Dissertations / Theses: 'English language Australia Phonology'

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Green, Antony D. "Phonology limited." Universität Potsdam, 2007. http://opus.kobv.de/ubp/volltexte/2007/1551/.

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Phonology Limited is a study of the areas of phonology where the application of optimality theory (OT) has previously been problematic. Evidence from a wide variety of phenomena in a wide variety of languages is presented to show that interactions involving more than just faithfulness and markedness are best analyzed as involving language-specific morphological constraints rather than universal phonological constraints. OT has proved to be a highly insightful and successful theory of linguistics in general and phonology in particular, focusing as it does on surface forms and treating the relationship between inputs and outputs as a form of conflict resolution. Yet there have also been a number of serious problems with the approach that have led some detractors to argue that OT has failed as a theory of generative grammar. The most serious of these problems is opacity, defined as a state of affairs where the grammatical output of a given input appears to violate more constraints than an ungrammatical competitor. It is argued that these problems disappear once language-specific morphological constraints are allowed to play a significant role in analysis. Specifically, a number of processes of Tiberian Hebrew traditionally considered opaque are reexamined and shown to be straightforwardly transparent, but crucially involving morphological constraints on form, such as a constraint requiring certain morphological forms to end with a syllabic trochee, or a constraint requiring paradigm uniformity with regard to the occurrence of fricative allophones of stop phonemes. Language-specific morphological constraints are also shown to play a role in allomorphy, where a lexeme is associated with more than one input; the constraint hierarchy then decides which input is grammatical in which context. For example, [ɨ]/[ə] and [u]/[ə] alternation found in some lexemes but not in others in Welsh is attributed to the presence of two inputs for the lexemes with the alternation. A novel analysis of the initial consonant mutations of the modern Celtic languages argues that mutated forms are separately listed inputs chosen in appropriate contexts by constraints on morphology and syntax, rather than being outputs that are phonologically unfaithful to their unmutated inputs. Finally, static irregularities and lexical exceptions are examined and shown to be attributable to language-specific morphological constraints. In American English, the distribution of tense and lax vowels is predictable in several contexts; however, in some contexts, the distributions of tense [ɔ] vs. lax [a] and of tense [æ] vs. lax [æ] are not as expected. It is shown that clusters of output-output faithfulness constraints create a pattern to which words are attracted, which however violates general phonological considerations. New words that enter the language first obey the general phonological considerations before being attracted into the language-specific exceptional pattern.

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Strikis, Liena A. "The effects of orthography and phonology on vocabulary acquisition /." Connect to online version, 2006. http://ada.mtholyoke.edu/setr/websrc/pdfs/www/2006/179.pdf.

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Barrios, Shannon L. "Similarity in L2 phonology." Thesis, University of Maryland, College Park, 2013. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=3600018.

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Adult second language (L2) learners often experience difficulty producing and perceiving non-native phonological contrasts. Even highly proficient bilinguals, who have been exposed to an L2 for long periods of time, struggle with difficult contrasts, such as /r/-/l/ for Japanese learners of English. To account for the relative ease or difficulty with which L2 learners perceive and acquire non-native contrasts, theories of (L2) speech perception often appeal to notions of similarity. But how is similarity best determined?

In this dissertation I explored the predictions of two theoretical approaches to similarity comparison in the second language, and asked: [1] How should L2 sound similarity be measured? [2] What is the nature of the representations that guide sound similarity? [3] To what extent can the influence of the native language be overcome?

In Chapter 2, I tested a `legos' (featural) approach to sound similarity. Given a distinctive feature analysis of Spanish and English vowels, I investigated the hypothesis that feature availability in the L1 grammar constrains which target language segments will be accurately perceived and acquired by L2 learners (Brown [1998], Brown [2000]). Our results suggest that second language acquisition of phonology is not limited by the phonological features used by the native language grammar, nor is the presence/use of a particular phonological feature in the native language grammar sufficient to trigger redeployment. I take these findings to imply that feature availability is neither a necessary, nor a sufficient condition to predict learning outcomes.

In Chapter 3, I extended a computational model proposed by Feldman et al. [2009] to nonnative speech perception, in order to investigate whether a sophisticated `rulers' (spatial) approach to sound similarity can better explain existing interlingual identification and discrimination data from Spanish monolinguals and advanced L1 Spanish late-learners of English, respectively. The model assumes that acoustic distributions of sounds control listeners' ability to discriminate a given contrast. I found that, while the model succeeded in emulating certain aspects of human behavior, the model at present is incomplete and would have to be extended in various ways to capture several aspects of nonnative and L2 speech perception.

In Chapter 4 I explored whether the phonological relatedness among sounds in the listeners native language impacts the perceived similarity of those sounds in the target language. Listeners were expected to be more sensitive to the contrast between sound pairs which are allophones of different phonemes than to sound pairs which are allophones of the same phoneme in their native language. Moreover, I hypothesized that L2 learners would experience difficulty perceiving and acquiring target language contrasts between sound pairs which are allophones of the same phoneme in their native language. Our results suggest that phonological relatedness may influence perceived similarity on some tasks, but does not seem to cause long-lasting perceptual difficulty in advanced L2 learners.

On the basis of those findings, I argue that existing models have not been adequately explicit about the nature of the representations and processes involved in similarity-based comparisons of L1 and L2 sounds. More generally, I describe what I see as a desirable target for an explanatorily adequate theory of cross-language influence in L2 phonology.

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Lipscomb, David Robert. "Non-linear phonology and variation theory." Thesis, McGill University, 1989. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=61817.

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Spaargaren, Magdalena Jeannette. "Change in obstruent laryngeal specifications in English : historical and theoretical phonology." Thesis, University of Edinburgh, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/1842/4079.

