Accent (linguistics)

This article is about the pronunciation characteristic of a particular group of

people relative to another group.

In linguistics, an accent is a manner of pronunciation peculiar to a

particular individual, location, or nation. An accent may identify the locality

in which its speakers reside (a geographical or regional accent), the socio-

economic status of its speakers, their ethnicity, their caste or social class,

their first language (when the language in which the accent is heard is not

their native language), and so on.

Accents typically differ in quality of voice, pronunciation of vowels and

consonants, stress, andprosody. Although grammar, semantics,

vocabulary, and other language characteristics often vary concurrently with

accent, the word 'accent' refers specifically to the differences in

pronunciation, whereas the word 'dialect' encompasses the broader set of

linguistic differences. Often 'accent' is a subset of 'dialect'.[1]

History

As human beings spread out into isolated communities, stresses and

peculiarities develop. Over time these can develop into identifiable accents.

In North America, the interaction of people from many ethnic backgrounds

contributed to the formation of the different varieties of North American

accents. It is difficult to measure or predict how long it takes an accent to

formulate. Accents in the USA, Canada and Australia, for example,

developed from the combinations of different accents and languages in

various societies, and the effect of this on the various pronunciations of the

British settlers, yet North American accents remain more distant, either as

a result of time or of external or "foreign" linguistic interaction, such as the

Italian accent.[3]

In many cases, the accents of non-English settlers from the British Isles

affected the accents of the different colonies quite differently. Irish, Scottish

and Welsh immigrants had accents which greatly affected the vowel

pronunciation of certain areas of Australia and Canada.

Development

Children are able to take on accents relatively quickly. Children of

immigrant families, for example, generally have a more native-like

pronunciation than their parents, though both children and parents may

have a noticeable non-native accent.[4] Accents seem to remain relatively

malleable until a person's early twenties, after which a person's accent

seems to become more entrenched.[5]

All the same, accents are not fixed even in adulthood. An acoustic analysis

by Jonathan Harrington of Elizabeth II's Royal Christmas

Messages revealed that the speech patterns of even so conservative a

figure as a monarch can continue to change over her lifetime.[6]

Non-native accents

Pronunciation is the most difficult part of a non-native language to learn.

Most individuals who speak a non-native language fluently speak it with an

accent of their native tongue.

The most important factor in predicting the degree to which the accent will

be noticeable (or strong) is the age at which the non-native language was

learned.[7][8] The critical period theory states that if learning takes place after

the critical period (usually considered around puberty) for acquiring native-

like pronunciation, an individual is unlikely to acquire a native-like accent.

[7] This theory, however, is quite controversial among researchers. Although

many subscribe to some form of the critical period, they either place it

earlier than puberty or consider it more of a critical “window,” which may

vary from one individual to another and depend on factors other than age,

such as length of residence, similarity of the non-native language to the

native language, and the frequency with which both languages are used.[8]

Nevertheless, children as young as 6 at the time of moving to another

country often speak with a noticeable non-native accent as adults.[4]There

are also rare instances of individuals who are able to pass for native

speakers even if they learned their non-native language in early adulthood.

[9] However, neurological constrains associated with brain development

appear to limit most non-native speakers’ ability to sound native-like.

[10] Most researchers agree that for adults, acquiring a native-like accent in

a non-native language is near impossible.[7]

Social factors

When a group defines a standard pronunciation, speakers who deviate

from it are often said to "speak with an accent". However, everyone speaks

with an accent.[2][11] People from the United States would "speak with an

accent" from the point of view of an Australian, and vice versa. Accents

such as BBC English or General American or Standard American may

sometimes be erroneously designated in their countries of origin as

"accentless" to indicate that they offer no obvious clue to the speaker's

regional or social background.[2]

Being understood

Many teachers of English as a second language neglect to teach

speech/pronunciation.[12] Many adult and near-adult learners of second

languages have unintelligible speech patterns that may interfere with their

education, profession, and social interactions.[12] Pronunciation in a second

or foreign language involves more than the correct articulation of individual

sounds. It involves producing a wide range of complex and subtle

distinctions which relate sound to meaning at several different levels.[12]

Teaching of speech/pronunciation is neglected in part because of the

following myths:

