Forming New Vowel Categories in Second Language Speech: The Case of Polish Learners' Production of English /I/ and /e/

The paper concentrates on formation of L2 English vowel categories in the speech of Polish learners. More specifically, it compares distribution of two English categories - /I/ and /e/ relative to neighbouring Polish vowels. 43 participants recorded Polish and English vowels in a /bVt/ context. First two formants were measured at a vowel midpoint and plotted on a vowel plane. The results reveal that while a separate /I/ category is formed fairly effectively in Polish learners pronunciation of English, a category of /e/ is almost completely subsumed by a Polish vowel /ϵ

Perception of repeated /l/ and /n/: Implications for understanding dissimilation

We test Ohala’s (1993) hypothesis that phonological dissimilation can result from perceptual errors. Using a task in which American English speakers hear and orthographically transcribe nonce words, we test whether they are more likely to omit an acoustically present /l/ or /n/ when heard in a word where another token of the same sound is present. We find that this is the case for /l/ but not for /n/. These results mirror the actual prevalence of dissimilation in American English, where /l/-dissimilation occurs occasionally, but /n/-dissimilation rarely or never

Faking It: A Phonetic Analysis of Performed Vowels

This study examines three phonemes /æ/, /ɑ/, and /ɔ/ as performed in a dialect instruction tape for actors and compares them to a natives speaking group from a study done by Hawkins and Midgley 2005. Weinreich 1968 argues that when two language groups are similar, learners gloss over close similarities. Based on this, I hypothesize that /ɑ/ will be least on target as it represents a small shift, while /æ/ and /ɔ/ will be faithful representations. The near-opposite proved true, with all of the performed vowels patterning as a statistically different group than the native speaking data. Based on the results of this study, I discuss performance in context of conscious and unconscious speech and the control a human has over his ability to achieve a new phoneme in a scenario where hypercorrection phenomena are quite common. I also argue that the nature of the performer-audience relationship has an impact on the performance, both in terms of the goals of performance and the abilities of the performer

Accent acquisition: Jamaican Creole speakers\u27 pronunciation of Standard American English

When individuals immigrate to another country, they are frequently exposed to a new linguistic environment. As a result of this exposure, individuals often modify their personal accent to reflect the linguistic environment. This phenomenon of accent acquisition occurs frequently in our multicultural world, but has not been widely researched. Jamaican Creole, known also as Patwa, is spoken to some extent by the majority of Jamaicans and has a close linguistic relationship with Standard American English (SAE). Through oral and written interviews with six Jamaican immigrants living in the United States, this study examines the accent acquisition of SAE from Patwa. The study considers four phonological features that occur differently in Patwa and SAE and that have different levels of phonological complexity. I hypothesized that the participants’ acquisition of the SAE accent would be correlated with their length of residency in the U.S., their gender, their motivation for immigration, and their self-reported native language. I also predicted that less complex phonological features would be acquired more fully than more complex phonological features. Overall, I found evidence that strongly supports that all the participants acquired the SAE accent to some extent; none of the participants exhibited all the phonological features of Patwa but neither did they have all the phonological features of SAE. I argue for a plateau effect of acquisition wherein participants undergo an initial period of accent acquisition, which then levels out to an incomplete acquisition of SAE. After accents are deemed acceptable by SAE standards, further accent acquisition is not required. This study also raises concerns about the process of determining phonological complexity, as well as the extent of the impact that complexity has on the acquisition of phonological features