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Two traditions have arisen from an ongoing debate concerning cross-linguistic laryngeal representations in series of obstruents. The first, ‘traditional’ approach assumes universally identical laryngeal representations: /p, t, k/ are unspecified and /b, d, g/ carry |voice|. The second, Laryngeal Realism (LR), assumes underlyingly different representations between languages: ‘aspiration languages’ have unspecified /b, d, g/, and /p, t, k/ specified for |spread|. ‘Voice languages’ have unspecified /p, t, k/, and /b, d, g/ specified for |voice|. In this thesis, I use historical data in order to determine which of these two traditions is correct. Chapter 1 introduces the thesis subject and places it in the broader context of representational models of theoretical phonology and general historical linguistics. In chapter 2, I discuss the discrepancy between traditional laryngeal features and their cross-linguistic implementation, the basis of the debate outlined above. The two traditions are then discussed in detail. It is shown that evidence for LR is drawn from surface facts in aspiration- and voice languages such as respective presence or absence of aspiration of /p, t, k/, respective absence or presence of voicing in /b, d, g/ and asymmetry in assimilation processes in favour of one of the features. Present-Day English (PDE) is best described in LR when these criteria are taken into account, e.g., [ph]in, [b 0]in, and invariable assimilation to ‘voicelessness’, e.g., cats /t+z/→[ts], sacked /k+d/→[kt]. In the following chapters, I present data from historical laryngeal modifications in English which have never been considered together in this respect before. In Chapter 3, I present new evidence that the laryngeal situation just described for Present-Day English dates back to the very beginning of its recorded history. This is shown in the fact that all laryngeal assimilation throughout the history of English is exclusively assimilation to ‘voicelessness’ or |spread| - as in pre-Old English [pd] > [pt] cepte ‘kept’, [td] > [tt] mette ‘met’, [kd] > [kt] iecte ‘increased’, [fd] > [ft] pyfte ‘puffed’, [sd] > [st] cyste ‘kissed’. LR can easily capture this asymmetry because |spread| is the only active member in the laryngeal opposition. |voice| is unspecified in English and can therefore never partake in phonological processes. Chapters 4, 5 and 6 deal with historical English data traditionally interpreted as ‘voicings’, i.e. addition of |voice|, and ‘devoicings’, i.e. loss of |voice|. Therefore, these data are potentially problematic for LR in that, according to this framework, |voice| is not specified in English. However, I show that LR can unproblematically deal with these phenomena as laryngeal lenition, removal of |spread|, and fortition, addition of |spread|. In fact, some of the lenition processes provide extra back up for LR. Processes in word-initial position, e.g., dialectal [v]ather, and final position, e.g., i[z], knowle[d3], are highly marked when viewed as ‘voicings’. However, when viewed as simple lenitions, as in LR, they are natural processes, which are predicted to be found in languages. Therefore, I show in this thesis that all available data from English historical laryngeal modification support LR, and that LR in its turn sheds an interesting new light on the data. It is superior to traditional accounts in that it can account for otherwise puzzling phenomena such as asymmetric assimilation and initial and final ‘voicings’.

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Tin, Choi-yau Carmela. "Description of bilingual phonology in Cantonese-English preschoolers." Click to view the E-thesis via HKU Scholors Hub, 2005. http://lookup.lib.hku.hk/lookup/bib/B38279356.

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Thesis (B.Sc)--University of Hong Kong, 2005.
"A dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Bachelor of Science (Speech and Hearing Sciences), The University of Hong Kong, June 30, 2005." Also available in print.

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Aloufi, Aliaa. "The phonology of English loanwords in UHA." Thesis, University of Sussex, 2017. http://sro.sussex.ac.uk/id/eprint/67766/.

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This thesis investigates the phonology of loanword adaptation focusing on English loanwords in Urban Hijazi Arabic (UHA). It investigates the segmental adaptations of English consonants that are absent in UHA as well as the various phonological adaptations of illicit syllabic structures. It is based on dataset of around 100 English loanwords that were integrated into UHA that contain several illicit consonants and syllable structures in the donor language. This dataset is compiled from different published sources along with a data collection exercise. The first significant source is Abdul-Rahim (2011) a dictionary of loanwords into Arabic, while the other one is Jarrah's (2013) study of English loanwords into Madinah Hijazi Arabic (MHA) adopting the on-line adaptation. The third source is original pronunciation data collected from current UHA speakers. Furthermore, the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) was consulted for the etymology and transcription of the English words. The goal is to provide a thorough analysis of these phonological patterns whether consonantal or syllabic ones found in the adaptation of English loanwords into UHA. To accomplish this, the adaptations have been analysed according to two theoretical frameworks: the Theory of Constraints and Repair Strategies Loanword Model (TCRSLM) proposed by Paradis and LaCharité (1997) and Optimality Theory (OT) introduced by Prince and Smolensky (1993). The different proposed analyses in this study facilitated an evaluation of the adequacy of each of these theories in accounting for the discussed phonological patterns found in UHA loan phonology. The thesis concludes that OT better explains the adaptations, but neither theory fully accounts for the variety of adaptations found in UHA.

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Caravolas, Marketa. "The effect of linguistic input on children's phonological awareness : a cross-linguistic study." Thesis, McGill University, 1991. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=60612.

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The subjects of the study were kindergarten and first grade speakers of Czech and English. The Czech language contains a considerably higher frequency and variety of complex syllabic onsets than English. Hence, it was hypothesized that if linguistic input affects children's phonological awareness development, Czech children should show higher levels of ability on the tasks. These differences were expected to appear in preliterate kindergarten children if linguistic input, more than literacy and/or general cognitive factors, impacts significantly on phonological awareness.
The finding that preliterate Czech children were more advanced in the ability to manipulate complex syllable onsets suggests that oral language input has an important effect on developing phonological awareness skills. Furthermore, its effect appears to be independent of the effects of literacy.

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Ahn, Hyunkee. "Post-release phonatory processes in English and Korean : acoustic correlates and implications for Korean phonology /." Digital version accessible at:, 1999. http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/utexas/main.

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Martin, Marjolaine. "De l'accentuation lexicale en anglais australien standard contemporain." Phd thesis, Université François Rabelais - Tours, 2011. http://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-00952144.

