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Studies in the Linguistic Sciences : Illinois Working Papers
Number of Followers: 2  Open Access journalISSN (Print) 0049-2388 Published by U of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign  [3 journals]
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- Non-native English speakers’ attitude toward accent-shift: A case study
of Indonesian students in the U.S
Authors: Mainake; Eugenie
Abstract: Non-native English speakers’ attitude toward accent-shift: A case study of Indonesian students in the U.SMainake, EugenieA number of prior studies have explored international students’ (Asian, South America, Europe) accented speech and addressed issues such as the Native English Speakers’ (NES) negative reactions and the loss of identity due to the tendency to shift from foreign accents to native English accents (Derwing 2003; Gluszek & Dovidio 2010; Kumagai 2013; McCrocklin & Link 2016). However, little work is focused on Indonesian students’ accented English speech in English speaking countries, as in the U.S particularly, considering the US Department of State and the IIE report in 2018 that the increasing number of Indonesian students studying in the U.S ranked 19th among other countries (China, India, etc.). The present study, therefore, investigated the Indonesian students’ perceptions on their own accents and potential factors leading to accent-shift in interacting with the NES. Mix-methods research was employed and involved (n =75) Indonesian students currently pursuing higher education in the U.S. Participants filled out a survey of 14 Likert-scale items and 2 open-ended questions. The findings demonstrate the ambivalent attitude vis-à-vis the participants’ desire as the nonnative English speakers (NNES) to have a native-like English accent (M=3.65, SD =1.10). However, the majority of participants greatly recognized their own salient Indonesian accent when speaking English (M=3.76, SD=1.05). In light of the participants’ responses, the study subsequently suggeststwo major factors that vastly contribute to participants’ accent-shift: psychological and social. In spite of a profound respect and compliment toward Indonesian accented English speech and English proficiency from the NES, the social factor has indicated a subtle degree of accent discrimination toward the participants that encompasses the notions of power dynamic and intelligibility of accent which the NES holds. Thus, examining the NNES, Indonesian students, attitude toward their accent-shift provided better understanding on self-perceived accent and disseminated native and non-native dichotomy in the U.S.Linguistics; Language; Attitude; Accent-shift; Indonesian students; NES; NNES
PubDate: 2021-01-01T00:00:00Z
- L1 Vietnamese L2 English Speakers’ Cues to the Perception of Stress
Authors: Giang Le
Abstract: L1 Vietnamese L2 English Speakers’ Cues to the Perception of StressGiang LeL1 transfer affects the process of L2 acquisition in a significant way, both in perception and production, as learners have a tendency to apply phonological patterns of their native language to the target language. This study investigates the extent to which Vietnamese native speakers rely on F0 as a primary cue to perceive stress in English nonce words by manipulating the pitch contour around the stressed syllable by creating different environments where such pitch contours are realized, and subsequently measuring the differences in performance of stress location matching as a result. While the acoustic correlates of stress in English are F0, duration, intensity, and vowel quality (Fry, 1955; Libermann, 1960), the acoustic correlates of tone in Vietnamese are F0, duration, and voice quality (Pham, 2000; Nguyen & Edmonton, 1997). Despite some overlapping of acoustic correlates, English lexical stress prediction cannot be predicated on pitch alone. For example, in a rising tonal contour context such as that of a yes/no question (L*H-H%), English stressed syllable actually receives a low pitch accent (Pierrehumbert, 1980). The independent variables of this study are stress location in a nonce word, the number of syllables in the stimuli, and the type of intonation context where a statement context corresponds to a falling intonation pattern and a yes/no question context corresponds to a rising intonation pattern. The dependent variable of this study is the number or percentage of correct responses the participants give to a perceptual matching task. To avoid lexical retrieval and memorization effect, the nonce words were selected based on a search in a pronunciation corpus of American English. The nonce words have the same syllable shape as a real English word, follow English phonotactics, and are controlled for factors such as tendency of vowel reduction. Besides the nonce word items, a set of filler items was included in the test instrument, ranging from tokens that are minimal segmental contrast pairs to tokens that differ by syllable length. The experiment was repeated for a control group of L1 American English speakers. The token set was recorded by a native American English speaker, randomized during the actual experiment in blocks, and distributed to the participants in different test lists following the Latin square design. The participants listened to the stimuli with varying stress locations three times and then listened to the stimuli with either a statement or yes/no question intonation. They were asked to identify