11 research outputs found
Dialectology, phonology, diachrony: Liverpool English realisations of PRICE and MOUTH.
Dialect emergence or new-dialect formation in intensive contact situations has
been the subject of research for decades. Approaches to dialect emergence
have led to a more solid understanding of the origins of specific phonological
features. This line of research often approaches issues of new-dialect formation
and phonological feature development within the confines of one linguistic
subfield. However, new-dialect formation is a multifaceted phenomenon which
results from a combination of dialectological, phonological and historical
linguistic factors. The current thesis presents a comprehensive account of
phonological feature development in new-dialect formation from a combined
theoretical perspective by exploring historical and contemporary processes
in the emergence of phonologically-conditioned variation in the price and
mouth lexical sets in Liverpool English.
This feature has been widely researched in other varieties of English and
has previously been attributed to new-dialect formation. However, little is
known about the patterns of price and mouth in Liverpool English. The
current thesis relies on multiple methods of data collection (e.g. a combination
of fieldwork and corpus data), various quantitative methods, and detailed
acoustic analyses (e.g. formants and Euclidean distance in a two-dimensional
formant space) to investigate the precise details and the processes involved in
the emergence and development of price and mouth patterns in Liverpool
English.
Liverpool English is thought to have emerged during the 19th century as
a result of extensive and prolonged immigration from the surrounding areas
of Lancashire and Cheshire, and from Ireland, Wales, and Scotland. However,
the specific timing, extent of immigration, and proportion of immigrant
populations have not been investigated in detail. The current thesis provides
the first in-depth analysis of historical census records in order to extend our
knowledge of the populations in Liverpool at the time of new-dialect formation.
The insights obtained from this analysis provide a more nuanced picture of
the development of Liverpool English. They are essential for determining
what dialects potentially contributed to dialect formation and the repertoire
of price and mouth variants present at the time that these processes were
developing. The analysis of historical census records is further augmented
by using a combination of quantitative methods and historical corpora in
order to gain a fuller understanding of the processes involved in the formation
of these dialect features.
The contemporary investigation of price and mouth in Liverpool English
shows that these patterns are separate, but related, and that their phonological
conditioning environments resemble those reported for cases of price and
mouth variation in other varieties of English. I present a detailed overview
of the phonetics and phonology of price and mouth variation in Liverpool
English, looking at a wide range of conditioning environments. This investigation
also reviews a range of different quantitative measurements useful
for research on variation involving diphthongs.
The origins of price and mouth phonological patterns in Liverpool English
indicate that an approach combining different theoretical perspectives is
required to adequately explain the development of these patterns. The current
thesis suggests that price and mouth phonologically conditioned variation
in Liverpool English initially resulted from variants of different dialects within
the dialect contact situation. However, some features of the contemporary
patterns developed following new-dialect formation as a by-product of phonetic
and phonological properties of diphthong production in certain following
environments. By approaching the development of these phonological features
in Liverpool English from a combination of theoretical perspectives, the
current thesis expands our understanding of emergent phonological features
in new-dialect formation
Postpositivist Inquiry: Implications of the "New Philosophy of Science" for the Field of the Education of the Gifted
Hoogbegaafdheid: Het label voorbij
Item does not contain fulltextKinderen en jongeren labelen als 'hoogbegaafd' leidt tot misverstanden en is strijdig met actuele psychologische inzichten. De psychologische diversiteit onder 'hoogbegaafden' is indrukwekkender dan de overeenstemming en er is onvoldoende empirische steun voor 'hoogbegaafdheid' als afzonderlijke categorie. Feitelijk is het (nog) onduidelijk wat 'hoogbegaafdheid' precies is en identificatie van 'hoogbegaafdheid' door een intelligentietest alleen is niet mogelijk. Met deze stellingen willen we onderzoek naar 'hoogbegaafdheid' niet ontmoedigen, maar veel meer de nodige ruimte geven. We blijven voorstanders van het gebruik van een aangepast (leerstof)aanbod. Het stoppen met het labelen biedt wellicht meer kansen voor kinderen die op cognitief gebied sterk afwijken van het gemiddelde in hun directe omgeving, groep of klas. Wij richten de aandacht niet op een statisch label ('hoogbegaafdheid'), maar accentueren het psychologisch proces, waarin kinderen hun vermogen en talent kunnen ontwikkelen naar een expertniveau. Dit door adequate stimulering en de actieve inspanning van deze kinderen zelf.6 p