Iowa State University Capstones, Theses and Retrospective Theses and Dissertations Dissertations 2007 The seu of linking by native and non-native speakers of American English Ghinwa Alameen Iowa State University Follow this and additional works at: https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/rtd Part of the Linguistics Commons Recommended Citation Alameen, Ghinwa, "The use of linking by native and non-native speakers of American English" (2007). Retrospective Theses and Dissertations. 15028. https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/rtd/15028 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Iowa State University Capstones, Theses and Dissertations at Iowa State University Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Retrospective Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Iowa State University Digital Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. The use of linking by native and non-native speakers of American English by Ghinwa Alameen A thesis submitted to the graduate faculty in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS Major: Teaching English as a Second Language/Applied Linguistics (Computer Assisted Language Learning) and (English for Specific Purposes) Program of Study Committee: John M. Levis, Major Professor Volker H. Hegelheimer Linda Q. Allen Iowa State University Ames, Iowa 2007 Copyright © Ghinwa Alameen, 2007. All rights reserved. UMI Number: 1446026 UMI Microform 1446026 Copyright 2007 by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest Information and Learning Company 300 North Zeeb Road P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, MI 48106-1346 ii TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES ..................................................................................................... iv LIST OF TABLES........................................................................................................ v ABSTRACT................................................................................................................. vi CHAPTER 1. OVERVIEW ......................................................................................... 1 1.1 Introduction........................................................................................................ 1 1.2 Pilot Study.......................................................................................................... 3 1.3 Research Questions ............................................................................................ 4 1.3.1 Primary Research Questions ....................................................................... 4 1.3.2 Secondary Research Questions ................................................................... 5 1.4 Organization of the Study .................................................................................. 5 CHAPTER 2. LITERATURE REVIEW ..................................................................... 6 2.1 Connected Speech Phenomena .......................................................................... 6 2.2 Linking in American English............................................................................. 7 2.2.1 Types of Linking ......................................................................................... 8 2.2.2 Why Do Speakers Link? ........................................................................... 10 2.2.3 Influencing Factors.................................................................................... 11 2.3 French Liaison.................................................................................................. 16 2.4 Linking in ESL Pronunciation ......................................................................... 18 2.4.1 Academic Research ................................................................................... 18 2.4.2 Pronunciation Teaching Materials ............................................................ 19 2.5 Significance of the Present Study .................................................................... 22 CHAPTER 3. METHODS AND PROCEDURES .................................................... 23 3.1 Participants....................................................................................................... 23 3.2 Materials........................................................................................................... 25 3.3 Procedures ........................................................................................................ 26 3.4 Analysis............................................................................................................ 28 3.4.2 Research Question 3.................................................................................. 29 3.4.3 Research Questions 4 ............................................................................... 29 CHAPTER 4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION......................................................... 30 4.1 Research Question #1....................................................................................... 30 4.2 Research Question #2....................................................................................... 33 4.3 Research Question #3....................................................................................... 35 4.4 Research Question #4....................................................................................... 38 CHAPTER 5. CONCLUSION................................................................................... 40 5.1 Pedagogical Implications ................................................................................. 40 5.2 Further Research .............................................................................................. 43 5.3 Limitations ....................................................................................................... 44 5.4 Conclusion........................................................................................................ 45 APPENDIX A. STUDY TASK MATERIALS ......................................................... 46 Reading Task Text .................................................................................................. 46 iii Spontaneous Task Text ........................................................................................... 46 APPENDIX B. POTENTIAL LINKING AND PHRASING FOR TASKS ............. 48 Reading Task Text .................................................................................................. 48 Spontaneous Task Text ........................................................................................... 48 REFERENCES............................................................................................................ 49 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS........................................................................................ 53 iv LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1. C-V and V-V linking means percentages for NS, BP, and IP groups 31 Figure 2. V-V linking percentages for all participants by group 34 Figure 3. Mean percentages in different speaking tasks for all groups 37 v LIST OF TABLES Table 1. Analysis results of pilot study 3 Table 2. Study participants 24 Table 3. Text readability 26 Table 4. Potential linking and phrasing in study materials 27 Table 5. Mean percentages of C-V and V-V linking for all groups 30 Table 6. Pausing rate for all groups 32 Table 7. Mean percentages of linking in reading and spontaneous speech tasks for all groups 36 Table 8. Mean percentage of linking to different syntactic categories 38 vi ABSTRACT This study examines the evidence for the use of the phenomenon of linking, or connected speech modifications, for native speakers of American English (NS) and non- native speakers (NNS) of English. In a speech production experiment which seeks to replicate and examine in more detail the set of experiments reported in Hieke (1984) and Anderson-Hsieh, Riney & Koehler (1994), reading and spontaneous speech performance from two groups of beginning-proficiency (BP) and intermediate-proficiency (IP) non-native speakers of English is compared to that of five NSs of American English. Results indicate that, while BP and IP participants link their words significantly less often than NS participants do, their linking rates are similar despite the difference in proficiency level. In addition to the frequency of two types of linking, consonant-to-vowel (C-V) and vowel-to- vowel (V-V), the study investigates the effect that style shifting and syntactic structure have on the frequency of linking. 1 CHAPTER 1. OVERVIEW The opening chapter of my thesis explains in general terms the concepts and hypotheses used in the study. A definition of the phenomenon of linking is given together with a summary of the standing of the topic in recent research. A pilot study conducted earlier is outlined to show significance of the research. The chapter concludes with the research questions that the study will answer followed by an overview of the thesis organization. 1.1 Introduction The term linking is used in two different ways. It is occasionally synonymous with what is otherwise called connected speech phenomena or modifications, which are the changes that a word undergoes in running speech when combined with other words, as opposed to its pronunciation in isolation (Hieke, 1987). Changes as such can be noticed when the final /t/ in last is omitted between two consonants, a process known as elision, (example 1), or