Experimental approaches to sentence processing focus on localizing areas responsible for language comprehension in the brain oftentimes disregarding the role of time in both the construction and...Show moreExperimental approaches to sentence processing focus on localizing areas responsible for language comprehension in the brain oftentimes disregarding the role of time in both the construction and deconstruction of linguistic structure. Inspired by predictive coding and cue integration, this thesis proposes a theoretical framework for sentence processing where the hierarchical structure of language and its evolution over time profoundly influences its processing leading to time-contingent weighted integration of information. Essential to this theory is the assumption that the reliability of the internal representations generated by each level of linguistic analysis influences the gain of the predictions formulated by the other levels. Multivariate Pattern Analysis was used to compare the gain of semantic and phonological processing at two different timepoints in a sentence. Experiment 1 was the design of an EEG Multivariate Pattern Classification experiment where the classification accuracy of a phonological and semantic classifier for words in early and late positions in a sentence would be compared. We expected classification accuracy of the phonological classifier to be constant regardless of word position and a higher classification accuracy for the semantic classifier at later time points relative to the phonological classifier. Experiment 2 was a Representational Similarity Analysis of nouns in early and late positions from MEG audiobook data. When correlating Phonological and Semantic models with the data, no significant time windows were found. However, the presence of uncorrected clusters suggests the implementation of nested timescales as variations in temporal integration frequency.Show less
This thesis gives a detailed overview of the Guīshān Mandarin sound system based on several thousands of monosyllables uttered in isolation. The analyses presented are both phonetic and...Show moreThis thesis gives a detailed overview of the Guīshān Mandarin sound system based on several thousands of monosyllables uttered in isolation. The analyses presented are both phonetic and phonological, combining quantitative and qualitative methods.Show less
Research master thesis | Linguistics (research) (MA)
open access
It has been observed that pre-PIE *d sometimes turns into PIE *h₁, also referred to as the Kortlandt effect, but much is still unclear about the occurrence and nature of this change. In this thesis...Show moreIt has been observed that pre-PIE *d sometimes turns into PIE *h₁, also referred to as the Kortlandt effect, but much is still unclear about the occurrence and nature of this change. In this thesis, I provide an elaborate discussion aimed at establishing the conditions and a phonetic explanation for the development. All words that have thus far been proposed as instances of the *d > *h₁ change will be investigated more closely, leading to the conclusion that the Kortlandt effect is a type of debuccalisation due to dental dissimilation when *d is followed by a consonant. Typological parallels for this type of change, as well as evidence from IE daughter languages, enable us to identify it as a shift from pre-glottalised voiceless stop to glottal stop.Show less
The current research project has employed qualitative methods to conduct a language attitude study that gauges the inter-generational perspectives of South Africans about the variety of English...Show moreThe current research project has employed qualitative methods to conduct a language attitude study that gauges the inter-generational perspectives of South Africans about the variety of English spoken in the country and its accents. The objective of this research project is to evaluate how South Africans feel about English, 26 years since the inception of democracy in the country, its role in education, governance and business, and the value they assign to language status. Ten South Africans between the ages of 17 and 65 from the main ethnicities in the country (Black, White, Coloured, Indian, Muslim) have been interviewed according to a semi-structured Interview Protocol. The attitudes of the younger speakers were compared to those that were born in previous generations, before democracy. The phonological properties of the participants’ speech were recorded within the BATH, KIT and GOOSE vowel spaces which have been identified as important social markers in South Africa and the South African English (SAE) sound. The participants pronunciations across the ethnic and social class spectrum were evaluated. The interviews and phonological recordings were conducted according to an elicited communications methodology (computer-mediated) using WhatsApp, Skype and Facebook. The participant attitudes were coded into six categories, i.e. positive, negative, perceptiveness, awareness, overcompensation, political correctness. Their vowel recordings were analysed according to its place of articulation and the presence of fronting. The participants displayed an innate positive attitude toward SAE and its role in stimulating future progress in the country.Show less
