DOCSLIB.ORG

Bru Tri Grammar Sketch

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Bru Tri Grammar Sketch Bru Tri Grammar Sketch Eastern Bru Grammar Sketch Carolyn P Miller 2017 1. BACKGROUND Eastern Bru (BRU) is an Austorasiatic language of the Western sub-division of the Katuic Branch of Eastern Mon-Khmer languages. It is spoken mainly in the mountainous region of Quang Tri and Quang Binh provinces of Vietnam and in neighboring areas of Savannakhet province in Laos. However, in 1968 several thousand Bru were resettled in Dac Lac province because of the war, and many of these people still live in the central highlands. Of an estimated population of around 100,000, 26,700 are living in Laos (2005 census) and 74,506 are living in Vietnam (2009 census). Because of the discrepancy in the way in which the group is calculated in Vietnam, the Ethnologue gives an estimate of 82,300 Eastern Bru speakers. Although the term Bru is used by many languages of the Katuic subgroup of Mon-Khmer languages in Vietnam, Laos and Thailand, the variety described in this article is the one referred to in the Ethnologue as “Eastern Bru.” The Eastern Bru are known in Laos as Bru Tri and in Vietnam as Bru Van Kieu. The term Van Kieu is an exoethnonym applied to a number of related groups, namely Tri, Khua, and Mangcong by the Vietnamese. (Ethnologue 2013) According to Gabor Vargyas, Hoang Van Ma and Ta Van Thong the term Van Kieu comes from old Vietnamese references to “Vien Kieu” or “Sakieu,” a mountain region or village. In some related languages, the term Bru means “mountain.” In the Bru Tri/Van Kieu language it simply means minority people or people of the mountains or jungle areas. Traditionally the Bru have been rice swidden farmers, cutting and burning fields on mountainsides. In recent years government pressure against this type of agriculture as well as a large influx of lowlanders moving into their traditional areas have caused the Bru to diversify their agriculture and adapt to other ways of making a living. The Bru have been primarily animists, and in some areas strongly maintain their animistic practices. However the upheaval of the war years and economic factors that have caused them to leave their traditional areas have led to many changes. Within the last two or three decades many have turned to Christianity, and Christian churches are found in most areas where the Bru live. The New Testament was printed in 1981 and went through several printings before it was revised and printed with the Psalms in 2009. A translation of the entire Bible was printed in 2014.. The Bru have had materials in their language in a modified Roman script since the 1960s as a result of the work of SIL, and some mother-tongue literacy efforts were begun in the 1970s, but these were interrupted during the war. Literacy among the Bru is less advanced on the Lao side. Writing Bru in Lao script has been investigated, but to date no materials have been distributed to teach Bru on the Lao side to read Bru in that script. Literacy efforts on both sides of the border have been in Roman script. Descriptions of features of the Bru language were written during the 60s and 1970s by foreign researchers and by Vietnamese linguists during the 1980s. A listing of some of these is found in an appendix to this article. 1 Bru Tri Grammar Sketch 2. PHONETICS/PHONOLOGY 2.1 Word/Syllable structure Phonological words in Bru Tri as in other Katuic languages are either mono- or disyllabic. Because a word with two syllables always has an unstressed first syllable and a dominant second syllable, these languages have sometimes been described as “sesqui-syllabic.” Generally the pre-syllable consists of either a syllabic nasal which assimilates to the point of articulation of the initial consonant of the main syllable, or a consonant plus vowel, or consonant- vowel-consonant in which the vowel is usually a neutral mid-central vowel. Only in a very few words is the vowel of the pre-syllable differentiated to carry contrastive meaning. e.g. /kucit/ 'to die', /kacit 'to kill''. Rarely is a