scholarly journals Rhythm in Ethiopian English: Implications for the Teaching of English Prosody

2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anegagregn Gashaw
Keyword(s):  
Acoustic Analysis ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Mother Tongue ◽  
Language Group ◽  
Acoustic Measures ◽  
Canadian Native ◽  
Pitch Contours ◽  
Native Speakers Of English ◽  
Almost All ◽  
Point Of Reference

In order to verify that English speeches produced by Ethiopian speakers fall under syllable-timed or stress-timed rhythm, the study tried to examine the nature of stress and rhythm in the pronunciation of Ethiopian speakers of English by focusing on one language group speaking Amharic as a native language. Using acoustic analysis of the speeches recorded from four Amharic speaking learners and two Canadian native speakers of English, comparison was made between pitch contours and length of speeches between speech samples of Amharic speakers with native speakers who are used in this study as a point of reference. The result of acoustic analysis showed that Amharic native samples displayed actual peaks on almost all words, taking longer time of articulation. It can be said that acoustic measures the study used for prosodic assessment of Ethiopian English exemplified the most occurring production tendencies of pronunciation that learners should give attention to. English pronunciation teaching to Ethiopians should involve the practice of stressing, un-stressing and rhythm to help learners improve their pronunciation from the influence of the syllable-timed rhythm of their mother tongue.

scholarly journals Teaching English in India —The Use of Technologically Enhanced Realia in the Classroom

2014 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 149
Author(s):  
Priya K. Nair
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
English Language ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Mother Tongue ◽  
Teaching English ◽  
Job Market ◽  
Native Speakers Of English ◽  
Listening And Speaking ◽  
Speaking Skills

In India acquisition of English language is imperative if one wants to sell oneself in the increasingly competitive job market. With a booming population the nation is filled with educated, technologically literate youth. English is not merely a foreign language in India. As India is separated by a plethora of languages knowledge of English is imperative. As the teachers in India are not native speakers of English the language they teach is not free from errors. The articulation is quite problematic as the mother tongue influence is quite pronounced. Technology helps to reduce these errors. Movies as a tool can enhance the listening and speaking skills of our students. It is quite boring to work with disembodied voices and the recorded conversations available in language labs do not sustain the learner’s interest. However learners are often forced to listen to recorded conversations of people they never see, the conversation is often stilted and contemporary idiom is hardly used. However, a completely new dimension to aural practice can be added in the classroom by using movies. <br /><p><strong> </strong></p>

Intonatieve Afwijkingen In Het Engels Van Nederlanders

1981 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
pp. 67-86
Author(s):  
N.J. Willems
Keyword(s):  
Fundamental Frequency ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Subjective Evaluation ◽  
Wh Questions ◽  
Consistent Manner ◽  
Pitch Contours ◽  
Native Speakers Of English ◽  
To Come ◽  
High Level ◽  
Pitch Movement

The purpose of the experiments reported on here was to attain an inventory of systematic intonational deviations observed in English utterances produced by native speakers of Dutch. In two production tests acoustic measurements are described of magnitude, slope, duration, direction and position of fundamental frequency contours, produced by native speakers of Dutch and of English on English utterances. In two perception tests the original capricious fundamental frequency contours (sentence melody) were replaced by experimentally controlled artificial contours, without greatly disturbing the remaining acoustic cues. In this way the perceptual relevance of the deviations could be tested by means of a subjective evaluation by native speakers of English. Finally two experiments are described which are of an exploratory character, in the latter of which use was made of spectrally rotated speech. The overall data of the experiments allow for the following conclusion: (a) British English listeners are able to judge the acceptability of resynthesized pitch contours in a very consistent manner. (b) Deviations which appear to be particularly relevant to the perception of non-nativeness are in order of perceptual importance: Magnitude of the pitch movement, WH-attribute (particular configuration often found on so-called WH-Questions), Direction of the pitch movement, Continuation (complex movement often found before a pause in a speech signal) and occasionally Inclination (slowly rising pitch from Mid to High level). (c) The perceptual relevance of some deviations appeared to be dependent on the linguistic structure of the utterance, viz. Overshoot (rise at end), Reset (virtual jump from Mid to High). The ultimate goal of our investigation is to come to an explicit inventory of perceptually relevant deviations. Suc an inventory would be helpful to establish an elementary set of rules concerning English intonation on behalf of Dutch learners of English.