Research in the field of high-proficiency in L2 speakers most commonly focuses on the age of acquisition and the corresponding critical period hypothesis. More current research tends to focus on...Show moreResearch in the field of high-proficiency in L2 speakers most commonly focuses on the age of acquisition and the corresponding critical period hypothesis. More current research tends to focus on the high-proficiency L2 speaker’s sentence structure or syntax, and their influence on comprehensibility. In this case study, a high-proficiency L2 speaker was phonetically analyzed to describe his L2 accent choices successfully and find possible deviations in his General American accent, according to listeners. 17 American born listeners were recruited to mark deviations based on an 8-minute long audio-clip containing high-proficiency L2 sentence fragments. This audio file was accompanied by a script (appendix 1), which allowed the listeners to highlight deviations, accentedness, or foreignness. The same materials were also presented to an expert listener who would be able to shed more light on the speaker’s possible deviations. Results suggested that the speaker indeed still exhibited some slight deviations according to the listeners. Elements of foreignness were found in in the /g, /l/, /t/, /ɾ/, /ɹ/, /æ/, /ɛ/, /ɪ/, and /ɑ/ sound, and the word ‘campfire’ was most commonly marked as deviating according to the listeners.Show less
Bilingual education programmes have been increasing in popularity in the Netherlands. These programmes use language integrated learning: a pedagogical principle through which the material is taught...Show moreBilingual education programmes have been increasing in popularity in the Netherlands. These programmes use language integrated learning: a pedagogical principle through which the material is taught in a second language, often English. This thesis focusses on the effects of these programmes on pupils’ motivation to learn and to seek out native input, as well as on the influence these programmes have on students’ L2 phonology. More specifically, it analyses whether pupils are able to pronounce English word-final obstruents properly, both their voiced and voiceless variants. This is something that is particularly challenging, as prior research on the Marked Differential Hypothesis and Optimality Theory showed that voiced obstruents are a marked language feature of English, as well as one that is not present in Dutch. Through a digital questionnaire and a reading task, pupils from bilingual and monolingual streams of the same high school participated in this study. The research found no significant difference in the level of motivation or desire to seek out input between the two groups, but TTO students did use English captions more often when watching English films and series. Error analyses of the reading tasks of three pupils found that the TTO pupil did only devoice word-final fricatives, whereas the VWO pupils devoiced both the stops and the fricatives. Furthermore, other errors, such as applying the Dutch phonological rule of Regressive Voice Assimilation and altering the place of articulation, were only made by VWO pupils. Sending the recordings made by the pupils to native speakers confirmed that the TTO pupil did sound more native than the VWO pupils. However, due to the limited number of analyses, it can only be speculated what general effects bilingual education has on the L2 phonology of a wider variety of pupils.Show less
Research master thesis | Linguistics (research) (MA)
open access
Existing didactic and academic materials on Korean phonology often (partly) reason from written to spoken language or are difficult for second-language learners to understand. This thesis attempts...Show moreExisting didactic and academic materials on Korean phonology often (partly) reason from written to spoken language or are difficult for second-language learners to understand. This thesis attempts to serve as a bridge between existing linguistic and didactic works by producing a linguistically responsible yet didactically adequate overview of Korean phonology, solely based on spoken language. I do this by taking the phoneme features described in Shin, Kiaer, and Cha's (2012) The sounds of Korean as a starting point. These features are tested in line with the methodology described in Ebeling’s (1960) Linguistic units by shifting the value of one feature at a time, and asking native speakers of Korean about the meanings of these realisations, if any. In order to make sure my work be accessible without the need for prior knowledge on linguistics, it selects only those linguistic terms that are necessary, all of which are explained. Next to exemplifying Ebeling’s methodology with an accessible exploration of contemporary Korean phonology, I have provided methodological considerations for didactic purposes. This work explores means of valorisation, making expert knowledge on the Korean language available for wider societal use. It ensures maximal applicability for a book that teaches second-language learners Korean pronunciation, and maximal adaptability to an introduction to Korean orthography.Show less
Research master thesis | Linguistics (research) (MA)
open access
2022-02-01T00:00:00Z
