Gavagai Journal

implicaturephonemedialectlexemelin guisticscorpusaccentoldenglishspeec hactsmetaphoresdiachronytranslatio nmetonymylksjdkldjklaasldkjgovernGavagai mentaccqwertyuiopasdfghjklphonoloJournal gyforeignizationzxcvbnmqwedomesti A Student Journal on All Matters Linguistic Edited by cationsocrtyuiopasdfghjklzxcscreoleMaciej Grabski & Magdalena Zając Published by morphemeidiomcognateslanguagechGavagai Student Society Chair of English Language and Applied Linguistics Institute of English Studies University of Lodz angesemanticsphaticwordformationi Gavagai Journal 1 , 2011 ISSN: 2083-6872 nflectionsyntagmaticnounphraselexic oncommonnounagentinstrumentpara phraseconversationalmaximsillocutio naryactmessageinferencepsycholingu isticsaccommodationborrowingloans hiftacquisitionfossilizationlexicalamb iguityblendingaffectivefilterinputacro Gavagai Journal 1, 2011 Page 1 nymallophonemeaningshiftcompeten cebnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmq Contents Agata Barańska - The examination of the vowel length in the pronunciation of the English adjectives with -able, -ate, -ative suffixes............................................................................................................ 3 Maciej Grabski - Select Anglo-Saxon riddles through the prism of Freud’s theory of wit.............. 17 Michał Piotrowski - Queen’s English: Is Queen Elizabeth II becoming non-standard?................... 28 Magdalena Zając - Dread Talk in reggae music – a universal language of resistance to oppression and inequality?.................................................................................................................................... 39 All submissions to this journal go through the process of peer-review. The articles published in this issue were reviewed by: Anna Cichosz , Ph.D., Institute of English Studies, University of Lodz Anna Gralińska-Brawata , M.A., Insitute of English Studies, University of Lodz Przemysław Ostalski , Ph.D., Institute of English Studies, University of Lodz Ewa Waniek-Klimczak , Professor, Institute of English Studies, Univeristy of Lodz Gavagai Journal editorial board: President: Ewa Waniek-Klimczak, Professor Vice-president: Anna Cichosz, Ph.D. Member: Magdalena Zając, M.A. Technical Editor: Maciej Grabski, B.A. Gavagai Journal 1, 2011 Page 2 The examination of the vowel length in the pronunciation of the English adjectives with -able, -ate, -ative suffixes. Agata Barańska University of Lodz 1. Introduction It is very difficult for a second language learner to master the phonology of a non-native language. This process is considered to be complex and time-consuming. Not only is a learner of a foreign language faced with the task of new articulations, but also has to represent and achieve the knowledge connected with such phenomena as the segmental inventory, structure of the syllable, prosody and also phonotactics of a second language (Major, 2001). A common characteristic of L2 learners who acquired the language either in late adolescent or adulthood is the fact that their speech is affected by phonological and phonetic transfer from L1. As a consequence, it is perceived as being accented. All late L2 learners` phonetic realisation of L2 phonological structures is definitely different form the patterns of native language. The situation where second language learners pronounce L2 words using their L1 phonological system is especially widely observable at the beginning of the proficiency level (Archibald 1998). Very often native listeners of English can very easily identify that a speaker or their interlocutor is a late learner of their mother language. Moreover, they are able to identify that these accented phonological patterns are due to interference from the speaker`s native language phonology (Strange & Shafer, 2008). That is to say, L2 speakers, during the process of producing utterances in a foreign language, tend to produce phonetic segments and sequences as if they were a product of miscellaneous interactions between L1 and L2 realisation of phonetic rules, or in other words, interlanguage phonology (Strange and Shafer, 2008). Furthermore, it is widely maintained that the crucial reason why L2 production is marked with accent is the fundamental problem connected with the perception of L2 phonological structures (Flege, 1995). L2 learners are very often unable to correctly recognise and categorise phonetic segments which are not distinctive in learners` L1 phonology unlike in L2 phonology. Such a situation causes difficulties in comprehension of spoken L2 utterances (Strange and Shafer, 2008). Therefore, imperfect perceptual ability causes difficulty in producing new sounds by L2 language learners. In the situation when the phonological contrasts cannot be perceived, there will be some difficulties for