Pronunciation isn't important: "This is patently false

from any perspective."[12] Speech/Pronunciation

forms the vehicle for transmitting the speaker's

meaning. If the listener does not understand the

message, no communication takes place, and

although there are other factors involved, one of the

most important is the intelligibility of the speaker's

pronunciation.[12]

Students will pick it up on their own: "Some will learn

to pronounce the second language intelligibly; many

will not."[12]

Inadequate instruction in speech/pronunciation can result in a complete

breakdown in communication.[12] The proliferation of commercial "accent

reduction" services is seen as a sign that many ESL teachers are not

meeting their students' needs for speech/pronunciation instruction.[12]

The goals of speech/pronunciation instruction should include: to help the

learner speak in a way that is easy to understand and does not distract the

listener, to increase the self-confidence of the learner, and to develop the

skills to self-monitor and adapt one's own speech.[12]

Even when the listener does understand the speaker, the presence of an

accent that is difficult to understand can produce anxiety in the listener that

he will not understand what comes next, and cause him to end the

conversation earlier or avoid difficult topics.[12]

Prestige

Certain accents are perceived to carry more prestige in a society than other

accents. This is often due to their association with the elite part of society.

For example in the United Kingdom, Received Pronunciation of the English

language is associated with the traditional upper class.[13] However, in

linguistics, there is no differentiation among accents in regard to their

prestige, aesthetics, or correctness. All languages and accents are

linguistically equal.[14]

Accent stereotyping and prejudice

Stereotypes refer to specific characteristics, traits, and roles that a group

and its members are believed to possess.[15] Stereotypes can be both

positive and negative, although negative are more common.

Stereotypes may result in prejudice, which is defined as having negative

attitudes toward a group and its members.[16] Individuals with non-standard

accents often have to deal with both negative stereotypes and prejudice

because of an accent.[17] Researchers consistently show that people with

accents are judged as less intelligent, less competent, less educated,

having poor English/language skills, and unpleasant to listen to.[17] [18] [19] [20]

[21] Not only people with standard accents subscribe to these beliefs and

attitudes, but individuals with accents also often stereotype against their

own or others' accents.

Accent discrimination

Discrimination refers to specific behaviors or actions directed at a group or

its individual members based solely on the group membership. In accent

discrimination, one's way of speaking is used as a basis for arbitrary

evaluations and judgments.[22] Unlike other forms of discrimination, there

are no strong norms against accent discrimination in the general society.

Rosina Lippi-Green writes,

Accent serves as the first point of gate keeping because we are forbidden,

by law and social custom, and perhaps by a prevailing sense of what is

morally and ethically right, from using race, ethnicity, homeland or

economics more directly. We have no such compunctions about language,

however. Thus, accent becomes a litmus test for exclusion, and excuse to

turn away, to recognize the other.[2]

Speakers with accents often experience discrimination in housing and

employment.[23][24] For example, landlords are less likely to call back

speakers who have foreign or ethnic accents and are more likely to be

assigned by employers to lower status positions than are those with

standard accents.[25] In business settings, individuals with non-standard

accents are more likely to be evaluated negatively.[26] Accent discrimination

is also present in educational institutions. For example, non-native

speaking graduate students, lecturers, and professors, across college

campuses in the US have been target for being unintelligible because of

accent.[27] On average, however, students taught by non-native English

speaker do not underperform when compared to those taught by native

speakers of English.[28]

Studies have shown the perception of the accent, not the accent by itself,

often results in negative evaluations of speakers. In a study conducted by

Rubin (1992), students listened to a taped lecture recorded by the same

native English speaker with a standard accent. However, they were shown

a picture of the lecturer who was either a Caucasian or Asian. Participants

in the study who saw the Asian picture believed that they had heard an

accented lecturer and performed more badly on a task measuring lecture

comprehension. Negative evaluations may reflect the prejudices rather

than real issues with understanding accents.[24][29]

[edit]Legal implications

In the United States, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits

discrimination based on national origin, implying accents. However,

employers may claim that a person’s accent impairs his or her

communication skills that are necessary to the effective business operation.

