Why I Work in the Field of Language Variation and Change

This perspective introduces the reader to what it is that a linguist working within the field of language variation and change does. I first outline what the goals of the field are. Next, I provide examples from my own work that illustrate what a researcher in my field may investigate and how. I also discuss what a teacher in my field can get to teach and why interacting with the students is, in my view at least, essential. We finish with a brief comment on whether and how the world can benefit from the insights of the field

Approaches to teaching the history of the English language: Pedagogy in practice. By Mary Hayes & Allison Burkette (eds.). Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017. Pp. 480. ISBN: 9780190611057.

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Slovotvorba ablautem vs. slovotvorba sufixací v diachronii

Tato bakalárská práce se zabývá slovotvorbou ablautem vs. slovotvorbou sufixací v diachronii, a to v období staroanglickém a stredoanglickém. Duvod výberu tohoto tématu spocíval v obecném opomíjení této tématiky v gramatikách, v nichž ctenár nalézá podrobné popisy gramatické funkce ablautu ve staré a v menší míre i ve strední anglictine. Cílem práce bylo popsat vývoj ablautových formací behem techto období v typologických souvislostech. Analýzy se zamerují na introflektivní rysy v korenech formací a ukazují, jak ruzné kombinace realizací techto korenu vykazující ablaut s flektivními (-a, -e, -o/-u; -) a ciste derivacními, aglutinacními sufixy (-lic; -full; -scipe; -had; -d, -t, -) postupne ubývají. Práce se dále zameruje na to, zda se ruzné realizace korenu váží k vybraným sufixum také sémanticky, tj. zda v onech kombinacích existují formální a/nebo sémantické pravidelnosti. Pred samotnými analýzami byly urceny morfologicky príbuzné rodiny na bázi Dictionary of Old English: A-F, nejnovejšího a nejpodrobnejšího slovníku staré anglictiny, který v dobe našeho pruzkumu pokrýval hesla spadající pod písmena A-F. Totéž bylo ucineno na bázi Middle English Compendium. Jak vyplývá z obecného typologického vývoje jazyka a jak analýzy materiálu prokazují prímo i neprímo, funkcní pruhlednost, tj. motivovanost,...The present bachelor thesis deals with word-formation by ablaut vs. word-formation by suffixation in diachrony, namely in Old and Middle English. The reason for choosing this theme lied in its general marginalization in grammar books, in which the reader finds detailed descriptions of the grammatical function of ablaut in Old and, to a lesser extent, also in Middle English. The aim of the thesis was to describe ablaut formations during these two stages of the language in a typological perspective. The analyses focus on introflectional features of the roots of the formations and show the decrease in various combinations of the individual realizations of the roots that display ablaut with inflectional (-a, -e, -o/-u; -) and purely derivational, agglutinative, suffixes (-lic; -full; -scip; -had; -d, -t, -). The thesis further focuses on whether the various realizations of the roots are connected with the selected suffixes also semantically, i.e. whether there exist formal and/or semantic correspondences in the combinations. The analyses themselves were preceded by determining morphologically related families on the basis of the Dictionary of Old English: A-F, the most recent and detailed dictionary of Old English, which covered entries under the letters A-F when our analyses were carried out. The same was done...Department of the English Language and ELT MethodologyÚstav anglického jazyka a didaktikyFaculty of ArtsFilozofická fakult