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La littérature scientifique dédiée à l'accentuation en anglais australien standard contemporain (SAusE) est, contrairement à celle qui concerne la prononciation de ses voyelles, peu étendue. Après un chapitre introductif proposant le contexte historique dans lequel le SAusE est né et a été décrit, sa définition actuelle ainsi que sa description phonologique, notre étude est consacrée à un examen systémique de l'accentuation lexicale en SAusE. Un corpus test a été mis en place spécifiquement, qui comporte la quasi-totalité des verbes dissyllabiques, des préfixés pluricatégoriels et des exceptions aux règles d'accentuation des mots de deux syllabes et plus, ainsi qu'un large échantillon d'emprunts aux langues aborigènes. Ces quelques 3500 items ont été choisis précisément parce qu'ils font partie des mots les plus susceptibles de connaître une variation accentuelle en anglais contemporain. Notre approche se situe dans la lignée de Lionel Guierre et propose un traitement dictionnairique dans lequel les éléments du corpus sont tous étudiés au travers des données de chacune des éditions les plus récentes des Longman Pronouncing Dictionary, Cambridge English Pronunciation Dictionary et Macquarie Dictionary qui constituent les dictionnaires de références dans le domaine de la prononciation de l'anglais. Ces données ont été complétées, lorsque cela était nécessaire, par des données fréquentielles issues du Corpus of Contemporary American English et par des données orales enregistrées spécialement pour cette étude, selon une démarche similaire à la première partie du protocole du projet Phonologie de l'Anglais Contemporain. Notre analyse met en évidence une grande stabilité accentuelle intervariétale entre le SAusE, l'anglais britannique standard et l'anglais américain standard et propose un relevé étayé et détaillé des spécificités accentuelles lexicales du SAusE contenues dans le corpus étudié.

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Fujii, Ikuko. "Interlanguage phonology of Japanese speakers of English in South Wales." Thesis, Cardiff University, 1992. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.308134.

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Yeung, Wai Han Gloria. "A study on the pronunciation of Hong Kong English : a variety of English." HKBU Institutional Repository, 1995. http://repository.hkbu.edu.hk/etd_ra/87.

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Dooey, Patricia. "Issues of English language proficiency for international students." Thesis, Edith Cowan University, Research Online, Perth, Western Australia, 2005. https://ro.ecu.edu.au/theses/628.

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In the last 20 years or so, there has been a phenomenal increase in the number of international full-fee paying students applying to study in Australian universities, The revenue provided in this way has helped to address the problems faced by cash-starved universities facing recurring funding cuts over the same period. Furthermore, the presence of such students on any university campus provides immeasurable enrichment to the student body in terms of cultural diversity and research potential, and indeed it is very tempting in an ever,-increasing global market, to be as flexible as possible with prospective international students. However, the process of admission also demands careful consideration on the part of the various stakeholders involved. Although several factors need to be taken into account, the most obvious and certainly of primary importance would be the need to prove proficiency in the English language, Given that English is the dominant means of communication in the university, all students are required to draw from a complex web of linguistic resources to construct meaning and to complete the range of tasks required of them during their tertiary studies, This volume deals :with the overarching theme of issues of English language proficiency for overseas students studying in an Australian university. This focus can be viewed from many angles, and there are certainly many key facets involved, a selection of which is explored in the papers of the portfolio. These include the following broad areas: recruitment and admissions, language testing and technology, curriculum and inclusivity, English language support, academic conduct and finally the specific needs of international students, as viewed from their own perspective.

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Mau, Pui-sze Priscilla, and 繆佩詩. "Cross-language transfer of phonological awareness in Chinese-English bilinguals." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 2006. http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B36889301.

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Foreman, Annik 1973. "Pretending to be someone you're not : a study of second dialect acquisition in Australia." Monash University, School of Languages, Cultures and Linguistics, 2003. http://arrow.monash.edu.au/hdl/1959.1/5859.

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Ng, E.-Ching. "The Phonology of Contact| Creole sound change in context." Thesis, Yale University, 2015. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=3663654.

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This dissertation identifies three previously unexplained typological asymmetries between creoles, other types of language contact, and `normal' sound change. (1) The merger gap deals with phoneme loss. French /y/ merges with /i/ in all creoles worldwide, whereas merger with /u/ is also well-attested in other forms of language contact. The rarity of /u/ reflexes in French creoles is unexplained, especially because they are well attested in French varieties spoken in West Africa. (2) The assimilation gap focuses on stress-conditioned vowel assimilation. In creoles the quality of the stressed vowel often spreads to unstressed vowels, e.g. English potato > Krio /&rgr;ϵ&rgr;&tgr;ϵ&tgr;ϵ/. Strikingly, we do not find the opposite in creoles, but it is well attested among non-creoles, e.g. German umlaut and Romance metaphony. (3) The epenthesis gap is about repairs of word-final consonants.These are often preserved in language contact by means of vowel insertion (epenthesis), e.g. English big > Sranan bigi, but in normal language transmission this sound change is said not to occur in word-final position.

These case studies make it possible to test various theories of sound change on new data, by relating language contact outcomes to the phonetics of non-native perception and L2 speech production. I also explore the implications of social interactions and historical developments unique to creolisation, with comparisons to other language contact situations.

Based on the typological gaps identified here, I propose that sociohistorical context, e.g. age of learner or nature of input, is critical in determining linguistic outcomes. Like phonetic variation, it can be biased in ways which produce asymmetries in sound change. Specifically, in language contact dominated by adult second language acquisition, we find transmission biases towards phonological rather than perceptual matching, overcompensation for perceptual weakness, and overgeneralisation of phrase-final prominence.

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Qin, Chuan. "The perception and production of English vowel contrasts by Vietnamese speakers." HKBU Institutional Repository, 2010. http://repository.hkbu.edu.hk/etd_ra/1207.

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Picard, Marc. "On teaching the pronunciation of allophones : the case of flapping in North American English." Thesis, McGill University, 2001. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=32937.

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This study is primarily concerned with the issue of determining whether it is worthwhile to try to teach the correct pronunciation of subphonemic segments in ESL courses. It focuses specifically on the allophones [J, J] produced by the Flapping (or Tapping) of medial and final alveolar stops in North American English. Through an exhaustive examination of the ESL and TESL pronunciation manuals that have been published in the last thirty years or so, an assessment is first made of the manner and extent to which this widespread phonological process has been dealt with by the authors of such books. These findings are then compared with the opinions expressed by researchers in the field of second language education in order to determine what sort of consensus currently exists on this issue. The general conclusion is that since flaps are demonstrably the most salient of all NAE allophones and occur as phonemes in the first language of many ESL learners, these segments should be given due consideration in any pronunciation curriculum.