Much of the literature on heritage language phonology finds heritage speakers to show some influence from their dominant language compared to homeland speakers, but heritage speakers still perform...Show moreMuch of the literature on heritage language phonology finds heritage speakers to show some influence from their dominant language compared to homeland speakers, but heritage speakers still perform more accurately in their heritage language than do naïve speakers. Yet, research on heritage language phonology is limited compared to that on heritage language syntax and morphology. This is even more so the case for research on heritage speakers’ suprasegmental phonology: for instance, very little is known about heritage speakers’ perception of lexical tone. The present study used an ABX task to investigate perceptual segment-tone integration in heritage speakers of Vietnamese in the Netherlands, compared to monolingually raised Dutch and Vietnamese speakers in the homeland, respectively. Heritage speakers were found to have a stronger segment-tone integration than the monolingually raised Dutch, whereas the homeland Vietnamese showed a slightly stronger integration than the heritage speakers. Moreover, the groups’ integrations were asymmetrical: heritage speakers considered both tones and segments in word identification but had a clear preference for segments; the Dutch controls almost exclusively considered segments and the Vietnamese controls had a slight preference for tone-based word identification. The findings thus conform to previous literature on heritage language phonology: the heritage speakers performed intermediately between monolinguals of their heritage and dominant languages.Show less
This study aimed to provide a clearer understanding of the phonetic influence a native speaker of Arabic can experience during the acquisition of English as a second language (ESL), specifically...Show moreThis study aimed to provide a clearer understanding of the phonetic influence a native speaker of Arabic can experience during the acquisition of English as a second language (ESL), specifically for the consonants /p/ and /v/ in spelling and pronunciation. In a small-scale experiment, Arabic speakers of English were asked to translate an Arabic story to English by hand to create an authentic product of their spelling abilities. Afterwards, the same participants read a short story in English, which was recorded with audio equipment to later evaluate their pronunciation through the program PRAAT. Contrary to existing literature, the small-scale experiment conducted for this study found no significant effect for the influence of Arabic on English spelling despite this being hypothesised and proven in previous research. Along with this, no effect was found for the experiment based on the pronunciation of /p/ and /v/. Whereas the results did show that Arabic speakers of English had a Voice Onset Time (VOT) of /p/ that was considerably lower, they did not realise a [b] instead of the target [ph] as hypothesised. Speakers did not significantly devoice their /v/ to an [f], which does not directly coincide with the literature that has hypothesised the influence of native language phonology on the pronunciation of English as a second language. When evaluating the results as a whole, two things are implied: (1) there is a possible focus in ESL learning on spelling and therefore no issues were found, and (2) pronunciation is a difficult aspect of ESL learning due to the unfamiliar articulatory processes involved and Arabic learners experience difficulties when faced with the unfamiliar /p/ and to a lesser degree also /v/. However, they are able to make the distinction between the phoneme pairs. These implications may help ESL learners in the future to focus on problem areas, further improve their skills, while simultaneously providing the research niche of phonology with new material to investigate.Show less
The Dialect of Vlasotince is a Torlak variety of South Slavic spoken in and around the small town of Vlasotince in southern Serbia, between Kosovo (KiM) and Bulgaria. This grammar sketch aims to...Show moreThe Dialect of Vlasotince is a Torlak variety of South Slavic spoken in and around the small town of Vlasotince in southern Serbia, between Kosovo (KiM) and Bulgaria. This grammar sketch aims to provide a succinct description of its phonology, morphology and select syntactic features as currently used by the inhabitants of Vlasotince, supplemented with a small number of texts to illustrate its use in practice. Due to Vlasotince’s considerable growth since the end of WWII (Vukmirović 2013: 106) and the proliferation of media and schooling in the standard language, what is most commonly heard on the street nowadays is a variety with stronger influence from the standard language than is usually found in the works on Torlak dialectology from the past century, yet one that clearly retains much of its distinctive character. It is this contemporary, commonly used register, sprinkled with influences from the standard, that I have tried to describe here. It should serve as a representative snapshot of the way people from Vlasotince speak amongst themselves today.Show less
A comparative study attempting to explain the occurrence of non-V2 in Dutch comparative correlatives ("Hoe A-er, hoe B-er"). The presented theories (from previous studies) described in the thesis...Show moreA comparative study attempting to explain the occurrence of non-V2 in Dutch comparative correlatives ("Hoe A-er, hoe B-er"). The presented theories (from previous studies) described in the thesis are based on non-V2 phenomena in Dutch and Northern Norwegian. The research question ("Can theories about non-V2 in the Tromsø Norwegian wh-questions be applied to the Dutch non-V2 comparative correlative constructions with wh-elements?") is answered by using analyses in comparative syntax, phonology, information structure and psycholinguistics.Show less
