scholarly journals Zabrocki’s structural phonetics in the case study of velar POA assimilation in Latinate prefixation in RP English

2014 ◽  
Vol 56 (2) ◽  
pp. 19-28
Author(s):  
Małgorzata Haładewicz-Grzelak
Keyword(s):  
Language Change ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Amount Of Substance ◽  
Native Speakers Of English ◽  
Made In

Abstract Zabrocki understood structural phonetics as a branch of phonetics concerned with analyzing acodal (substantial) systems (cf. Bańczerowski 1980: 13). In this theory, each sound has a specific acoustic and articulatory substance. Zabrocki constructed linear substantial sound structures based on measuring the amount of substance implied in the articulation. Diachronic structural phonetics, in turn, is the application of synchronically defined phonetic and acoustic relations to the study of language change. This paper investigates a synchronic scenario for velar POA assimilation in Latinate prefixation in English and tests the findings against the tenets of Zabrocki’s theory. The results show that Zabrocki’s structural phonetics perfectly accounts for the empirical findings. The corpus of investigation is comprised of realizations of all RP English Latinate prefixes ending with /n/, collected from various pronunciation dictionaries (online and paper). As a collateral corpus, recordings of two native speakers of English were made in which they produced some of the corpus material, as well as nonce words and unusual lexemes not listed in pronunciation dictionaries

THE COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF ENGLISH AND LITHUANIAN TRANSPORT TERMS AND SOME METHODS OF DEVELOPING EFFECTIVE SCIENCE WRITING STRATEGIES BY NON‐NATIVE SPEAKERS OF ENGLISH

Transport ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 218-224
Author(s):  
Valerija Marina ◽  
Igor Marin ◽  
Genovaitė Snuviškienė
Keyword(s):  
Native Speakers ◽  
Science Writing ◽  
Writing Strategies ◽  
Research Papers ◽  
Effective Strategies ◽  
Passenger Transportation ◽  
Writing Research ◽  
Effective Science ◽  
Native Speakers Of English

The paper addresses the problem of developing more effective strategies and skills of writing scientific and technical texts by non‐native speakers of English. The causes of poor writing are identified and general guidelines for developing effective science writing strategies are outlined. The analysis of difficulties faced by non‐native speakers of English in writing research papers is made by examining transport terms and international words which are based on different nomination principles in English and Lithuanian. Case study of various names given to a small vehicle used for passenger transportation in many countries is provided, illustrating the alternative ways of naming the same object of reality in different languages. The analysis is based on the theory of linguistic relativity. Differences in the use of similar international terms in English and Lithuanian, which often cause errors and misunderstanding, are also demonstrated. The recommendations helping non‐native speakers of English to avoid errors and improve skills of writing scientific and technical texts are given.

scholarly journals Impact of Watching Cartoons on Pronunciation of a Child in an EFL Setting: A Comparative Study with Problematic Sounds of EFL Learners

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ali S. Alghonaim
Keyword(s):  
English Learners ◽  
Longitudinal Research ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Longitudinal Case Study ◽  
Video Recordings ◽  
Minimal Pairs ◽  
Native Speakers Of English ◽  
Authentic Language ◽  
Watching Tv

The purpose of this study is to describe a longitudinal case study of pronunciation acquisition for an Arabic child who watched English TV cartoons in an English as a foreign language (EFL) setting, basically in Buraidah, Saudi Arabia. The child, whose name is Anmar, was raised in a typical Arabic environment where Arabic was the only means of communication he experienced. He watched selected English TV cartoons since he was three years old and until he was ten years old. This research study focused on Anamr's acquisition of pronunciation, although the chances to use the language were very limited due to his EFL environment. Additionally, the study aims at comparing Anmar's pronunciation of problematic sounds to Arab learners of English, as stated in previous studies. The research adopted a longitudinal research methodology aiming to find if watching English TV cartoons without even minimum use of language could impact the child's pronunciation compared to his counterparts of Arab learners of English. Therefore, this research utilized some methods, including rating some audio and video recordings of conversations with his father and storytelling. Two native speakers of English rated his performance. A mispronunciation recognition test was carried out to evaluate Anmar's recognition of mispronunciation. The study found out that Anmar's pronunciation was native-like. He far outperformed the Arab learners of English concerning the problematic sounds to Arab learners. He easily differentiates between, for instance, minimal pairs, diphthongs, consonant clusters, vowels, and intonation. The study concluded that children might acquire English pronunciation by watching TV cartoons to be able to overcome the pronunciation problems that many Arab speakers experience. Additionally, English learners in elementary schools may watch such programs to train them to listen to authentic language in media.