consonant cluster found initially in a pre-syllable, though a few examples exist. e.g. /blablɨəʔ/ 'flashing'. And consonants closing the pre-syllable are restricted to /m,n,ŋ,r,l/. The main syllable of a word consists of an obligatory consonant (C1), an optional second consonant (C2), a vowel nucleus (V) and an optional final consonant (C3). If the initial consonant is a glottal stop, it is unwritten in roman script, but written in Lao script Bru. Eleven vowel nuclei can generally occur in one of two lengths and one of two registers. Ten off-glided diphthongs may also occur in the vowel nucleus position. The typical phonological word may be summarized as: (C V (C)) C(C) V (C) 2.2 Phoneme inventory and phonotactics 2.2.1 Consonants Bru Tri consonants consist of the following: Manner of Points of Articulation Articulation Bilabial Alveolar Alveolo Palatal Velar Glottal -palatal Stop [+asp.] **pʰ tʰ kʰ Stop [-vd] p t k ʔ Stop [+vd] b d Fricative [-vd] s h Affricate [-vd] c Nasal [+vd] m n ɲ ŋ Lateral [+vd] l Trill [+vd] r Approximant w* j [+vd] The approximant /w/ is usually pronounced [v] when it is an initial consonant. ** due to Vietamese and Lao influence the aspirated /pʰ/ is moving toward /f/. All consonants occur in the initial position of either syllable. Additionally the following consonant clusters occur syllable initially in the main syllable: /pl/, /pr/, /tr/, /thr/, /kl/, /kr/, /khr/, /bl/, /br/. 2 Bru Tri Grammar Sketch Consonants / pʰ, tʰ, kʰ, b, d, c, ɲ, s/ do not occur syllable finally. However, consonants /j/ and /w/ may occur with (or without) a glottal stop in final position of the main syllable e.g./sɜwʔ/ 'bad' or /bajʔ/ 'to bud'. Additionally found in this position is /jh/ which in some related languages patterns as a final /s/. e.g. /ʔajh/ 'swollen'. 2.2.2 Vowels Bru vowels consist in ten basic vowel positions. These occur in two constrastive lengths and two registers,, albeit with some areas of non-contrast (see below). Five glided nuclei occur in both registers, giving a total of forty one contrastive vowel nuclei. The basic positions for vowels are as follows: Front Central Back high i ɨ u mid e ə o mid-low ɛ ɜ ɔ low a ɒ Diphthongs iə ɨə uə ia ua The phonetic quality of these vowel nuclei has been described by Miller (1967), by Phillips, Miller and Miller (1976), as well as by Hoang Van Ma and Ta Van Thong (1998). All of these occur in the V position of the main syllable. In the pre-syllable /a/ and /u/ occur, but these are often neutralized to /ə / in normal speech. Phonetic /i/ sometimes occurs following /c/ or /s/ but can also be neutralized to /ə/. 2.3 Suprasegmentals (tones, registers, phonation) The basic vowels may occur as either long or short and in one of two registers. The two registers (phonation types) are called in Bru /pre:ŋ/ ‘sound of a small gong’ or /krɨ̤ ːm/ ‘sound of a large gong’. In other literature these are sometimes referred to as ‘light’ vs. ‘heavy’, ‘small voice’ vs. ‘large voice’, ‘tense’ vs. ‘lax’, or ‘first register’ vs. ‘second register’. In Bru the registers may also be recognized in the high and mid vowels by lower tongue-height positions gliding to a slightly higher position for the tense vowels and in the low-mid and low vowels by slight on-gliding from a mid- central vowel at the onset of the lax vowel. The acoustic differences between the various vowel nuclei in Bru have been described in Miller (1967). No register contrast has been noted for long /ɛ:/ in the dialect studied by the author, but the contrast has been reported by Vuong Huu Le (1998:102) e.g. /lɛ:h/ ‘to untie’ vs. /lɛ̤ :h/ ‘slope’ /tɛ:h/ ‘stick of wood’ vs. /tɛ̤ :h/ ‘leech’ the short mid vowel has both /ə:/ and /ə̤ :/ counterparts. the mid-low vowel /ɜ/ is perceived as tense in nature and has only a second-register long counterpart /ɜ̤ ː/. 