Rytmické rozdíly mezi velškou angličtinou a britským standardem

Tato práce se zabývá rytmickými rozdíly mezi velšskou angličtinou a britským standardem. Úžeji se specializuje na varianty měst Cardiff a Aberystwyth. Teoretická kapitola v první části shrnuje přístupy k rytmu z hlediska fyziologického, akustického, percepčního a fonologického. Druhá část poskytuje stručný popis britského standardu, velštiny a velšských angličtin a věnuje se dosavadním poznatkům týkající se dané problematiky obzvláště ve velšských nářečích angličtiny. Poslední, třetí část, slouží jako přehled základních přístupů k hledání akustických korelátů rytmu (%V, ∆C, ∆V, PVI, varco, RR, YARD). Zbylé kapitoly práce se věnují materiálové studii, pro niž byly obstarány příslušné nahrávky. Segmentace byla provedena na bázi segmentačních pravidel navržených Machačem a Skarnitzlem 2009. Pro velšské mluvčí byl rytmus zkoumán na čtyřech respondentech pro každou z vybraných oblastí Walesu ve věkovém rozpětí 35-39 let pro skupinu z Cardiffu a 29-39 pro skupinu z Aberystwyth. Výsledky byly porovnány s výzkumem Volína a Polláka z roku 2009, který mimo jiné na bázi stejného textu, který byl využit při sběru dat pro výzkum této diplomové práce, poskytl výsledky rytmických hodnot dle ukazatelů %V a ∆C pro britský standard. Ukázalo se, že velšské angličtiny osmi respondentů mají obdobné hodnoty pro ∆C a %V...The present thesis deals with rhythmic differences between Welsh English and the British Standard. It focuses on the varieties spoken in Cardiff and Aberystwyth in particular. The first part of the theoretical chapter summarises the approaches towards rhythm from the physiological, acoustic, perceptual, and phonological perspectives. The second part provides a basic description of the British Standard, Welsh, and Welsh English. It concerns itself with the existing information related to the subject matter especially as regards Welsh varieties of English. The last, third part, serves as an overview of the most common approaches towards the search of the acoustic correlates of rhythm (%V, ∆C, ∆V, PVI, varco, RR, YARD). The following chapters of the thesis present a material based study of the data obtained for the purposes of the thesis. The segmentation was carried out according to the principles proposed by Machač and Skarnitzl 2009. Rhythm was measured for four respondents for each selected location of Wales. The age span was 35-39 years for the group from Cardiff and 29-39 for that from Aberystwyth. The values measured were compared with the research of Volín and Pollák from 2009, which, among other things, provided the results of the rhythmic values for %V and ∆C for the British Standard on the...Department of the English Language and ELT MethodologyÚstav anglického jazyka a didaktikyFaculty of ArtsFilozofická fakult

Dissimilation can be gradient: evidence from Aberystwyth English

Dissimilation is classically considered as a phonetically categorical sound change. In contrast to this assumption, this paper presents evidence for a phonetically gradient pattern of aspiration dissimilation found in Aberystwyth English (Wales): an aspiration feature is consistently reduced in the vicinity of another aspiration feature. Two other patterns of gradient aspiration dissimilation have been reported, in Halh Mongolian and in Georgian, which suggests that it may actually be a more general phenomenon. The Aberystwyth data are however better controlled for phonological contexts and lexical regularity than the Mongolian and the Georgian data. The results can then be discussed in light of the two available theories of dissimilation, Ohala’s (1981) hypercorrection theory, and the traditional link with speech errors. Importantly, a number of arguments support Garrett’s (2015) hypothesis that gradient dissimilation might be a(nother) precursor to complete dissimilation. The pattern thus shows how the use of careful phonetic inspection can lead to a reanalysis of our understanding of well-established diachronic processes.

A Sound Approach to Language Matters: In Honor of Ocke-Schwen Bohn

The contributions in this Festschrift were written by Ocke’s current and former PhD-students, colleagues and research collaborators. The Festschrift is divided into six sections, moving from the smallest building blocks of language, through gradually expanding objects of linguistic inquiry to the highest levels of description - all of which have formed a part of Ocke’s career, in connection with his teaching and/or his academic productions: “Segments”, “Perception of Accent”, “Between Sounds and Graphemes”, “Prosody”, “Morphology and Syntax” and “Second Language Acquisition”. Each one of these illustrates a sound approach to language matters