scholarly journals Stakeholder beliefs in English-medium instruction for young learners in Sweden

2018 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 37-54 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeanette Toth
Keyword(s):  
Primary Schools ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Tertiary Education ◽  
Longitudinal Case Study ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Multilingual Students ◽  
Upper Secondary ◽  
English Medium Instruction ◽  
Native Speakers Of English

While several studies have investigated English-medium instruction (EMI) or content and language integrated learning (CLIL) in Swedish upper secondary and tertiary education, few have investigated such programmes in Swedish primary schools. This paper explores perceptions among staff and students about affordances and constraints in the learning of content and languages, drawing on data from a larger longitudinal case study of an English-Swedish bilingual primary class during Grades 4-6. Data consisted of semi-structured interviews with a school leader, 12 teachers and 22 students as well as fieldnotes and photographs from classroom observations. Thematic analysis of the data revealed the belief among staff that learners acquired English naturally by being ‘forced’ to use it in English-medium subjects taught by native speakers of English. The use of Swedish among students in these subjects was generally seen as a potential scaffold when communicative difficulties arose, as students who were more proficient in English could translate and provide their classmates with explanations of difficult concepts in Swedish. However, staff and students nonetheless voiced concerns about students’ content learning as well as about limited development of subject-specific language in Swedish, which could have implications for their future Swedish-medium studies. Meanwhile, although multilingual students’ mother tongues were valued by the students themselves, participants did not acknowledge them as legitimate learning resources for use in the mainstream classroom, where only English and Swedish were allowed to be used in interaction.

scholarly journals CASE STUDY ON LANGUISTIC MEANS OF EDITING FOR VOICE AND TONE IN CORPORATE MARKETING COMMUNICATION

2021 ◽  
Vol 46 (2) ◽  
pp. 15-33
Author(s):  
Александар Петар Кавгић
Keyword(s):  
Public Relations ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Native English Speakers ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Marketing Communication ◽  
English Writing ◽  
Technical Writer ◽  
Native Speakers Of English ◽  
Style Guides

The research analyses a small corpus of in-house writing of a multinational SME by non-native speakers of English and the edits and revisions made by a marketing expert and a technical writer (native English speakers). The analysis focuses on identifying, classifying and analysing edits regarding the voice and tone guidelines, i.e. how pragmatics concepts (politeness and audience accommodation) are grammatically and semantically encoded. The research uses style guides to analyse the “comparable” monolingual corpus of drafts and final versions, while the annotation includes tags for pragmatically motivated changes whose purpose is establishing a friendly relationship with the target audience. The research employs norms for qualitative research in public relations and marketing communication (Daymon & Holloway, 2010). The research shows that a) non-native speakers of English tend to have a self-centred approach to workplace English writing and often fail to achieve the company voice and tone, and b) the company voice and tone require elimination of culturally specific concepts and use of relatively simple grammatical structures and lexicon.

A Study of the Speech Act of Complaining

2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 13
Author(s):  
Nurfarahin Ahmad ◽  
Nalini Arumugam ◽  
Kaarthiyaini Supramaniam
Keyword(s):  
English Language ◽  
Speech Act ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Native English Speakers ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Case Study Approach ◽  
Study Approach ◽  
The Third ◽  
Native Speakers Of English