[11] The courts often rely on the employer’s claims or use judges’ subjective

opinions when deciding whether the (potential) employee’s accent would

interfere with communication or performance, without any objective proof

that accent was or might be a hindrance.[30]

Kentucky's highest court in the case of Clifford vs. Commonwealth held that

a white police officer, who had not seen the black defendant allegedly

involved in a drug transaction, could, nevertheless, identify him as a

participant by saying that a voice on an audiotape "sounded black." The

police officer based this "identification" on the fact that the defendant was

the only African American man in the room at the time of the transaction

and that an audio-tape contained the voice of a man the officer said

“sounded black” selling crack cocaine to a white informant planted by the

police.[13]

Acting and accents

Actors are often called upon to speak varieties of language other than their

own. For example, Missouri-born actor Dick van Dyke attempted to imitate

a cockney accent in the film Mary Poppins. Similarly, an actor may portray

a character of some nationality other than his or her own by adopting into

the native language the phonological profile typical of the nationality to be

portrayed – what is commonly called "speaking with an accent". One

example would be Viggo Mortensen's use of a Russian accent in his

portrayal of Nikolai in the movie Eastern Promises.

The perception or sensitivity of others to accents means that

generalizations are passed off as acceptable, such as Brad Pitt's Jamaican

accent in Meet Joe Black.[31][unreliable source?] Angelina Jolie attempted

a Greek accent in the film Alexander that was said by critics to be

distracting.[32][unreliable source?] Gary Oldman has become known for playing

eccentrics and for his mastery of accents.

Accents may have associations and implications for an audience. For

example, in Disney films from the 1990s onward, English accents are

generally employed to serve one of two purposes: slapstick comedy or evil

genius.[33] Examples include Aladdin (the Sultan and Jafar,

respectively), The Lion King (Zazu and Scar, respectively), The Hunchback

of Notre Dame (Victor the Gargoyle and Frollo, respectively),

andPocahontas (Wiggins and Ratcliffe, respectively - both of whom happen

to be played by the same actor, American David Ogden Stiers).

[edit]See also

Accent reduction

Acting and accents

Foreign accent syndrome

Human voice

Language change

Non-native pronunciations of English

Regional accents of English

Variety (linguistics)

[edit]References

1. ^ a b The New Oxford American Dictionary.

Second Edition.. Oxford University Press.

2005. ISBN 0-19-517077-6.

2. ^ a b c d Lippi-Green, R. (1997). English with an

Accent: Language, Ideology, and Discrimination

in the United States. New York:

Routledge. ISBN 0-415-11476-4.

3. ^ a b "Australian Accents". Ask a Linguist.

Retrieved 2008-05-12.

4. ^ a b Flege, James Emil; David Birdsong, Ellen

Bialystok, Molly Mack, Hyekyung Sung and

Kimiko Tsukada (2006). "Degree of foreign

accent in English sentences produced by Korean

children and adults". Journal of Phonetics 34 (2):

153–175.doi:10.1016/j.wocn.2005.05.001.

5. ̂  "Accent changing". Ask a Linguist. Retrieved

2008-05-12.

6. ̂  Harrington, Jonathan (2006). "An Acoustic

Analysis of 'Happy Tensing' in the Queen's

Christmas Broadcasts". Journal of

Phonetics 34 (4): 439–

57. doi:10.1016/j.wocn.2005.08.001.

7. ^ a b c Scovel, T. (2000). A critical review of the

critical period research. Annual Review of Applied

Linguistics, 20, 213–223.

8. ^ a b Piske, T., MacKay, I. R. A., & Flege, J. E.

(2001). Factors affecting degree of foreign accent

in an L2: A review. Journal of Phonetics, 29, 191–

215.

9. ̂  Bongaerts, T., van Summeren, C., Planken, B.,

& Schils, E. (1997). Age and ultimate attainment

in the pronunciation of a foreign language.

Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 19,

447–465.

10. ̂  Long, M. H. (1990). Maturational constraints

on language development. Studies in Second

Language Acquisition, 12, 251–285.

11. ^ a b Matsuda, M. J. (1991). Voices of

America: Accent, antidiscrimination law, and a

jurisprudence for the last reconstruction. Yale

Law Journal, 100, 1329–1407.

12. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Morley, Joan. "Acquisition,

instruction, standards, variation, and accent"

Georgetown University Round Table on

Languages and Linguistics 1996: Linguistics,

language acquisition, and language variation:

current trends and future prospects. Comp.

James E. Alatis. Georgetown University Press. pp

140–160. http://books.google.com/books?

id=R8jZ62kA9akC

13. ^ a b "Accents". Indiana: ). Retrieved 2008-05-

12.

14. ̂  Edwards, J. (1999). Refining our

understanding of language attitudes. Journal of

Language and Social Psychology, 18, 101–110.

