has attempted to define an IU and its function in discourse. The hope is the research presented will leave the reader with a better understanding of communicative process, how syntactic structural features are interrelated to cognitive constraints and interlocutor motivation which ultimately may influence and impact actual performance which are revealed via various voices (Dinwoodie 1999) represented within a text. By proposing a unit larger than the morphologically complex verb for analysis, a specific type of clause (i.e., relative or subordinate), or even a culturally relevant structure (i.e., subject-object inversion), the desire is the results presented will both foster and aid subsequent Navajo discourse analysis studies and ultimately positively impact Navajo language education efforts

Allocation of attention in EFL learners' oral performance across multiple task repetitions

Task-based language learning and teaching research from both psycholinguistic and pedagogical perspectives shares a common theoretical background of learners’ attention, awareness, and perception (Levelt, 1989). The former has focused on learners’ prioritized attention to language aspects (e.g., fluency) in their oral performance. Furthermore, researchers have explored learners’ attention during strategic planning through emergent categorization, from retrospective data (e.g., Ortega, 2005). The latter has focused on learners’ uptake, based on incorporation from teachers’ corrective feedback (e.g., Mackey & Philp, 1998). The underpinning concept of incorporation via noticing a gap in Schmidt (1990) displays learners’ awareness of linguistic factors. The present study attempts to fill a gap in previous research by employing incorporation as a more reliable measure, of learners’ attention to linguistic factors, than retrospective data. Allocation of attention in four learners’ oral performance is qualitatively explored over five task repetitions by employing emergent categories of linguistic incorporation. This reveals what learners do during planning in their oral performance and how allocation of their attention changes across five task repetitions. This has long been a puzzle in quantitative analysis of such data. The students’ linguistic incorporation demonstrates their attention to different linguistic factors (e.g., semantic, syntactic), which are linked to a priori categories of fluency and complexity in their oral performance. This allocation of attention eventually changes over task iterations. The trajectories of fluency and complexity are also confirmed by supplemental examinations of data from 15 students. This suggests that individual learners prioritize their attention to a particular area (Foster & Skehan, 2013), and then broaden attention to other areas as more space becomes available for processing through repeated use (Bygate & Samuda, 2005). Besides this cognitive demand, the present study also reveals that learners’ attention may be affected by interlocutor familiarity, social, and cultural factors

Syntaktická komplexnost anglického jazyka nerodilých mluvčích a její operacionalizace

The thesis analyses syntactic complexity of monologic tasks of 10 B2 and 10 C1 speakers of English with Czech as their L1. The data derives from LINDSEI_CZ (Gráf 2017). The transcripts of the recordings were segmented into AS-units (Foster et al. 2000) and adapted for the purposes of the analysis. Syntactic complexity was calculated using following measures: mean length of AS-unit, mean length of clause, clauses / AS-unit. These were complemented by fine-grained indices of structural complexity, comprised of ratios of subordinate clause types and coordinate verb phrases per total number of clauses (Vercellotti & Packer 2016) and a weighted complexity scale designed by Vercellotti (2018). The results of the quantitative analysis showed no significant effect of proficiency on syntactic complexity of the speakers. In fact, all speakers irrespective of language proficiency level produced very similar complex structures as opposed to lower-proficiency structures. This indicates that more fine-grained indices should be incorporated into spoken complexity research. At the same time, scores of each measure varied considerably within groups, pointing at the importance of inter-speaker variability in this research. The thesis thus produced outcomes that are largely methodological, in that it has identified...Práce analyzuje produktivní a strukturní syntaktickou komplexnost monologů vyprodukovaných dvaceti nerodilými mluvčími angličtiny na úrovních B2 a C1. Data pocházejí z LINDSEI_CZ (Gráf 2017). Přepisy nahrávek byly rozděleny do AS-units a upraveny pro analýzu syntaktické komplexnosti podle instrukce Foster et al. (2000). Zhodnoceny jsou zároveň problematické případy v analýze mluvených dat, které Foster et al. (2000) neuvádějí. Produktivní syntaktická komplexnost byla změřena pomocí následujících metrik: průměrná délka AS-unit, průměrná délka klauze, počet klauzí / AS-unit. Metriky produktivní komplexnosti byly doplněny specifickými indikátory strukturní komplexnosti, kterými byly poměry výskytů několika druhů vedlejších vět a souřadných slovesných frází k celkovém počtu klauzí (Vercellotti & Packer 2016) a vážená škála strukturní komplexnosti navržená Vercellotti (2018). Výsledky kvantitativní analýzy neprokázaly signifikantní vliv jazykové úrovně na syntaktickou komplexnost měřených monologů. Tato práce tedy doporučuje začlenění specifičtějších strukturních indikátorů do výzkumu mluvené komplexnosti. Variace ve skórech mezi řečníky, která byla v práci zjištěna, naznačuje, že důležitou roli ve výzkumu hraje idiosynkrasie. Výstup této diplomové práce je zároveň metodický, jelikož jsou identifikovány...Ústav anglického jazyka a didaktikyDepartment of the English Language and ELT MethodologyFaculty of ArtsFilozofická fakult

