English Pronunciation & Accents
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Interdental Fricatives in Cajun English
Language Variation and Change, 10 (1998), 245-261. Printed in the U.S.A. © 1999 Cambridge University Press 0954-3945/99 $9.50 Let's tink about dat: Interdental fricatives in Cajun English SYLVIE DUBOIS Louisiana State University BARBARA M. HORVATH University of Sydney ABSTRACT The English of bilingual Cajuns living in southern Louisiana has been pejoratively depicted as an accented English; foremost among the stereotypes of Cajun English is the use of tink and dat for think and that. We present a variationist study of/9/ and /d/ in the speech of bilingual Cajuns in St. Landry Parish. The results show a complex interrelationship of age, gender, and social network. One of the major findings is a v-shaped age pattern rather than the regular generational model that is expected. The older generation use more of the dental variants [t,d] than all others, the middle-aged dramatically decrease their use, but the young show a level of usage closer to the old generation. The change is attributed to both language attri- tion and the blossoming of the Cajun cultural renaissance. Interestingly, neither young men in open networks nor women of all ages in open networks follow the v-shaped age pattern. In addition, they show opposite directions of change: men in open networks lead the change to [d], whereas women in open networks drop the dental variants of [t,d] almost entirely. The variety of English spoken by people of Acadian descent (called Cajuns) in southern Louisiana has been the subject of pejorative comment for a long time. -
LINGUISTIC CONTEXT of H-DROPPING Heinrich RAMISCH University of Bamberg Heinrich
Dialectologia. Special issue, I (2010), 175-184. ISSN: 2013-22477 ANALYSING LINGUISTIC ATLAS DATA: THE (SOCIO-) LINGUISTIC CONTEXT OF H-DROPPING Heinrich R AMISCH University of Bamberg [email protected] Abstract This presentation will seek to illustrate how linguistic atlas data can be employed to obtain a better understanding of the mechanisms of linguistic variation and change. For this purpose, I will take a closer look at ‘H-dropping’ – a feature commonly found in various European languages and also widely used in varieties of British English. H-dropping refers to the non-realization of /h/ in initial position in stressed syllables before vowels, as for example, in hand on heart [ 'ænd ɒn 'ɑː t] or my head [m ɪ 'ɛd]. It is one of the best-known nonstandard features in British English, extremely widespread, but also heavily stigmatised and commonly regarded as ‘uneducated’, ‘sloppy’, ‘lazy’, etc. It prominently appears in descriptions of urban accents in Britain (cf. Foulkes/Docherty 1999) and according to Wells (1982: 254), it is “the single most powerful pronunciation shibboleth in England”. H-dropping has frequently been analysed in sociolinguistic studies of British English and it can indeed be regarded as a typical feature of working-class speech. Moreover, H-dropping is often cited as one of the features that differentiate ‘Estuary English’ from Cockney, with speakers of the former variety avoiding ‘to drop their aitches’. The term ‘Estuary English’ is used as a label for an intermediate variety between the most localised form of London speech (Cockney) and a standard form of pronunciation in the Greater London area. -
Recommended Educational Practices for Standard English Learners
Recommended Educational Practices for Standard English Learners Cheryl Wilkinson, Jeremy Miciak, Celeste Alexander, Pedro Reyes, Jessica Brown, and Matt Giani The University of Texas at Austin: Texas Education Research Center January 31, 2011 T HE U NIVERSITY OF T E X A S A T A USTIN i Recommended Practices for SELs CREDITS The Texas Education Research Center is located at The University of Texas at Austin. The Texas ERC is an independent, non-partisan, and non-profit organization focused on generating data-based solutions for Texas education and workforce demands. The goal of the Texas ERC is to supply policymakers, opinion leaders, the media, and the general public with academically sound research surrounding today's critical education issues. Texas Education Research Center The University of Texas at Austin Department of Educational Administration, SZB 310 Austin, TX 78712 Phone: (512) 471-4528 Fax: (512) 471-5975 Website: www.utaustinERC.org Contributing Authors Cheryl Wilkinson, Jeremy Miciak, Celeste Alexander, Pedro Reyes, Jay Brown, Matt Giani, Carolyn Adger, and Jeffery Reaser Prepared for Texas Education Agency 1701 North Congress Avenue Austin, Texas 78701‐1494 Phone: 512‐463‐9734 Funded by The evaluation is funded through General Appropriations Act (GAA), Senate Bill No. 1, Rider 42 (81st Texas Legislature, Regular Session, 2009), via Texas Education Agency Contract No: 2501. ii Recommended Practices for SELs COPYRIGHT NOTICE Copyright © Notice: The materials are copyrighted © as the property of the Texas Education Agency (TEA) and may not be reproduced without the express written permission of TEA, except under the following conditions: 1. Texas public school districts, charter schools, and Education Service Centers may reproduce and use copies of the Materials and Related Materials for the districts‘ and schools‘ educational use without obtaining permission from TEA. -
“Cockney and the Queen”
