Perception of Accents

Standard Croatian language has the pitch-accent system, which use both tone and stress to mark lexical accent. The accent system of standard Croatian is based on Neoštokavian dialect and therefore it contains four accent types: long-falling, long-rising, short-falling and short-rising, and the long and short post-accentual length. The aim of the study is the acoustic and perceptive description of lexical accents produced by Croatian speakers when they intend to speak the standard variety. The hypothesis is that Croatian speakers don't use all four pitch accent types and post-accentual length proposed by standard. The purpose is to find out the final number of accent entities generated by the corpus and to describe acoustically all the accent variability.
Corpus consists of recordings of 89 Croatian native speakers representing all larger cities and all Croatian regions. Target words are about 40 disyllabic words, among them all four standard accent types with and without post-accentual length, in total 3,560 tokens uttered in the focus of the carrier sentence. Acoustic parameters – duration, tone and intensity – are extracted from each accented and post-accented vowel and statistically analysed (descriptive statistics, one-way ANOVA, post hoc tests Sheffe). In perceptive analysis four accentology experts were listening to each target word recognising it as one of the standard accent type or, if it doesn't mach to an existing category, they marked the token in an new category and described it.
Comparing data from the acoustic and the perceptive analysis it is found that in Croatian contemporary language speakers – in intention to use standard variety – are using different accent systems, from stress accent system to the pitch accent system. There is an continuum of accent systems: system with only one accent type (short stressed vowel), with two accent types (short and long stressed vowel), with three accent types (mostly short stressed, long stressed and long falling, but there are also other combinations with long rising or with Čakavian acute) and systems consisting of all four accent types (as set in standard). Post-accentual length is mostly reduced to a short vowel.
This findings suggest that high educated Croatian native speakers when intending to speak standard unconsciously retain some characteristics of their regional prosodic base. If their prosodic base is Neoštokavian, speakers have all four standard accent types, sometimes with and sometimes without post-accentual length. Speakers from Kajkavian and Čakavian areas are using different number of accent types, from one to three. Their accent system is mostly reduced only to "falling" accents: short stressed, long stressed and long falling. The post-accentual length is completely neutralised to the short vowel.
Speaker from two main Štokavian areas (Slavonia and Dalmatia) have the same number of the accent types, but they differ in the acoustic characteristics of each accent type. When comparing speakers from Slavonia (east Croatia) to them from Dalmatia (south Croatia) in all four accent types Slavonian have reduction in duration and tone: long vowel are shortened, short vowel are lengthened (there is a wide acoustic area where short and long rising accents are overlapping); long falling accent has a smaller tone range; in rising accents the high tone on the post-accentual syllable in Slavonian is on the same level or lower while in Dalmatian it is on the higher tone level then the accented syllable. Speakers from Slavonia have only short post-accentual vowel, while in Dalmatia the post-accentual length is partly retained.
The whole repertoire of accent types used in contemporary Croatian contains five different entities: four well known categories traditionally called short falling (short stressed vowel), long falling, long rising, short rising, and the fifth category with the long stressed vowel which is far away from the prototypes of long falling or long rising. Despite of the fact that for the long stressed vowel experts have no perceptive category and no consens marking and naming it (using terms as "flat tone", "marker of rising tone", "stressed", "stressed long", "stressed half-long") this study argue that the long accented syllable which is either falling or rising is a category of the stress accent system and not the reduction of the pitch accent system. In the stress accent system (traditionally called two accent system and mostly used in Zagreb area) the counterpart to the short stressed (acoustically the same as short falling) is therefore not the long falling, then the long stressed. The long falling accent has been acoustically and perceptively the most marked accent type, because it is the only one with the distinctive tone contour on one syllable; the other four types have distinctive tone levels on two syllables.
Basing phonological description on the acoustic data we propose the partly new description of Croatian lexical accents: the short falling or short stressed as H*.L, short rising as H*.H, long falling as (HL)*.L, long rising as (HH)*.H and the long stressed as (HH)*.L (using dot for marking syllable brake, and using brackets for assigning two moras to the stress). This description is based on the following findings: only long falling accent has a distinctive pitch contour in the stressed syllable and rising accents have two high tone levels. The stressed syllable in rising accent is not considered as low, because it is marked by high intensity and high pitch, higher then the perceeding syllable and on the same tone level as the post-accented syllable. This description opens the possibility to describe the Čakavian acute as the tone contour in one syllable (LH)*.L.
We can conclude that in the contemporary Croatian language intending to produce standard variety speakers use two different accent systems: the stress accent system (with long and short stressed vowels) and the pitch accent system (with all four accents set in the normative standard). The stress accent system is not stabilised yet: in speaker's usage it is influenced by pitch accent system (random occurrences of long falling accent). The stress accent system is also not established in Croatian accentology: in the perception by experts words with long stress accent are assumed to be the false or edge (allophonic) pronunciation of the pitch accent prototypes. Therefore, the acoustic description of long stressed accent, naming it, labeling this accent (zlato*) and placing it (instead of the long falling) in opposition to the short falling is an attempt to open the new category in Croatian accentology.

