Acoustic characteristics of Korean-English bilingual speakers’ /l/ and the relationship to their foreign accent ratings.

Author(s):  
Hyunju Chung ◽  
Yunjung Kim
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 685-694
Author(s):  
Varisa Osatananda ◽  
Parichart Salarat

Although Thai English has emerged as one variety of World Englishes (Trakulkasemsuk 2012, Saraceni 2015), it has not been enthusiastically embraced by Thai educators, as evidenced in the frustration expressed by ELT practitioners over Thai learners’ difficulties with pronunciation (Noom-ura 2013; Sahatsathatsana, 2017) as well as grammar (Saengboon 2017a). In this study, we examine the perception English instructors have on the different degrees of grammar skills and Thai-oriented English accent. We investigated the acceptability and comprehensibility of both native-Thai and native-English instructors (ten of each), as these subjects listen to controlled passages produced by 4 Thai-English bilingual speakers and another 4 native-Thai speakers. There were 3 types of passage tokens: passages with correct grammar spoken in a near-native English accent, passages with several grammatical mistakes spoken in a near-native English accent, and the last being a Thai-influenced accent with correct grammar. We hypothesized that (1) native-Thai instructors would favor the near-native English accent over correct grammar, (2) native-English instructors would be more sensitive to grammar than a foreign accent, and (3) there is a correlation between acceptability and comprehensibility judgment. The findings conformed to the first hypothesis given that most Thai instructors were tolerant towards the near-native English accent, regardless of grammatical errors. The second hypothesis is rejected since native-English instructors were less tolerant towards both grammatical errors and the foreign accent. The third hypothesis was proved correct, that acceptability correlates with comprehensibility. Our study suggests that English instructors should devote proportionate attention to teaching both pronunciation and grammar. They should also be made aware of the negative attitude against Thai-accented English, so that learners would be treated fairly and without discrimination based on their Thai-influenced accent.


2005 ◽  
Vol 36 (3) ◽  
pp. 201-218 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian A. Goldstein ◽  
Leah Fabiano ◽  
Patricia Swasey Washington

Purpose: There is a paucity of information detailing the phonological skills of Spanish-English bilingual children and comparing that information to information concerning the phonological skills of predominantly English-speaking (PE) and predominantly Spanish-speaking (PS) children. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between amount of output (i.e., percentage of time each language was spoken) in each language and phonological skills in Spanish-English bilingual children and PE and PS children. Method: Fifteen typically developing children, ranging in age from 5;0 (years;months) to 5;5 (mean=5;2), participated in the study. The participants consisted of 5 PE speakers, 5 PS speakers, and 5 bilingual (Spanish-English) speakers. A single-word assessment was used to gather information on phonological skills (consonant accuracy, type and frequency of substitutions, frequency of occurrence of phonological patterns [e.g., cluster reduction], accuracy of syllable types [e.g., CV, CVC, CCV, etc.]), and type and rate of cross-linguistic effects. Results: The results indicated that there was no significant correlation between amount of output in each language and phonological skills either in the Spanish skills of PS children and Spanish-English bilingual speakers or in the English skills of PE children and Spanish-English bilingual speakers. In addition, there was no significant difference in segmental accuracy, syllabic accuracy, or percentage of occurrence of phonological patterns between either the Spanish skills of PS children and Spanish-English bilingual speakers or the English skills of PE children and Spanish-English bilingual speakers. Finally, the children showed a limited number of cross-linguistic effects. Clinical Implications: Results from this study indicate no link between parent estimates of language output and phonological skill and demonstrate that Spanish-English bilingual children will have commensurate, although not identical, phonological skills as compared to age-matched PS and PE children.


2021 ◽  
pp. 4-9
Author(s):  
Е.Л. Бархударова

В основе разработки курсов практической фонетики, адресованных иноязычной аудитории, лежит анализ типологического своеобразия фонетической системы изучаемого языка в контексте лингводидактики. К числу важных направлений типологического исследования звукового строя русского языка следует отнести, во-первых, изучение соотношения консонантизма и вокализма в его фонетической системе на иноязычном фоне, во-вторых, – анализ позиционных закономерностей русской фонетической системы в сопоставлении с функционированием звуковых единиц в типологически разных языках. В позиционных закономерностях звукового строя языка наиболее ярко проявляется его идиоматичность: в каждом языке позиционные закономерности носят специфический характер и определяются соотношением парадигматики и синтагматики звуковых единиц. Большое число фонологически значимых отклонений в иностранном акценте обусловлено интерферирующим воздействием позиционных закономерностей родного языка на русскую речь учащихся. The development of practical phonetics courses addressed to a foreign audience is based on the analysis of the typological features of the phonetic system of the target language in the context of linguodidactics. It is necessary to designate two important areas of typological research of the sound structure of the Russian language: the study of the relationship of consonantism and vocalism in its phonetic system against a foreign language background and the analysis of positional rules of the Russian phonetic system in comparison with the functioning of sound units in typologically different languages. Idiomatic character of the language is most clearly manifested in the positional patterns of its sound structure. In each language, positional patterns are specific and are determined by the dominance of paradigmatic or syntagmatic relations of sound units. A large number of phonologically significant deviations in a foreign accent are due to the interfering influence of the positional laws of the native language on the Russian speech of students.