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Chu, Ka-bik Cindy. "The effects of improving phonological awareness and spelling ability through contrastive phonology a study of a Hong Kong primary classroom /." Click to view the E-thesis via HKUTO, 2008. http://sunzi.lib.hku.hk/hkuto/record/B41262086.

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Yeung, Lau-luk Margery. "On the effect of Cantonese (L1) phonological awareness on the acquisition of English (L2) phonology among primary students in Hong Kong." Click to view the E-thesis via HKUTO, 2007. http://sunzi.lib.hku.hk/hkuto/record/B3828022X.

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Pascoe, Michelle. "Segmental phonology and Black South African English speakers : communicative success with standard dialect listeners." Master's thesis, University of Cape Town, 1999. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/26323.

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The study investigated the nature of the listener confusion which occurs when Black South African English (BSAE) speakers communicate a list of common English words to speakers of standard South African (StdSAE) English. BSAE and StdSAE subjects were grouped into 10 dyads. BSAE subjects read 120 monosyllabic English words to StdSAE subjects. Written data of StdSAE subjects were analysed to determine patterns of success and failure in the communication of single word items by BSAE subjects. Specific difficulties with vowels, dipthongs and consonants are discussed in terms of their effect on intelligibility. Findings are evaluated in the light of previous research, and in terms of Flege's Speech Learning Model (1987, 1991, 1995). It is suggested that all segmental features of BSAE relate to two distinct levels: a functional (meaning) level and an aesthetic level. This study focussed on the functional level, and aimed to describe the segmental features of BSAE speech which affect meaning. Such a distinction has particular relevance for speech and language therapists who need to have a clear rationale for their work with BSAE-speaking clients. Clinical implications specific to this emerging client group within South Africa are discussed.

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Campos, Dintrans Gonzalo Santiago. "Acquisition of morphosyntax in the adult second language: the phonology factor." Diss., University of Iowa, 2011. https://ir.uiowa.edu/etd/2677.

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The goal of this dissertation is to examine the ubiquitous challenge that adult second language speakers have in producing functional morphology, even at advanced stages of acquisition. Specifically, this study examines how native speakers of Spanish, Mandarin and Japanese use past tense and number morphology in English. To this aim, two current competing hypotheses are tested: the Interpretability Hypothesis, which states that certain aspects of syntactic knowledge (uninterpretable features) cannot be acquired after a critical period, resulting in target-deviant use of functional morphology, and the Prosodic Transfer Hypothesis, which claims that all aspects of syntax can be acquired, but that phonological transfer effects from the first language might be at the source of target-deviant use of functional morphology. Participants were selected according to a pre-established set of criteria in order to obtain similar linguistic profiles. Native speakers of American English also participated as controls. The experiments included proficiency tests, sentence completion tests and picture description tests. Group and individual results were analyzed in order to determine the extent to which the Interpretability Hypothesis and the Prosodic Transfer Hypothesis could account for the observed patterns. The results of the experiments in this study strongly suggest that phonological factors can account for some of the observed target-deviant use of functional morphology, supporting the Prosodic Transfer Hypothesis. The results also suggest that ultimate acquisition of new uninterpretable features is possible, supporting the Prosodic Transfer Hypothesis and not the Interpretability Hypothesis. The study also stresses the idea that although phonological transfer effects cannot account for all the problems observed in second language functional morphology, it is vital that phonological factors be taken into account.

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Ng, Shiu May Doris. "The system of diphthongs in the interlanguage phonology of young educated Hong Kong speakers of English." HKBU Institutional Repository, 2000. http://repository.hkbu.edu.hk/etd_ra/345.

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Al, Ahmari Saleha Hussain. "THE ACQUISITION OF THE ENGLISH VELAR NASAL /ŋ/ BY SAUDI SPEAKERS OF ENGLISH: ARE THERE DEVELOPMENTAL TRENDS?" OpenSIUC, 2014. https://opensiuc.lib.siu.edu/theses/1444.

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This study aims to examine the developmental acquisition trends of English nasal /ŋ/ by Saudi learners of English. According to the previous literature, the velar nasal /ŋ/ presents significant difficulties for learners of English, especially for Arabic speakers. The literature indicates that their most serious problem lies in their tendency to insert a stop after the velar nasal, such as singing /sɪŋɪŋ/ pronounced as [sɪŋgɪŋg]. Accordingly, this study aims to examine this claim by studying Saudi learners of English as a second language to find the types of committed errors, and the effects of length of residence and language use in diminishing such tendencies. For this purpose, participants representing two ranges of length of residence in the US (LOR < 1 year and LOR >4 years) were recruited. The instruments included both a demographic questionnaire and a production task. A list of English words ending with the velar nasal preceded by different vowels was given. Data analysis made use of speech analyzer, descriptive statistics, frequency analyses, and an independent t-test to see if there are significant developmental trends in the acquisition of the target sound. The findings of this study provide empirical evidence in support of some of the most well-known theories in second language acquisition, namely, Contrastive Analysis hypothesis (Lado, 1957), Markedness Differential Hypothesis (Eckman, 1977), and Language Transfer Theory (Odlin, 1986; Gass & Selinker 1994). The absence of the marked velar nasal in coda position and the phonological rules of its use in the marked coda position caused many types of serious mispronunciations in Saudis' oral production of English words that end in such a segment. Resulting types of errors stem from the negative transfer of the allophonic environment of the velar nasal in Arabic language. Such transfer decreases as the length of residence and L2 use increase.

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Winters, Stephen James. "Empirical investigations into the perceptual and articulatory origins of cross-linguistic asymmetries in place assimilation." Connect to this title online, 2003. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc%5Fnum=osu1054756426.

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Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2003.
Title from first page of PDF file. Document formatted into pages; contains xx, 351 p.; also includes graphics Includes bibliographical references (leaves 344-351). Available online via OhioLINK's ETD Center

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洪盛琴 and Shing-kam Phoebe Hung. "The effect of phonological awareness training on the reading achievement of late English learners." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 2008. http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B40717161.