3 Bru Tri Grammar Sketch The five diphthongs occur in both registers are show below with examples.. Dipthongs High to mid High to Low iə ia i̤ ə i̤ a ɨə ɨ̤ ə uə ua uə ua /tiən/ ‘money’ /ti̤ ən/ ‘add to’ /tian/ ‘wrap tightly’ /ti̤ an/ ‘candle’ /cɨəŋ/ ‘well’ /cɨ̤ əŋ/ ‘give birth (pig)’ /cuəp/ ‘about to’ /c̤ uəp/ ‘around’ /tuaŋ/ ‘strike metal’ /tuaŋ/ ‘pipe stem’ 2.4. Stress and Intonation Word stress is always found on the final (main) syllable. Yes-no questions are often accompanied by rising intonation and use of the clause-final question particle /tə:/. Other interrogatory sentences are marked by stress on the question marker. 2.5 Reduplication and Rhyming Full-word reduplication is not common in Bru, though it is occasionally used for emphasis. E.g. /bi:ʔ-bi:ʔ/ ‘few’ or /kət-kət/ ‘small’ where reduplication of the word gives intensity. A common feature of Mon-Khmer languages is the use of what has been variously termed expres- sives, ideophones, binomials, or double words (Watson 1980:76). In some cases these expressions have parts which are either rhyming or phonologically similar in some way. They may be very com- mon expressions or those which are created by the speaker. Some of these expressions take a word which has meaning by itself and add a second word which has no meaning of its own simply to add fullness or weight to the expression.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • SEASSI Khmer Beginning Syllabus Languages and Cultures of Asia
    SEASSI Khmer Beginning Syllabus Languages and Cultures of Asia 307/008 is a year-long equivalent (two-semester) sequence designed to bring students up to “survival level” in standard spoken and written Khmer. Class will mostly consist of activities in which Khmer must be used to accomplish specific tasks relevant to the topical matter of the Unit, thus giving practical experience in using and hearing Khmer. There will also be lectures (in English) on various cultural and grammatical issues in Khmer, with a focus on how these issues relate to English and American culture). There will be lectures on the writing system and on common pronunciation problems as well. There will also be lots of “focused listening” practice, games, and songs. A playful and creative approach will be encouraged in the learning and practice of all four skills (speaking,Property listening, reading and writing) in Khmer, as well as Khmer culture. CORUSE REQUIREMENTS: Students will be evaluated according to the following criteria: 1. Overall Class Participation: 20% 2. Completion of homework/assignments: 30% 3. Quizzes: 20% 4. Mid-term exam (written and oral): 10% 5. Final exam (written and oral): 10% 6. Individual/group project: 10% NOTE: 1. Participation: Participation will be graded based on the following criteria: a. 4-5 well-prepared; engage to and fully participate in the classroom activities b. 2-3 present, but relatively passive of c. 1 significantly late (30 minutes after the class begins) or considerably disturb the class including using your phones. The use of phones, laptops and other gadgets in the classroom is limited to instruction or learning purposes.
    [Show full text]
  • Mon-Khmer Studies Volume 41
    Mon-Khmer Studies VOLUME 42 The journal of Austroasiatic languages and cultures Established 1964 Copyright for these papers vested in the authors Released under Creative Commons Attribution License Volume 42 Editors: Paul Sidwell Brian Migliazza ISSN: 0147-5207 Website: http://mksjournal.org Published in 2013 by: Mahidol University (Thailand) SIL International (USA) Contents Papers (Peer reviewed) K. S. NAGARAJA, Paul SIDWELL, Simon GREENHILL A Lexicostatistical Study of the Khasian Languages: Khasi, Pnar, Lyngngam, and War 1-11 Michelle MILLER A Description of Kmhmu’ Lao Script-Based Orthography 12-25 Elizabeth HALL A phonological description of Muak Sa-aak 26-39 YANIN Sawanakunanon Segment timing in certain Austroasiatic languages: implications for typological classification 40-53 Narinthorn Sombatnan BEHR A comparison between the vowel systems and the acoustic characteristics of vowels in Thai Mon and BurmeseMon: a tendency towards different language types 54-80 P. K. CHOUDHARY Tense, Aspect and Modals in Ho 81-88 NGUYỄN Anh-Thư T. and John C. L. INGRAM Perception of prominence patterns in Vietnamese disyllabic words 89-101 Peter NORQUEST A revised inventory of Proto Austronesian consonants: Kra-Dai and Austroasiatic Evidence 102-126 Charles Thomas TEBOW II and Sigrid LEW A phonological description of Western Bru, Sakon Nakhorn variety, Thailand 127-139 Notes, Reviews, Data-Papers Jonathan SCHMUTZ The Ta’oi Language and People i-xiii Darren C. GORDON A selective Palaungic linguistic bibliography xiv-xxxiii Nathaniel CHEESEMAN, Jennifer
