Range Of Dialects Research Articles

Revisiting English attitudes of Japanese students in residential English schools in the Philippines after COVID-19

ABSTRACT This study examines Japanese students’ attitudes toward English learning in residential schools in the Philippines during the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on their language learning experiences. The study conducted in-depth interviews with eight Japanese students studying in the Philippines in December 2022. Despite the pandemic, the students remained motivated to pursue their studies in the Philippines. Their responses were consistent with pre-pandemic times, as they had chosen the Philippines for its affordability, good-quality education, and diverse range of accents and cultures, allowing them to experience English as a lingua franca and World Englishes. Moreover, this trend was accelerated by the pandemic and the depreciation of the yen in 2022, increasing their cost consciousness. Personal motivations, such as utilitarian reasons and cultural exchange, played a vital role in driving students to study in the Philippines, emphasizing the importance of considering personal motivations and cultural exchange in designing effective language programs.

“The case”of the philosopher Vasile Băncilă – writings from youth.

Abstract Vasile Băncilă is a thinker to be placed where he fits in the hierarchy of values of Romanian philosophers. Therefore, this text invokes some “start-up frames”, through which we offer a range of accents of the reception of the intellectual and philosophical dowry left by the author. Vasile Băncilă left posterity printed texts, but also thousands of sheets written over four decades of life, unfinished and not ready to be printed. Some of them are from his youth; on some of these focuses this text, namely on what meant for the young philosophy professor Vasile Băncilă the act or the process of philosophizing.

A Sociolinguistic Perspective on Accent and Social Mobility in the UK Teaching Profession

A new interdisciplinary approach to understanding the role of accent in relation to intergenerational social mobility is introduced here. Sociological analyses that attend to accent often focus on broader regional distinctions or construct limiting dichotomies of accents, rather than capturing the full variety and range of accents, often found at smaller geographic levels. Drawing on the case of the teaching profession and using qualitative data collected as part of a study of teachers, we illustrate how integrating sociolinguistics into a sociological analysis of social mobility would allow us to combine the micro-geography of class, mobility, and speech to a more granular level. The analytical tools provided by sociolinguistics, outlined here, could push forward work on understanding prospects for, and experiences of, social mobility.

Pre-closure laryngeal properties as cues to the fortis–lenis plosive contrast in British varieties of English

Abstract The present study contributes to our understanding of the phonetic implementation of the fortis–lenis plosive contrast in British varieties of English via analyses of pre-aspiration and glottalisation. More specifically, we show that pre-aspiration and (pre-) glottalisation can and do function as correlates of the contrast in British English plosives in non-foot-initial position (latter vs ladder; mat vs mad ). This is in addition to rather than at the expense of the other traditionally discussed potential correlates, with the exception of word-final release duration, where the pre-closure laryngeal phenomena are more robust. We also provide evidence that listeners of a range of accents of British English use pre-aspiration as a cue to the contrast, exhibiting clear categorical perception effects (based on data from 19 listeners). We conclude that the gesture of spread glottis is not necessarily tied to the release phase of the plosive in the relevant varieties of British English but instead can be found prior to the release phase, or indeed both prior to as well as during the release phase itself. Our study thus contributes to the pool of languages known to use pre-closure laryngeal features functioning as correlates of and cues to phonological contrasts (see e.g. Clayton 2009; Kingston 1990; Silverman 1995).

TED Talks as an ICT Tool to Promote Communicative Skills in EFL Students

In many EFL classrooms in Colombia, it is evident how students struggle trying to use English to communicate; nonetheless, with the revolution of ICTs that has taken place in the last years, there is a variety of tools available to support English learning autonomously with applications, blogs, and online courses; however, many of these tools were not originally designed for teaching but can be adapted for such purpose. TED is a website and a downloadable application where videos are shared in which you can see a wide variety of English speakers born in many parts around the world speaking in a fun and familiar manner with the audience about various topics of interest that besides, come along with cultural content, which extends the range of accents, words, expressions, and ways of referring to the same topic. In this action research, we propose a reflection on the incidence of TED talks on the teaching and learning of English as a foreign language. The instruments used to collect data were interviews, questionnaires, and teacher journals. The use of these videos provided the students with all the communicative elements that allowed them to use English to express their ideas. This offers a glimpse of how useful authentic videos and subtitles are when encouraging students to learn English.