the sound that they heard previously which matches the sound they have just heard. Similar to Ou’s (2010) findings, the prediction for this study was that L1 Vietnamese L2 English speakers would show a significant difference in perceiving stress compared to the control group when the word has a yes/no intonation contour, because of Vietnamese speakers’ tendency to rely on F0 as an acoustic cue for tone perception. A mixed repeated measures ANOVA with a between subject factor was conducted. A statistically significant difference in stress matching accuracy between the control and the experimental group was found in the disyllabic-word category. Both sentence types and stress location have main effects on the stress matching accuracy, and there is an interaction between the L1 factor and sentence type, as well as between L1 and stress location. Followed-up independent samples t-tests with Bonferroni correction show that the source of the interaction is in the question condition and the word-initial stress condition across the two groups. This is fully in agreement with the prediction that we would see a difference in the stress matching accuracy between the L1 English speakers and L1 Vietnamese speakers in word-initial stress condition with a question intonation. No significant difference was found in the stress matching accuracy of trisyllabic words. The age of arrival factor was also analyzed and although there was a negative correlation between age of arrival and better performance at the stress matching task, this relationship was not statistically significant.linguistics; language; stress; prosody; intonation; SLA; cross-language speech perception
PubDate: 2021-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Uncovering a focused Lebanese American English ethnolect in Dearborn
Michigan
Authors: Chad Hall
Abstract: Uncovering a focused Lebanese American English ethnolect in Dearborn MichiganChad HallThis study presents findings from a quantitative analysis of inter- and intraspeaker phonetic variability in the realization of /t/ and /d/ from second- and third- generation Lebanese American speakers from Dearborn, Michigan. The realization of /t/ and /d/ as either alveolar or dental (a substrate feature from Lebanese Arabic) is the focus of the analysis. The data, which come from 2006 corpus recordings, are also subject to diagnostics for a focused ethnolect i.e. the retention of distinctive features into the third and later generations of a speech community. These diagnostics are derived from new-dialect formation and ethnolect formation models. Evidence is found for a focused Lebanese American English ethnolect in Dearborn though the findings are tentative due to a small dataset. The results of the study lay the foundation for future work, which will seek to confirm these findings in greater detail.linguistics; sociolinguistics; language; ethnolect; Lebanese American
PubDate: 2021-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Distinguishing between obligatory and optional grammatical categories in
‘thinking for speaking’: The use of the ‘aan het construction’ by
six-year-old Flemish children
Authors: Saartje Ghillebaert
Abstract: Distinguishing between obligatory and optional grammatical categories in ‘thinking for speaking’: The use of the ‘aan het construction’ by six-year-old Flemish childrenSaartje GhillebaertThis paper explores whether the influence of a grammatically encoded category depends on being obligatory or nonobligatory. This paper tests Slobin’s approach to linguistic relativity. According to Slobin (1996; 2003; 2008), the presence of a grammatically encoded category directs the focus of speakers in the ‘thinking for speaking’ process. Slobin adduces evidence for this claim based on experiments with children in which he focused on the expression of the progressive aspect in various languages, e.g. the present and past continuous in English (is/was running), in comparison with languages that lack such a category. However, Slobin fails to distinguish between obligatory and optional categories. Though both are encoded form-meaning pairings in a language’s grammar (cf. Levinson 2000, Belligh & Willems 2021), only the former must be used in speech in specific contexts. The present article focuses on this distinction and tests Slobin’s account by examining the influence of a grammatical category, such as the ‘aan het construction’ in Dutch, which encodes progressive aspect even though it is non-obligatory in speech. Our findings suggests that Slobin’s thesis should be adjusted: Categories that are encoded and obligatory are generally expressed while categories which are encoded and optional are generally much more ignored. Speakers attend to encoded grammatical categories that are non-obligatory only when the speakers’ attention is explicitly directed to certain aspects of an event.linguistics; language; grammar; linguistic relativity; Flemish
PubDate: 2021-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Dialect levelling and language attitudes in a rural Basque town:
Intergenerational change meets subjective factors
Authors: Azler Garcia-Palomino