non- native speakers in producing them. Several studies have proven that adult L2 learners are unable to perceive differences between L1 and L2, e.g. Flege, Bohn, and Jang (1997). Gavagai Journal 1, 2011 Page 3 Archibald`s (1993) studies on how L2 learners acquire the stress patterns of a foreign language reveal that many informants often put stress in a word according to their L1 rules. Therefore, their errors are the results of L1 transfer. Archibald (1998) suggests that “[i]t is still a case for the distinction of pronunciation within the critical period; the adults did retain non-native stress ” (Archibald, 1998:50). Nevertheless, it cannot be explained in the same way as segmental phenomena. As far as critical period is concerned, it is not possible to maintain that phonology is privileged. Not only do we take into consideration the fact that sounds are affected more than syntax but also we have to focus our attention on the sounds which cause difficulty for a certain language group. Moreover, the fact that some areas of phonology might function differently than others, i.e. segmental vs. prosodic phonology, is very significant (Archibald, 1998). Therefore, apart from the segmental phonology, L2 learners should also focus their attention on L2 stress patterns during the process of acquiring a foreign language. It is especially crucial in terms of languages where the stress patterns differ significantly, e.g. Polish and English, which are crucial in terms of this project. 2. Stress in Polish Polish language has essentially fixed stress. Where there is more than one syllable in a word, the primary stress falls on the penultimate syllable. In the situation where at least two syllables precede the penultimate syllable a secondary stress falls on the initial syllable (Archibald, 1998). Stress pattern in Polish is perceived as being either dynamic or tonic. The former is characterised as a stress which is based on intensity. The latter, on the other hand, is based on pitch movement (Wierzchowska, 1980). In Polish, the differences in duration are given the least attention and significance. Moreover, it is easily observable that the stressed syllables are denoted by the use of pitch difference. It is also worth mentioning that Polish is defined as a language with restricted extrametricality. Only in formal style, on a limited set of items a syllable is marked as extrametrical. Furthermore, there is a very small number of inflectional endings that become extrametrical (Archibald, 1998). Additionally, it should also be pointed out that Polish is defined as a language which is quantity insensitive. Regularly, Polish stress assignment is not modified by syntactic category or stress. However Polish speakers have syntactic category sensitivity, e.g. they shift the penult-syllable stress to the antepenult-syllable stress pattern in nouns of foreign origin like matematyka (mathematics) or muzyka (music) (Waniek-Klimczak, 2002). 3. Polish vs. English metrical parameter settings Despite the fact that English as well as Polish are likely to mark stressed syllables by the combination of the correlates of stress, that is increased intensity, change of the pitch and longer duration, the extent to which duration or, in other words, quantitative features are used causes an important difference. As I have already mentioned, Polish is quantity insensitive. Conversely, in English pitch change is very often associated with quantitative features. As a result, English stress is regarded as extremely rhythmical. Therefore, it can be concluded that English and Polish use the pitch difference in terms of denoting the syllables that are stressed. Gavagai Journal 1, 2011 Page 4 Nevertheless, they are different when it comes to the use of quantity vs. intensity features (Waniek-Klimczak 2002). As far as Polish and English differences in metrical parameter settings are concerned, it should be added that Polish, as opposed to English, has no quantity and extrametricality features in its phonological structure (Archibald, 1998). On the other hand, English has extrametrical syllables and is sensitive to the weight of the rhyme. The abovementioned differences in word stress assignment may cause some difficulties for Polish learners of English and be perceived as a major challenge in terms of rhythmic organisation of L2 speech. The metrical parameters, in terms of Polish language enumerated above, are very often transferred and, as a result, Polish accent which is noticeable during speaking English gains some specific characteristics, namely Polish learners of English tend to stress the penult in English words without considering the weight of the syllable. On the other hand, in English stress tends to be assigned to heavy syllables (Archibald

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