Intelligibility of Non-native English: Norms, Attitudes and Listening Comprehension
The use of English as an international language challenges traditional views on effective communication, communicative competence and native-speaker norms. Resulting from the wide-range use of English in international contexts by non-native speakers, learners are exposed to an increasing number of non-native accents. Although accentedness is a salient feature, which is frequently associated with communicative difficulties, it does not necessarily reduce intelligibility. The present study aims to examine the relationship between attitudes connected to non-native accents, perceived comprehensibility and their relationship to actual comprehensibility. The results reveal that native speakers are evaluated more positively both in terms of personal attributes and perceived comprehensibility. In addition, a negative correlation exists between perceived comprehensibility and actual comprehension. Although listeners evaluated non-native speakers less positively than native speakers, they were able to
understand them better. In line with recent studies, these results question native speaker norms and the commonly held belief that accent inevitably causes communication problems, and emphasizes the need for foregrounding intelligibility.

AWEJ Volume.5 Number.2, 2014   
                                                                                                                                                            Pp.167 -186
                                                                                                                                                                                                                     



English Varieties and Arab Learners in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Countries: Attitude and Perception

Wafa Shahada Zoghbor
Zayed University
United Arab Emirates, Abu Dhabi



Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to explore the attitudes of post-secondary Arab learners towards native and non-native varieties of English. A stimulus tap was incorporated within semi-structured interviews where respondents listened to 6 speakers (an Indian, Arab, Thai, British, American, and Canadian) and then answered 5-Point Likert scale questions. The findings revealed that the interviewees encountered difficulties identifying the speakers’ first languages. Whilst the British and Canadian speakers were perceived more positively than the other speech samples and were easier to understand than the Thai speaker, they were less understandable to the interviewees than the Arab and Indian speakers. The American speaker was perceived less positively than the other speech samples and was also the least understandable. The paper concludes with a discussion of the findings and specific recommendations that could facilitate improving Arab learners’ tolerance of their own (as well as other non-native) varieties of English. The data in this paper forms part of a broader study investigating the attitude of Arab learners towards the shifting ownership of English as a Lingua Franca (ELF).
Keywords: Arab learners; English as a lingua franca (ELF); native speaker (NS) / non-native speakers (NNS) of English; accent; attitude.

It has been argued that depending on gender language is used in different ways in society, and the fact that language is surveyed differently leads to the thesis that men and women have ‘differentiated communicative competence’ (Coates, 2004). A distinct pronunciation variant that is widely used and ‘has recently been noted as spreading through non-standard accents in England’ (cf. Trudgill, 1988: 43), is that of th-fronting. The form th- fronting has become more and more integrated into the speech patterns of many speakers across the United Kingdom although it has ‘not ‘officially’ entered RP yet’ (Altendorf, 1999: 5). This study focused on whether or not gender is associated with variation in the usage of th-fronting in the urban and multicultural locality of Nottingham, United Kingdom. The analysis was undertaken in order to assess how urban youth culture in Nottingham utilizes and applies the form th-fronting in everyday dialogue such as day-to-day conversations, and whether their mode of expression varies according to gender. The study aimed to gain an insight into the relationship between spoken language and identity, and to recognise whether the social backgrounds/ cultural practices people have influence their use of ethnically and age-coded variables. From the results, it was established that th-fronting does vary according to gender and that increased formality does limit the amount of th-fronting used.

It has been argued that depending on gender language is used in different ways in society, and the fact that language is surveyed differently leads to the thesis that men and women have ‘differentiated communicative competence’ (Coates, 2004). A distinct pronunciation variant that is widely used and ‘has recently been noted as spreading through non-standard accents in England’ (cf. Trudgill, 1988: 43), is that of th-fronting. The form th- fronting has become more and more integrated into the speech patterns of many speakers across the United Kingdom although it has ‘not ‘officially’ entered RP yet’ (Altendorf, 1999: 5). This study focused on whether or not gender is associated with variation in the usage of th-fronting in the urban and multicultural locality of Nottingham, United Kingdom. The analysis was undertaken in order to assess how urban youth culture in Nottingham utilizes and applies the form th-fronting in everyday dialogue such as day-to-day conversations, and whether their mode of expression varies according to gender. The study aimed to gain an insight into the relationship between spoken language and identity, and to recognise whether the social backgrounds/ cultural practices people have influence their use of ethnically and age-coded variables. From the results, it was established that th-fronting does vary according to gender and that increased formality does limit the amount of th-fronting used.