Abstract: Dialect levelling and language attitudes in a rural Basque town: Intergenerational change meets subjective factorsAzler Garcia-PalominoSociolinguists assume that supralocal variants are rapidly gaining influence in the linguistic repertoires of post-industrial societies (Auer 1998; Kerswill 2002; Hernández-Campoy 2003; Pooley 2012). The outcome of this process, typically referred to as dialect levelling, is a gradual loss of regionally marked forms and increased homogenization in young speech due to contact and accommodation between mutually intelligible varieties (Trudgill 1986; Britain 2010). Relatively recently, as Unamuno and Aurrekoetxea (2013) suggest, dialect levelling has become widespread in Basque-speaking areas as well, arguably because of the greater geographical mobility across the Basque Country and the consolidation of Standard Basque in education and the media. This study investigates the patterns of variation in one phonological variable in a small, rural Basque town, with an emphasis on language attitudes as a predictor of linguistic behavior. Significant effects of age group and gender are observed, but when the solidarity index is included in the statistical model, it emerges as the only significant factor. Moreover, the data show that adult females behave most conservatively with respect to the local variant, whereas young females appear to be leading the change into supralocalization. Further support for a change in progress is provided by the fact that intergenerational stability in males seems to be only apparent, with high degrees of heterogeneity in young males. These trends, coupled with current and future scenarios of accommodation and outward orientation, reinforce a hypothesis of regional dialect levelling in Basque LVA despite the strong correlation between the incidence of local forms and positive attitudes towards the town and its vernacular.linguistics; sociolinguistics; language; dialect leveling; language attitudes; Basque; low vowel assimilation
PubDate: 2021-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Life across life span on tone sandhi domain: A case study on Huai’an
Mandarin
Authors: Naiyan Du
Abstract: Life across life span on tone sandhi domain: A case study on Huai’an MandarinNaiyan DuBased on the apparent time and real time data of tone sandhi patterns of the Huai’an dialect of Jianghuai Mandarin, this paper argues that as ages grade, speakers apply Tone 1 sandhi more frequently at the post-lexical level. This phenomenon should be categorized as lifespan change (Sankoff 2008) due to the ongoing diachronically change at the community level where Tone 1 sandhi becomes less frequent at the post-lexical level. By assigning Tone 1 Sandhi variation to sociolinguistic factor of age. This study opens up the possibility that tone sandhi domain variation can be modelled outside phonology and under sociolinguistic framework. Therefore, the issue of tone sandhi domain variation should be seen in a panoramic view where sociolinguistic factors, phonological constraints should be taken into consideration.linguistics; sociolinguistics; language; Mandarin
PubDate: 2021-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Changes in Muṯallaṯ Arabic color language and cognition induced by
contact with Modern Hebrew
Authors: Letizia Cerqueglini
Abstract: Changes in Muṯallaṯ Arabic color language and cognition induced by contact with Modern HebrewLetizia CerquegliniI show how Modern Hebrew color terms influence linguistic and cognitive color categories in young native speakers of Muṯallaṯ Arabic who are also fluent in Modern Hebrew and exposed to Israeli culture and lifestyle. Muṯallaṯ Arabic is a Palestinian variety spoken in Israel. I compare basic color terms (BCTs) and cognitive categories (CCs) in Traditional Muṯallaṯ Arabic (TMA, speakers over age 65) and NeoMuṯallaṯ Arabic (NMA, speakers under age 40). Results are compared to Modern Hebrew BCTs. Fourteen men and 14 women were tested for each group. Linguistic data came from spontaneous speech, direct questions (‘what color is this object'’ ‘what has X color'’), and stimuli: 1. a naming task on the complete Munsell chart tested at three different levels of saturation (with chips submitted in a fixed random order), 2. culture-specific stimuli to elicit BCTs’ association with objects/materials, and 3. director/matcher tasks. A cognitive test was performed on TMA and NMA speakers to detect influences of Modern Hebrew BCTs acquired by NMA speakers in adulthood on NMA cognition. The experiment is a modified version of Winawer et al.’s objective, perceptual discrimination task (2007), performed through fifty triads of color squares shown on the computer screen. Subjects had to choose which of the bottom squares matched the color of the top square. Results show that NMA has different BCTs and CCs than TMA: BCTs found in both TMA and NMA have slightly different foci and markedly different boundaries. TMA BCTs and CCs reflect desaturated and brightness-based categories, while NMA BCTs and CCs are hue-based and closer to those of Modern Hebrew. NMA color terms increase in number via associations with prototypical referents (‘lemon-yellow’> ‘yellow’) borrowed from Modern Hebrew. Acquisition of Modern Hebrew BCTs in adulthood reshapes both NMA BCTs and CCs.linguistics; language; cognition; Arabic; Hebrew
PubDate: 2021-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Mechanism of verbal morphology among heritage Arabic children in the US
Authors: Al Omary; Maaly
