scholarly journals Social acquisition context matters: Increased neural responses for native but not nonnative taboo words

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katherine Sendek ◽  
Grit Herzmann ◽  
Valeria Pfeifer ◽  
Vicky Tzuyin Lai
Keyword(s):  
Visual Recognition ◽  
American English ◽  
Social Contact ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Neural Responses ◽  
British English ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
Late Positive Complex ◽  
Taboo Words ◽  
Native Dialect

AbstractThis study examined whether the context of acquisition of a word influences its visual recognition and subsequent processing. We utilized taboo words, whose meanings are typically acquired socially, to ensure that differences in processing were based on learned social taboo, rather than proficiency. American English-speaking participants made word/non-word decisions on American taboo (native dialect), British taboo (non-native dialect), positive, neutral, and pseudo- words while EEG was recorded. Taboo words were verified as taboo by both American and British English speakers in an independent norming survey. American taboo words showed a more positive amplitude of the Late Positive Complex (LPC), a neural correlate of emotionality and social processing, compared with British taboo words and all other word categories. Moreover, in an item-wise analysis, LPC amplitudes of American taboo words were positively correlated with their taboo ratings. British taboo words did not show this effect. This indicates that American participants, who had very limited social contact with British English, did not have the same perception of social threat from British taboo words as they had from American taboo words. These results point to the importance of social context of acquisition in establishing social-affective meaning in language.

Nonstandardized Englishes in Mainstream Literacy Practice

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patriann Smith
Keyword(s):  
Literacy Instruction ◽  
English Language ◽  
American English ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Literacy Practice ◽  
Standard American English ◽  
Mainstream Classrooms ◽  
Cultural Boundaries ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
The Many

The term Englishes refers to the many different varieties of the English, and represents both standardized and nonstandardized forms. Nonstandardized Englishes is used to refer to Englishes that do not adhere to what has been determined to be Standard English within a given context, such that they are referred to as dialects, Creoles, or New Englishes (e.g., African American English). Standardized Englishes is used to refer to the counterparts of the nonstandardized Englishes that have been typically adopted for use in literacy classrooms (e.g., Standard American English). The field of literacy has addressed nonstandardized Englishes by either focusing on the nonstandardized varieties in isolation from standardized Englishes or by advancing literacy instruction in mainstream classrooms that emphasizes dialect-English speakers’ mastery of standardized Englishes. This approach reflects standard monolingual English ideology and traditional notions of the English language. Operating based on standard monolingual English perspectives implicitly reinforces the view that standardized Englishes and their users are privileged and that speakers of nonstandardized Englishes and their users are inferior. In addition, adhering to traditional notions of English based on their geographical and nation-based use, as opposed to their function based on school, offline, or online contexts regardless of geography, reinforces the concept of the English language as a system and fails to emphasize its communicative and contextual purposes as demanded by our postmodern era of globalization, transnationalism, and internationalization. A translingual approach to Englishes can serve as an alternative to current ways of thinking about literacy instruction because it addresses the needs of both standardized and nonstandardized English-speaking populations. Literacy instruction reframed based on this approach is critical for students’ successful interaction across linguistic and cultural boundaries in the context of the 21st century.

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.

BE, DO, and Modal Auxiliaries of 3-Year-Old African American English Speakers

2014 ◽  
Vol 57 (4) ◽  
pp. 1383-1393 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brandi L. Newkirk-Turner ◽  
Janna B. Oetting ◽  
Ida J. Stockman
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
American English ◽  
African American English ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Surface Form ◽  
Specific Effects ◽  
Modal Auxiliaries ◽  
Different Types ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
American English Speakers

PurposeThis study examined African American English–speaking children's use of BE, DO, and modal auxiliaries.MethodThe data were based on language samples obtained from 48 three-year-olds. Analyses examined rates of marking by auxiliary type, auxiliary surface form, succeeding element, and syntactic construction and by a number of child variables.ResultsThe children produced 3 different types of marking (mainstream overt, nonmainstream overt, zero) for auxiliaries, and the distribution of these markings varied by auxiliary type. The children's nonmainstream dialect densities were related to their marking of BE and DO but not modals. Marking of BE was influenced by its surface form and the succeeding verbal element, and marking of BE and DO was influenced by syntactic construction.ConclusionsResults extend previous studies by showing dialect-specific effects for children's use of auxiliaries and by showing these effects to vary by auxiliary type and children's nonmainstream dialect densities. Some aspects of the children's auxiliary systems (i.e., pattern of marking across auxiliaries and effects of syntactic construction) were also consistent with what has been documented for children who speak other dialects of English. These findings show dialect-specific and dialect-universal aspects of African American English to be present early in children's acquisition of auxiliaries.