It has been argued that depending on gender language is used in different ways in society, and the fact that language is surveyed differently leads to the thesis that men and women have ‘differentiated communicative competence’ (Coates, 2004). A distinct pronunciation variant that is widely used and ‘has recently been noted as spreading through non-standard accents in England’ (cf. Trudgill, 1988: 43), is that of th-fronting. The form th- fronting has become more and more integrated into the speech patterns of many speakers across the United Kingdom although it has ‘not ‘officially’ entered RP yet’ (Altendorf, 1999: 5). This study focused on whether or not gender is associated with variation in the usage of th-fronting in the urban and multicultural locality of Nottingham, United Kingdom. The analysis was undertaken in order to assess how urban youth culture in Nottingham utilizes and applies the form th-fronting in everyday dialogue such as day-to-day conversations, and whether their mode of expression varies according to gender. The study aimed to gain an insight into the relationship between spoken language and identity, and to recognise whether the social backgrounds/ cultural practices people have influence their use of ethnically and age-coded variables. From the results, it was established that th-fronting does vary according to gender and that increased formality does limit the amount of th-fronting used.

It has been argued that depending on gender language is used in different ways in society, and the fact that language is surveyed differently leads to the thesis that men and women have ‘differentiated communicative competence’ (Coates, 2004). A distinct pronunciation variant that is widely used and ‘has recently been noted as spreading through non-standard accents in England’ (cf. Trudgill, 1988: 43), is that of th-fronting. The form th- fronting has become more and more integrated into the speech patterns of many speakers across the United Kingdom although it has ‘not ‘officially’ entered RP yet’ (Altendorf, 1999: 5). This study focused on whether or not gender is associated with variation in the usage of th-fronting in the urban and multicultural locality of Nottingham, United Kingdom. The analysis was undertaken in order to assess how urban youth culture in Nottingham utilizes and applies the form th-fronting in everyday dialogue such as day-to-day conversations, and whether their mode of expression varies according to gender. The study aimed to gain an insight into the relationship between spoken language and identity, and to recognise whether the social backgrounds/ cultural practices people have influence their use of ethnically and age-coded variables. From the results, it was established that th-fronting does vary according to gender and that increased formality does limit the amount of th-fronting used.

Eddington and Taylor (2009), conducted a study to determine the linguistic and social factors connected with the use of the glottal stop in American English. Several methods have been used including 'Shadowing' and 'Task Reading'. Analyses found that glottal stop was evident was more frequent with young female speakers.

The present study looks at role of attitudes and identity from nonnative speakers (NNSs) of English from Indonesia, Malaysia, China, Korea and Iran towards their English accents and of other NNSs concerning their English accents and how the results fit into Jenkins’ (2005) ideas of lingua franca English which focused on their attitudes to identification with NNS and native speaker (NS) English accents, their perceptions of others’ attitudes and identification, and their beliefs about teaching these accents. From the ten participants, six of them are English teachers or tutors while four are non English teachers. The results of this study suggest that two participants did not like their own accents, while eight of them did not have any problems with theirs. Five participants favored the British English accents while others prefer the American and Scottish English accents; one even chose to like her own NNS English accent. Regarding other group’s accents; four participants accepted th...

Previous research on the perception of foreign accent has focused on the ratings of native and near-native listeners and few studies have explored the perception of degree of foreign accent by nonnative listeners, despite the fact that it could shed light on what language learners perceive as foreign-accented and potentially tell us about their developing system. The present dissertation aims to investigate the perception of degree of foreign accent in Spanish by both native and nonnative listeners, exploring the effects of various listener-specific characteristics, including proficiency, on listeners’ perception. This thesis also explores the role of VOT and speech rate in nonnative listeners’ perception of foreign accent in Spanish, two cues that have been found to influence native listeners’ perception of foreign-accented English in previous studies.
In order to accomplish these goals the read speech of 2 native and 2 nonnative Spanish speakers, in addition to 11 distracter speakers, was recorded and Praat’s duration tool was used to create VOT and rate-modified versions of the read sentences. A total of 26 native speakers and 140 nonnative learners of Spanish heard and rated 210 modified and unmodified utterances on a 9-point scale of degree of foreign accent. The statistical analyses revealed significant differences between native and nonnative listeners’ ratings of unmodified speech. In the analyses that compared listener ratings of modified and unmodified utterances, both sets of listeners rated speech as more accented when it had longer (less native-like) VOTs and when it was slower. Conversely, listeners also rated nonnative speech as less foreign-accented when it was reproduced with shorter VOTs and at a faster rate. A number of listener-specific factors including proficiency, course enrollment, pronunciation training, comprehension, and native dialect exposure were also found to be significant predictors of listeners’ foreign accent perception. The results show that both linguistic and listener characteristics affect the perception of foreign accent by native and nonnative listeners of Spanish, and that contrary to previous findings these two listener groups do not necessarily perceive degree of foreign accent the same.