Abstract: Mechanism of verbal morphology among heritage Arabic children in the USAl Omary, MaalyThis research paper investigates the morphological features of verbal agreement along with the influence of MSA verbs and expressions on the oral production of child speakers of Arabic as a heritage language, specifically children of Jordanian and Syrian origin who are living in the United States. The imperfective verb, in spoken Arabic, is used to describe habitual and repeated aspects as well as to indicate the progressive aspect. Also, the participle-verb construction is used to indicate the progressive aspect. The verb following participles namely (ʔaaʕid and ʕam) invariably takes bare imperfective morphology. Also, this verb takes the same number and of the preceding participle. This current study focuses on investigating the morphological pattern of these participles (if they surface in the production of Arabic heritage speakers) and the morphological features of verbs in progressive aspect. Given the fact that the Jordanian and Syrian heritage speakers in this study have acquired the relevant variety of Arabic in early childhood along with Modern Standard Arabic, this study investigates whether participants switch between their dialects and MSA expressions and verbs. 10 children were tested in one oral production task in this study. The findings showed that while both Jordanian and Syrian heritage speakers of Arabic showed mastery in producing the morphological pattern of participles in progressive aspect structure, they showed differential acquisition of verb inflection in progressive aspect. Moreover, the result showed that both groups showed code switching and transfer from Modern Standard Arabic verbs and expressions. Lastly, these findings could have important implications with regards to pedagogical methods used for heritage learners of Standard Arabic. Keywords: Progressive aspect, participles, code switching, MSA, Arabic heritage speakers, verbal morphologyProgressive aspect; participles; code switching; MSA; Arabic heritage speakers; verbal morphology
PubDate: 2020-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Contrastive Focus Capitalization: Nonstandard Usages of Capital Letters in
Web-based English and their Capital-I Implications
Authors: Linden; Josh
Abstract: Contrastive Focus Capitalization: Nonstandard Usages of Capital Letters in Web-based English and their Capital-I ImplicationsLinden, JoshLike most languages using the Roman alphabet, English has an upper- and lowercase form of each letter and several interconnected patterns governing their use. This paper explores the ways those patterns are changing in the age of the Internet and proposes a novel usage of sentence-internal capitalization called Contrastive Focus Capitalization (CFC). CFC mainly targets nouns and conveys a number of meanings related to legitimacy and givenness as well as drawing attention to the most prototypical or salient meaning as the intended one. This phenomenon is explored via analysis of a 2.2 million-word sample of GloWbE, the Corpus of Global Web-based English, consisting mainly of blog posts made by English speakers around the world. The related but distinct practice of capitalizing common nouns as if they were proper nouns is also discussed. It is found that the latter is more common, but both are used especially in American English. Observations are made about the scope and connotations of these forms of nonstandard capitalization and parallels are drawn to other, less orthography-dependent structures with similar meanings. These findings are then considered in the broader context of Internet-based language with the goal of examining the relationship between spoken language and written language in the Digital Age.Contrastive Focus Capitalization (CFC); Global Web-based English (GloWbE); written discourse; Contrastive Focus Reduplication (CFR)
PubDate: 2020-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Attachment and language use in donor-conceived adults' self-narratives
Authors: Lozano; Elizabeth B., Fraley, R. Chris, Kramer, Wendy
Abstract: Attachment and language use in donor-conceived adults' self-narrativesLozano, Elizabeth B.; Fraley, R. Chris; Kramer, WendyAssisted reproduction with donor gametes (i.e., eggs, sperm) entails the formation of new kinds of families, giving rise to new concepts such as "donor,""social father," and "social mother." These ideas can be understood within an attachment theoretical framework. The present study examined whether individual differences in attachment predict language use in donor-conceived adults' self- narratives. In particular, we focused on meaning-making (McAdams & McLean 2013), in addition to three other aspects of written text: Relational words (i.e., father, dad), non-relational words (i.e., donor, sperm), and "social" parent words (e.g., "my social father always picked me up from school") that participants used to describe their donor conception experience. Data were collected from 488 donor-conceived people from the Donor Sibling Registry (DSR). Results indicated no association between attachment and meaning-making, nor relational and non-relational words. However, we found that people who were anxiously attached (with respect to their close relationships in general) were more likely to endorse the term "social" parent; those who were avoidant were less likely to use this terminology when writing about their donor conception experience. These results, combined with other exploratory findings, suggests that insecurely attached DC adults may construct their narrative identities differently than their secure counterparts. Keywords: attachment, donor conception, LIWCattachment; donor conception; Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC)
PubDate: 2020-01-01T00:00:00Z
