scholarly journals Syntactic Maxi-Accidents in Spontaneous Speech of Middle-Class Speakers of English

2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (2 (20)) ◽  
pp. 38-49
Author(s):  
Karen Velyan
Keyword(s):  
Middle Class ◽  
Present Article ◽  
Functional Properties ◽  
Empirical Data ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Spontaneous Speech ◽  
Spoken Language ◽  
Frequency Of Occurrence ◽  
Native Speakers Of English

Spontaneous spoken language is known to be rich in fragmented and nonintegrated chunks of speech. The latter are the result of syntactic “accidents”, which are indispensible elements of spontaneous talk. Caused by a variety of pragmatic factors, syntactic accidents differ in their formal, lexical, and distributional features. With these features in view, we single out three main varieties of syntactic accidents: 1. maxi-accidents, 2. mini-accidents and 3. micro-accidents, which collectively constitute one whole paradigm. Within the framework of the present article, the main focus of the analysis is on maxi-accidents in spontaneous talk of middle-class native speakers of English. Based on the empirical data, the analysis outlines the key functional properties of maxi-accidents, such as their frequency of occurrence, positional characteristics and pragmatic reasons that lie behind maxi-accidents.

Do we teach the real language?

2013 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 224-241
Author(s):  
Yevgen Matusevych ◽  
Ad Backus ◽  
Martin Reynaert
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Communication Skills ◽  
Corpus Linguistics ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Oral Communication ◽  
Spoken Language ◽  
Frequency Of Occurrence ◽  
Real Language ◽  
Recurrent Patterns

This article is about the type of language that is offered to learners in textbooks, using the example of Russian. Many modern textbooks of Russian as a foreign language aim at efficient development of oral communication skills. However, some expressions used in the textbooks are not typical for everyday language. We claim that textbooks’ content should be reassessed based on actual language use, following theoretical and methodological models of cognitive and corpus linguistics. We extracted language patterns from three textbooks, and compared them with alternative patterns that carry similar meaning by (1) calculating the frequency of occurrence of each pattern in a corpus of spoken language, and (2) using Russian native speakers’ intuitions about what is more common. The results demonstrated that for 39 to 53 percent of all the recurrent patterns in the textbooks better alternatives could be found. We further investigated the typical shortcomings of the extracted patterns.

scholarly journals Speech Intelligibility During Clinical and Low Frequency

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 26
Author(s):  
John J. Sidtis ◽  
Diana Van Lancker Sidtis ◽  
Ritesh Ramdhani ◽  
Michele Tagliati
Keyword(s):  
Speech Intelligibility ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Voice Quality ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
Spontaneous Speech ◽  
Quality Ratings ◽  
Low Frequency Stimulation ◽  
Frequency Stimulation ◽  
Native Speakers Of English ◽  
Stn Dbs

Deep brain stimulation (DBS) of the subthalamic nucleus (STN) has become an effective and widely used tool in the treatment of Parkinson’s disease (PD). STN-DBS has varied effects on speech. Clinical speech ratings suggest worsening following STN-DBS, but quantitative intelligibility, perceptual, and acoustic studies have produced mixed and inconsistent results. Improvements in phonation and declines in articulation have frequently been reported during different speech tasks under different stimulation conditions. Questions remain about preferred STN-DBS stimulation settings. Seven right-handed, native speakers of English with PD treated with bilateral STN-DBS were studied off medication at three stimulation conditions: stimulators off, 60 Hz (low frequency stimulation—LFS), and the typical clinical setting of 185 Hz (High frequency—HFS). Spontaneous speech was recorded in each condition and excerpts were prepared for transcription (intelligibility) and difficulty judgements. Separate excerpts were prepared for listeners to rate abnormalities in voice, articulation, fluency, and rate. Intelligibility for spontaneous speech was reduced at both HFS and LFS when compared to STN-DBS off. On the average, speech produced at HFS was more intelligible than that produced at LFS, but HFS made the intelligibility task (transcription) subjectively more difficult. Both voice quality and articulation were judged to be more abnormal with DBS on. STN-DBS reduced the intelligibility of spontaneous speech at both LFS and HFS but lowering the frequency did not improve intelligibility. Voice quality ratings with STN-DBS were correlated with the ratings made without stimulation. This was not true for articulation ratings. STN-DBS exacerbated existing voice problems and may have introduced new articulatory abnormalities. The results from individual DBS subjects showed both improved and reduced intelligibility varied as a function of DBS, with perceived changes in voice appearing to be more reflective of intelligibility than perceived changes in articulation.