This research paper evaluates the phonological properties of South African English (SAE) through the analysis of the major contact languages that have influenced it in order to establish how it...Show moreThis research paper evaluates the phonological properties of South African English (SAE) through the analysis of the major contact languages that have influenced it in order to establish how it differs from Standard British English, also known as Received Pronunciation (RP). The aspects of the language variety that are investigated include the accent and its fragmentation and dialectology across various groups. The paper will analyse several vowels and how these are articulated in SAE as well as their evolution in the main regional settings of the country. The main English dialects of the Western Cape, Kwa-Zulu Natal and Gauteng have been assessed to determine how SAE is employed in various contexts. The paper also goes into detail about the origins of the language variety and determines the structure of its vocabulary, which has undergone the most significant changes over time. This section delves into uniquely South African lexical items and words. It also looks at the topic areas where one can clearly see substratum influences or borrowing from the landscape, culinary influences, politically engineered language as well as ethnic and cultural remnants which have made their way into SAE’s idiosyncratic vocabulary. The research would not be complete without touching on the evolving linguistic attitudes towards English during an important transitional phase for the citizens of this country in which language plays a pivotal role. There is much debate at present about the role of English in the modern South Africa and the extent to which it should dictate the course of education in the country.Show less
Dental fricatives are amongst the rarest speech sounds in the natural languages found in the world (Jekiel, 2012) and have disappeared from most Germanic languages (Laker, 2014). However, the...Show moreDental fricatives are amongst the rarest speech sounds in the natural languages found in the world (Jekiel, 2012) and have disappeared from most Germanic languages (Laker, 2014). However, the standard varieties of English still contain both the voiced and voiceless dental fricatives as phonemes. Although these phonemes are still common in e.g. Received Pronunciation (RP) and General American (GA) (Ladefoged & Maddieson, 1996), the dental fricatives are often replaced in other, non-standard varieties through processes such as th-fronting. The phenomenon of these contemporary changes in articulation has been studied, though a large portion of the research has been based mostly on sociolinguistic descriptions and discussing the phenomenon from this field’s paradigm (see e.g. Kerswill, 2003; Stuart-Smith et al., 2013) without thoroughly discussing other potential underlying phenomena that could cause the variation and change of dental fricatives in dialects: phonetic and phonological reasons, as an addition to sociolinguistic explanations, could provide a greater understanding of the factors of speech sound variation. This thesis explores some of the various ways the subfields of linguistics, historical linguistics, sociolinguistics, and phonetics, can work together to provide insights into the underlying factors influencing sound changes. By analysing the scientific literature concerning dental fricatives, the tentative conclusion was reached that, as dental fricatives do not have much phonemic function and are difficult to acquire and most Germanic languages have lost the dental fricatives, Britain could soon follow, especially if th-fronting loses its social stigma.Show less
Word-final clusters have been reported to develop earlier than word-initial clusters for children learning English (Kirk & Demuth, 2005),German (Lleo & Prinz, 1996), and Dutch (Levelt, et...Show moreWord-final clusters have been reported to develop earlier than word-initial clusters for children learning English (Kirk & Demuth, 2005),German (Lleo & Prinz, 1996), and Dutch (Levelt, et al.,2000). This is opposite to the development of singleton consonants which generally develop in word-initial position first, e.g. /m, n, t/ (Mennen et al., 2006). In this study I investigated the possible role of frequency in the acquisition of consonant onset and coda clusters. The hypothesis was that the frequency of the input of adult child-directed speech which here was a child’s name (repeated by caregivers many times a day and directly to a child) influences the child’s ability to acquire certain type of consonant clusters. Ideally Floortje would acquire onset clusters before codas and Max would acquire coda clusters before onset ones. The evidence collected however, suggests that there is no immediate association between a child’s name and the acquisition of consonant clusters in words. So here, the frequency accounts do not seem to provide a satisfactory explanation for the two way developmental path of cluster acquisition. Nevertheless, the research may be treated as a pilot study and will hopefully stimulate further exploration of the problem.Show less