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Hill, Margaret Monica. "The role of phonology in English vocabulary learning by Chinese tertiary students in Hong Kong." Thesis, Hong Kong : University of Hong Kong, 1997. http://sunzi.lib.hku.hk/hkuto/record.jsp?B20263521.

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Sirsa, Hema. "First Language and Sociolinguistic Influences on the Sound Patterns of Indian English." Thesis, University of Oregon, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/1794/18715.

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The current dissertation is a systematic study of variation in the English spoken in multilingual and multicultural India. Three experiments were conducted to investigate the influence of two native languages (Hindi and Telugu) on English, which is spoken by almost all Indians as a second language. The first experiment indicated that Indian English (IE) is accented by the first language of its speakers, but high English proficiency and the degree of divergence between the sound patterns of the speaker's native language and his or her IE suggested that other factors might influence the preservation of a native language accent in IE. The second experiment controlled for language investigated the effect of region on IE, finding that listeners were able to distinguish speakers based on region even when they spoke the same native language. The regional variation in IE was more noticeable for native Telugu speakers than for native Hindi speakers. This difference was attributed to differences in the social and political power associated with these native languages: Hindi being the national language and the language of the capital city of India; Telugu, a regional language of Andhra Pradesh and spoken by many fewer people than Hindi. The third experiment was motivated by the idea that persistent effects of the speaker's native language might also be used to reflect a speaker's personal identity. Accordingly, the experiment investigated the effect of speaking about personal versus neutral topics on IE pronunciation. The results were that speakers' IE pronunciation was more like their native language when speakers discussed personal topics then when they discussed neutral topics. Overall, the results suggest that the pronunciation of IE is conditioned by social factors, meaning that it has entered the differentiation phase of Schneider's dynamic model of English evolution. This dissertation includes previously published co-authored material.

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Bremen, Maria Verena von. "The application of nonlinear phonological theory to intervention with phonologically delayed twins." Thesis, University of British Columbia, 1990. http://hdl.handle.net/2429/28924.

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Despite the fact that speech-language pathologists do not develop the theories underlying the principles and procedures used in the clinic, speech and language clinicians are ethically obliged to apply the "best" possible theory in their practice. Recently phonologists have been developing a theory of nonlinear phonology. Application of this theory to cross-linguistic data and to child language data has shown that what appeared to be idiosyncratic or difficult to account for using previous theoretical formulations can be neatly explained using a nonlinear phonological explanation. The purpose of this study was to investigate the possibility of further extending the application of nonlinear phonological principles to the field of speech-language pathology. Two levels defined by the theory, segmental and prosodic, were investigated in a six-month-long intervention programme with a set of phonologically delayed twins (aged 5;6 at the outset of the project). Each twin was assigned to an experimental condition motivated by one of these levels, or tiers. In each condition, intervention goals were determined by parameters of the theory; the segmental condition contrasted features "higher" versus "lower" in the feature hierarchy, while the prosodic condition contrasted moraic with onset-rime descriptions of syllable/word shape. Using twins as subjects also allowed the twin aspect of language acquisition and speech-language intervention to be explored. Results of the phonological intervention study revealed that nonlinear phonology provides a viable framework for assessing and determining goals for phonological remediation. A comparison of progress in therapy indicated that one twin acquired therapy goals faster than the other. An investigation of the differential progress of the twins allowed conclusions to be drawn regarding social awareness and success in phonological therapy.
Medicine, Faculty of
Audiology and Speech Sciences, School of
Graduate

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Almalki, Hussain. "Acoustic Investigation of Production of Clusters by Saudi Second Language Learners of English." FIU Digital Commons, 2014. http://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd/1235.

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Production errors made by second language (L2) learners of English have been attributed to markedness, L1 transfer or input frequency (cf. Major, 2001; Edwards & Zampini, 2008; Baptista, Rauber, & Watkins, 2009). This thesis examines the production of 17 English initial consonant clusters (e.g., /pr/ in “pray”) in a markedness relationship, whereby clusters with greater sonority distance between the first and second consonants are unmarked and clusters with smaller sonority distance between the first and second consonants are marked, by two groups of Saudi Arabian L2 English learners. It also explores the effect of input frequency and L1 transfer. Participants were asked to read 60 sentences and their reading was recorded for acoustic analysis. Analysis showed that “prothesis” was always used to simplify the clusters, and that, the duration of the prothetic vowel tended to get longer when clusters become more marked. Intermediate participants had greater degree of difficulty in producing the clusters and tended to insert a longer prothetic vowel in general. Markedness explained the performance on #sC clusters; however, performance on non #sC clusters was best explained by L1 transfer. Results further indicated that input frequency was irrelevant to this study.

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Lam, Wai Kin Stephen. "Realization of "th" in Hong Kong English." HKBU Institutional Repository, 2008. http://repository.hkbu.edu.hk/etd_ra/949.

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Kwok, Ka-man, and 郭家敏. "Phonological awareness and the ability to read English as a second language." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 2006. http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B36855492.

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Lewis, Casey L. "Teachers' knowledge of English phonology and attitudes toward reading instruction as related to student outcomes /." Online version of thesis, 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/1850/6206.

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O'Neill, Sarah Ollivia. "Sound correspondences in the English-Spanish bilingual lexicon." Diss., University of Iowa, 2018. https://ir.uiowa.edu/etd/6620.

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While it has been recognized that L2 word learning is facilitated for cognates (De Groot & Keijzer 2000), approaches to cognate acquisition have focused on the similarity of L1- L2 forms, overlooking regular patterns in differences between items. For example, English phone [dʒ] regularly corresponds to the Spanish phone [x]: agent [eɪdʒɛnt]- agente [axente], voyage [vɔɪədʒ]- viaje [bjaxe]. The current studies test whether L1 English, L2 Spanish learners acquire and utilize regular cognate sound correspondences. Experiment 1 compared accuracy for cognate forms that include or do not include regular correspondences. Subjects learned the English names of 20 monsters. Afterward, they saw each monster's image and heard its name in English, then recalled and produced the monster's (cognate) name in Spanish. Results revealed higher accuracy for items containing regular cognate correspondences. Subjects with higher proficiency showed greater differences in accuracy between regular and irregular items. In Experiment 2, subjects heard a novel word in either English or Spanish and invented a plausible cognate in the other language. Their modifications to the word forms were analyzed. Analyses revealed that subjects’ modifications were not random, but rather demonstrated convergence on dominant modification strategies. Higher proficiency correlated with greater convergence on dominant strategies. Together, these results demonstrate that L1 English, L2 Spanish learners have knowledge of regular cognate correspondences and can utilize correspondences to learn or invent new cognate forms. Furthermore, because this knowledge is acquired gradually by the L2 learner, cognate processing is not consistent across proficiency levels or between individual learners.