Reanalysis and Hypercorrection Among Extreme /s/ Reducers

Western Nicaragua is an immensely understudied region, and it also represents one of the most advanced coda /s/-weakening dialects of Spanish. Coda /s/ is reduced nearly categorically before a following consonant, vowel, or pause, e.g. cesta ‘basket’ becomes [sehta], más ajo ‘more garlic’ becomes [mah aho], and misas ‘masses’ becomes [misa], respectively. These reductions result in a “breathy Spanish” with rates of reduction similar to extreme Caribbean varieties (Lipski 1994: 291). Given the nearly absolute weakening, this work investigates the present status of coda /s/ in the dialect through an exploration of (i) diachronic data to determine how [s] production has changed over time, (ii) synchronic comparisons with other /s/-reducing dialects, and (iii) [s] hypercorrections. I conclude that /s/-weakening has advanced over the past thirty years as rates of coda sibilance decrease and rates of deletion rise; that [s] in Nicaragua is not a linguistically conditioned, local variant due to its deviant behavior; and that [s] hypercorrections do occasionally emerge in formal tasks, suggesting a loosening of the association between underlying coda /s/ and surface sibilance. Based on these conclusions, I argue that sibilance serves as a social strategy to index education, power, and precision on a global scale, while linguistically, many Nicaraguan speakers are operating with underlying coda /h/ instead of /s/, which helps to account for the innovative behavior of the glottal stop. Not only does this work document a highly understudied language variety, it also elucidates the complex linguistic and social motivations for selecting a particular variant in a radical dialect

Expression of Language and Gender in the Movie “Imperfect: Karier, Cinta & Timbangan” (Sociolinguistic Studies)

The dialogues used by the male and female main character in the movie "Imperfect: Karier, Cinta & Timbangan" has many different language characteristics. This research aims to elaborate the expression of language characteristics of main male and female characters in the movie based on Qi Pan's theory and define the socio-cultural factors behind using these language characteristics. This research was qualitative descriptive research. The data source was the movie’s script of "Imperfect: Karier, Cinta & Timbangan." To collect data, the researcher used watching, listening, and writing techniques. Then, the data were analyzed using the textual analysis method. The results revealed that (a) the main female character uses 11 language characteristics according to Qi Pan's theory in dialogue. In contrast, the main male character does not use these language characteristics. Only hypercorrection characteristics are not used in both speeches, and (b) language differences in characters' speeches are influenced by socio-cultural factors that shape their personalities in the movie, creating gender stereotypes that appear in both genders based on their characters. This research represents an expression and relevance between language and gender, which can be found in real life and literary works, one of which is elaborated through Indonesian movie media

What type of corrective feedback for French learners' intrusive aspirations in L2 English?

International audienc

The Effect of Dialect Features on the Perception of “Correctness” in English-Word Voting Patterns on Forvo.com

Forvo.com is a user-driven online dictionary of word and short phrase pronunciations, where in-dividuals may record pronunciations and rate those of others on their “correctness.” Launched in January 2008, it archives over 585,000 pronunciations in 241 languages as of May 2010. This paper examines the ratings of pronunciations from speakers in the United States, England, and Australia to determine the factors most responsible for high- and low-scoring English pronuncia-tions. Niedzielski (1999) found that perceived speaker locale affected naïve listener perception of phonetic variables. This paper examines two variables which, in combination with listeners’ per-ception of speaker locale, affect the “correctness” rating of English pronunciations on Forvo: the perception of hypercorrection as evidenced by the realization of intervocalic /t/, and the link be-tween perceived speaker locale and topic of the word being pronounced. Released intervocalic /t/ is a well-documented feature of British and Australian English (Wardhaugh 1999, Wolfram and Fasold 1974, Bayard et al. 2001). Within the sample of 187 pronunciations used for this data, only released-/t/ pronunciations by British and Australian speakers received average scores in the high range (greater than 4.0 on a 5-point scale), suggesting that Forvo voters consider released /t/ a hypercorrect feature when from a US English speaker. Voters also show a strong preference for dialect features to match the topic of the word or phrase being pronounced. Listeners prefer hear-ing US locations or personalities pronounced by a US speaker and vice versa, as evidenced by the lack of any high-scoring pronunciations of words by speakers whose dialect locale did not match the topic of the pronounced word. Both of these patterns suggest that naïve listeners attend extensively to dialect when making judgments about the overall correctness of features in even single-word pronunciations