Scalar effects of social networks on language variation

AbstractThe role of social networks in language variation has been studied using a wide range of metrics. This study critically examines the effect of different dimensions of networks on different aspects of language variation. Three dimensions of personal network (ethnicity, nationality, diversity) are evaluated in relation to three levels of language structure (phonetic form, accent range, language choice) over three generations of British Asians. The results indicate a scaling of network influences. The two metrics relating to qualities of an individual's ties are more historically and culturally specific, whereas the network metric that relates to the structure of an individual's social world appears to exert a more general effect on accent repertoires across generations. This two-tier typology—network qualities (more culturally contingent) and network structures (more general)—facilitates an integrated understanding of previous studies and a more structured methodology for studying the effect of social networks on language.

The role of pitch range in establishing intonational contrasts

One of the unresolved issues in the field of intonational phonology is whether pitch accent range differences are used by languages to express discrete linguistic distinctions. In Catalan, as in some other Romance languages, a rising-falling nuclear pitch contour – i.e. a rising pitch accent associated with the utterance-final stressed syllable followed by a Low boundary tone – can be used to convey three different pragmatic meanings depending on its pitch range properties: information focus statements (IFSs), corrective focus statements (CFSs), and counter-expectational questions (CEQs). In order to investigate how these pragmatic meanings are distributed across the pitch range continuum and whether Catalan listeners use these tonal scaling distinctions to identify such meanings, we performed an identification task and a congruity test. The results show that CEQs differ from both IFSs and CFSs in a discrete way, yet the perceived difference between IFSs and CFSs cannot be exclusively explained by scaling differences. These findings provide further evidence that pitch range differences can be used to make intonational distinctions in some languages, and strengthen the argument that pitch range features need to be represented descriptively at the phonological level.

Gaddafi and Grotius: Some Historical Roots of the Libyan Intervention

It is increasingly well understood that concepts of ‘humanitarian intervention’ and the ‘responsibility to protect’ enjoy a long and rich history. Nevertheless, it is surprising how plainly the arguments offered by states seeking to justify intervention in Libya in 2011 echo those used by theologians, jurists, and philosophers to justify intervention in the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries. Those advocating intervention in Libya drew not just on the language of ‘human rights,’ that emerged relatively recently, but on a wider and much older range of idioms and ideas to make their case. In this article, I identify three key arguments that were employed by states in support of the intervention and I demonstrate their parallels with three principal arguments that have been advanced to justify intervention in response to tyranny since the sixteenth century. The three arguments are: the need to protect ‘innocents’; the need to hold ‘tyrants’ to account; and the need to defend the will of a sovereign people. After exploring each argument, I conclude by noting that the claim often heard today, that intervention is under certain circumstances a responsibility rather than merely a right, also has deep roots in early modern thought.

Second-language experience and speech-in-noise recognition: Effects of talker–listener accent similarity

Previous work has shown that the intelligibility of speech in noise is degraded if the speaker and listener differ in accent, in particular when there is a disparity between native (L1) and nonnative (L2) accents. This study investigated how this talker-listener interaction is modulated by L2 experience and accent similarity. L1 Southern British English, L1 French listeners with varying L2 English experience, and French-English bilinguals were tested on the recognition of English sentences mixed in speech-shaped noise that was spoken with a range of accents (French, Korean, Northern Irish, and Southern British English). The results demonstrated clear interactions of accent and experience, with the least experienced French speakers being most accurate with French-accented English, but more experienced listeners being most accurate with L1 Southern British English accents. An acoustic similarity metric was applied to the speech productions of the talkers and the listeners, and significant correlations were obtained between accent similarity and sentence intelligibility for pairs of individuals. Overall, the results suggest that L2 experience affects talker-listener accent interactions, altering both the intelligibility of different accents and the selectivity of accent processing.

Second‐language experience and speech‐in‐noise recognition: The role of talker‐listener accent similarity.

There is a clear interaction between native and non‐native accents in speech‐in‐noise recognition, with listeners being better at accents that match their own speech. This study investigated how this talker‐listener interaction is modulated by L2 experience and accent similarity. L1 southern British English (SE) and L1 French listeners with varying L2 English experience (inexperienced, FI; experienced, FE; and bilinguals, FB) were tested on the recognition of English sentences mixed in speech‐shaped noise that were spoken with a range of accents (SE, FE, FI, Northern Irish, and Korean‐accented English). The results demonstrated that FI listeners were more accurate with FI talkers and showed graded sensitivity for all accents. The SE listeners, however, had their recognition processes selectively tuned to their own accent. FE and FB listeners were more similar to SE listeners as their L2 experience increased. In order to account for this interaction, an accent similarity metric was applied to the talkers’ and listeners’ speech. The results demonstrated that there were significant correlations between speech‐in‐noise recognition and the acoustic similarity of the talkers’ and listeners’ accents. Overall, the results suggest that L2 experience affects talker‐listener accent interactions, altering both the intelligibility of different accents and the selectivity of accent processing.