Translation, Cultural Adaptation, and Content Validation of the Alcohol, Alcoholism, and Alcoholic Attitudes Scale–American English Version

2018 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 204-216
Author(s):  
Divane Vargas ◽  
Madeline A. Naegle
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Adaptation ◽  
Content Validity ◽  
American English ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
English Version ◽  
Conceptual Semantic ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
Empirical Tests ◽  
Almost All ◽  
Translation And Cultural Adaptation

Background:Publications on translation are almost all about the translation and cultural adaptation of tools developed by English speakers for use in non-English speaking cultures and languages. The reverse process, where translation goes from a native language to English, is rare.Purpose:Translate to English, culturally adapt, and content validate the Attitudes Scale on Alcohol, Alcoholism, and Alcoholic Persons (EAFAA).Methods:A methodological study with analysis including the conceptual, semantic, and item equivalencies. Results: Satisfactory content validity coefficients (FVI = 0.97; CVI = 0.93) were obtained.Conclusions:The EAFAA was adequately translated into American English, and the content validity was confirmed by empirical tests yielding satisfactory validity coefficients. These results provide direction for further studies to examine the factor structure and the psychometric qualities of the EAFAA-English Version.

scholarly journals British ‘Bollocks’ versus American ‘Jerk’: Do native British English speakers swear more – or differently – compared to American English speakers?

2015 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 309-339 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean-Marc Dewaele
Keyword(s):  
American English ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
British English ◽  
Conceptual Representations ◽  
Frequent Use ◽  
Frequency Of Use ◽  
British National Corpus ◽  
American English Speakers ◽  
National Corpus

AbstractThe present study investigates the differences between 414 L1 speakers of British and 556 L1 speakers of American English in self-reported frequency of swearing and in the understanding of the meaning, the perceived offensiveness and the frequency of use of 30 negative words extracted from the British National Corpus. Words ranged from mild to highly offensive, insulting and taboo. Statistical analysies revealed no significant differences between the groups in self reported frequency of swearing. The British English L1 participants reported a significantly better understanding of nearly half the chosen words from the corpus. They gave significantly higher offensiveness scores to four words (including “bollocks”) while the American English L1 participants rated a third of words as significantly more offensive (including “jerk”). British English L1 participants reported significantly more frequent use of a third of words (including “bollocks”) while the American English L1 participants reported more frequent use of half of the words (including “jerk”). This is interpreted as evidence of differences in semantic and conceptual representations of these words in both variants of English.

scholarly journals VIETNAMESE LEARNERS’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS AMERICAN AND BRITISH ACCENTS

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Huong Le Thu Phan
Keyword(s):  
Native Speakers ◽  
American English ◽  
Online Questionnaire ◽  
British English ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
Inner Circle ◽  
Efl Classrooms ◽  
Received Pronunciation

English possesses different varieties due to its worldwide usage which challenges the tendency of favorite accents among EFL classrooms in non-English speaking countries. However, learners show more positive familiarity and preference for General American English (GA) and British English, Received Pronunciation (RP) which are grouped as the inner-circle of English. This study investigated 53 students in a university in southern part of Vietnam. They were asked to complete an online questionnaire which examined their evaluations of two accents on different traits of status and solidarity, their preference and familiarity. A verbal guise technique is employed with two female native speakers. The data was analyzed by SPSS with different T-tests and ANOVA. The study revealed that the respondents showed greater recognition and evaluations for GA which associated with prestige, familiarity and social attractiveness. Nearly two-thirds of participants revealed a preference to the American speaker although more than half of them did not recognize where she was from.

scholarly journals Where do negative stereotypes come from? The case of Indian English in the USA

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 74 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ethan Kutlu ◽  
Caroline Wiltshire
Keyword(s):  
Language Attitudes ◽  
American English ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Indian English ◽  
Negative Stereotypes ◽  
British English ◽  
Communication Problem ◽  
Immigrant Populations ◽  
The Usa ◽  
American English Speakers

Language attitudes inform social stereotyping, which in turn affects linguistic judgments (Fiske, Cuddy, & Glick 2007). Nonstandard varieties are particularly subject to negative stereotypes, being evaluated as “less friendly” and “hard to understand” (Giles & Watson 2013). In this study, we investigate attitudes towards Indian English, a variety of English spoken by one of the largest immigrant populations in the USA (approximately 2.4 million), to understand the roots of linguistic stereotyping towards this variety of English. We compared attitudes of American English speakers towards Indian English and British English. Our results show that while American English speakers do not explicitly indicate any communication problem with Indian English, they disfavor Indian English compared to British English. This disfavoring of Indian English aligns with Raciolinguistic theories, suggesting that post-colonialism, especially Whiteness, is a factor in language prestige and how different varieties are perceived.