    [Show full text]
  • A Corpus·Based Investigation of Xhosa English In
    A CORPUS·BASED INVESTIGATION OF XHOSA ENGLISH IN THE CLASSROOM SETTING A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS of RHODES UNIVERSITY by CANDICE LEE PLATT January 2004 Supervisor: Professor V.A de K1erk ABSTRACT This study is an investigation of Xhosa English as used by teachers in the Grahamstown area of the Eastern Cape. The aims of the study were firstly, to compile a 20 000 word mini-corpus of the spoken English of Xhosa mother­ tongue teachers in Grahamstown, and to use this data to describe the characteristics of Xhosa English used in the classroom context; and secondly, to assess the usefulness of a corpus-based approach to a study of this nature. The English of five Xhosa mother-tongue teachers was investigated. These teachers were recorded while teaching in English and the data was then transcribed for analysis. The data was analysed using Wordsmith Tools to investigate patterns in the teachers' language. Grammatical, lexical and discourse patterns were explored based on the findings of other researchers' investigations of Black South African English and Xhosa English. In general, many of the patterns reported in the literature were found in the data, but to a lesser extent than reported in literature which gave quantitative information. Some features not described elsewhere were also found . The corpus-based approach was found to be useful within the limits of pattern­ matching. 1I TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS vi CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION 1.1 CORPORA 1 1.2 BLACK SOUTH
    [Show full text]
  • The Aslian Languages of Malaysia and Thailand: an Assessment
    Language Documentation and Description ISSN 1740-6234 ___________________________________________ This article appears in: Language Documentation and Description, vol 11. Editors: Stuart McGill & Peter K. Austin The Aslian languages of Malaysia and Thailand: an assessment GEOFFREY BENJAMIN Cite this article: Geoffrey Benjamin (2012). The Aslian languages of Malaysia and Thailand: an assessment. In Stuart McGill & Peter K. Austin (eds) Language Documentation and Description, vol 11. London: SOAS. pp. 136-230 Link to this article: http://www.elpublishing.org/PID/131 This electronic version first published: July 2014 __________________________________________________ This article is published under a Creative Commons License CC-BY-NC (Attribution-NonCommercial). The licence permits users to use, reproduce, disseminate or display the article provided that the author is attributed as the original creator and that the reuse is restricted to non-commercial purposes i.e. research or educational use. See http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ ______________________________________________________ EL Publishing For more EL Publishing articles and services: Website: http://www.elpublishing.org Terms of use: http://www.elpublishing.org/terms Submissions: http://www.elpublishing.org/submissions The Aslian languages of Malaysia and Thailand: an assessment Geoffrey Benjamin Nanyang Technological University and Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore 1. Introduction1 The term ‘Aslian’ refers to a distinctive group of approximately 20 Mon- Khmer languages spoken in Peninsular Malaysia and the isthmian parts of southern Thailand.2 All the Aslian-speakers belong to the tribal or formerly- 1 This paper has undergone several transformations. The earliest version was presented at the Workshop on Endangered Languages and Literatures of Southeast Asia, Royal Institute of Linguistics and Anthropology, Leiden, in December 1996.