Whilst differences in British English accents can be traditionally evidenced through variances in pronunciation, syntax and lexical choices, justification for these preferences are more complicated and contentious (Cheshire et al, 1989; 1999; Kerswill, 2002). Over the past 40 or so years sociolinguists have systematically observed accents throughout the British isles, and have attempted to document and provide explanations for regional differences and distinct varieties. The present study examined the speculation by Wells (1982a, b) that the happY vowel in use in working-class Nottingham differs from the rest of the United Kingdom and can be realised as approaching [ɛ] of the DRESS lexical set instead of the more common KIT [ɪ] or FLEECE [i]. In addition to documenting the variable, the subsequent study also looked into whether there is a relationship between usage of the innovation and age, gender or formality. From the results, it was established that the happY vowel in use in a working-class native Nottingham accent can be realised approaching [ɛ] of the DRESS lexical set and that even though all speakers have a high usage of the variant the form is formality driven; as well as being both age and gender-specific.

Whilst differences in British English accents can be traditionally evidenced through variances in pronunciation, syntax and lexical choices, justification for these preferences are more complicated and contentious (Cheshire et al, 1989; 1999; Kerswill, 2002). Over the past 40 or so years sociolinguists have systematically observed accents throughout the British isles, and have attempted to document and provide explanations for regional differences and distinct varieties. The present study examined the speculation by Wells (1982a, b) that the happY vowel in use in working-class Nottingham differs from the rest of the United Kingdom and can be realised as approaching [ɛ] of the DRESS lexical set instead of the more common KIT [ɪ] or FLEECE [i]. In addition to documenting the variable, the subsequent study also looked into whether there is a relationship between usage of the innovation and age, gender or formality. From the results, it was established that the happY vowel in use in a working-class native Nottingham accent can be realised approaching [ɛ] of the DRESS lexical set and that even though all speakers have a high usage of the variant the form is formality driven; as well as being both age and gender-specific.

Whilst differences in British English accents can be traditionally evidenced through variances in pronunciation, syntax and lexical choices, justification for these preferences are more complicated and contentious (Cheshire et al, 1989; 1999; Kerswill, 2002). Over the past 40 or so years sociolinguists have systematically observed accents throughout the British isles, and have attempted to document and provide explanations for regional differences and distinct varieties. The present study examined the speculation by Wells (1982a, b) that the happY vowel in use in working-class Nottingham differs from the rest of the United Kingdom and can be realised as approaching [ɛ] of the DRESS lexical set instead of the more common KIT [ɪ] or FLEECE [i]. In addition to documenting the variable, the subsequent study also looked into whether there is a relationship between usage of the innovation and age, gender or formality. From the results, it was established that the happY vowel in use in a working-class native Nottingham accent can be realised approaching [ɛ] of the DRESS lexical set and that even though all speakers have a high usage of the variant the form is formality driven; as well as being both age and gender-specific.

This article deals with research into the importance of native or near native pronunciation of a person’s L2 or L3 and the prejudices faced by those who may speak an accented form of a majority language. In order to reach its conclusions, the article analyses research focused on the learning of English as an L2 or L3 undertaken over the last 50 years. It concentrated on the impact of accented speech and the biases for and against accented speakers of a majority language and identifies where these findings converge and diverge. These results also indicate that the concerns of researchers have shifted as the perceptions of foreigners within English-speaking societies have changed over time. Ingroups are identified as important in determining the relative values of accents and that accented speakers constitute an audible minority and exert pressure on its members to maintain the “accentedness” of their speech. In defining the nature of an audible minority, the article indicates that this can be as powerful a factor as that of skin colour in some societies. In the end, it questions whether meticulous uniformity in spoken language is important or even desirable. The article concludes by suggesting that the problem of the audible minority is more that of the listener than the speaker since many of the myths surrounding accentedness and intelligibility have been proven false.

There are two orthographic systems, Zhuyin fuhao (hereafter Zhuyin) and Hanyu pinyin (hereafter Pinyin), used to represent the pronunciation of Mandarin in Chinese communities around the world. The Language Research Centre at the University of Calgary was contracted by a public school board of a Canadian city to conduct research into these two systems. This research was to focus on the following questions: (1) do students who receive instruction in Mandarin using Zhuyin have a less of an English accent when speaking Mandarin than those who are taught using Pinyin; and (2) does the difference, if it exists, result from the difference in teaching methodologies (i.e., the different orthographic system used). We collected data from children in different schools in different regions in Canada who were taught using one of Zhuyin or Pinyin. We interviewed children in grades 1, 4, and 6, who were randomly selected to participate in this project. Data on both orthographic systems was collected. In order to answer question (1), the authors made audio recordings of the children while they were engaged in a short conversation. These tapes are being assessed later by native Mandarin speakers (from a variety of regions) to see if some children have more of an English accent when speaking Mandarin than others. An Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was conducted to see if there is any correlation between method of instruction and degree of global accent. In order to answer question (2) the authors collected additional data. This data was collected in the form of a questionnaire that the parents filled out. In the paper, the authors introduce the research questions, describe methodology used, and report on the results of the analysis of the data collected.