15. ̂  Hamilton, D. L., & Sherman, S. J. (1996).

Perceiving persons and groups. Psychological

Review, 103, 336–355.

16. ̂  Biernat, M., & Dovidio, J. F. (2000). Stigma

and stereotypes. In T. F. Heatherton, R. E. Kleck,

M. R. Hebl, & J. G. Hull (Eds.), The social

psychology of stigma (pp. 88–125). New York:

Guilford.

17. ^ a b Gluszek, A., & Dovidio, J. F. (2010). The

way they speak: Stigma of non-native accents in

communication. Personality and Social

Psychology Review, 14, 214–237.

18. ̂  Bradac, J. J. (1990). Language attitudes

and impression formation. In H. Giles & W. P.

Robinson (Eds.), Handbook of language and

social psychology (pp. 387–412). London: John

Wiley.

19. ̂  Bresnahan, M. J., Ohashi, R., Nebashi, R.,

Liu, W. Y., & Shearman, S. M. (2002). Attitudinal

and affective response toward accented English.

Language and Communication, 22, 171–185.

20. ̂  Cargile, A. C., & Giles, H. (1997).

Understanding language attitudes: Exploring

listener affect and identity. Language and

Communication, 17, 195–217.

21. ̂  Nesdale, D., & Rooney, R. (1996).

Evaluations and stereotyping of accented

speakers by pre-adolescent children. Journal of

Language and Social Psychology, 15, 133–154.

22. ̂  Ng, S. H. (2007). Language-based

discrimination: Blatant and subtle forms. Journal

of Language and Social Psychology, 26, 106–

122.

23. ̂  Zhao, B., Ondrich, J., & Yinger, J. (2006).

Why do real estate brokers continue to

discriminate? Evidence from the 2000 Housing

Discrimination Study. Journal of Urban

Economics, 59, 394–419.

24. ^ a b Rubin, D. L. (2002). Help! My professor

(or doctor or boss) doesn’t speak English. In J. N.

Martin, T. K. Nakayama, & L. A. Flores (Eds.),

Readings in intercultural communication:

Experiences and contexts (pp. 127–137). Boston:

McGraw Hill.

25. ̂  de la Zerda, N., & Hopper, R. (1979).

Employment interviewers’ reactions to Mexican

American speech. Communication Monographs,

46, 126–134.

26. ̂  Tsalikis, J., Ortiz-Buonafina, M., & LaTour,

M. S. (1992). The role of accent on the credibility

and effectiveness of the international business-

person: The case of Guatemala. International

Marketing Review, 9, 57–72.

27. ̂  Marvasti, A. (2005). U.S. academic

institutions and perceived effectiveness of

foreign-born faculty. Journal of Economic Issues,

39, 151–176.

28. ̂  Fleisher, B., Hashimoto, M., & Weinberg, B.

A. (2002). Foreign GTAs can be effective

teachers of economics. Journal of Economic

Education, 33, 299–325.

29. ̂  Rubin, D. L. (1992). Nonlanguage factors

affecting undergraduates' judgments of nonnative

English-speaking teaching assistants. Research

in Higher Education, 33, 511–531.

30. ̂  Nguyen, B. B.-D. (1993). Accent

discrimination and the Test of Spoken English: A

call for an objective assessment of the

comprehensibility of nonnative speakers.

California Law Review, 81, 1325–1361.

31. ̂  "Jamaicans accent on TV".

"Jamaicans.com".

32. ̂  "Angelina Jolie accent". "about".

33. ̂  "Why Villains in Movies Have English

Accents". January 15, 2003

[edit]Further reading

Bragg, Melvyn  (2003). The Adventure of English,

500AD to 2000: The Biography of a Language.

London: Hodder & Stoughton. ISBN 0-340-82991-5.

Giles, H., & Coupland, N. (1991). Language:

Contexts and consequences. Buckingham, UK:

Open University Press.

Lindemann, S. (2003). Koreans, Chinese or Indians?

Attitudes and ideologies about non-native English

speakers in the United States. Journal of

Sociolinguistics, 7, 348–364.

Lindemann, S. (2005). Who speaks “broken

English”? US undergraduates’ perception of non-

native English. International Journal of Applied

Linguistics, 15, 187–212.