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Arthur, Jillian Mary, and n/a. "A lexical cartography of twentieth century Australia." University of Canberra. Resource, Environmental & Heritage Sciences, 1999. http://erl.canberra.edu.au./public/adt-AUC20060602.125646.

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This thesis looks at the relation between the English language and the Australian place. I have studied the vocabulary used by English speakers in Australia in the twentieth century of this geographical place and its environment, and how this vocabulary both constructs multiple and sometimes contesting 'Australias' and positions the settler in particular relations to this place. Although English has occupied Australia for over a century by the time this study begins, the analysis exposes the tensions, the gaps and the unease present in the use of a European language in the Australian place.

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Faine, Miriam. "At home in Australia: identity, nation and the teaching of English as a second language to adult immigrants in Australia." Monash University. Faculty of Education, 2009. http://arrow.monash.edu.au/hdl/1959.1/68741.

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This is an autoethnographic study (e.g. Brodkey, 1994) based on ‘stories’ from my own personal and professional journey as an adult ESL teacher which I use to narrate some aspects of adult ESL teaching. With migration one of the most dramatically contested spheres of modern political life world wide (Hall, 1998), adult English as a Second Language (ESL) teaching is increasingly a matter of social concern and political policy, as we see in the current political debates in Australia concerning immigration, citizenship and language. In Australia as an imagined community (Anderson, 1991), the song goes ‘we are, you are Australian and in one voice we sing’. In this study I argue that this voice of normative ‘Australianess’ is discursively aligned with White Australians as native speakers (an essential, biological formulation). Stretching Pennycook’s (1994a) argument that ELT (English Language Teaching) as a discourse aligns with colonialism, I suggest that the field of adult ESL produces, classifies and measures the conditions of sameness and difference to this normative ‘Australian’. The second language speaker is discursively constructed as always a deficient communicator compared with the native speaker. The binary between an imagined homogeneous Australia and the ‘migrant’ as essentially other, works against the inclusion of the learner into the dominant groups represented by their teachers, so that the intentions of adult ESL pedagogy and provision are mitigated by this imagining, problematizing and containing of the learners as other. The role of ESL teachers is to supervise (Hage, 1998) the incorporation of this other. Important policy interventions (e.g. Department of Immigration and Citizenship, 2006; ALLP, 1991a) are based on understanding the English language as a universalist framework of language competences inherent in the native speaker; on understanding language as consisting of fixed structures which are external to the learner and their social contexts; and on a perception that language as generic, transferable cognitive skills can be taught universally with suitable curricula and sufficient funding. Conversely in this study I recognise language as linguistic systems that define groups and regulate social relations, forming ‘a will to community’ (Pennycook, op. cit.) or ‘communities of practice’ (Lave & Wenger, 1991). Language as complex local and communal practices emerges from specific contexts. Language is embedded in acts of identity (e.g. Bakhtin, 1981) developing through dialogue, involving the emotions as well as the intellect, so that ‘voice’ is internal to desires and thoughts and hence part of identity. Following Norton (2000) who links the practices of adult ESL learners as users of English within the social relations of their every day lives, with their identities as “migrants”, I suggest that the stabilisation of language by language learners known as interlanguage reflects diaspora as a hybrid life world. More effective ESL policies, programs and pedagogies that assist immigrant learners feel ‘at home’ within Australia as a community of practice (Wenger, 1998) rest on understanding immigrant life worlds as diasporic (Gilroy, 1997). The research recommends an adult ESL pedagogy that responds to the understanding of language as socially constituted practices that are situated in social, local, everyday workplace and community events and spaces. Practices of identity and their representation through language can be re-negotiated through engagement in collective activities in ESL classes that form third spaces (Soja, 1999). The possibilities for language development that emerge are in accord with the learners’ affective investment in the new language community, but occur as improvements in making effective meanings, rather than conformity to the formal linguistic system (Pavlenko & Lantolf, 2000).

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Jennings, Patricia Joan. "A comparison of the phonological skills of late talking and normal toddlers." PDXScholar, 1990. https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/open_access_etds/4082.

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In the present study, the speech of twenty-four normally speaking toddlers and twenty-eight late talking toddlers was analyzed with respect to the syllable structures produced during a speech sample. The groups were matched with regard to age, sex, and socio-economic status, all passed a hearing screening, and all scored at least 85 on the Bayley Scales of Infant Development.

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AUFDERHAAR, CAROLYN RACHEL. "THE INFLUENCE OF USING DISCOURSE ANALYSIS TECHNIQUES ON THE FILTERED SPEECH OF AUTHENTIC AUDIO TEXT TO IMPROVE PRONUNCIATION." University of Cincinnati / OhioLINK, 2004. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1100670010.

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Jared, Debra J. (Debra Jean). "The processing of multisyllabic words : effects of phonological regularity, syllabic structure and frequency." Thesis, McGill University, 1985. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=63367.

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Chan, Siu-ling, and 陳小玲. "From letters to sound: the dyslexic bridge toreading." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 2005. http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B3159847X.

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Refatto, Antonella 1967. "Contact phenomena between Veneto, Italian and English in the third generation in Australia." Monash University, Dept. of Linguistics, 2002. http://arrow.monash.edu.au/hdl/1959.1/7734.

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Wynne, Hilary Suzanne Zinsmeyer. "The phonological encoding of complex morphosyntactic structures in native and non-native English speakers." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2016. https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:39fd5b76-2099-4f42-a428-e4c2df39685d.