Гасан Гусейнов ГРУЗИНСКИЙ АКЦЕНТ В РУССКОМ ДИСКУРСЕ ПОЗДНЕСОВЕТСКОЙ И ПЕРВОЙ ЧЕТВЕРТИ ВЕКА ПОСТСОВЕТСКОЙ ЭПОХИ. - Россия–Грузия после империи: Cборник статей / Cост. Мирья Лекке, Елена Чхаидзе. — М.: Новое литературное обозрение,
2018, с. 56-79.
В статье рассматривается социально-политическая роль грузинского и других акцентов в публичном пространстве советской и постсоветской эпох. Анализируется один из ключевых для культурной жизни позднего СССР эпизодов полемики по национальному вопросу - переписка Натана Эйдельмана и Виктора Астафьева в связи с публикацией рассказа "Ловля пескарей в Грузии" (1986).

It has been argued that depending on gender language is used in different ways in society, and the fact that language is surveyed differently leads to the thesis that men and women have ‘differentiated communicative competence’ (Coates, 2004). A distinct pronunciation variant that is widely used and ‘has recently been noted as spreading through non-standard accents in England’ (cf. Trudgill, 1988: 43), is that of th-fronting. The form th- fronting has become more and more integrated into the speech patterns of many speakers across the United Kingdom although it has ‘not ‘officially’ entered RP yet’ (Altendorf, 1999: 5). This study focused on whether or not gender is associated with variation in the usage of th-fronting in the urban and multicultural locality of Nottingham, United Kingdom. The analysis was undertaken in order to assess how urban youth culture in Nottingham utilizes and applies the form th-fronting in everyday dialogue such as day-to-day conversations, and whether their mode of expression varies according to gender. The study aimed to gain an insight into the relationship between spoken language and identity, and to recognise whether the social backgrounds/ cultural practices people have influence their use of ethnically and age-coded variables.

This article is intended to briefly overview the status of the native speaker norms within the English as Foreign Language (EFL) and French as a Foreign Language (FFL) context. Although extremely conformist and non-conformist stances exist, and it seems equitable if English as Foreign Language (EFL) and French as a Foreign Language (FFL) users conform to the native speaker grammar and phonology, and native speakers from the other parts of World do not impose their sociopragmatic values on other users Summarily, whilst conforming to the native speaker norms in the linguistic areas-e.g., phonology and grammar-might be necessary, extralinguistic elements-eg. sociopragmatic features-can be adapted to the English as Foreign Language (EFL) and French as a Foreign Language (FFL) situation.

This paper explores the linguistically naive descriptions which one set of EFL learners provided when identifying and describing accents. First and second-year English majors at a French university were asked to do two tasks. First, they listened to two extracts to determine whether the speaker's accent sounded more British or American, and to explain which features helped them to decide. Later they answered two questions: a) What do you do when you want to sound more like an American? and b) more like a British person? The analysis of their answers highlights learners' underlying representations of accents as well as concept formation in relation to English pronunciation. I argue that this cognitive aspect of L2 learning should be addressed explicitly in instruction.

The present study looks at role of attitudes and identity from nonnative speakers (NNSs) of English from Indonesia, Malaysia, China, Korea and Iran towards their English accents and of other NNSs concerning their English accents and how the results fit into Jenkins’ (2005) ideas of lingua franca English which focused on their attitudes to identification with NNS and native speaker (NS) English accents, their perceptions of others’ attitudes and identification, and their beliefs about teaching these accents. From the ten participants, six of them are English teachers or tutors while four are non English teachers. The results of this study suggest that two participants did not like their own accents, while eight of them did not have any problems with theirs. Five participants favored the British English accents while others prefer the American and Scottish English accents; one even chose to like her own NNS English accent. Regarding other group’s accents; four participants accepted th...

This study investigates developing linguistic prestige of the standard/local varieties in bidialectal kindergarteners whose linguistic environment has a high level of interference between two varieties of different social prestige. To date, little is known about linguistic preferences of kindergarteners who are exposed to a wide range of speech forms on a continuum of the standard (high-status) variety and a local (low-status) dialect. Particularly the emergence of metalinguistic awareness of the prestige of the varieties in a highly interfering bidialectal environment is understudied. 77 Hungarian 5-7-year-olds participated in a VGT-MGT quantitative experiment along with a brief qualitative data collection. A significant preference for the high-status variety and an emerging metalinguistic awareness of the different prestige of two varieties have been found in bidialectal children as early as age 6.