“Cockney and the Queen” The importance and development of the accent known as Estuary English Maren Kristine Haugom MA Thesis UNIVERSITY OF OSLO Faculty of Humanities Department of Literature, Area Studies and European Languages Spring 2012 Abstract For this MA thesis I have chosen to investigate the accent known as Estuary English (EE). Even though it is having a massive impact on the development of the English language (especially in Britain) there are few extensive sources regarding this accent, and even though studies have been conducted they are few and hard to come across. Even linguists agree that there are few sources regarding EE, which makes it an interesting research topic. Due to the structure and (lack of) status of EE it is being discussed by linguists and commoners alike, and the media has acted as a linguistic “battlefield” of sorts where linguists and members of the general public have presented their arguments, suggested definitions, and frustrations regarding the new accent. The fact that the general opinions differ greatly and that definitions are changing continually makes it a very interesting base for research. It is a dynamic topic, a linguistic phenomenon which is happening in our time. As my thesis is being written over the course of only one semester I have chosen not to do field work or conduct a survey, although I will attempt to refer to studies conducted by other researchers where this is feasible. Because of the time limit I have chosen to focus mainly on theoretical aspects, such as the problems regarding a proper definition of EE and the discussion around which phonemic traits are part of the accent. -
The Performance of Cajun English in Boudreaux and Thibodeaux Jokes
The performance of cajun english in Boudreaux and ThiBodeaux jokes KAtie CArmiChAel Ohio State University abstract: in South louisiana, there is a genre of jokes featuring the bumbling Cajun characters Boudreaux and thibodeaux. these jokes are often told with an exagger- ated Cajun english accent, an ideal opportunity to examine and better understand local perceptions of Cajun english linguistic features. Th-stopping, nonaspiration of [p, t, k], and vowel quality were analyzed in recordings of six lafourche Parish, loui- siana speakers conversing casually as well as performing Boudreaux and thibodeaux jokes. While all speakers exaggerated one or the other consonantal feature while joketelling, vowel quality was not manipulated in the expected ways. Such patterning may indicate that th-stopping and nonaspiration of [p, t, k] are more salient, or more easily imitable, features of Cajun english than the vowel features examined. Notably, there was some patterning of features exaggerated based on where the speaker lived along the bayou, with “up the bayou” joketellers having a more standard baseline to begin with and thus exaggerating different features, demonstrating the importance of considering culturally specific social categories in analyzing performances of local speech varieties. Boudreaux and thibodeaux (Bt) jokes are a genre of ethnic jokes told by Cajuns in South louisiana. Bt jokes are similar in style to Newfie (New- foundlanders) jokes of Canada: both function to poke fun at a stigmatized socioethnic group, the members of which are seen as stupid (Davies 1982). Usually Bt jokes are humorous narratives about the eponymous fictional Cajuns, who are portrayed as ignorant, unsophisticated, and generally incom- petent, as in the following example: One day tibodeau told Boudreau that he was going to the trade school to make hisself smart. -
From "RP" to "Estuary English"
From "RP" to "Estuary English": The concept 'received' and the debate about British pronunciation standards Hamburg 1998 Author: Gudrun Parsons Beckstrasse 8 D-20357 Hamburg e-mail: [email protected] Table of Contents Foreword .................................................................................................i List of Abbreviations............................................................................... ii 0. Introduction ....................................................................................1 1. Received Pronunciation .................................................................5 1.1. The History of 'RP' ..................................................................5 1.2. The History of RP....................................................................9 1.3. Descriptions of RP ...............................................................14 1.4. Summary...............................................................................17 2. Change and Variation in RP.............................................................18 2.1. The Vowel System ................................................................18 2.1.1. Diphthongisation of Long Vowels ..................................18 2.1.2. Fronting of /!/ and Lowering of /"/................................21 2.2. The Consonant System ........................................................23 2.2.1. The Glottal Stop.............................................................23 2.2.2. Vocalisation of [#]...........................................................26 -
Introduction to American English