Milroy, James; and Lesley Milroy (2005). Authority in

Language: Investigating Standard English (3rd ed.).

London: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-17413-9.

Moyer, A. (1999). Ultimate attainment in L2

phonology: The critical factors of age, motivation and

instruction. Studies in Second Language Acquisition,

21, 81–108.

Scovel, T. (1988). A time to speak: A psycholinguistic

inquiry into the critical period for human speech.

Cambridge, England: Newbury House.

Wated, G., & Sanchez, J. I. (2006). The role of

accent as a work stressor on attitudinal and health-

related work outcomes. International Journal of

Stress Management, 13, 329–350.

Wells, J C. 1982. Accents of English. (3 volumes).

Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. [Wells's

home pages also have a lot of information about

phonetics and accents.]

'Hover & Hear' accents of English from around the

World, and compare them side by side.

The Speech Accent Archive (Native and non-native

accent recordings of English)

Wells Accents and Spelling

I don't have an accent!  by Karen Stollznow

FAQ about Accents

humanaccents.com  – a summary of research on

non-native accents and

Dialectology

Dialectology (from Greek διάλεκτος, dialektos, "talk, dialect"; and -λογία, -

logia) is the scientific study of linguistic dialect, a sub-field

ofsociolinguistics. It studies variations in language based primarily on

geographic distribution and their associated features. Dialectology treats

such topics as divergence of two local dialects from a common ancestor

and synchronic variation.

Dialectologists are ultimately concerned with grammatical and phonological

features that correspond to regional areas. Thus they usually deal with

populations that have lived in certain areas for generations, but also with

migrant groups that bring their languages to new areas (see language

contact).

Commonly studied concepts in dialectology include the problem of mutual

intelligibility in defining languages and dialects; situations ofdiglossia,

where two dialects are used for different functions; dialect

continua including a number of partially mutually intelligible dialects;

andpluricentrism, where what is essentially a single genetic language exists

as two or more standard varieties.

William Labov is one of the most prominent researchers in this field.

Contents

  [hide] 

1 History

2 Methods of data collection

3 Mutual intelligibility

4 Diglossia

5 Dialect continuum

6 Pluricentrism

7 The Ausbausprache — Abstandsprache — Dachsprache framework

8 See also

9 References

[edit]History

Dialect studies began in the latter half of the 19th century. The idea of

dialect studies began in 1876, by Georg Wenker, who sent postal

questionnaires out over Northern Germany. These postal questionnaires

contained a list of sentences written in Standard German. These sentences

were then transcribed into the local dialect, reflecting dialectal differences.

Many studies proceeded from this, and over the next century dialect

studies were carried out all over the world. Joseph Wright produced the six-

volume English Dialect Dictionary in 1905.

Traditional studies in Dialectology were generally aimed at producing

dialect maps, whereby imaginary lines were drawn over a map to indicate

different dialect areas. The move away from traditional methods of

language study however caused linguists to become more concerned with

social factors. Dialectologists therefore began to study social, as well as

regional variation. The Linguistic Atlas of the United States (1930s) was

amongst the first dialect studies to take social factors into account.

In the 1950s, the University of Leeds undertook the Survey of English

Dialects, which focused mostly on rural speech in England and the eastern

areas of Wales.

This shift in interest consequently saw the birth of Sociolinguistics, which is

a mixture of dialectology and social sciences.

[edit]Methods of data collection

Dialect researchers typically use questionnaires to gather data on the

dialect they are researching. There are two main types of questionnaires;

direct and indirect.

Researchers using direct questionnaires will present the subject with a set

of questions that demand a specific answer and are designed to gather

either lexical or phonological information. For example, the linguist may ask

the subject the name for various items, or ask him or her to repeat certain

words.

Indirect questionnaires are typically more open-ended and take longer to

complete than direct questionnaires. A researcher using this method will sit

down with a subject and begin a conversation on a specific topic. For

example, he may question the subject about farm work, food and cooking,

or some other subject, and gather lexical and phonological information from

the information provided by the subject. The researcher may also begin a

sentence, but allow the subject to finish it for him, or ask a question that

does not demand a specific answer, such as “What are the most common

plants and trees around here?”[1]

[edit]Mutual intelligibility

Main article: Mutual intelligibility

Some have attempted to distinguish dialects from languages by saying that

dialects of the same language are understandable to each other. The

untenable nature of blunt application of this criterion is demonstrated by the

case of Italian and Spanish cited above. While some native speakers of the

two may on occasion enjoy some limited mutual understanding, few people

would want to classify Italian and Spanish as dialects of the same language

in any sense other than historical. Spanish and Italian are similar,

but phonology, syntax, morphology, andlexicon are sufficiently distinct that

the two cannot be considered dialects of the same language.

