scholarly journals Rhythm and convergence between speakers of American and Indian English

2013 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jelena Krivokapić
Keyword(s):  
American English ◽  
Speech Rate ◽  
Dynamical Model ◽  
English Speaker ◽  
Rhythmic Structure ◽  
Indian English ◽  
Temporal Properties ◽  
Acoustic Study ◽  
Timing Pattern ◽  
Show Evidence

AbstractThe study examines rhythmic convergence between speakers of American and Indian English. Previous research has shown that American English shows tendencies towards stress-timing, and Indian English has been claimed to be syllable-timed (Crystal 1994). Starting from the view that languages differ in their rhythmic tendencies, rather than that they have categorically different rhythmic properties, we examine in an acoustic study the rhythmic tendencies of the two languages, and whether these tendencies can change in the course of an interaction. The focus is on temporal properties (specifically, the duration of stressed syllables and of feet). The results show evidence of mixed rhythmic properties for both languages, with Indian English being more syllable-timed than American English. American speakers show a trend towards changes in foot duration that can be interpreted as accommodation in speech rate or as convergence towards a more syllable-timed foot duration pattern. One Indian English speaker converges in both examined properties towards a more stress-timing pattern. The results are discussed within a dynamical model of rhythmic structure (Saltzman, Nam, Krivokapić, and Goldstein 2008). It is suggested that rhythmic convergence can arise via a tuning between speakers of the prosodic interoscillator coupling function that is proposed in that model.

The effects of speaker accent on syntactic priming in second-language speakers

2020 ◽  
pp. 026765832092656
Author(s):  
Eunjin Chun ◽  
Edith Kaan
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
American English ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
English Speaker ◽  
Syntactic Priming ◽  
Indian English ◽  
Priming Effects ◽  
Syntactic Knowledge ◽  
Second Language Speakers ◽  
Description Task

Syntactic priming studies in second language (L2) have contributed to understanding how L2 speakers’ syntactic knowledge is represented and processed. However, little is known about social influences on L2 speakers’ syntactic processing and learning. The present study investigated whether L2 speakers’ syntactic priming is influenced by social factors, specifically different accents of English speakers and their familiarity with those accents. Korean L2 learners of English with intermediate proficiency were asked to describe pictures depicting ditransitive events after listening to sentences recorded by three English speakers with different accents: a standard-accented speaker (an American English speaker), and two speakers with non-standard accents (a Korean English speaker and an Indian English speaker). The results of the picture description task showed that syntactic priming effects in Korean L2 English speakers were significantly influenced by speaker accents and their familiarity with the accents. In addition, their priming patterns and interactions with these factors changed over time. These results suggest that syntactic priming in L2 speakers is socially mediated. We propose that priming effects in real language use can be better accounted for using a combination of cognitive and sociolinguistic models of syntactic priming and speech production.

scholarly journals “American = English Speaker” Before “American = White”: The Development of Children's Reasoning About Nationality

2017 ◽  
Vol 89 (5) ◽  
pp. 1752-1767 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jasmine M. DeJesus ◽  
Hyesung G. Hwang ◽  
Jocelyn B. Dautel ◽  
Katherine D. Kinzler
Keyword(s):  
American English ◽  
English Speaker

An acoustic study of palatalization of fricatives in American English

1978 ◽  
Vol 64 (S1) ◽  
pp. S92-S92
Author(s):  
Stefanie Shattuck‐Hufnagel ◽  
Victor W. Zue ◽  
Jared Bernstein
Keyword(s):  
American English ◽  
Acoustic Study

A rose by any other name? Learner English and variety–status labelling: the case of English in South Korea

English Today ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 32 (4) ◽  
pp. 56-62 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jae Jung Song
Keyword(s):  
Popular Culture ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
American English ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Indian English ◽  
Negative Attitudes ◽  
British English ◽  
Outer Circle ◽  
The Face ◽  
Inner Circle

One of the major achievements of Braj Kachru's (1991) ‘liberation linguistics’ is that it has squarely placed Outer Circle varieties such as Indian English, Nigerian English and Singaporean English on a par with Inner Circle varieties such as American English and British English – in the face of negative attitudes, ranging ‘from amused condescension to racist stereotyping’ (Bruthiaux, 2003: 160). Following in Kachru's footsteps, many scholars have demonstrated that these Outer Circle Englishes are legitimate varieties of English, with distinct characteristics and with growing numbers of native speakers (e.g. Deterding, 2007; Jowitt, 1991; Sailaja, 2009). Indeed these Outer Circle English varieties are increasingly used, in respective countries, not only as the major or default medium of communication but also in the context of important domains such as education, media, government, literature and popular culture. The Kachruvian perspective has also given rise to the ‘egalitarian’ view that Inner Circle English speakers are no longer the only ones who can lay claim to the ownership of English. Outer Circle English speakers are now thought to be as much custodians of English as Inner Circle English speakers are.

scholarly journals The pluperfect in native and non-native English: A comparative corpus study

2001 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 343-373 ◽  
Author(s):  
Devyani Sharma
Keyword(s):  
American English ◽  
Standard English ◽  
Present Perfect ◽  
Indian English ◽  
Corpus Study ◽  
Multidimensional Distribution ◽  
British English

One of the challenges in characterizing non-native varieties of English is accounting for variant uses of ostensibly standard English forms. The present corpus study examines both quantitative and qualitative aspects of pluperfect use in Indian English (IndE), British English (BrE), and American English (AmE). IndE is found to differ from native usage by associating had + V-ed with present perfect and preterite meanings. Licensing of pluperfect contexts by time adverbials is also found to be significantly lower in IndE. AmE shows the lowest overall use of the pluperfect and the highest use of disambiguating adverbials. Thus, AmE and IndE show distinct patterns of divergence from BrE. Variation within IndE exhibits a tendency for greater non-nativeness in regional (vs. national) press and in bureaucratic (vs. press) registers, suggesting a multidimensional distribution of IndE nonstandardness in India. These nonstandard uses are shown to convey new pragmatic meanings deriving from ambiguity in the native system and reinforcement from substrate languages. Finally, these changes are evaluated in relation to the broader tense–modality–aspect system of IndE as well as those of other non-native Englishes which exhibit similar characteristics.

Noun phrase complexity in Nigerian English

English Today ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
pp. 31-38 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mayowa Akinlotan ◽  
Alex Housen
Keyword(s):  
Noun Phrase ◽  
American English ◽  
Important Variable ◽  
Indian English ◽  
Outer Circle ◽  
Form And Function ◽  
Inner Circle ◽  
And Function ◽  
Structural Simplicity

Structural simplicity/complexity is an important variable with which New Englishes and native varieties are identified and conceptualised, but predicting such variation in complexity has received little attention in the literature. New Englishes, especially the outer circle varieties such as Nigerian or Indian English, differ in form and function from the inner circle varieties, such as British or American English, but the extent of such variation varies greatly and merits further investigation. According to Gorlach (1998), we should expect New Englishes to demonstrate simplification at the levels of morphology, lexis, and syntax. This has indeed been shown to be the case in some varieties, but it has also been shown that this variation differs according to different linguistic and non-linguistic factors. Most recently, Schilk and Schaub (2016) have shown how noun phrase (NP) structure can reveal the underlying structural simpification predicted in the New Englishes varieties. Brunner (2014) examined NP complexity across three New Englishes (British, Singaporean, and Kenyan English), explicating how grammars of the indigeneous languages in Singapore and Kenya influence NP simplicity/complexity.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document