School of Languages and Linguistics - Research Publications
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ItemLearning on the Field: L2 Turkish Vowel Production by L1 American English-Speaking NGOs in Turkey(MDPI, 2022-12)This study adopts the Speech Learning Model to investigate the first language (L1) influence as well as the effects of the length of residence and second language (L2) exposure on American English-speaking learners of Turkish in their productions of Turkish unrounded–rounded vowel pairs, with a particular focus on the vowel categories “new” to American English speakers (/y/, /œ/, and /ɯ/). L1 (English) and L2 (Turkish) speech samples were collected from 18 non-governmental organisation (NGO) workers. L2 experience was defined by whether the worker lived in an urban or regional environment in Turkey. Participants’ audio productions of the word list in L1 and L2 were segmented and annotated for succeeding acoustic analyses. The results show an interesting front–back variability in the realisations of the three vowels, including further back variants of the front vowels (/y/, /œ/) and more forward variants of the /ɯ/ vowel, with a substantial degree of interspeaker variability. While the analysis revealed no significant results for the length of residence, language experience was found to have a significant effect on the production of /y/ (F2) and /ɯ/ (F1/F2). This study forms a first step into the research of adult L2 acquisition in Turkish with a focus on L2 in the naturalistic workplace environment, rather than instructed settings. The findings of this study will contribute to the development of teaching materials for NGO workers learning Turkish as their L2.
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ItemAttitudes towards Indian English among young urban professionals in Hyderabad, India(WILEY, 2023-06)Abstract Despite extensive work on the description of Indian English(es), only limited attention has been paid to attitudes towards the variety among its speakers. This paper reports on semi‐structured interviews eliciting language attitudes with 32 educated young students and professionals in Hyderabad, India. Results reveal that Indian English is occupying an increasingly legitimate position within the popular consciousness, and that there is an increasing sense of ownership of a supra‐local or pan‐dialectal ‘Indian English’. There is an expressed desire for Indian English to continue to expand, and to be accepted as one of the authentic languages of India. The participants exhibited relatively high levels of linguistic security, and while a certain ‘nostalgia’ for British English was retained by some, Indian English appears to be emerging as an authentic carrier of Indian identity.
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ItemThe “other” Spanish: Methodological issues in the study of speech timing in Chilean Spanish(International Speech Communication Association (ISCA), 2020-01-01)This paper is a preliminary account of speech rhythm and some phonological properties of Chilean Spanish in spontaneous dialogues. Different dialects of Spanish have been studied using rhythm metrics measuring the durational variability of vocalic and consonantal intervals. There are, however, methodological issues regarding the segmentation of intervals, often overlooked in previous research, such as the criteria for categorising certain segments into the different intervals and the segmentation of different voice qualities. The present study addresses this gap and compares rhythm metrics obtained using two methods of segmentation based on the available literature. The analyses reveal that a strictly 'acoustic' approach to segmentation of intervals results in slightly inflated metrics. Nevertheless, both methods show there is significant durational interval variability in Chilean Spanish, compared to other dialects of Spanish, that may be connected to phonological properties of the variety.