Diglossia

Main article: Diglossia

Another problem occurs in the case of diglossia, used to describe a

situation in which, in a given society, there are two closely related

languages, one of high prestige, which is generally used by the government

and in formal texts, and one of low prestige, which is usually the

spoken vernacular tongue. An example of this is Sanskrit, which was

considered the proper way to speak in northern India, but only accessible

by the upper class, and Prakrit which was the common (and informal

or vernacular) speech at the time.

Varying degrees of diglossia are still common in many societies around the

world.

[edit]Dialect continuum

Main article: Dialect continuum

A dialect continuum is a network of dialects in which geographically

adjacent dialects are mutually comprehensible, but with comprehensibility

steadily decreasing as distance between the dialects increases. An

example is the Dutch-German dialect continuum, a vast network of dialects

with two recognized literary standards. Although mutual intelligibility

between standard Dutch and standard Germanis very limited, a chain of

dialects connects them. Due to several centuries of influence by standard

languages (especially in NorthernGermany, where even today the original

dialects struggle to survive) there are now many breaks in intelligibility

between geographically adjacent dialects along the continuum, but in the

past these breaks were virtually nonexistent.

The Romance languages—

Galician/Portuguese, Spanish, Sicilian, Catalan, Occitan/Provençal, Frenc

h, Sardinian, Romanian, Romansh,Friulan, other Italian, French, and Ibero-

Romance dialects, and others—form another well-known continuum, with

varying degrees of mutual intelligibility.

In both areas—the Germanic linguistic continuum, the Romance linguistic

continuum—the relational notion of the term dialect is often vastly

misunderstood, and today gives rise to considerable difficulties in

implementation of European Union directives regarding support of minority

languages. Perhaps this is no more evident than in Italy, where still today

some of the population use their local language (dialetto 'dialect') as the

primary means of communication at home and, to varying lesser extent, the

workplace. Difficulties arise due to terminological confusion. The languages

conventionally referred to as Italian dialects are Romance sister languages

of Italian, not variants of Italian, which are commonly and properly

called italiano regionale ('regional Italian'). The label Italian dialect as

conventionally used is more geopolitical in aptness of meaning rather than

linguistic: Bolognese and Neapolitan, for example, are termed Italian

dialects, yet resemble each other less than do Italian and Spanish.

Misunderstandings ensue if "Italian dialect" is taken to mean 'dialect of

Italian' rather than 'minority language spoken on Italian soil', i.e. part of the

network of the Romance linguistic continuum. The indigenous Romance

language of Venice, for example, is cognate with Italian, but quite distinct

from the national language in phonology, morphology, syntax, and lexicon,

and in no way a derivative or a variety of the national

language. Venetian can be said to be an Italian dialect both geographically

and typologically, but it is not a dialect of Italian.

[edit]Pluricentrism

Main article: Pluricentric language

A pluricentric language is a single genetic language that has two or

more standard forms. An example is Hindi-Urdu or Hindustani, which

encompasses two main standard varieties, Urdu and Hindi. Another

example is Norwegian, with Bokmål having developed closely with Danish

and Swedish, and Nynorsk as a partly reconstructed language based on

old dialects. Both are recognized as official languages in Norway.

In a sense, the set of dialects can be understood as being part of a

single diasystem, an abstraction that each dialect is part of. In generative

phonology, the differences can be acquired through rules. An example can

be taken with Occitan (a cover term for a set of related varieties of

Southern France) where 'cavaL' (from late Latin *caballu-, 'horse') is the

diasystemic form for the following realizations.

Languedocien dialect: caval [kaβal] (L > [l],

sometimes velar, used concurrently with French

borrowed forms chival or chivau);

Limousine dialect: chavau [tʃavau] (ca > cha and -L

> -u);

Provençal dialect: cavau [kavau] (-L > -u, used

concurrently with French borrowed

forms chival or chivau);

Gascon dialect: cavath [kawat] (final -L > [t],

sometimes palatalized, and used concurrently with

French borrowed forms chibau)

Auvergnat and Vivaro-alpine

dialects: chaval [tʃaval] (same treatment

of ca cluster as in Limousine dialect)

This conceptual approach may be used in practical situations. For instance

when such a diasystem is identified, it can be used construct

adiaphonemic orthography that emphasizes the commonalities between

the varieties. Such a goal may or may not fit with sociopolitical preferences.

