Rhoticity in Chinese English: An experimental investigation on the realization of the variant (r) in an Expanding Circle variety

The realization of postvocalic /r/ has been frequently examined in both diachronic and synchronic research on world Englishes, showing a multitude of linguistic and extra-linguistic factors to modulate the degree of rhoticity. Since rhoticity is one of the most important indices of variation across Englishes, it forms an instructive phonological marker to investigate the dynamics of norm formation in emerging varieties. While the Inner and Outer Circle varieties have been extensively studied, there is fairly little research on the variable realization of postvocalic /r/ in the Expanding Circle Englishes. Here, we fill this gap with a study on the degree of rhoticity by highly proficient users of an EFL variety emerging in China, college English teachers, who are pertinent norm providers for EFL learners. We provide a multivariate analysis of phonological and sociolinguistic factors conditioning the degree of rhoticity in Chinese English on the basis of speech production data from 13 participants. Results show that Chinese English is best categorized as marginally rhotic. Concerning the patterning of phonological variables, it aligns more with Inner Circle than Outer Circle Englishes, albeit with significant inter- and intra-speaker variability. We discuss the competing roles of norm orientation, substrate influence, and other relevant variables therein

The effect of L1 regional variation on the perception and production of standard L1 and L2 vowels

This study reports on the perception and production of Standard Dutch and Standard British English vowels by speakers of two regional varieties of Belgian Dutch (East Flemish and Brabantine) which differ in their vowel realizations. Twenty-four native speakers of Dutch performed two picture-naming tasks and two vowel categorization tasks, in which they heard Standard Dutch or English vowels and were asked to map these onto orthographic representations of Dutch vowels. The results of the Dutch production and categorization tasks revealed that the participants’ L1 regional variety importantly influenced their production and especially perception of vowels in the standard variety of their L1. The two groups also differed in how they assimilated non-native English vowels to native vowel categories, but no major differences could be observed in their productions of non-native vowels. The study therefore only partly confirms earlier studies showing that L1 regional variation may have an influence on the acquisition of non-native language varieties

Short-term accommodation of Hong Kong English speakers towards native English accents and the effect of language attitudes

Accommodation, also known as convergence, refers to a process whereby a speaker changes the way he or she speaks to be more similar to another speaker. This dissertation focuses on two themes: language attitudes and short-term accommodation. A study using the matched-guise method is conducted to examine Hong Kong people’s attitudes towards British English, American English and Hong Kong English (henceforth HKE). Results suggest that after the handover British English is still rated as the most prestigious English variety in Hong Kong. HKE is also found to have a high level of acceptance in terms of social attractiveness. For short-term accommodation, two studies are conducted to investigate the phonetic convergence of HKE speakers towards native English accents, and the effect of language attitudes on convergence. Study 2 consists of a group of HKE speakers completing separate map tasks with a Received Pronunciation speaker and a General American English speaker. Their pronunciations of the THOUGHT vowel, the PATH vowel, rhoticity, fricative /z/ and fricative /θ/ are examined before, during and after the map tasks. The results suggest that the HKE speakers produce more fricative [z] and converge on rhoticity after exposure to the native accents. However, divergence is found on the PATH vowel and fricative /θ/, and maintenance is found on the THOUGHT vowel. These findings suggest that the HKE speakers tend to converge on the linguistic features which are more salient to them. Study 3 examines the effect of language attitudes on speech convergence, and no correlation is found between language attitudes and the HKE speakers’ convergence on rhoticity. Finally, the hybrid exemplar-based model is proposed to explain the complex results of the three studies. It provides a framework for speech accommodation which covers speech perception and production, and includes social factors as important elements in the model

The Influence of Attitude on the Treatment of Interdentals in Loanwords : Ill-performed Importations

This article treats cross-linguistic variation in the treatment of /0, d/ in loanwords. We maintain that the phonological adaptation of /0, d/, cross-linguistically, is to /t, d/, that substitution by /f, v/, which occurs in a few languages, is based on faulty perception of the interdental fricatives, and that adaptation to /s, z/, which notably occurs in Japanese, European French and German, represents a flawed production-based attempt to import interdentals. We suggest that such flawed importation occurs when foreign sounds are difficult to produce but the source language holds sufficient prestige that it is deemed important to do so. This proposal is supported by data from, e.g., English, Greek and Classical Arabic. The treatment of interdentals parallels that of the difficult French phoneme /ʒ/ in loanwords in Fula, which also yields a flawed production-based importation, lending further support to our analysis of /0, d/ to /s, z/ as flawed importations.Aquest article tracta de la variació en l'adaptació de les interdentals /0, d/ en els manlleus de diferents llengües. Nosaltres afirmem que l'adaptació fonològica de /0, d/ és /t, d/, que la substitució per /f, v/ que ocorre en algunes llengües es basa en una percepció defectuosa de les fricatives interdentals, i que l'adaptació a /s, z/, que apareix sovint en japonès, francès europeu i alemany, representa un intent imperfecte d'adaptació i producció de les interdentals. Suggerim que aquesta adaptació imperfecta ocorre quan els sons foranis són difícils de pronunciar però que s'ha de fer l'esforç atès el prestigi que té la llengua donant. Aquesta proposta es basa en dades de l'anglès, el grec i l'àrab clàssic. El tractament de les interdentals és anàleg al del fonema francès /ʒ/ en els manlleus del fula, llengua en què també es produeix una importació defectuosa, la qual cosa afavoreix la nostra anàlisi de /0, d/ importades defectuosament com a /s, z/