Discourse and Intonation Development in the First-Word Period

The purpose of the current study was to examine the vocal productions of young children acquiring Standard American English and to determine whether intonation production is influenced by discourse context and developmental level (i.e., age). Participants were 24 children with typically developing speech and language, ages 12 to 23 months. A cross-sectional design was used. Data were collected from language samples during 30- to 40-minute play sessions. Child interactions were analyzed according to three discourse categories: co-participatory, initiation, and narrowed focus. Intonation was analyzed using measures of accent range, contour inventory size and contour maturity. The results supported a previous finding that the contour inventory measure of intonation is consistently more useful in demonstrating differences in production related to contour direction and discourse context. An analysis of the contour maturity of intonation revealed that falling contours were more stable than rises, and that rises were produced with more stability in communicative contexts

The roles of second‐language experience and accent in speech recognition in noise.

Previous work has demonstrated that there is an interaction between native (L1) and non‐native (L2) accents in speech recognition in noise, with listeners being better at L1 or L2 accents that match their own speech. This study investigated how L2 experience modulates this talker‐listener interaction. L1 southern British English (SE) and L1 French listeners with varying L2 English experience (inexperienced FI, experienced FE, and bilinguals FB) were tested on the recognition of English sentences mixed in speech‐shaped noise that was spoken with a range of accents (SE, FE, FI, Northern Irish, and Korean‐accented English). The results demonstrated that FI listeners were more accurate with strongly accented FI talkers, and were progressively worse for the other accents, perhaps based on accent similarity. The SE listeners, however, had a strong advantage for SE speech, but were similarly poor at understanding the other accents. Their recognition processes were thus selectively tuned to their own accent, rath...

Universal and dialect-specific pathways of acquisition: Caregivers, children, and t/d deletion

AbstractT/d deletion is one of the most widely studied variables in sociolinguistic research, and findings demonstrate universal morphological and phonological constraints across a range of dialects. Research into the acquisition of this variable suggests that articulatory constraints are learned first, followed by grammatical, and finally stylistic and social constraints. Dialect-specific constraints are also found, implicating the caregiver in the process of acquisition. In this article, we contribute to this research on the acquisition of t/d through the examination of the speech of preschool children in interaction with their primary caregivers in a community in Scotland. Our results mirror previous results on how and when particular constraints are acquired, providing further evidence for universal order of acquisition of this form. We also demonstrate dialect-specific constraints on use that can be mapped directly to caregiver speech. This provides additional evidence on how variable forms are transmitted from parent to child in these early stages.

ARTHUR HUGHES, PETER TRUDGILL AND DOMINIC WATT, English accents and dialects: An introduction to social and regional varieties of English in the British Isles

Arthur Hughes, Peter Trudgill and Dominic Watt, English accents and dialects: An introduction to social and regional varieties of English in the British Isles. 4th ed. London: Hodder Arnold, 2005. Pp. xiii, 159. Pb and accompanying CD £24.99.English accents and dialects has been the standard introductory textbook on varieties of English in the British Isles since it first appeared in 1979. It is well known and widely used as the only compact and affordable textbook providing detailed descriptions of a range of accents and dialects, as well as introductory chapters dealing with issues of social and regional variation and change. Although successive editions have expanded the range of varieties included and updated references, this fourth edition has undergone a more thorough overhaul, with a new co-author on board in the sociophonetician Dominic Watt. The new edition is accompanied by a digitally remastered CD with recordings of the transcribed interviews and word lists, and it includes new sections on the varieties spoken in Aberdeen, Galway, and “Leicester,” along with exercises on these.

WALT WOLFRAM & NATALIE SCHILLING-ESTES, American English: Dialects and variation

Walt Wolfram & Natalie Schilling-Estes, American English: Dialects and variation. (Language in Society, 25). 2nd ed. Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2006. Pp. xv, 452. Pb $36.95.American English, an introductory textbook about dialect variation, is a revised version of the textbook that first appeared in 1998 and represents another addition to the array of educational materials about American dialects that the first author has been producing for over three decades. It is a versatile textbook with an intended audience of any student who takes a “course on dialects” (p. x). Its lack of linguistic formalism and statistics makes it accessible to students with no linguistics background, and its continued emphasis on the relevance of dialect awareness to American society will help non-linguists apply the material effectively. Owing to its wide scope, it cannot delve too deeply into any of the theoretical issues; however, its succinct overviews of the debates, annotated bibliographies at the end of each chapter, and copious examples from a range of dialects make it a useful reference for experienced linguists.