scholarly journals Frequency of occurrence of phonemes and allophones in contemporary Spanish as calculated by an automatic transcription system

Loquens ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 029
Author(s):  
Iván Arias Rodríguez
Keyword(s):  
Present Article ◽  
Spoken Language ◽  
Syllable Structure ◽  
Spanish Language ◽  
Frequency Of Occurrence ◽  
Transcription System ◽  
Phonetic Transcription ◽  
Automatic Transcription ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Castilian Spanish

The frequency of occurrence of the different phonemes of the Spanish language has been the subject of several previous studies. However, most of those studies did not take into account the frequency of the allophones, or they did it only partially (many times there was not even a phonetic transcription, and the plain orthographic transcription was used instead). Moreover, in all those previous works the frequency of occurrence was calculated from the transcription of isolated words, without taking into account the phonetic changes produced by its insertion in the speech chain, especially that of resyllabification. The present article calculates the frequency of occurrence of the phonemes and allophones of the Castilian Spanish dialect, as they are pronounced in the spoken language. The transcription of a corpus (consisting in 560 novels of modern Spanish writers) is done automatically thanks to a piece of software implemented for the purpose of this study. The article details the contents of the corpus as well as a detailed description of the design of the automatic transcriber. Finally, there is also a limited study of the syllable structure in terms of its type and frequency of occurrence.

Cross-dialectal analysis of English pitch range in male voices and its influence on aesthetic judgments of speech

2018 ◽  
Vol 54 (2) ◽  
pp. 255-280
Author(s):  
Kamil Malarski ◽  
Mateusz Jekiel
Keyword(s):  
Online Survey ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Spontaneous Speech ◽  
Blind Study ◽  
Pitch Range ◽  
Self Confidence ◽  
Upper Limit ◽  
Native Speakers Of English ◽  
Modified Pitch ◽  
Gender Groups

Abstract This study focuses on the differences in pitch register and pitch span across five accents of English, and investigates their potential effects on judgements of speech. We recorded two male middle-aged speakers for each of the following accents of English: Brighton, Manchester, Perth, New Jersey and Edmonton. Then, we modified pitch register in selected spontaneous speech recordings by raising the overall pitch in the recordings by 5 Hz and 15 Hz using Praat. The entire material was then randomized and prepared for an online survey. A group of 50 respondents (30 female, 20 male) who were non-native speakers of English were asked in a blind study to evaluate both the unmodified and modified recordings on a 7-point Likert scale in terms of their perceived attractiveness, friendliness, prestige and self-confidence. Overall, it has been found that pitch span can be a telling cue when evaluating perceived friendliness for both gender groups, while pitch register can affect male listeners in evaluating attractiveness and self-confidence. Finally, it seems that there is a an upper limit for what listeners can aesthetically accept in terms of pitch register, as the recordings with highest registers were disfavored by our respondents.

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.  

Persuasion in Journalism: A Study of Metadiscourse in Texts by Native Speakers of English and Iranian EFL Writers

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (6) ◽  
pp. 483
Author(s):  
Farzane Deliery Moghadam
Keyword(s):  
Quantitative Analysis ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Structural Properties ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Frequency Of Occurrence ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
News Websites ◽  
Native Speakers Of English ◽  
Frequency Counts

Metadiscourse is a set of linguistic devices used to communicate attitudes and mark the structural properties of a text. This study explored the frequency of occurrence of metadiscourse devices, and the role they play in the construction of persuasion in opinion articles written by English native speakers and Iranian EFL (English as a Foreign Language) writers. A corpus of 60 opinion articles, 30 by American writers and 30 by Iranian EFL authors, was collected and examined using Hyland’s (2005) model of metadiscours. The articles were taken from newspapers and news websites in October 2014 and were published in the period from May, 2013 to October, 2014. A quantitative analysis was conducted to determine the frequency of occurrence of metadiscourse devices. The non-parametrical Mann-Whitney U test was used to see if the frequency counts in the two corpora differ statistically.  Findings suggested that metadiscourse devices were present in the both groups; however, there were variations as to the number of code glosses, hedges, self-mentions and engagement markers. Genre-driven conventions, culture-driven tendencies and Iranian columnists’ extend of English command were the factors affecting the choice and frequency of metadiscourse markers.

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