The objectives of this study are to elicit perceptions that Chinese users of English have towards a selection of world English varieties; to determine the effects of speaker gender and visual primes (ethnic faces) on perceptions; and also to reveal how these two factors interact with each other. In the present experiment, 278 respondents were exposed to eight world English varieties. Each accent sample had a female and a male voice version. Chinese students of English were exposed to these recordings, with the presence and absence of average ethnic faces as visual stimuli during the experiment, and requested to complete a questionnaire to reflect on their impressions by means of Likert scales. The results showed a preference for inner circle monolingual standards, and a rejection of outer circle Englishes (for the circles of English classification, see Kachru, 2006). Results also showed a positive perception of respondents towards their own Chinese accent. Ethnic faces visual prime and speaker gender factors, as well as their interaction, also proved to have significant influences on the results. Respondents rated accents significantly more positively when accompanied by ethnic faces. In the case of sole aural stimuli (in the absence of faces visual stimuli) male versions of the accents were observed to obtain significantly better impressions from participants.

Notre étude sur la perception d’accent porte sur le FLS qui, rappelons-le, se distingue du FL1, du FL2 et du FLE par son mode d’appropriation. A notre connaissance, cette étude est la première sur le FLS qui confronte les représentations des auditeurs au signal acoustique et aux caractéristiques des L1 des locuteurs.
Une comparaison des commentaires des auditeurs aux performances des locuteurs a mis en évidence chez les auditeurs une aptitude certaine à définir les traits discriminants des différents accents.
Ces résultats auront un impact sur la notion même de variétés africaines de français. Les données que nous avons explorées indiquent en effet, au-delà de l’influence certaine de facteurs sociolinguistiques sur les variétés locales de français, que l’étiquette « français du Mali » cache une pluralité d’idiomes dans lesquels les structures linguistiques de la L1 jouent un rôle de premier plan.

ABSTRACT The present study looks at role of attitudes and identity from nonnative speakers (NNSs) of English from Indonesia, Malaysia, China, Korea and Iran towards their English accents and of other NNSs concerning their English accents and how the results fit into Jenkins’ (2005) ideas of lingua franca English which focused on their attitudes to identification with NNS and native speaker (NS) English accents, their perceptions of others’ attitudes and identification, and their beliefs about teaching these accents. From the ten participants, six of them are English teachers or tutors while four are non English teachers. The results of this study suggest that two participants did not like their own accents, while eight of them did not have any problems with theirs. Five participants favored the British English accents while others prefer the American and Scottish English accents; one even chose to like her own NNS English accent. Regarding other group’s accents; four participants accepted the different accents as they are familiar with the situation due to the fact that they are nonnative speakers as well. However six participants did considered the variety of accents were a bit difficult to understand. For participants who were English teachers and three non teachers, they considered that accent and pronunciation should be close to “the original and correct English” or “Standard English.” Nevertheless for two other participants who were non teachers believed that accents should not be a problem in teaching the language.

Foreign accent is judged by the degree to which the non-native (L2) production is perceived differently from production patterns by native speakers (NL) [1]. Both segmental and suprasegmental features are shown influential in accent perception by NL speakers or L2 learners [2]-[4]. However, roles of prosodic cues in the process are not well known yet. Our study aims to investigate effects of intonation and speaking rate in foreign accent perception. We modified properties of the two cues in English utterances produced by NL and L2 speakers. Mandarin and Cantonese learners of English judged on the degree of foreign accents. Results show that intonation had a stronger influence on accent rating in L2 than in native speech, while speaking rates affected judgement of L2 accents more. No differences were found between Cantonese and Mandarin L2 English samples, but Cantonese listeners seemed more sensitive to native English samples than Mandarin listeners did.

La metodología de la lingüística contrastiva exige que las lenguas se comparen a partir de una invariante compartida, un tertium comparationis conocido de antemano, para que las (dis)coincidencias halladas sean atribuibles a propiedades de las lenguas en cuestión. Pero la prosodia del francés, estudiada por Rossi (1971) y Martin (1997, 1999a, 1999b, 2001, 2006, 2009), demuestra que el criterio de la altura tonal relativa en el centro vocálico no es necesariamente un invariante que sirva de rasero interlingüístico, y que aplicar de entrada el sistema ToBi puede ser una ilusión más o menos etnocéntrica.

Cette analyse est  basée sur des enregistrements faits à Bamako (Mali) en décembre 2006 et d’un test de perception effectué en décembre 2008 / janvier 2009.
Les tests de perception cherchent à déterminer les caractéristiques, réelles ou imaginaires, souvent stéréotypées, des accents, en alliant l’étude des représentations linguistiques à la variation diatopique (géographique), souvent aussi diastratique (sociale), et parfois diaphasique (stylistique) – mais plus rarement interférentielle (provenant d’un substrat ou d’un adstrat), comme c'est le cas dans cette étude. Il s’agit ici d’identifier les facteurs sociolinguistiques qui jouent dans l’identification de l’accent. Les taux d’identification des L1 sont ainsi mis en rapport avec les caractéristiques socio-démographiques des locuteurs, les représentations des auditeurs et le profil de ces derniers.