Author(s):  
María Jesús Sánchez ◽  
Elisa Pérez-García

Code-switching (CS) is a linguistic activity typical of bilingual speakers, and thus, a central feature characterising Latino/a literature. The present study reads Junot Díaz’s “Invierno,” a short story from This Is How You Lose Her (2012), with a focus on the oral code-switches that the bilingual Latino/a characters make from English—their second language (L2)—to Spanish—their first language (L1). More specifically, it explores the relationship between CS, language emotionality and identity. The Spanish code-switches are analysed in terms of the emotionality degree they elicit and, linguistically, according to frequency and type—intersentential CS, intrasentential CS and tag-switching. The results reveal a low percentage of Spanish vocabulary, which, nevertheless, fills the story with Latino-Dominican touches and transports the reader to the Caribbean lifestyle. This is probably due to the fact that most are emotionally charged words and expressions, which supports the idea that the frequency of CS to L1 increases when talking about emotional topics with known interlocutors. Thefindings suggest that the L1 and the L2 play different roles in the characters’ lives: the former is preferred for cultural and emotional expressions and is the language the one they identify with more, while the latter is colder and more objective.


Author(s):  
Irina Potapova ◽  
Sonja L. Pruitt-Lord

Best practice for bilingual speakers involves considering performance in each language the client uses. To support this practice for young clients, a comprehensive understanding of how bilingual children develop skills in each language is needed. To that end, the present work investigates relative use of English tense and agreement (T/A) morphemes—a skill frequently considered as part of a complete language assessment—in Spanish-English developing bilingual preschoolers with varying levels of language ability. Results indicate that developing bilingual children with both typical and weak language skills demonstrate greater use of copula and auxiliary BE relative to third person singular, past tense and auxiliary DO. Findings thus reveal a relative ranking of T/A morphemes in developing bilingual children that differs from that of English monolingual children, who demonstrate relatively later emergence and productivity of auxiliary BE. In turn, findings demonstrate the importance of utilizing appropriate comparisons in clinical practice.


Author(s):  
Ilhan Raman ◽  
Yasemin Yildiz

The chapter examines the relationship between orthography, phonology, and morphology in Turkish and what this means for Turkish-English bilingual language processing. Turkish offers a unique language medium in pitching theoretical perspectives both in linguistics and psycholinguistics against each other because of its properties. Empirical and theoretical considerations are employed from both domains in order to shed light on some of the current challenges. In line with contemporary thought, this chapter is written with the view that bilingual speakers engage a singular language or lexical system characterized by fluid and dynamic processes. Particular focus will be given to English-Turkish speaking bilinguals in the UK, which includes heritage (HL) and non-heritage language speakers. Evidence from monolingual developmental research as well as neuropsychology will be examined to confirm findings of previous studies in other European contexts, and also to raise attention to various challenges which need to be addressed across all contexts.


2019 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 265-273
Author(s):  
Keerthi Ramanujan ◽  
Brendan S. Weekes

AbstractWhen bilinguals name pictures while in ‘monolingual mode’, we expect that under conditions of language-constraint and no cognate facilitation, factors influencing lexical retrieval in monolinguals ought to exert similar effects on bilinguals. To this end, we carried out a L1-only naming task on early Hindi–English bilinguals. Results of linear mixed effects analysis reveal AoA, Familiarity, Image Agreement and Codability (availability of alternate names) to be the most significant predictors of lexical retrieval speed for early bilinguals, confirming our expectations. However, we report, for the first time, a by-subject variation in Codability for bilinguals. Implications of the results are discussed in the context of current theories of bilingual lexical access and competition. In preparation for this study, Hindi norms from bilinguals for items in the Snodgrass and Vanderwart set have been established, which will be of use for stimuli selection in experimental studies involving bilinguals.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document