The adaptation and application of relational and independent analyses for intonation production in young children

Previous research has indicated that relational and independent analyses of the phonological skills of young children result in very different interpretation of the data. This paper presents an adaptation of each of these analysis types, making them appropriate for the analysis of intonational characteristics of utterances produced by very young children. Meaningful and nonmeaningful utterances from a total of 30 children (ages 12–23 months) were studied. Measures of accent range served as the relational measure for this study and a contour inventory was introduced as the independent measure. The results from the two analyses revealed that the contour inventory was the most sensitive to different aspects of intonation development during the second year of life. The contour inventory was best at identifying the differences between rising and falling contours. This study supports the use of the contour inventory for measuring intonational development as a supplement to more traditionally utilized measures (e.g., accent range).

Talking Back at the Centre: Demotic Language in Contemporary Scottish Fiction

AbstractThis article attempts a survey of a common trend in contemporary Scottish fiction (1994–2003): a unifying concern with issues of ‘voice’ in narrative. The survey proceeds from an assumption that many Scottish writers make use of so‐called demotic voices within their work (i.e. sociolects and dialects from everyday situations, or ‘street language’). Very often, this concern with the demotic arises out of ideological standpoints peculiar (arguably) to Scotland: attempts to create a distance from Standard English, a nationalist position, or the ambition to reassert the primacy (or, at least, the equivalency) of oral over written forms of language. The conclusion must be that choices made with regard to narrative technique are ideological choices, and that the demotic method is not without its pitfalls. This assertion is demonstrated through an exploration of three writers: James Kelman, Alan Warner and Anne Donovan. All of these demotic techniques are aided and abetted by the writer's intense identification with place, with Glasgow (for Kelman and Donovan) or with Scotland as a whole, and the intrinsically ‘polyphonic’ conditions which exist there, i.e. a range of dialects and voices standing as ‘other’ to Standard (colonial?) English. The writers’ goal is to exploit the particular cultural and linguistic conditions peculiar to the country in order to produce a narrative art form which could adequately aspire to represent them; in other words, to create a distinctive literary voice the better to represent a particular regional or national constituency. The pitfalls need to be addressed too: a tendency towards the mundane and repetitive in demotic narratives, a certain belligerence which can alienate readers and the essential question of who this writing is written for. Can it be read with true engagement outside of its target constituency? If not, is such writing open to the charge of parochialism?

The Dialect Evidence

A.G. Mitchell takes the view that in the creation of both Broad Australian and General Australian a process of levelling of dialects took place, and the major dialects were those of south-east England. But why is it that in the lexicon of Australian English there seem to be words from a vast range of dialects? And why is it that the most significant dialect borrowings do not occur in the early years of settlement? This paper takes words of dialect origin and examines them by topic, region of origin and period of adoption into Australian use. The findings suggest that there is some correlation between the patterns of migration from particular dialect areas and the appearance in Australian English of words from those dialect areas, but that overall the pattern of lexical borrowings from dialects is indeed contrary to the pronunciation evidence.

The evolving study of Philippine English phonology

Abstract: This paper describes the evolution of studies of Philippine English phonology over more than three decades, and then goes on to discuss the results of a recent data‐based study of the Philippine English accent which, following Llamzon (1997), groups representative speakers of Philippine English into three groups: an acrolect group, a mesolect group, and a basilect group. The results of this research provide a description of distinctive phonological features at the three levels, shared in and between speakers of such groups. Finally the paper concludes by suggesting a number of possible directions for future research, suggesting that future studies of Philippine English phonology will be concerned not so much with making statements about a ‘standard’ Philippine pronunciation, but rather with describing descriptions of a range of accents, differentiated both according to geography (and first language background) and according to social‐group membership.

Intonation in the monosyllabic utterances of 1-year-olds

Previous research has demonstrated that falling contours predominate in infant utterances as early as 3 months of age. The precocious appearance of falling intonation is usually attributed to “biological tendencies,” that is, the physiological naturalness of descending fundamental frequency patterns. In contrast, other investigations have shown that some children do not use adultlike falling or rising intonation contours until they produce their first words. To resolve these conflicting views of prosodic development, this study acoustically investigated intonation production in the monosyllabic utterances of 10 English-speaking children from 10 to 13 months of age and the utterance-final monosyllables of ten 4-year-olds. Children in both age groups produced a wider accent range in falling contours than in rising contours. Infants produced a narrower accent range than the preschoolers. The findings suggest that biological tendencies are not sufficient to account for children’s acquisition of intonation between the ages of 1 and 4 years.