This is an acoustic study of the production of English /l/ by Standard German speakers. Previous research categorized these speakers as either non-proficient or proficient with regard to their phonetic abilities. Coarticulation differences might be one of several reasons for less proficient speakers not to be able to overcome their foreign accent. The pattern of consonantal velarization influen...

This paper examines the vowel production of eight young male speakers of Mäori in order to assess whether there are pronunciation differences between those who were raised as L1 speakers of Mäori and those who clearly learnt English first. We demonstrate that the L1 speakers produce two vowel pairs, /a:/ (WÄ), /a/ (WAKA) and /ü:/ (TÜ), /u/ (TUKU) significantly farther back than the L2 speakers....

Previous work on object classification preferences shows that speakers of languages that lack morphological plural marking (like Yucatec and Japanese) display a tendency to match objects by common material, while speakers of languages with morphological plural marking (like English) display a tendency to match objects by common shape. The present paper compares categorisation preferences of Eng...

Optimality Theory explains typological markedness implications by proposing that all speakers possess universal constraints penalizing marked structure, irrespective of the evidence provided by their language (Prince & Smolensky, 1993/2004). An account of phonological perception sketched here entails that markedness constraints reveal their presence by inducing perceptual 'repairs' to structure...

This study investigatesvariability in English yes/no questions as well as the commonalities among yes/no question variants produced by members of two different varieties of English: Canadian English native speakers and Iranian EFL learners.Further, it probes the role of gender in theEnglish yes/no question variants produced by Canadian English native speakers and those produced by Iranian EFL l...

Recent work on London English has found innovation in inner city areas, most likely as the outcome of dialect contact. These innovations are shared by speakers of different ethnic backgrounds, and have been identified as features of Multicultural London English (MLE). This study examines whether syllable timing is a feature of MLE, as work on rhythm shows that dialect and language contact may l...

conversations contain spontaneous use of routine formulas which lets speaker sinteract with each other to express opinions. gambits, as one of these formulas, act as an opening remark and help speakers to maintain the smooth flow of an everyday conversation. the lack of mastery of using gambits in maintaining the conversation leads to breakdowns in speaking. this paper aimedat comparingthe use ...

Speech convergence provides a good model on studying L2 accent change in a short-term conversation. The present study investigates Mandarin L2 English speakers accommodating towards an Australian speaker before and after a task-based conversation. Acoustic analysis and a perceptual AXB test on the vowels /ɐ:/, /æ/ and /o:/ were carried out to measure the convergence effect before and after the ...