    [Show full text]
  • Reconstructing Proto-Pakanic
    Reconstructing Proto-Pakanic Andy Hsiu Payap University November 2016 Background • 2 little-known tonal Austroasiatic languages: • Bolyu: spoken in Longlin County, western Guangxi Province, China – ~ 1,000 speakers • Bugan: spoken in southern Guangnan County, Yunnan Province, China – ~ 2,000 speakers Significance • No reconstruction yet • Northeastern-most Austroasiatic languages • Many forms seem to have diffused from Vietic and Khmuic. • “Relic” languages: AA languages were once very widespread in southern China, but have been assimilated by Tai-Kadai languages (cf. papers by Jerry Norman; Jerold Edmondson; George van Driem) Classification Classification (Sidwell 2009) • Austroasiatic – (Various primary branches) – Mangic branch [3 languages] • Mang language • Pakanic sub-branch –Bolyu –Bugan Austroasiatic dispersal (Blench & Sidwell 2011) Locations Bugan people Official government classifications • Bolyu classified as Gelao ( = Kra) • Bugan classified as Yi ( = Lolo-Burmese) • This is because Bolyu has had contact with White Gelao. They migrated from Guizhou province in the 1800’s along with the Gelao (Li 1999). • Bugan has had contact with Yi (Lolo) languages. Personal visits • In 2013, I visited Bolyu and Bugan villages to get a sense of the sociolinguistic situation, but have not collected any linguistic data. • Both are still spoken by children, and entire villages. • Bolyu: 5-10 villages • Bugan: 7 villages Languages compared 3 dialects compared • 1. Bolyu (Li Xulian 1999) • 2. Bugan of Manlong village (Li Yunbing 2005) • 3. Bugan
    [Show full text]
  • Variation and Change in Past Tense Negation in African American English
    University of Pennsylvania ScholarlyCommons Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations 2018 Variation And Change In Past Tense Negation In African American English Sabriya Fisher University of Pennsylvania, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations Part of the Linguistics Commons Recommended Citation Fisher, Sabriya, "Variation And Change In Past Tense Negation In African American English" (2018). Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations. 2925. https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/2925 This paper is posted at ScholarlyCommons. https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/2925 For more information, please contact [email protected]. Variation And Change In Past Tense Negation In African American English Abstract This dissertation investigates the use of ain’t for negation in past tense contexts in Philadelphia African American English [PhAAE]. This use of ain’t, which varies with didn’t, is a unique feature of AAE (Labov et al. 1968) and has implications for the expression of tense/aspect in the language. First, it further levels tense/aspect cues from auxiliaries in negative contexts. Second, whereas verbal complements of didn’t are uninflected (1a), complements of ain’t may either be uninflected or in preterit form (1b). This asymmetry indicates potential structural differences between ain’t and didn’t. (1) a. They didn’t play yesterday. b. They ain’t play(ed) yesterday. Consequently, this dissertation joins a quantitative study of the social and linguistic factors conditioning use of ain’t with a distributional investigation of its syntax and interaction with tense morphology. Toward that end, I analyze naturalistic speech data from 42 speakers in a corpus of casual conversations collected in the early 1980s from African American Philadelphians.
    [Show full text]
  • English Language Learners: a Research Perspective
    Gateways for English Language Learners: A Research Perspective Program Authors Action Learning Systems, Inc. Robin Scarcella, Ph.D., Hector Rivera, Ph.D., and Mabel Rivera, Ph.D. English Language Development Isabel L. Beck, Ph.D. and Margaret G. McKeown, Ph.D. Vocabulary Penny Chiappe-Collins, Ph.D. Decoding NNLG_ELH_FM_ƒ.inddLG_ELH_FM_ƒ.indd 1 99/27/08/27/08 111:00:441:00:44 AAMM Welcome to Gateways from our English Language Experts As educators today we know more about developing effective materials to teach English to English language learners (ELLs) than ever before. More specifically, we are able to address the critical needs of these students in ways that are grounded in proven practices and responsible research. We choose to be affiliated with Gateways because these grade-appropriate materials are tailored to meet the needs of English language learners. This program was tested with diverse groups of English language learners— those who have just arrived in the United States, those with educational gaps, those highly literate in their first languages, those not literate in any language, and those who have ceased to make much improvement in learning English over many years. Throughout the testing, these materials appealed to teachers and students alike. Most importantly, Gateways, based on research and proven effective teaching practices, helps to accelerate learners’ development of English in real classrooms with real students. This program helps to get English language learners into core-curricular instruction quickly, where they can continue to acquire the academic, content-specific language skills needed to succeed in life and, if students so choose, in higher education.