Effects of speech rate, phonetic background and gender on vowel reduction in the speech of nonnative speakers of English

2014 ◽  
Vol 50 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Bogna Brzezicha ◽  
Małgorzata Kul
Keyword(s):  
Acoustic Analysis ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Speech Rate ◽  
Nonnative Speakers ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Vowel Reduction ◽  
Native Speakers Of English ◽  
Nonnative Speakers Of English ◽  
And Gender

AbstractThe paper reports the results of a study investigating vowel reduction in the speech of non-native speakers of English. The aim was to unravel the links between reduction and speech rate, phonetic training and gender. We hypothesized that (i) Polish speakers of English reduce vowels; (ii) they speak slower than native speakers; (iii) the higher the rate, the higher the reduction degree; (iv) speakers with phonetic training reduce less than those lacking it; (v) male subjects reduce more than the female ones. In order to realize these aims, an acoustic analysis of vowels was performed on 2 hrs 42 mins of speech produced by 12 Polish speakers of English. The subjects were di-vided into an experimental group consisting of 6 students of English and a control group with 6 speakers who had no phonetic training. The obtained results positively verify that non-native speakers reduce vowels and cast some doubts on whether they speak slower than native speakers. The role of rate and gender could not be established due to statistical and methodological issues. The group with no phonetic training outperformed the group which underwent phonetic training, pointing instead to the role of exposure and perhaps music training in acquiring native-like reduction patterns.

scholarly journals Instrumental Analysis of the English Stops Produced by Arabic Speakers of English

2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 8
Author(s):  
Noureldin Mohamed Abdelaal
Keyword(s):  
Native Speakers ◽  
Voice Onset Time ◽  
Mother Tongue ◽  
Onset Time ◽  
Limited Effect ◽  
Arabic Speakers ◽  
Minimal Pairs ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Arab Students ◽  
Native Speakers Of English

This study reports the findings of a research that was conducted on ten (10) Arab students, who were enrolled in a master of English applied linguistics program at Universiti Putra Malaysia. The research aimed at instrumentally analyzing the English stops produced by Arab learners, in terms of voice onset time (VOT); identifying the effect of their mother tongue on producing the English stops; and the extent Arabic speakers of English differentiate in terms of pronunciation between minimal pairs. The findings of the study showed that some of the subjects’ VOT values were similar to native speakers of English. It was also found that the subjects could differentiate in terms of aspiration or voicing between /p/ and /b/, which refutes the assumption that Arab learners have a problem in producing the /p/ sound with appropriate aspiration. However, they did not show significant difference in pronunciation between the /t/ and /d/ or between the /k/ and /g/. Moreover, there is a kind of limited effect of the L1 on producing some stops (e.g. /t/ and /g/). However, for the /b/ sound, it cannot be inferred that there is interference from the mother tongue because its VOT value is almost the same in English and Arabic. This research suggests that teachers need to enhance Arab learners’ pronunciation of some minimal pairs such as /t/ and /d/ or /k/ and /g/.

scholarly journals The Effect of Word-Initial Glottalization on Word Monitoring in Slovak Speakers of English

2012 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 173-181 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan Volín ◽  
Mária Uhrinová ◽  
Radek Skarnitzl
Keyword(s):  
Test Item ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Mother Tongue ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
Word Boundary ◽  
Processing Load ◽  
Short Period ◽  
Native Speakers Of English ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Stress Patterns

The study investigates the impact of glottal elements before word-initial vowels on the speed of processing of the phrases taken from natural continuous speech. In many languages a word beginning with a vowel can be preceded by a glottal stop or a short period of creaky voice. However, languages differ in the extent of use and functions of this glottalization: it may be used to mark the word boundary, for instance, or to add special prominence to the word. The aim of the experiment was to find out whether the presence of the glottal element can influence reaction times in a word-monitoring paradigm. Users of different languages - Slovak and Czech learners of English, as well as native speakers of English - were participating in perception testing so that the influence of the mother tongue could be determined. The results confirm the effect of both glottalization and the L1 of the listeners. In addition, a significant effect of test item manipulations was found. Although the phrases with added or deleted glottal stops displayed no obvious acoustic artefacts, they produced longer reaction times than items with naturally present or absent glottalizations. We believe that this finding underlines the importance of inherent stress patterns, whose alterations lead to the increase in processing load.

scholarly journals Unenthusiastic Europeans or Affected English: the Impact of Intonation on the Overall Make-up of Speech

2005 ◽  
Vol 2 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 35-44
Author(s):  
Smiljana Komar
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Mother Tongue ◽  
Linguistic Features ◽  
Pitch Range ◽  
Native Speakers Of English ◽  
The Impact