Everybody has an accent (Stockwell, 2003) and these can be determined by social class, geographical location and other social variables (Wells, 1982). Many previous studies have presumed that people are relatively accurate at recognising local accents, though further examination is needed in order to analyse how accurate participants are in deciding where speakers originate. Our research examined language variation and perception around the East-Midlands. There has been no regional survey of the dialects of the East Midlands since the ‘Survey of English Dialects’ in the 1950s. More recent localised studies that present an overview of regional speech in the UK either lack up-to-date research from the East Midlands or ignore the area completely. Despite this lack of empirical evidence, anecdotally it appears that speech in the East Midlands remains extremely distinctive and locals insist there is considerable variation between speech in the major urban centres of Nottingham, Leicester and Derby.

This paper examines how eight YouTubers in nine Accent Tag videos, focusing
on phonological and lexical varieties, use English as a lingua franca to reveal
their multiple L1, L2, and, occasionally, L3 identities and attitudes. Examining
vlogger content is a new approach to fi eld work, in which the data are off ered
by the informants at their own initiative. The analysis reveals two major
categories of identity assertion: one through conscious language use and
another through metalanguage (i.e., statements on accent and language use).
Some techniques involve off ering choices selecting from the vloggers’ L1, L2
(English), and occasionally their L3, analyzing transfer problems, distancing
themselves from a form or language, and declaring their affi liation. Overall,
the YouTubers appear to be more confi dent users of English than expected
compared to previous research on attitudes towards accents, and function
well without necessarily comparing themselves to native speakers of English.
Additionally, the vloggers use English to promote their other languages as
well, presenting themselves as communicators in multiple languages. It is
hypothesized that the context of YouTube may promote the expression of
internationally varied, multiple identities.
Keywords: Accent Tag, ELF, variety, identity, non-native

This is a survey designed to assess the effects that the self-perception of a non-native accent, when speaking a foreign language, may have on a person's willingness to communicate. In particular, this survey is designed for native Arabic-speakers who speak English as a foreign language. I welcome feedback on this survey to improve its validity. The survey has not yet been implemented; the link to it will be shared here some time in April, 2016. Note that it may not remain active past June of 2016.

Cet article repose sur des années d’observation de terrain dans un lycée situé en Seine Saint-Denis, en banlieue parisienne. Nous analysons les discours épilinguistiques de trois lycéennes banlieusardes d’origines différentes qui adoptent des pratiques de prononciation proches de celles défendues par l’école. L’objectif est ici de questionner la pertinence de la notion d’« accent de banlieue » sur un terrain où il est censé être aisément observable et où, pourtant, de nombreux jeunes ne le pratiquent absolument pas. L’article confronte deux positions qui semblent irréconciliables : d’un côté une convergence de discours médiatiques, scientifiques et du tout-venant qui assurent un semblant de consistance à cette notion ; d’un autre côté, les critiques formulées par de nombreux sociolinguistes pour qui l’accent de banlieue, tout comme la variété de « français populaire », repose sur une illusion purement idéologique. Un parallèle avec les débats sur l’idéologie qui, durant longtemps, a justifié l’existence des « races » permet alors d’envisager la complémentarité de ces positions. Nous plaidons, en conclusion, pour un alignement des descriptions phonétiques à visée scientifique sur les autres niveaux d’analyse linguistique. Il s’agit par conséquent d’écarter la catégorie accent social (qu’il soit territorialisé ou non) au profit de celle de style, plus agentive et moins stigmatisante.

The present study looks at role of attitudes and identity from nonnative speakers (NNSs) of English from Indonesia, Malaysia, China, Korea and Iran towards their English accents and of other NNSs concerning their English accents and how the results fit into Jenkins’ (2005) ideas of lingua franca English which focused on their attitudes to identification with NNS and native speaker (NS) English accents, their perceptions of others’ attitudes and identification, and their beliefs about teaching these accents. From the ten participants, six of them are English teachers or tutors while four are non English teachers. The results of this study suggest that two participants did not like their own accents, while eight of them did not have any problems with theirs. Five participants favored the British English accents while others prefer the American and Scottish English accents; one even chose to like her own NNS English accent. Regarding other group’s accents; four participants accepted the different accents as they are familiar with the situation due to the fact that they are nonnative speakers as well. However six participants did considered the variety of accents were a bit difficult to understand. For participants who were English teachers and three non teachers, they considered that accent and pronunciation should be close to “the original and correct English” or “Standard English.” Nevertheless for two other participants who were non teachers believed that accents should not be a problem in teaching the language.

Full text available here: https://rdcu.be/b3ZSd Native-speaker listeners constantly predict upcoming units of speech as part of language processing, using various cues. However, this process is impeded in second-language listeners, as well as when the speaker has an unfamiliar accent. Whereas previous research has largely concentrated on the pronunciation of individual segments in foreign-accented speech, we show that regional accent impedes higher levels of language processing, making native listeners’ processing resemble that of second-language listeners. In Experiment 1, 42 native speakers of Canadian English followed instructions spoken in British English to move objects on a screen while their eye movements were tracked. Native listeners use prosodic cues to information status to disambiguate between two possible referents, a new and a previously mentioned one, before they have heard the complete word. By contrast, the Canadian participants, similarly to second-language speakers, were not able to make full use of prosodic cues in the way native British listeners do. In Experiment 2, 19 native speakers of Canadian English rated the British English instructions used in Experiment 1, as well as the same instructions spoken by a Canadian imitating the British English prosody. While information status had no effect for the Canadian imitations, the original stimuli received higher ratings when prosodic realization and information status of the referent matched than for mismatches, suggesting a native-like competence in these offline ratings. These findings underline the importance of expanding psycholinguistic models of second language/dialect processing and representation to include both prosody and regional variation.