Postvocalic (r) in urban Indian English

Native varieties of World Englishes can shed light on competing local and international language ideologies and alignments with different standards, while quantitative variationist methods permit dialect internal analysis of structural variation without direct reference to external standards, by focusing on internal linguistic and social constraints. Contributing to these endeavors, this study examines variation in postvocalic (r)-deletion in Indian English (IndE), uncovering rhotic patterns which are significantly influenced by, and illuminate, distinct urban Indian sociolinguistic alignments. The results also demonstrate that IndE is diverging from both its British colonially influenced past, and from modern internationally prestigious English varieties, through real and apparent time analysis. This analysis focuses on the larger sociolinguistic milieu of IndE emergence and evolution, offering a nuanced response to superficial and oftentimes categorical IndE grammars. Further, studying native speakers offers a counterpoint to L1 contact explanations for IndE stabilization and evolution in the postcolonial context.</jats:p

The future of dialects: Selected papers from Methods in Dialectology XV

Traditional dialects have been encroached upon by the increasing mobility of their speakers and by the onslaught of national languages in education and mass media. Typically, older dialects are “leveling” to become more like national languages. This is regrettable when the last articulate traces of a culture are lost, but it also promotes a complex dynamics of interaction as speakers shift from dialect to standard and to intermediate compromises between the two in their forms of speech. Varieties of speech thus live on in modern communities, where they still function to mark provenance, but increasingly cultural and social provenance as opposed to pure geography. They arise at times from the need to function throughout the different groups in society, but they also may have roots in immigrants’ speech, and just as certainly from the ineluctable dynamics of groups wishing to express their identity to themselves and to the world. The future of dialects&nbsp;is a selection of the papers presented at Methods in Dialectology XV, held in Groningen, the Netherlands, 11-15 August 2014. While the focus is on methodology, the volume also includes specialized studies on varieties of Catalan, Breton, Croatian, (Belgian) Dutch, English (in the US, the UK and in Japan), German (including Swiss German), Italian (including Tyrolean Italian), Japanese, and Spanish as well as on heritage languages in Canada

The future of dialects: Selected papers from Methods in Dialectology XV

Traditional dialects have been encroached upon by the increasing mobility of their speakers and by the onslaught of national languages in education and mass media. Typically, older dialects are “leveling” to become more like national languages. This is regrettable when the last articulate traces of a culture are lost, but it also promotes a complex dynamics of interaction as speakers shift from dialect to standard and to intermediate compromises between the two in their forms of speech. Varieties of speech thus live on in modern communities, where they still function to mark provenance, but increasingly cultural and social provenance as opposed to pure geography. They arise at times from the need to function throughout the different groups in society, but they also may have roots in immigrants’ speech, and just as certainly from the ineluctable dynamics of groups wishing to express their identity to themselves and to the world. The future of dialects&nbsp;is a selection of the papers presented at Methods in Dialectology XV, held in Groningen, the Netherlands, 11-15 August 2014. While the focus is on methodology, the volume also includes specialized studies on varieties of Catalan, Breton, Croatian, (Belgian) Dutch, English (in the US, the UK and in Japan), German (including Swiss German), Italian (including Tyrolean Italian), Japanese, and Spanish as well as on heritage languages in Canada

The future of dialects: Selected papers from Methods in Dialectology XV

Traditional dialects have been encroached upon by the increasing mobility of their speakers and by the onslaught of national languages in education and mass media. Typically, older dialects are “leveling” to become more like national languages. This is regrettable when the last articulate traces of a culture are lost, but it also promotes a complex dynamics of interaction as speakers shift from dialect to standard and to intermediate compromises between the two in their forms of speech. Varieties of speech thus live on in modern communities, where they still function to mark provenance, but increasingly cultural and social provenance as opposed to pure geography. They arise at times from the need to function throughout the different groups in society, but they also may have roots in immigrants’ speech, and just as certainly from the ineluctable dynamics of groups wishing to express their identity to themselves and to the world. The future of dialects&nbsp;is a selection of the papers presented at Methods in Dialectology XV, held in Groningen, the Netherlands, 11-15 August 2014. While the focus is on methodology, the volume also includes specialized studies on varieties of Catalan, Breton, Croatian, (Belgian) Dutch, English (in the US, the UK and in Japan), German (including Swiss German), Italian (including Tyrolean Italian), Japanese, and Spanish as well as on heritage languages in Canada

The future of dialects: Selected papers from Methods in Dialectology XV

Traditional dialects have been encroached upon by the increasing mobility of their speakers and by the onslaught of national languages in education and mass media. Typically, older dialects are “leveling” to become more like national languages. This is regrettable when the last articulate traces of a culture are lost, but it also promotes a complex dynamics of interaction as speakers shift from dialect to standard and to intermediate compromises between the two in their forms of speech. Varieties of speech thus live on in modern communities, where they still function to mark provenance, but increasingly cultural and social provenance as opposed to pure geography. They arise at times from the need to function throughout the different groups in society, but they also may have roots in immigrants’ speech, and just as certainly from the ineluctable dynamics of groups wishing to express their identity to themselves and to the world. The future of dialects&nbsp;is a selection of the papers presented at Methods in Dialectology XV, held in Groningen, the Netherlands, 11-15 August 2014. While the focus is on methodology, the volume also includes specialized studies on varieties of Catalan, Breton, Croatian, (Belgian) Dutch, English (in the US, the UK and in Japan), German (including Swiss German), Italian (including Tyrolean Italian), Japanese, and Spanish as well as on heritage languages in Canada