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Theories of phonological word formation (e.g. Selkirk 1980, 1986; Nespor & Vogel 1986; Lahiri & Plank 2010) assume that prosodic units are not isomorphic with syntactic units. However, the prosodic status of compounds remain uncertain, at least in so far as language planning and phonological encoding is concerned. Theories are not transparent about the prosodic status of compounds: although a noun-noun compound in English consists of two lexical words (and therefore two prosodic words), it can also act as a single prosodic item by exhibiting main stress on the first unit and carrying inflection. Thus the question remains controversial - should these items be treated as a single prosodic unit, similar to a monomorphemic word, or as two distinct units for the purpose of post-lexical representation? Recursive word formation may suggest that compounds are a single unit. Psycholinguistic evidence measuring speech onset latency in native speakers of Dutch and Portuguese also shows compounds being treated as single prosodic units (Wheeldon & Lahiri 1997, 2002; Vigario, 2010). Although recent studies have produced evidence for the prosodification of compounds in native speakers, little is known about the process in non-native speakers. Our research questions are as follows: what is the post-lexical planning unit in English, and how do non-native fluent speakers of English plan these units for the purpose of phonological encoding? To investigate our hypotheses, we focus on the phonological encoding of compounds with and without encliticisation, for native and non-native speakers of English. In a series of delayed priming tasks, we found overwhelming evidence that reaction times reflected the total number of prosodic units in the target sentence. In online tasks, however, speech latencies only reflected the size of the first prosodic unit. Taken together,these results suggest that, despite containing two lexical and prosodic words, English compounds are planned as single prosodic units, exhibiting encliticisation and reaction times similar to those of monomorphemic words. As shown by the results in this study, this naming paradigm has proved extremely beneficial for eliciting data about the structure of prosodic units in speech production. Not only was it successful for native speakers of Dutch, European Portuguese, and English, we also found that it was easily implemented into a study of post-lexical encoding in non-native speakers of English.

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Taylor, Colleen Jane. ""Variations of the rainbow" : mysticism, history and aboriginal Australia in Patrick White." Master's thesis, University of Cape Town, 1987. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/22467.

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Bibliography: pages 206-212.
This study examines Patrick White's Voss, Riders in the Chariot and A Fringe of Leaves. These works, which span White's creative career, demonstrate certain abiding preoccupations, while also showing a marked shift in treatment and philosophy. In Chapter One Voss is discussed as an essentially modernist work. The study shows how White takes an historical episode, the Leichhardt expedition, and reworks it into a meditation on the psychological and philosophical impulses behind nineteenth century exploration. The aggressive energy required for the project is identified with the myth of the Romantic male. I further argue that White, influenced by modernist conceptions of androgyny, uses the cyclical structure of hermetic philosophy to undermine the linear project identified with the male quest. Alchemical teaching provides much of the novel's metaphoric density, as well as a map for the narrative resolution. Voss is the first of the novels to examine Aboriginal culture. This culture is made available through the visionary artist, a European figure who, as seer, has access to the Aboriginal deities. European and Aboriginal philosophies are blended at the level of symbol, making possible the creative interaction between Europe and Australia. The second chapter considers how, in Riders in the Chariot, White modifies premises central to Voss. A holocaust survivor is one of the protagonists, and much of the novel, I argue, revolves around the question of the material nature of evil. Kabbalism, a mystical strain of Judaism, provides much of the esoteric material, am White uses it to foreground the conflict between metaphysical abstraction and political reality. In Riders, there is again an artist-figure: part Aboriginal, part European, he is literally a blend of Europe and Australia and his art expresses his dual identity. This novel, too, is influenced by modernist models. However, here the depiction of Fascism as both an historical crisis and as a contemporary moral bankruptcy locates the metaphysical questions in a powerfully realised material dimension. Chapter Three looks at A Fringe of Leaves, which is largely a post-modernist novel. One purpose of this chapter is to demonstrate how it responds to its literary precursors and there is thus a fairly extensive discussion of the shipwreck narrative as a genre. The protagonist of the novel, a shipwreck survivor, cannot apprehend the symbolic life of the Aboriginals: she can only observe the material aspects of the culture. Symbolic acts are thus interpreted in their material manifestation. The depiction of Aboriginal life is less romanticised than that given in Voss, as White examines the very real nature of the physical hardships of desert life. The philosophic tone of A Fringe of Leaves is most evident, I argue, in the figure of the failed artist. A frustrated writer, his models are infertile, and he offers no vision of resolution. There is a promise, however, offered by these novels themselves, for in them White has given a voice to women, Aboriginals and convicts, groups normally excluded from the dominating discursive practice of European patriarchy.

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Hernandez, Lauren Kristine. "Phonological Processes in English Sentences Produced by Adult Native Speakers of Spanish." Miami University / OhioLINK, 2016. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=miami1461947976.

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Miller, Sherri Lynn. "Percentage of phonological process usage in expressive language delayed children." PDXScholar, 1991. https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/open_access_etds/4204.

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Language delay and phonological delay have been shown to coexist. Because they so often co-occur, it is possible that they may interact, sharing a relationship during the child's development. A group of children who were "late talkers" as toddlers, achieved normal development in their syntactic ability by the preschool period. Because their language abilities are known to have increased rapidly, data on their phonological development could provide information on the relationship between phonological and syntactic development. The purpose of this study was to compare the percentage of phonological process usage of the eight most commonly used simplification processes in four-year-old expressive language delayed (ELD) children, children with a history of slow expressive language development (HX), and normally developing (ND) children. The questions this study sought to answer were: do ELD children exhibit a higher percentage of phonological process usage than ND children, and are HX children significantly different in their percentage of phonological process usage than ND and/or ELD children.

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Liando, Nihta V. F. "Foreign language learning in primary schools with special reference to Indonesia, Thailand and Australia /." Title page, contents and abstract only, 1999. http://web4.library.adelaide.edu.au/theses/09ARM/09arml693.pdf.

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Evans, Simone Kirsten School of Modern Languages UNSW. "How can teachers best enable adult English language learners to interact verbally?" Awarded by:University of New South Wales. School of Modern Languages, 2004. http://handle.unsw.edu.au/1959.4/20512.