This study focused on two of the most common lexical items in the English language, the conjunction ‘because’ and the verb ‘going’. It was an analysis of ten heterosexual boys aged between fourteen and nineteen and their usage, clippings and pronunciation of the chosen words. The analysis was carried out in order to asses how urban youth culture in St Ann’s utilize and apply the lexical items in everyday dialogue such as verbal conversations via face to face interactions, telephone calls and text messaging. The aims of the project were to understand whether language and age is altered by where people hold their identities, to recognise whether the lifestyles people have influences the formality of their linguistic repertoire and lexis, and to distinguish whether the participation in certain social groups changes the constructions people use.

Group and race-based discrimination remains present in South Africa, in part as an Apartheid by-product, and can result in biased treatment. The study investigated whether and how accents influence perceptions of credibility, focussing on English, Cape-Coloured, and Gay accents. Results from an online questionnaire (N=295) showed that race significantly influenced which accent was deemed most believable (X2 (4) = 9.88, p ≤ .043). Focus group interviews (N=18) suggested that perceived education level was the biggest factor in determining credibility. The Gay accent was deemed most believable and rated highest on intelligence, although qualitative findings suggested that a witness with this accent might not be believed in criminal justice settings, due to homophobia and assumed likelihood to exaggerate. The Cape-Coloured accent was deemed less believable due to associations with lack of education, crime, and dangerousness'. The English accent was rated highest on reliability, like...

The present study examined whether heritage speakers (HSs) of European Portuguese (EP) who were born or moved to a German-speaking country before the age of eight years were perceived as native speakers of EP. In particular, this study intended to determine whether a change of linguistic environment, length of residence in a migrant context, length of residence in the country of origin before migration and after remigration, and age at return could predict the degree of (non)native accent in the heritage language. Thirty native Portuguese speakers assessed the global accent of 20 Portuguese-German bilinguals, five Portuguese monolinguals and five highly proficient German speakers of Portuguese as a second language (L2). The group of HSs comprised 17 speakers who returned to Portugal. The results revealed that listeners perceived a strong global foreign accent in the speech of the L2 learners, while the monolingual Portuguese speakers were clearly perceived as being native speakers o...

Sociolinguistic research on language attitudes has revealed that non-standard accented speakers are usually perceived more negatively than members of the dominant speech community. Few studies, however, have examined whether a speaker’s ethnicity, evidenced by nonlinguistic factors such as appearance, may play a role in listeners’ perception of accent. This project is based on studies by Rubin (1992) investigating perceptions of foreign academics by undergraduate students in the US. In those studies, participants listened to a short lecture presented with a projection of either a Caucasian or a Chinese face and completed a listening comprehension test and a speakers’ evaluation rating scale. Unknown to the participants, the recording was produced by a single standard American-English speaker. Participants exposed to the Chinese face perceived a non-standard accent and rated the speaker more negatively than those exposed to the Caucasian face. Our present study extends Rubin (1992) by examining data collected through an online survey from languages and linguistics university students in Australia. Unlike Rubin’s (1992) findings, this study found no statistically significant differences between responses based on exposure to a Chinese or Caucasian face, a fact that could be attributed primarily to the multilingual and multicultural composition of Australian universities.

From a sociolinguistic point of view, the generically called upper classes are characterised by their insularity, as their members are a self-recognised group of people who “frequently meet face-to-face in social institutions of their own” (Kroch 1996: 24). The result of this limited accessibility is that although upper-class voices are often unmistakable, they are seldom the focus of linguistic studies: the little research on the subject generally has as its upper limit the upper middle classes (Mesthrie et al. 2005: 104). For what concerns audiovisual translation in particular, the subject has attracted specific interest only recently (Bruti and Vignozzi 2016; Sandrelli 2016). After a definition of the phonological and sociocultural aspects of British upper-class speech, this chapter will offer an evaluation of the way the people belonging to this class are linguistically and culturally portrayed in significant films and TV series of UK and US production, focusing on the function of the characters’ dialogues in the context of the respective narratives. The analysis will also discuss the translation strategies implemented by Italian adapters for dubbing. This contribution will highlight examples of realistic portrayals of upper-class people and of more stereotypical characterisations which put into sharp relief the linguistic, social and cultural nuances at play when this type of character acts and speaks within a context which is alien to him/her in geographical and social terms.