The present study aims to examine the speech act of complaining performed by consumers of a particular organisation by investigating the pragmatics strategies employed by the consumers in complaining. The behaviours of Malaysian non-native English speakers when making online complaints directed to an organisation is expected to have different approaches and preferences compared to complaints produced by native speakers of English. A case study approach was used in this qualitative study to investigate the preference of Malaysian non-native speakers of English language when making online complaints with respect to the components of the speech act set of complaining by analysing 50 online complaints, posted by 50 customers via www.complaintsboard.com. The results indicated that the component of complaining is found to be the most frequent in online complaints. Besides, it was also found that the complaints made by non-native speakers did not appear in isolation but accompanied by other components of speech act like criticism, justification, request for explanation, warning and threat and sarcasm. In addition, Malaysian non-native English speakers employed complaint strategy that lies under the third level of severity of complaint which means they produced the complaint by expressing it explicitly.

scholarly journals An Investigation of the Use of politeness strategies in refusal among Characters with different power relations in English and Farsi Novels

2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (7) ◽  
pp. 180
Author(s):  
Farahman Farrokhi ◽  
Mina Arghami
Keyword(s):  
Speech Acts ◽  
Power Relations ◽  
Speech Act ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Mixed Method Design ◽  
Politeness Strategies ◽  
Native Speakers Of English ◽  
Materials Used ◽  
Different Cultures ◽  
Made In

One of the important concerns of communicative way of learning is to be able to convey meaning and not just physical words in a language. The study of speech acts could possibly help achieve this. When using speech acts, one should take into consideration the conversational rules of the language and in order to establish a safe and harmonious conversation, it is better to use certain strategies to eliminate their possible threatening effects. Attempt is made in the present study using a mixed-method design, to investigate the employment of politeness strategies proposed by Brown and Levinson (1987), among the interlocutors with different power relations in English and Farsi novels, when using the speech act of refusal. The speech act of refusal addressed in this study is a face threatening act (FTA) (Brown & Levinson, 1987), which may be used differently by speakers of different languages, with different power relations, in different situations. The materials used are five English and five Farsi novels written by native speakers of English and Farsi. The taxonomy of Beebe, Takahashi and Uliss-Weltz (1990) were employed in order to categories different types of refusal. The frequency of their use and their percentages were calculated manually. The results indicated that even though reflecting two different cultures, the similarities among the English and Farsi novels regarding the use of both speech acts, were more than the differences. The differences were more obvious in the employment of politeness strategies. The findings of this study will probably give insights into the pragmatic and conversational rules of both languages.

scholarly journals Case Study on Persuasiveness of Argument Texts Written by Proficient and Less Proficient Malaysian Undergraduates

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Su Hie Ting ◽  
Humaira Raslie ◽  
Leong Jin Jee
Keyword(s):  
Academic Writing ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Spoken Language ◽  
Organisational Structure ◽  
Passive Voice ◽  
Modal Verbs ◽  
Text Type ◽  
Native Speakers Of English ◽  
University Level

Purpose – Research has shown that university students, particularly non-native speakers of English, encounter difficulties with various academic text-types and often lack the ability to organise the information in a structure considered effective by the discourse community or to use the significant language features of the text-type effectively to achieve the intended purpose. The study examined the persuasiveness of argument texts written by proficient and less-proficient undergraduates in a Malaysian university. The aspects examined were the organisational structure of the text and the language features significant for fulfilling the persuasive purpose of the text.   Method – Forty argument texts were analysed: 22 written by undergraduates who were more profi cient in English, and 18 by less proficient undergraduates. The analysis focused on the organization of the content of the argument text as well as selected language features, namely, connectors, modal verbs and passive voice.   Findings – The results showed that the proficient undergraduates used the structure considered effective for argument texts but the writing of the less-proficient group was characterised by unclear or absence of statement of stance and restatement of stance. To achieve the persuasive purpose of the text, the proficient undergraduates made use of connectors, modal verbs and passive voice more than the less-proficient group. However, the connectors ‘because’, ‘so’ and ‘besides’ were often used in a manner similar to spoken language, and there was an overdependence on the modal verbs ‘can’ and ‘will’. The lack of conditionals and nominalisations was obvious for both groups, suggesting that these are more difficult language features to master and greater pedagogical attention is needed.   Significance– The paper explores differentiated focus in the teaching of academic writing at university level for students with high and low proficiency in English.  

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