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The study revolves around the delivery of an ESOL (English to Speakers of Other Languages) program on conflict management in the workplace to a small group of adult learners studying in a private educational institution in Sydney, Australia. The program was of four days???? duration, and was delivered over a four-week period. It involved both in-class and out-of-class tasks, and required learners to analyse their own discourse practices, those of other learners, and those of the speech community in which they were living. The program had two principle objectives. Firstly, it asked whether learners are able to modify their discourse practices at will in order to achieve successful negotiation outcomes. Secondly, it explored the effect of deliberately altered discourse styles on perceptions of learners held by speech community members. The methodology employed to achieve these objectives was ethnographic in nature and involved the following processes: 1. Learners were video-taped negotiating with other learners before and after the program. 2. Learners undertook the program aimed at increasing their ability to negotiate in business environments using culturally appropriate spoken language in conjunction with compatible prosodic and paralinguistic features as well as conversation management strategies. Learners kept diaries of their experiences and self-evaluation, and were interviewed following the course. 3. A group of nine native speakers of English viewed the 'before' and 'after' video-tapes and completed a survey aimed at collecting and quantitatively measuring (change in) their perceptions of the learners. This change was statistically analysed using a repeated-measures t test. The effect proved statistically significant overall; t(80) = 1.990, p>.01, two-tailed. 4. The 'before' and 'after' negotiations were then analysed by the researcher using ethnomethodological Conversation Analysis, modified to include some aspects of facial expression. The implications of the findings for teaching 'Business English', 'Global English' and 'Speaking' more generally are then discussed.

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Morris, Jonathan. "Sociolinguistic variation and regional minority language bilingualism : an investigation of Welsh-English bilinguals in North Wales." Thesis, University of Manchester, 2013. https://www.research.manchester.ac.uk/portal/en/theses/sociolinguistic-variation-and-regional-minority-language-bilingualism-an-investigation-of-welshenglish-bilinguals-in-north-wales(c666cc2a-c131-4dcf-8d74-1c86c9315099).html.

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This thesis investigates phonetic and phonological variation in the bilingual repertoire of adolescent Welsh-English bilinguals living in North Wales. It contributes to linguistic research by, firstly, providing an account of language variation in an under-studied area (N. Wales) and context (regional minority language bilingualism) and, secondly, by examining cross-linguistic variation, and the constraints on this variation, in bilingual speech. The two variables under discussion differ in how they are realised in the two languages: /l/ is thought to be heavily velarised in both languages as a result of long-term contact and phonological convergence. Variation in the production of /r/ and realisation of coda /r/ has hitherto been reported as language-specific, though frequent transfer is said to occur from Welsh to English in predominantly Welsh-speaking areas (e.g. Penhallurick 2004: 110; Wells 1982: 390).The first aim of the study is therefore to quantify claims of phonological convergence and transfer in the speech of Welsh-English bilinguals by using a variationist sociolinguistics methodology (e.g. Labov 1966), which also considers the influence of linguistic and extra-linguistic factors on variation. Particular attention is paid to differences between a majority Welsh-speaking town and a town where English is the main language. A further distinction is made between those from Welsh-speaking homes and those from English-speaking homes who have acquired Welsh through immersion education. The second aim is to make empirically-informed theoretical claims about the nature of phonological convergence and transfer, and conceptualise cross-linguistic interaction in the speech of Welsh-English bilinguals in light of existing frameworks. Data (sociolinguistic interviews and wordlists) were collected in Welsh and English from 32 Welsh-English bilinguals aged 16-18. The sample was equally stratified in terms of speaker sex, home language, and area. The two towns compared in the study are Caernarfon (N.W. Wales, where c.88% of the population speak Welsh) and Mold (N.E. Wales, where c. 20% Welsh of the population speak Welsh). The results indicate that English [ɫ] tends to be lighter than Welsh [ɫ] in word-initial onset position for females, and in word-medial intervocalic position for both males and females. The data also show linguistic influences on the realisation of [ɫ] in both languages, and differences between males and females. The realisation of coda /r/ and production of [r] and [ɾ] in English are confined to the speech of those from Welsh-speaking homes in Caernarfon. In Welsh, use of [ɹ] is widespread and is constrained by a more complex interaction between area, home language, and sex. On the basis of these findings, I conclude that features which have undergone phonological convergence due to long-term language contact may be subject to language-specific constraints when implemented phonetically. In terms of transfer, I argue for a ternary distinction between interference, transfer, and transfer which is constrained by linguistic and/or extra-linguistic factors (cf. Grosjean 2012). Finally, I suggest that Mufwene’s (2001) notion of the ‘feature pool’ is the most succinct way of conceptualising Welsh-English transfer and differentiate between more focussed accents of English and a less-focussed variety of North Wales Welsh.

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Wei-Chen, Hsu. "An OT Perspective on Second Language Phonology: Acquisition of English Word-final Consonants by Mandarin-Taiwanese Learners." Thesis, University of Essex, 2008. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.486627.

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This thesis attempts to demonstrate that constraint-based OT (prince and Smolensky, 1993) is well-suited to provide an adequate and explicit analysis of interlanguage data. . . An empirical study of the acquisition ofEnglish word-fmal consonants was conducted in a university in Taiwan. Both Mandarin and Taiwanese share a simple cve syllable, and therefore Mandarin-Taiwanese learners of English are expected to have a certain degree of difficulty in acquiring English word-final consonant clusters. The OT framework is adopted to account for a variety of error patterns observed throughout interlanguage development, particularly in L2 word-final consonant production. The main focuses are that certain constraints are found to be dominant in determining which 'excess' consonant is deleted in a complex cluster, and the issue of how an L2 _. input is formed during L2 acquisition. This thesis also explores what effect linguistic environment has on L2 production: for instance, theÃ‚Â· activation of ONSET is regarded as a case of spell out TETU effect under a given environment with a following vowel. The goal of this thesis is to adopt OT as a theoretical framework to examine how error patterns are manifested during L2 acquisition.

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Dziubalska-Kołaczyk, Katarzyna. "A theory of second language acquisition within the framework of natural phonology : a Polish-English contrastive study /." Poznań : UAM, 1990. http://catalogue.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/cb354980325.

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Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'English language Australia Phonology'

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