Awa Pit is a Barbacoan language spoken in Colombia and Ecuador. Although there has been some research on this language before, the exact sibilant system is still up for discussion. In the current...Show moreAwa Pit is a Barbacoan language spoken in Colombia and Ecuador. Although there has been some research on this language before, the exact sibilant system is still up for discussion. In the current study, it is argued that there are two sibilant phonemes in Awa Pit, and that other sibilants are allophones of these two. Additionally, palatalization is put forth as a phonological process and argued to occur under certain circumstances in Awa Pit.Show less
The aim of this research was to investigate the occurrence of rendaku in Japanese place names based on two aspects: the region in which a name occurs and the final element of the name. By using a...Show moreThe aim of this research was to investigate the occurrence of rendaku in Japanese place names based on two aspects: the region in which a name occurs and the final element of the name. By using a database from the Japan Post, 39 place names that showed variation in rendaku occurrence were investigated. It was expected that rendaku would occur in place names according to a core periphery model, where place names located in the core area would have a higher rendaku rate. The results showed that for many names, the rendaku rate was higher in the more central Kanto, Chubu or Kinki areas compared to the peripheral areas. Furthermore, it was expected that rendaku in names ending with the same element would show a similar geographical distribution across Japan. The results showed that all names ending with kawa behaved similarly, while for other elements the rendaku pattern varied per individual name. This thesis therefore concludes that rendaku in Japanese place names occurs according to a certain pattern, although this pattern varies per name. Further research, especially regarding accent patterns, is necessary in order to explain the variation of rendaku in Japanese place names.Show less
Korean internet discussions, especially those of teens, tend to be full of deliberate spelling errors. In this work, I tried to find out if there is any phonological way to clarify these...Show moreKorean internet discussions, especially those of teens, tend to be full of deliberate spelling errors. In this work, I tried to find out if there is any phonological way to clarify these alternative spellings by analysing a multitude of discussions on the Korean internet platform Naver Cafe. I collected spelling errors from these discussions and compared them to the official spelling of Korean. To ensure a consistent corpus of data, I only considered recent discussions about BTS, a Korean boy band that is popular among female Korean teens. All collected spelling errors could be divided into accidental spelling errors and deliberate spelling errors. Most of these deliberate spelling errors are based on the pronunciation rules of the Korean writing system, making the spellings stand closer to their actual pronunciations than their correct counterparts. A small proportion of all deliberate spelling errors is based on morphophonological rules that are usually only applied in the context of verbal morphology. All of this shows that Korean language users tend to be very creative while writing their language, usually for the sake of coming across cute or innocent. From this we can conclude that even spelling errors can be a fruitful source of information.Show less
This thesis compares similar phonological features across Táiwān Mandarin and Singapore Mandarin by measuring the acoustic properties of the variables in question. Despite both varieties’ official...Show moreThis thesis compares similar phonological features across Táiwān Mandarin and Singapore Mandarin by measuring the acoustic properties of the variables in question. Despite both varieties’ official claim of being identical to Běijīng Mandarin, they have developed a significant number of differences in parallel. I hypothesize that this is because both of these varieties grew out of having Mandarin imposed upon populations that were originally and largely Southern Mǐn speaking. To test this, I modified the Labovian sociolinguistic interview for an online survey format for easy distribution. I focused largely on four variables, the first three of which are theoretically available in both of the varieties of Mandarin under investigation: 1) dentalization of the retroflex sibilants, 2) dentalization of the velar nasal codas following mid to high front vowels, and 3) unrounding of the rounded high front vowel. The final variable under investigation was a possible fifth tone only available in Singapore Mandarin. Despite whatever ease this afforded in data collection, the online survey format also created a lot of disparity between recordings that could have been avoided by using a laboratory setting, or even just consistent recording equipment. Keeping this defect in mind, I found both the behaviours predicted in prior literature, but also its exact opposite, leading me to believe that an online survey format will need a lot of honing before it can reliably be applied to research based on measuring acoustics.Show less