[edit]The Ausbausprache — Abstandsprache — Dachsprache framework

Main article: Ausbausprache, Abstandsprache and Dachsprache

One analytical paradigm developed by linguists is known as

the Ausbausprache - Abstandsprache - Dachsprache framework. It has

proved popular among linguists in Continental Europe, but is not so well

known in English-speaking countries, especially among people who are not

trained linguists. Although only one of many possible paradigms, it has the

advantage of being constructed by trained linguists for the particular

purpose of analyzing and categorizing varieties of speech, and has the

additional merit of replacing such loaded words as "language" and "dialect"

with the German terms of Ausbausprache, Abstandsprache,

and Dachsprache, words that are not (yet) loaded with political, cultural, or

emotional connotations.

[edit]See also

Abstandsprache

Language geography

Dialectometry

Areas of study

Accent · Dialect

Discourse analysis

Language varieties

Linguistic description

Pragmatics

Variation

Related fields

Applied linguistics

Historical linguistics

Linguistic anthropology

Sociocultural linguistics

Sociology of language

Key concepts

Code-switching · Diglossia

Language change

Language ideology

Language planning

Multilingualism

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Prosody (linguistics)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaThis article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (January 2008)

In linguistics, prosody (pronounced / ̍ p r ɒ s ə d i /  PROSS -ə-dee) is the rhythm, stress, and intonation of speech. Prosody may reflect various features of the speaker or the utterance: the emotional state of the speaker; the form of the utterance (statement, question, or command); the presence of irony or sarcasm; emphasis, contrast, and focus; or other elements of language that may not be encoded by grammar or choice of vocabulary.

Contents

  [hide] 

1 Acoustic attributes of prosody2 The prosodic domain3 Prosody and emotion4 Brain location of prosody5 See also

6 References7 Further reading8 External links

[edit]Acoustic attributes of prosody

In terms of acoustics, the prosodics of oral languages involve variation in syllable length, loudness, pitch, and the formant frequencies of speech sounds. In sign languages, prosody involves the rhythm, length, and tension of gestures, along with mouthing and facial expressions. Prosody is typically absent in writing, which can occasionally result in reader misunderstanding. Orthographic conventions to mark or substitute for prosody include punctuation (commas, exclamation marks, question marks, scare quotes, and ellipses), and typographic styling for emphasis (italic, bold, and underlined text).

The details of a language's prosody depend upon its phonology. For instance, in a language with phonemic vowel length, this must be marked separately from prosodic syllable length. In similar manner, prosodic pitch must not obscure tone in a tone language if the result is to be intelligible. Although tone languages such as Mandarin have prosodic pitch variations in the course of a sentence, such variations are long and smooth contours, on which the short and sharp lexical tones are superimposed. If pitch can be compared to ocean waves, the swells are the prosody, and the wind-blown ripples in their surface are the lexical tones, as with stress in English. The word dessert has greater stress on the second syllable, compared to the noun desert, which has greater stress on the first; but this distinction is not obscured when the entire word is stressed by a child demanding "Give me dessert!" Vowels in many languages are likewise pronounced differently (typically lesscentrally) in a careful rhythm or when a word is emphasized, but not so much as to overlap with the formant structure of a different vowel. Both lexical and prosodic information are encoded in rhythm, loudness, pitch, and vowel formants.

[edit]The prosodic domain

Prosodic features are suprasegmental. They are not confined to any one segment, but occur in some higher level of an utterance.

Theseprosodic units are the actual phonetic "spurts", or chunks of speech. They need not correspond to grammatical units such as phrases andclauses, though they may; and these facts suggest insights into how the brain processes speech.

Prosodic units are marked by phonetic cues, such as a coherent pitch contour – or the gradual decline in pitch and lengthening of vowels over the duration of the unit, until the pitch and speed are reset to begin the next unit. Breathing, both inhalation and exhalation, seems to occur only at these boundaries where the prosody resets.