    [Show full text]
  • Register in Eastern Cham: Phonological, Phonetic and Sociolinguistic Approaches
    REGISTER IN EASTERN CHAM: PHONOLOGICAL, PHONETIC AND SOCIOLINGUISTIC APPROACHES A Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of Cornell University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy by Marc Brunelle August 2005 © 2005 Marc Brunelle REGISTER IN EASTERN CHAM: PHONOLOGICAL, PHONETIC AND SOCIOLINGUISTIC APPROACHES Marc Brunelle, Ph.D. Cornell University, 2005 The Chamic language family is often cited as a test case for contact linguistics. Although Chamic languages are Austronesian, they are claimed to have converged with Mon-Khmer languages and adopted features from their closest neighbors. A good example of such a convergence is the realization of phonological register in Cham dialects. In many Southeast Asian languages, the loss of the voicing contrast in onsets has led to the development of two registers, bundles of features that initially included pitch, voice quality, vowel quality and durational differences and that are typically realized on rimes. While Cambodian Cham realizes register mainly through vowel quality, just like Khmer, the registers of the Cham dialect spoken in south- central Vietnam (Eastern Cham) are claimed to have evolved into tone, a property that plays a central role in Vietnamese phonology. This dissertation evaluates the hypothesis that contact with Vietnamese is responsible for the recent evolution of Eastern Cham register by exploring the nature of the sound system of Eastern Cham from phonetic, phonological and sociolinguistic perspectives. Proponents of the view that Eastern Cham has a complex tone system claim that tones arose from the phonemicization of register allophones conditioned by codas after the weakening or deletion of coda stops and laryngeals.
    [Show full text]
  • Khmuic Linguistic Bibliography with Selected Annotations
    Journal of the Southeast Asian Linguistics Society JSEALS Vol. 10.1 (2017): i-xlvi ISSN: 1836-6821, DOI: http://hdl.handle.net/10524/52401 University of Hawaiʼi Press eVols KHMUIC LINGUISTIC BIBLIOGRAPHY WITH SELECTED ANNOTATIONS Nathaniel CHEESEMAN Linguistics Institute, Payap University, Thailand Paul SIDWELL Australian National University R. Anne OSBORNE SIL International Abstract: The Khmuic languages represent a branch in the north-central region of the Austroasiatic family. While there are several existing Khmuic bibliographies, namely, Smalley (1973), Proschan (1987), Preisig and Simana (n.d.), Renard (2015), and Lund University (2015), this paper seeks to combine, update and organize these materials into a more readily accessible online resource. A brief overview of Khmuic languages and their linguistic features is given. References are organized according to linguistic domain, with some annotations. An updated language index of a dozen Khmuic languages is also included. Keywords: Austroasiatic, Mon-Khmer, Khmuic, bibliography ISO 639-3 codes: bgk, kjm, xao, kjg, khf, xnh, prb, mlf, mra, tyh, pnx, prt, pry, puo 1. Introduction The Ethnologue, (19th edition), lists thirteen Khmuic languages. Khmuic languages are spoken primarily in northern Laos, but also are found in Thailand and Vietnam. The Khmuic language family is a Sub-branch of the Austroasiatic linguistic family that is dispersed throughout Southeast Asia. Since the early 1970s, five major bibliographies on Khmuic languages have been produced. Most of these focus on Khmu, the largest Khmuic language group. Smalley (1973) wrote the first major Khmuic bibliography that gives readers a mid-twentieth century snapshot of Khmu. This work was an expansion of Smalley’s earlier listings of major Khmu works found in Outline of Khmuˀ structure (Smalley 1961a).