The focus-on-form effects of strategic and on-line planning : an analysis of Japanese oral performance and verbal reports

Within the framework of task-based language learning, there has been much research on planning, under the premise that learners' language would be enhanced in planned conditions. However, the underlying mechanisms ofthis rationale have not been fully explored. To develop the present understanding, this study aims to explore the nature of planning and the psycholinguistic mechanisms of its effects on L2 performance. Earlier planning research has tended to focus on 'strategic planning' (i.e., a period of time given prior to a task), suggesting that it may improve learners' language in terms of fluency and complexity but not always in accuracy (e.g., Crookes, 1989, Foster & Skehan, 1996). In response to this, Yuan and Ellis (2003) propose 'on-line planning' (i.e., on-line processing pressure is lessened to allow active formulation and monitoring) and show its positive effect on accuracy as well as complexity. Building on these previous studies, the purpose of this research is to investigate the different form-focused effects between strategic and on-line planning. The study takes a process-product approach to planning by using a quantitative analysis of oral performance and a qualitative analysis of post-task verbal reports, prompted by stimulated recall, under non-planning, strategic planning and on-line planning conditions. The analysis of the performance of twenty-seven Japanese learners of English (grouped as high vs. low proficiency levels) demonstrates the positive effects of strategic planning on complexity and those of on-line planning on complexity and accuracy. Most importantly, different planning effects on specific accuracy measures were observed between different proficiency groups - verb forms in the low-proficiency and articles in the high-proficiency group. To complement the results of the performance analysis, the examination of verbal reports presents participants' planning processes. To support the improvement in accuracy in on-line planning, the analysis reveals that pressured conditions (i.e., non-planning and strategic planning) made participants prioritize meaning over form; on the other hand, on-line planning tended to push them into more complex structures while maintaining certain attention to accuracy. Drawing on pedagogical considerations offocus-on-form instruction, this thesis argues that strategic planning and on-line planning have different degrees of form-focused effects. In particular, on-line planning, beyond a simple improvement of accuracy, would increase consciousness of form and bring L2 learners to deeper, syntactic processing. It is suggested that some kind of on-line planning would be useful for developing learners' abilities of syntactic formulation