Word-formation by ablaut vs. word-formation by suffixation in diachrony

The present bachelor thesis deals with word-formation by ablaut vs. word-formation by suffixation in diachrony, namely in Old and Middle English. The reason for choosing this theme lied in its general marginalization in grammar books, in which the reader finds detailed descriptions of the grammatical function of ablaut in Old and, to a lesser extent, also in Middle English. The aim of the thesis was to describe ablaut formations during these two stages of the language in a typological perspective. The analyses focus on introflectional features of the roots of the formations and show the decrease in various combinations of the individual realizations of the roots that display ablaut with inflectional (-a, -e, -o/-u; -) and purely derivational, agglutinative, suffixes (-lic; -full; -scip; -had; -d, -t, -). The thesis further focuses on whether the various realizations of the roots are connected with the selected suffixes also semantically, i.e. whether there exist formal and/or semantic correspondences in the combinations. The analyses themselves were preceded by determining morphologically related families on the basis of the Dictionary of Old English: A-F, the most recent and detailed dictionary of Old English, which covered entries under the letters A-F when our analyses were carried out. The same was done..

Rhythmic differences between Welsh English and the British standard

The present thesis deals with rhythmic differences between Welsh English and the British Standard. It focuses on the varieties spoken in Cardiff and Aberystwyth in particular. The first part of the theoretical chapter summarises the approaches towards rhythm from the physiological, acoustic, perceptual, and phonological perspectives. The second part provides a basic description of the British Standard, Welsh, and Welsh English. It concerns itself with the existing information related to the subject matter especially as regards Welsh varieties of English. The last, third part, serves as an overview of the most common approaches towards the search of the acoustic correlates of rhythm (%V, ∆C, ∆V, PVI, varco, RR, YARD). The following chapters of the thesis present a material based study of the data obtained for the purposes of the thesis. The segmentation was carried out according to the principles proposed by Machač and Skarnitzl 2009. Rhythm was measured for four respondents for each selected location of Wales. The age span was 35-39 years for the group from Cardiff and 29-39 for that from Aberystwyth. The values measured were compared with the research of Volín and Pollák from 2009, which, among other things, provided the results of the rhythmic values for %V and ∆C for the British Standard on the..

Competitiveness of the company in entering the foreign market

Cílem bakalářské práce je zhodnotit konkurenceschopnost společnosti Crystalex CZ, s. r. o. při vstupu na nový zahraniční trh a navrhnout možná doporučení pro zvýšení konkurenceschopnosti podniku. V teoretické části jsou definovány pojmy konkurenceschopnosti, jako je konkurence, konkurenceschopnost a konkurenční výhoda. Dále jsou vysvětleny pojmy týkající se mezinárodního obchodu, jakými jsou formy vstupu na zahraniční trh a rizika. Další kapitola se zabývá situační analýzou prostředí podniku, přesněji PEST analýzou, Porterovým modelem pěti konkurenčních sil a SWOT analýzou. V praktické části je provedena charakteristika společnosti a zanalyzováno vnitřní i vnější prostředí podniku na finském trhu pomocí poznatků a analýz z teoretické části. Na závěr je zhodnocena konkurenceschopnost společnosti na finském trhu, uvedeny její konkurenční výhody a navrhnuta doporučení, jak by mohla společnost konkurenceschopnost ještě zvýšit.The aim of this bachelor's thesis is to evaluate the competitiveness of the company Crystalex CZ, s. r. o. in entering a new foreign market and to suggest recommendations for increasing the competitiveness of the company. The theoretical part defines the concepts of competitiveness, such as competition, competitiveness and competitive advantage. Furthermore, the concepts related to international trade, such as international entry modes and risks, are explained. The next chapter deals with the situational analysis of the company's environment, more precisely the PEST analysis, Porter's five forces model and SWOT analysis. The practical part describes the company and analyses the business environment in the Finnish market using knowledge and analysis from the theoretical part. Finally, the company's competitiveness on the Finnish market is evaluated, its competitive advantages are presented and recommendations are proposed on how the company could further increase its competitiveness