    [Show full text]
  • Khmer Phonetics & Phonology: Theoretical Implications for ESL Instruction
    Running Head: KHMER PHONETICS AND PHONOLOGY 1 Khmer Phonetics & Phonology: Theoretical Implications for ESL Instruction Alex Donley A Senior Thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for graduation in the Honors Program Liberty University Spring 2020 KHMER PHONETICS AND PHONOLOGY 2 Acceptance of Senior Honors Thesis This Senior Honors Thesis is accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for graduation from the Honors Program of Liberty University. ______________________________ Jaeshil Kim, Ph.D. Thesis Chair ______________________________ Stephanie Blankenship, Ed.D. Committee Member ______________________________ David Schweitzer, Ph.D. Assistant Honors Director ______________________________ Date KHMER PHONETICS AND PHONOLOGY 3 Abstract This thesis develops an approach to English teaching for Khmer-speaking students that centers on Khmer phonetics and phonology. Cambodia has a strong demand for English instruction, but consistently underperforms next to other nations in terms of proficiency. A significant reason for Cambodia’s skill gap is the lack of research into linguistic hurdles Khmer speakers face when learning English. This paper aims to bridge Khmer and English with an understanding of the speech systems that both languages use before turning to the unique challenges Khmer speakers must overcome based on the tenets of L1 Transfer Theory. It closes by outlining strategies for English teachers to build the comprehensibility and confidence of their Khmer-speaking students. Keywords: Khmer, English, phonetics, phonology, transfer, ESL KHMER PHONETICS AND PHONOLOGY 4 Khmer Phonetics and Phonology: Theoretical Implications for ESL Instruction Introduction This thesis develops an approach to English teaching for Khmer-speaking students that is grounded in a thorough understanding of Khmer phonetics and phonology.
    [Show full text]
  • A Typological Approach to VP Ellipsis in Tag Questions
    Tagged for Deletion: A Typological Approach to VP Ellipsis in Tag Questions Craig Sailor [email protected] UCLA Master’s thesis 14 October 2009 Note to the reader: Apart from a few organizational and typographical changes made in 2011, the version of the thesis you are reading here is largely unchanged from the original (as dated above). As a result, please note that this version does not fully reflect my current thinking on the topic, which differs in a few noteworthy, but relatively minor, ways. 1 Table of Contents Acknowledgements ...................................................................................................................4 Abstract .....................................................................................................................................5 Section 1: Introduction .............................................................................................................7 1.1. Background and definition ...........................................................................................8 Section 2: Prior approaches to the syntax of tag questions ......................................................10 2.1. Tags as pronounced traces of movement (den Dikken 1995) ......................................11 2.2. Tags as complex anaphors (Culicover 1992) ...............................................................13 2.2.1. A theoretical problem with the anaphoric approach .........................................15 2.3. Summary ......................................................................................................................15
    [Show full text]
  • 132202039 Diploma Iii English Study Program
    THE DESCRIPTION OF QUESTION-TAGS IN ENGLISH A PAPER BY ANTO NERA MANURUNG REG. NO.: 132202039 DIPLOMA III ENGLISH STUDY PROGRAM FACULTY OF CULTURAL STUDY UNIVERSITY OF SUMATERA UTARA MEDAN 2017 UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA Approved by Supervisor, Dr. Matius C.A. sembiring, M.A. NIP. 19521126198112 1 001 Submitted to Faculty of Cultural Study University of Sumatera Utara In partial fulfillment of the requirements for DIPLOMA (D-III) in English. Approved by Head of English Study Program, Dr. Matius C.A Sembiring, M.A NIP. 19521126198112 1 001 Approved by the Diploma III of English Study Program Faculty of Cultural Study, University of Sumatera Utara As a Paper for the Diploma (D-III) Examination UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA Accepted by the Board of Examiners in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the D-III Examination of the Diploma III of English Study Program, Faculty of Letters, University of Sumatera Utara. The examination is held on the Faculty of Letters, University of North Sumatera on February 2017 Faculty of Letters, University of Sumatera Utara Dean, Dr. Budi Agustono, M.Si. NIP. 19511013197603 1 001 Board of Examiners 1. Dr. Matius C.A. Sembiring, M.A. (Head of ESP) ( ) 2. Dr. Matius C.A. Sembiring, M.A. (Supervisor) ( ) 3. Drs. Siamir Marulafau, M.Hum. (Reader) ( ) UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA AUTHOR’S DECLARATION I’m, Anto Nera Manurung, declare that I am the sole author of this paper. Except where reference is made in the text of this paper, this paper contains no material published elsewhere or extracted in whole or in part from a paper by which I have qualified for awarded another degree.
    [Show full text]