This thesis aims to elucidate which approach is the most advantageous in the analysis of acceptability judgments of native speakers: whether it is a categorical or a gradient approach....Show moreThis thesis aims to elucidate which approach is the most advantageous in the analysis of acceptability judgments of native speakers: whether it is a categorical or a gradient approach. Acceptability judgments have often been recognized as a relevant source of language knowledge (Chomsky, 1965; Sorace & Keller, 2005; Schütze & Schütze, 2011). Judgment elicitation procedures consist of asking speakers directly about their opinion on linguistic elements, such as sounds, words and sentences. However, interrogating participants directly about their language knowledge is not as simple as it seems. Several confounding factors, such as the order of presentation of the stimuli, and the repetition of instructions (Sprouse, 2007; Schütze, 2016) can interfere with such judgments, casting doubt on the reliability of the data. This thesis discusses some theories and methods involved in judgment elicitation procedures, in order to be able to examine whether categorical or gradient procedures are more successful in tapping into speakers’ knowledge while circumventing potentially confounding factors. Additionally, two empirical studies are discussed in detail, as examples of categorical and gradient approaches in the analysis of speakers’ innate language knowledge; one on syntax (Sprouse, 2007) and one on phonology (Turton, 2017).Show less
Most researchers agree that frequency plays a role during the processing or accessing of words. Hay (2001) argues that there is a type of frequency called relative frequency which has an important...Show moreMost researchers agree that frequency plays a role during the processing or accessing of words. Hay (2001) argues that there is a type of frequency called relative frequency which has an important effect on the processing of derived forms through a two-route model of morphological processing. She argues that complex forms with a frequency lower than the frequency of their base forms (e.g. uncommon) are more likely to be perceived as decomposable than a complex form with a higher frequency than the frequency of their base words (e.g. uncanny). She reports the results of an experiment which provides evidence for this view. Since it is reasonable to assume that these relative frequency effects also occur in other languages, I replicated her experiment for Dutch. The results of my experiment suggest that relative frequency effects are observed in the processing of Dutch derived forms.Show less
Recently, Buizza and Plug (2012) researched one particular allophone of the phoneme /t/ in RP English. This particular pronunciation of /t/, in which the /t/ receives an s-like secondary...Show moreRecently, Buizza and Plug (2012) researched one particular allophone of the phoneme /t/ in RP English. This particular pronunciation of /t/, in which the /t/ receives an s-like secondary articulation, has received little scholarly attention to date. B&P conclude that this variant of /t/ can be regarded as fortition, in the sense that this pronunciation makes the /t/ more prevalent in strong positions in the syllable. The main element of this thesis is an empirical study based on the study carried out by Buizza and Plug (2012). It consists of a small-scale reproduction of their research in which I analyse spontaneous speech using the speech-analysis programme Praat (Boersma & Weenink 2017). The goal of this thesis was twofold: (i) to see whether I obtained similar results as B&P and (ii) to extend our knowledge on this variant of the RP English /t/, which could in turn deepen our understanding on developments of the RP English /t/. In doing so, I help investigate how the distinction between fortition and lenition can be researched. I conclude that my results partly reflect the results in B&P, although the distribution of [ts] over the positions considered is slightly different. This can in part be explained by the smaller scale and by the choices that I made during the categorization of the data. I also add that, in researching sound changes such as fortition and lenition, it might be worth looking at the influence of surrounding words.Show less
![Time for /t/ - An Empirical Study of the Affricated Fortis Alveolar Plosive [ts] in RP English](/sites/all/themes/scholarly/img/closed_access.png?solr_nav%5Bid%5D=4da6b1b2da55143c4376&solr_nav%5Bpage%5D=0&solr_nav%5Boffset%5D=5)