Attitudes and emotions are expressed by linguistic as well as extra-linguistic features. The linguistic features comprise the lexis, the word-order and the intonation of the utterance. The purpose of this article is to examine the impact of intonation on our perception of speech. I will attempt to show that our expression, as well as our perception and understanding of attitudes and emotions are realized in accordance with the intonation patterns typical of the mother tongue. When listening to non-native speakers using our mother tongue we expect and tolerate errors in pronunciation, grammar and lexis but are quite ignorant and intolerant of non-native intonation patterns. Foreigners often sound unenthusiastic to native English ears. On the basis of the results obtained from an analysis of speech produced by 21 non-native speakers of English, including Slovenes, I will show that the reasons for such an impression of being unenthusiastic stem from different tonality and tonicity rules, as well as from the lack of the fall-rise tone and a very narrow pitch range with no or very few pitch jumps or slumps.

ENGLISH TRANSCRIPTION COURSE. M. Luisa Garcia Lecumberri and John A. Maidment. London: Arnold, 2000. Pp. 156. £10.99 paper.

2001 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 441-441
Author(s):  
Grover Hudson
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Nonnative Speakers ◽  
Written Language ◽  
Foreign Language Learners ◽  
Native Speakers Of English ◽  
Casual Speech ◽  
Almost All ◽  
Received Pronunciation

This book, said to be written for native speakers of English as well as second and foreign language learners, is about the differences between the pronunciation of words in careful and casual speech, despite identity of spelling. It presents as models written-language texts and their phonetically written equivalents in the prestige British Received Pronunciation (RP) variety, and then provides more texts as exercise to be transcribed both ways. Almost all of the exercises are anonymously authored texts of 40 or more lines, on a variety of topics. Answers are given in an appendix. The idea is that learning to write English phonetically will improve nonnative speakers' pronunciation and, one supposes, promote the more accepting attitude of native speakers toward casual speech reductions.

scholarly journals Acoustic Analysis of English Long Vowels Produced by Pashto Speakers

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 215-229
Author(s):  
Adnan Ahad ◽  
Ghani Rahman ◽  
Abdul Hamid
Keyword(s):  
Acoustic Analysis ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Tape Recorder ◽  
Acoustic Properties ◽  
Formant Frequencies ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
English Vowels ◽  
Proper Training ◽  
Correct Pronunciation ◽  
Native Speakers Of English

The present study investigates the acoustic properties of English long vowels produced by Pashto speakers by highlighting the problematic areas for Pashto speakers learning English. The data was collected from ten Pashtun learners of English through tape recorder. The data was analyzed using PRAAT software. The spectrograms produced by the software helped us in specifying the acoustic values (formant frequencies of F1 and F2) of target vowels compared with the production of the same vowels by native speakers of English. The analysis of the collected data revealed the problematic areas of English long vowels for Pashtun learners of English. The study proved that English long vowels like /I:/ and /a:/ were more problematic for Pashtun learners. A significant difference was seen in both the height and backness of the target English vowels produced by the subjects. The English vowels like /e:/ and /o:/ produced by subjects were like those produced by the native speakers. Similarly, target vowel like /u:/ was pronounced by subjects like native speakers of English. The study recommends that Pashto speakers should be given proper training for acquiring correct pronunciation of English.

scholarly journals Rethinking Privilege in Teaching English in Japanese Higher Education

2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (10) ◽  
pp. 100-114
Author(s):  
Khatereh Hosseininasab
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Native Speaker ◽  
Mother Tongue ◽  
Teaching English ◽  
Japanese Higher Education ◽  
Qualitative Thematic Analysis ◽  
Raising Awareness ◽  
Native Speakers Of English ◽  
Hiring Policies

This article addresses the issue of native-speakerism in teaching English in the context of Japanese higher education and the privilege arising from it. Previous research has shown that native speakers are often regarded as highly skilled and qualified teachers in teaching their mother tongue. This has often led to the marginalization of teachers who speak the language they teach as an additional language. In the case of Japan, however, there is doubt about the existence of such a privilege for native-speaker teachers and some studies have shown that native speakers of English do not receive preferential treatment in this context as they are often perceived as replaceable and temporary. The present study aimed to further explore this issue by focusing on the varieties of English Japanese universities expect their teachers to speak. In so doing, the study has investigated hiring policies of Japanese universities with reference to the job advertisements they post on a designated portal. The results of the qualitative thematic analysis indicated that the majority of the advertisements demanded prospective candidates to be native speakers of English, which also meant that this subgroup of teachers has a privilege in landing academic jobs by token of the variety of English they speak. The article suggests that the critical pedagogical approach of teaching English as an international language (TEIL) can mitigate such privilege by raising awareness towards the validity and appropriateness of different varieties of English spoken in the world.

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