"Prosodic structure" is important in language contact and lexical borrowing. For example, in Modern Hebrew, the XiXéX verb-template is much more productive than the XaXáX verb-template because in morphemic adaptations of non-Hebrew stems, the XiXéX verb-template is more likely to retain – in all conjugations throughout the tenses – the prosodic structure (e.g., the consonant clusters and the location of the vowels) of the stem.[1]

[edit]Prosody and emotion

Emotional prosody is the expression of feelings using prosodic elements of speech. It was considered by Charles Darwin in The Descent of Man to predate the evolution of human language: "Even monkeys express strong feelings in different tones – anger and impatience by low, – fear and pain by high notes."[2] Native speakers listening to actors reading emotionally neutral text while projecting emotions correctly recognized happiness 62% of the time, anger 95%, surprise 91%, sadness 81%, and neutral tone 76%. When a database of this speech was processed by computer, segmental features allowed better than 90% recognition of happiness and anger, while suprasegmental prosodic features allowed only 44%–49% recognition. The reverse was true for surprise, which was recognized only 69% of the time by segmental features and 96% of the time by suprasegmental prosody.[3] In typical conversation (no actor voice involved), the recognition of emotion may be quite low, of the order of 50%, hampering the complex interrelationship function of speech advocated by some authors.[4]

[edit]Brain location of prosody

An aprosodia is an acquired or developmental impairment in comprehending or generating the emotion conveyed in spoken language. This is seen sometimes in persons with Asperger syndrome.

Producing these nonverbal elements requires intact motor areas of the face, mouth, tongue, and throat. This area is associated with Brodmann areas 44 and 45 (Broca's area) of the left frontal lobe. Damage to areas 44/45 produces motor aprosodia, with the nonverbal elements of speech being disturbed (facial expression, tone, rhythm of voice).

Understanding these nonverbal elements requires an intact and properly functioning Brodmann area 22 (Wernicke's area) in the right hemisphere[5]. Right-hemispheric area 22 aids in the interpretation of prosody, and damage causes sensory aprosodia, with the patient unable to comprehend changes in voice and body language .

Prosody is dealt with by a right-hemisphere network that is largely a mirror image of the left perisylvian zone. Damage to the right inferior frontal gyrus causes a diminished ability to convey emotion or emphasis by voice or gesture, and damage to right superior temporal gyrus causes problems comprehending emotion or emphasis in the voice or gestures of others.

[edit]See also

Intonation Phonological hierarchy Prosody (poetry)

[edit]References

1. ̂  Hybridity versus Revivability: Multiple Causation, Forms and Patterns. In Journal of Language Contact, Varia 2 (2009), pp. 40-67.

2. ̂  Charles Darwin (1871). "The Descent of Man". citing Johann Rudolph Rengger, Natural History of the Mammals of Paraguay, s. 49

3. ̂  R. Barra, J.M. Montero, J. Macías-Guarasa, L.F. D’Haro, R. San-Segundo, R.

Córdoba. "Prosodic and segmental rubrics in emotion identification".

4. ̂  H.-N. Teodorescu and Silvia Monica Feraru. In: Lecture Notes in Computer Science, Springer Berlin, Heidelberg. ISSN 0302-9743, Volume 4629/2007, “Text, Speech and Dialogue”. Pages 254-261. "A Study on Speech with Manifest Emotions,".

5. ̂  Miller, Lisa A; Collins, Robert L; Kent, Thomas A (2008). "Language and the modulation of impulsive aggression.". The Journal of neuropsychiatry and clinical neurosciences 20 (3): 261–73. PMID 18806230.

[edit]Further reading

NESPOR, Marina. Prosody: an interview with Marina Nespor ReVEL, vol. 8, n. 15, 2010.

Nolte, John. The Human Brain 6th Edition[edit]External links

Lessons in Prosody (at the  University of Freiburg) Prosody on the Web - (a tutorial on prosody)

[hide]v · d · e Suprasegmentals Timing Syllable · Mora · Metrical foot · Vowel reduction

ToneTone contour · Pitch accent · Register · Downstep · Upstep · Downdrift · Tone terracing · Floating tone · Tone sandhi · Tone letter

Stress Secondary stress · Vowel reductionLength Chroneme · Gemination · Vowel length · Extra-shortProsod

yIntonation (pitch) · Pitch contour · Pitch reset · Stress · Rhythm · Loudness · Prosodic unit · Pausa

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