Prosodic Phrasing in Spontaneous Swedish

One of the most important functions of prosody is to divide the flow of speech into chunks. The chunking, or prosodic phrasing, of speech plays an important role in both the production and perception of speech. This study represents a move away from the laboratory speech examined in previous, related studies on prosodic phrasing in Swedish, since a spontaneous, Southern Swedish speech material is investigated. The study is, however, not primarily intended as a study of the Southern Swedish dialect; rather Southern Swedish is used as a convenient object on which to test various hypotheses about the phrasing function of prosody in spontaneous speech. The study comprises both analyses of production data and perception experiments, and both the phonetics and phonology of prosodic phrasing is dealt with. First, the distribution of prosodic phrase boundaries in spontaneous speech is examined by considering it as a reflection of optimality theoretic constraints that restrain the production and perception of speech. Secondly, the phonetic realization of prosodic phrase boundaries is investigated in a study on articulation rate changes within the prosodic phrase. Evidence of phrase-final lengthening, a reduction of the articulation rate in the final part of the prosodic phrase, is found. The tonal means used to signal coherence within the prosodic phrase is subsequently investigated. An attempt is made to test the two Lund intonation models’ capacities for describing spontaneous speech. The two approaches have different implications for the amount of preplanning needed, which makes them particularly interesting to compare by testing spontaneous data. The results indicate that no or little preplanning is needed to produce tonally coherent phrases. No evidence is found to suggest e.g. that speakers accommodate for the length of the upcoming phrase by starting longer phrases with a higher F0 than short phrases. An explanation is sought for variation in F0 starting points found in the data despite F0’s insensitivity to phrase length. It is concluded that F0 is used to signal coherence even across prosodic phrase boundaries. It is furthermore found that tonal coherence signals are used to override strong boundary signals in spontaneous speech, thereby making initially unplanned additions possible. Finally, the perception of boundary strength is examined in two perception experiments. Listeners are found to agree well in their perceptual judgments of boundary strength, and it is shown that the main correlate to perceived boundary strength in spontaneous speech is pause length. The useful distinction between weak, prosodic phrase boundaries and strong, prosodic utterance boundaries in descriptions of read speech is found to be inappropriate for descriptions of spontaneous speech. It fails to capture the conflicting local and global signals of boundary strength and coherence that arise when strong boundary signals are overriden by coherence signals. The possibility to use conflicting signals in this way is seen as an important asset to the speaker as it makes changes in the speech plan possible, and it is regarded to be a characteristic of prosodic phrasing in spontaneous speech

The Relationships between Second Language Speakers’ Oral Productions, Oral Proficiency, and their Individual Differences: A Longitudinal Study

Despite the importance of English speaking skills in higher education contexts (Andrade 2009), there has been a lack of investigations into longitudinal development in English as second language (ESL) speakers’ oral proficiency in relation to their oral production features (complexity, accuracy, fluency: CAF) and individual differences in working memory (WM) and aptitude. Existing research examining the relationships between CAF measures and L2 oral proficiency mostly focused on monologic tasks although CAF measures might significantly vary between monologic and dialogic task types (Michel et al., 2012). The purpose of this dissertation is threefold. First, the study investigates whether CAF measures of ESL speakers’ monologic and dialogic oral performances predict development in their oral proficiency over time. Second, the dissertation examines whether ESL speakers’ WM and aptitude are predictive of their oral proficiency development. Third, the dissertation also examines whether the relationships between CAF measures and oral proficiency are mediated by the speakers’ WM and aptitude. In total, 60 ESL participants (matriculated and non-matriculated) performed both monologic and dialogic oral tasks at three different times over eight months. The participants’ oral proficiency was measured by TOEFL iBT speaking tests and communicative adequacy ratings of their monologic and dialogic speech. The results show that in monologic speech, high proficient ESL speakers produced more syntactically and lexically complex language, whereas in dialogic speech, they produced faster speech. The findings also indicate that although in both monologic and dialogic speech, the participants with lower phonation (compared to pauses) significantly developed their oral proficiency over time, in dialogic speech, the participants with longer turns (in-between pauses) had longitudinal development in oral proficiency. The dissertation also found that high proficient ESL speakers with higher aptitude used more familiar vocabulary in their monologic speech but shorter fluent runs and shorter clauses in dialogic speech. Overall, the study argues that high proficient speech in monologic versus dialogic modes have different linguistic benchmarks. The findings also offer insights into the processes of high proficient L2 speech production in monologic and dialogic tasks by suggesting the combined effects of ESL speakers’ aptitude and CAF features on their oral proficiency scores

Proceedings of the VIIth GSCP International Conference

The 7th International Conference of the Gruppo di Studi sulla Comunicazione Parlata, dedicated to the memory of Claire Blanche-Benveniste, chose as its main theme Speech and Corpora. The wide international origin of the 235 authors from 21 countries and 95 institutions led to papers on many different languages. The 89 papers of this volume reflect the themes of the conference: spoken corpora compilation and annotation, with the technological connected fields; the relation between prosody and pragmatics; speech pathologies; and different papers on phonetics, speech and linguistic analysis, pragmatics and sociolinguistics. Many papers are also dedicated to speech and second language studies. The online publication with FUP allows direct access to sound and video linked to papers (when downloaded)