LLL250 Introduction to American English 1st and 2nd quarters, Junior Instructor Charles Jannuzi Style of class Lecture, Seminar Number of Credits 2 Day and Period To be advised Course Description This course is a survey of American English through its dialects and accents. Some of the dialects and the sub-cultures that give rise to them that will be examined. These include the following: Gullah Geechee, Lanappe, Tidewater Brogues/White Coastal English, Pennsylvania Dutch English, Pittsburgh English, and Louisiana Cajun English. The term 'dialect' concerns variations in grammar, vocabulary, and idioms. Such variations can mark a given speaker as belonging to an identified dialect. Even communication strategies can identify a person as belonging to a dialect. For example, American English speakers might have very different ways of speaking in order to get to know someone for the first time. Strategies for making small talk can also vary. The term 'accent' is also often considered a part of dialect. It will cover aspects of the variations of pronunciation of spoken language as an element of identified dialects. Such variations in grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation/accent will be compared and contrasted with the ideal of standard American English (also called 'General American'). In addition to socio-linguistic analysis, the course will also look at key aspects of the sub-cultures that give rise to, maintain, and reinforce linguistic differences within the political boundaries of the U.S. The course will also emphasize the practical aspects of dialects and accents for students of English. For example, what if you were going to do a home-stay in the US? Are you prepared for the shock of real, rapidly spoken English? Could you understand a simple question like, "Did you eat yet?" if it sounded more like, "JEAT-JET?" This course will familiarize you with a lot of American English as it is actually spoken across the country. -
American Dialects
AMERICAN DIALECTS Leonard R. N. Ashley President of the American Society of Geolinguistics Introduction Good for an oral presentation, local, area language, dialect often appears in phonetic spelling because English is notoriously unphonetic in a lot of its spelling and some find humor in misspelling, whether it be, for example, “posh” British (“Jolly Well Spoken”), Cockney (from London), Geordie (from Newcastle), Scouse (from Liverpool), Scottish English, Irish English, and in the style of comedian Ali G (something like US rap). However, my subject here, as the title shows, is not British dialect. British dialects constitute a huge corpus which has been fraffly (frightfully) well mapped and extensively studied for what idiom calls donkey’s years. There is too much of that for me. As Potter says: It would be no exaggeration to say that greater differences in pronunciation are discernible in the north of England between Trent and Tweed [two rivers about 100 miles apart] than in the whole of North America. There are, in fact, a great number of regional and social dialects in North America, too. The cinema and the broadcast media have made us all familiar with many American dialects (which involve both pronunciation, “accent,” and word choice, grammar, etc). You know the historic “Brooklyn accent” (toidy-toid, erl boiner, Greenpernt) or the egregious Bronx (cubba kwawfee uh tzee) and the current awesome, bitchen, grody, rad, but (like, y’know) totally beige (which is to say “boring”) airhead Valley Girl way of speaking. That comes from the San Fernando Valley of Southern California. I’m sooo sure you will be interested in and informed by something perhaps less familiar, even tubular, wonelly. -
Language Contact and Language Shift in Ireland
Language Contact and Language Shift in Ireland English as a Contact Language Raymond Hickey University of Zürich English Linguistics, Essen 7-9 June 2010 email: [email protected] 1 Contact scenarios by regions of the anglophone world The British Isles United States Historical contact African American English England Chicano English Wales German-influenced English Scotland Cajun English (Lower South of US) Ireland Canada Newfoundland English (dialect contact) Europe English in Quebec (contact with French) Malta, Gibraltar Channel Islands South Asia South Africa India, Pakistan Afrikaans English South-East Asia South African Indian English Singapore, Malaysia Hong Kong Australia The Philippines Aboriginal English New Zealand Pacific Maori English Hawaii, Fiji, Solomon Islands Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea, etc. 2 Contact: Some preliminary distinctions 1)Language contact is really contact between speakers of different languages. 2)The term language is an abstraction from a certain type of symbolic human behaviour. 3)Contact can be motivated by necessity (filling of lexical gaps, new terms for new phenomena, e.g. scientific inventions) but can also be the result of prestige (granted a difficult concept), or just a passing fashion, as with the many borrowings from English which are not strictly speaking needed by the modern European languages which have them. 3 4 Linguistic levels and contact (not shift scenarios) Levels most affected Vocabulary (loanwords, phrases) Sentence structure, word-order Speech habits (general pronunciation, suprasegmentals [stress, intonation]) Sounds (present in loan-words) Grammar (morphology: inflections) Levels least affected 5 Language shift The original language of a speech community is abandoned and all the speakers shift to the new language within a fairly well delimited period of time, a few centuries at most. -