scholarly journals The Phonological Variation of Pakistani English in comparison to Standard British English: A case study ofBaloch English speaking students in SBKWU, Quetta

Al-Burz ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 101-128
Author(s):  
Zainab Akram ◽  
Dr. Alia Ayub ◽  
Hina Arfeen ◽  
Mehwish Malghani
Keyword(s):  
English Language ◽  
Language Change ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
English Department ◽  
Contrastive Analysis ◽  
Phonological Variation ◽  
British English ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
Convenience Sampling

With a small amount of language items i.e. words and one variable i.e. phonology, the present atudy aims to exploring the external and internal influences in language change in terms of phonology. The native Balochi speakers while speaking English as a second language face problems in producing some of English language sounds. The phonological differences were observed amongBalochi English speakers in terms of L1 impact on L2 and the influence of social surroundings have been studied in this paper. Employing qualitative mode of inquiry, the present study was conductedin SardarBahadur Khan Women University (SBKWU), Quetta. The population of this paper consisted of Balochi speaking undergraduate studentsfrom three main regions of Baluchistan, from the English Department. Exploiting convenience sampling, three students from each of the three Baloch regional groups and total of 9 students between ages 19 to 22, were selected as subjects of this study. A list of 20 English words based on problematic utterance of phonemes, was recorded while uttered by the students; transcribed and employing the contrastive analysis the results were displayed in a diagrams. First column displays the region, the second depicts the phonemes uttered by the participants and the third shows the Standard British English pronunciation (SBE). This enabled the researcher to trace the phonological variations, influence of L1 on L2 and the geographical influences on the phonological difference.

Differences in American and British Vocabulary: Implications for International Business Communication

2000 ◽  
Vol 63 (4) ◽  
pp. 27-39 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Calvert Scott
Keyword(s):  
Intercultural Communication ◽  
International Business ◽  
English Language ◽  
American English ◽  
Business Communication ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Shared Meaning ◽  
British English ◽  
Time Result ◽  
Different Cultures

American English and British English vocabularies have diverged over time, result, ing in lexical differences that have the potential to confound English-language intercultural communication. The differences derive from the need to adapt the meanings of existing expressions or to find new expressions for different things and to borrow expressions from different cultures. Separation and slow means of com munication also cause differences and encourage one side to retain archaic expres sions that others have abandoned or modified. The differences in vocabulary can be grouped into four categories: the same expression with differences in style, con notation, and/or frequency; the same expression with one or more shared and dif ferent meanings; the same expression with completely different meanings; and dif ferent expressions with the same shared meaning. These differences in vocabularies affect understanding of all varieties of English. To bridge differences in Enghsh language vocabularies, international business communication teachers and trainers must devote more attention to English as the dominant language of international business, create awareness of important vocabulary differences that have the potential to confound intercultural communication, and develop and teach strate gies for bridging the vocabulary differences of English speakers.

scholarly journals Folklinguistic perceptions of Global Englishes among German learners of English

2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Philipp Meer ◽  
Johanna Hartmann ◽  
Dominik Rumlich
Keyword(s):  
English Language ◽  
American English ◽  
English Language Teaching ◽  
Successful Implementation ◽  
School Students ◽  
Cultural Stereotypes ◽  
British English ◽  
Open Questions ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
Australian English

Abstract While recent research on English language teaching (ELT) in Germany has called for a more comprehensive representation of the diversity of English worldwide, learners’ perceptions of Global Englishes are currently underresearched despite their importance for a successful implementation of this change in ELT. The present paper analyzes 166 German secondary school students’ perceptions of Global Englishes, underlying cultural associations, and stereotypes. To this end, a perceptual dialect identification task, keyword association, and direct open questions were combined in a folklinguistic study. The results show that the informants consider British and American English as general standards and primarily associate English-speaking countries with Inner Circle varieties: British, American, and Australian English. British English is regarded as the default school reference norm, while American English is associated with dynamism and casualness. Furthermore, the students identify Indian and African English(es) as important Global Englishes. Their perceptions of these varieties are, however, less positive and seem to be influenced by cultural stereotypes, which might prompt them to perceive these varieties as funny or unintelligent. We suggest that learners’ existing knowledge of Global Englishes and explicit metalinguistic discussions of variation can be used as starting points to counteract such stereotypes.

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