Ba Chelor Thesis
English (61-90), 30 credits BACHELOR BACHELOR Received Pronunciation, Estuary English and Cockney English: A Phonologic and Sociolinguistic Comparison of Three British English Accents THESIS Caroline Johansson English linguistics, 15 credits Lewes, UK 2016-06-27 Abstract The aim of this study is to phonologically and sociolinguistically compare three British English accents: Cockney English (CE), Estuary English (EE) and Received Pronunciation (RP), including investigating the status these accents have in Britain today. Estuary English, which is spoken in London and the Home Counties, is said to be located on a continuum between Cockney English, which is a London working class accent, and Received Pronunciation, spoken by the higher classes in Britain. Four authentic Youtube lectures by an author who considers herself to be an EE speaker were compared with previous research in the area. The findings regarding phonetic differences between the accents displayed many opposing opinions between the Youtube material and the previous research. This is likely to be partly because of regional and social differences, and partly because of the fact that accents change and also depend on the formality of the situation in which they are spoken. Furthermore, accents are not clearly defined units and Estuary English has been shown to be many different accents that also figure on a broad spectrum between Received Pronunciation and Cockney English (and any other regional accents that are spoken in the area). When it comes to attitudes to the three different accents, the Youtube material and previous research seem to agree on most levels: RP can be perceived as cold and reserved and is not the only accepted accent today for people who wish to acquire a high status job, at the same time as it is still associated with the highest prestige. -
The Interface Between English and the Celtic Languages
Universität Potsdam Hildegard L. C. Tristram (ed.) The Celtic Englishes IV The Interface between English and the Celtic Languages Potsdam University Press In memoriam Alan R. Thomas Contents Hildegard L.C. Tristram Inroduction .................................................................................................... 1 Alan M. Kent “Bringin’ the Dunkey Down from the Carn:” Cornu-English in Context 1549-2005 – A Provisional Analysis.................. 6 Gary German Anthroponyms as Markers of Celticity in Brittany, Cornwall and Wales................................................................. 34 Liam Mac Mathúna What’s in an Irish Name? A Study of the Personal Naming Systems of Irish and Irish English ......... 64 John M. Kirk and Jeffrey L. Kallen Irish Standard English: How Celticised? How Standardised?.................... 88 Séamus Mac Mathúna Remarks on Standardisation in Irish English, Irish and Welsh ................ 114 Kevin McCafferty Be after V-ing on the Past Grammaticalisation Path: How Far Is It after Coming? ..................................................................... 130 Ailbhe Ó Corráin On the ‘After Perfect’ in Irish and Hiberno-English................................. 152 II Contents Elvira Veselinovi How to put up with cur suas le rud and the Bidirectionality of Contact .................................................................. 173 Erich Poppe Celtic Influence on English Relative Clauses? ......................................... 191 Malcolm Williams Response to Erich Poppe’s Contribution -
Chicano English in Children's Literature
Western Oregon University Digital Commons@WOU Honors Senior Theses/Projects Student Scholarship 6-1-2017 Chicano English in Children’s Literature Katie Nance Western Oregon University Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.wou.edu/honors_theses Recommended Citation Nance, Katie, "Chicano English in Children’s Literature" (2017). Honors Senior Theses/Projects. 134. https://digitalcommons.wou.edu/honors_theses/134 This Undergraduate Honors Thesis/Project is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Scholarship at Digital Commons@WOU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Honors Senior Theses/Projects by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons@WOU. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]. Chicano English in Children’s Literature By Katie Nance An Honors Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for Graduation from the Western Oregon University Honors Program Dr. Robert A. Troyer, Thesis Advisor Dr. Gavin Keulks, Honors Program Director June 2017 ii Acknowledgments I would like to extend the sincerest thanks to Dr. Robert A. Troyer, for inspiring in me a passion for linguistics and its place in the elementary classroom, as well as for his tireless guidance in the process of writing this thesis. I also owe gratitude to professors within the Education Department at Western Oregon University for their recommendations of a variety of Chicano authors, resources, and children’s literature, which helped me immensely in my research; these include Dr. Marie LeJeune, Dr. Patty Beauchamp, and Prof. Jennifer Schulze. I would also like to thank Dr. Gavin Keulks for his assistance and guidance throughout my four years in the Honors program at Western Oregon University.