Using the Language Experience and Proficiency Questionnaire (Marian et al., 2007), we collected measures of language dominance for 23 early bilingual Azerbaijani-Persian (AZ-PE) adolescents and 21... Show moreUsing the Language Experience and Proficiency Questionnaire (Marian et al., 2007), we collected measures of language dominance for 23 early bilingual Azerbaijani-Persian (AZ-PE) adolescents and 21 monolingual PE peers. In a perceptual assimilation (PA) task, these participants had identified each of the 11 pure vowels of American English (AE) as one of the six monophthongs of PE, and the bilinguals also as one of the nine monophthongs of AZ. Vowel tokens were presented twice in different random orders, yielding consistent (same choice twice) and inconsistent (different choices) response pairs. We test the hypothesis that PA consistency, defined as the percentage of consistent pairs, should reflect language dominance. Results show that an optimal combination of LEAP-Q parameters explains 35% of the variance in PA consistency. The correlation is significant but not strong enough to advocate PA consistency as a useful and reliable correlate of language dominance. Show less
This paper revisits the tension in sociolinguistics between the linguistic capital associated with languages of socioeconomic mobility, and the cultural and identity value of local languages. With... Show moreThis paper revisits the tension in sociolinguistics between the linguistic capital associated with languages of socioeconomic mobility, and the cultural and identity value of local languages. With Malaysia as a case study, the paper shows that although this economy-versus-culture tension may be a go-to ideological paradigm in sociolinguistics for exploring and analyzing ideologies and beliefs vis-à-vis- language acquisition and language policy, it may not necessarily feature as saliently in grassroots perspectives. A series of group interviews was held with Malaysian youths who have experienced their government’s policy backflips on whether mathematics and science are taught in English (or in Bahasa Malaysia or in another medium-of-instruction) in primary and secondary schools. By asking these youths to reflect on their experiences, policy, and what language they would prefer for mathematics and science, the research reveals perspectives that more often fell outside the critical economy-versus-culture ideological continuum. Instead, the youths were sooner concerned with monolingual education facilitating expedited learning, with cognitive ease, and with fostering a consistent policy approach. The findings caution against assuming that economy-versus-culture is a key interest in the community regarding language policy, and encourage us to apply alternate, non-critical theoretical lenses to understand a broader range of bottom-up concerns. Show less
This study investigates the effect of prosodic feature awareness training on the quality of interpreting by interpreter trainees. Two groups of student interpreters were formed. Participants were... Show moreThis study investigates the effect of prosodic feature awareness training on the quality of interpreting by interpreter trainees. Two groups of student interpreters were formed. Participants were assigned to groups at random, but with equal division between genders (seven males in each group). The control group was then taught interpreting skills by the routine curriculum, while the experimental group spent part of the time instead on theoretical explanation and practical exercises emphasizing prosodic differences between Farsi and English. Three raters assessed the quality of the interpreter trainees’ performance in a post-test in terms of accuracy, omissions, overall coherence, grammar, expression, word choice, terminology, accentedness, pace and voice. The results show that prosodic feature awareness training did have a statistically significant effect on the quality measures: the overall assessment of the experimental group was 14 points better (on a scale between 0 and 100) than that of the control group. Moreover, the difference was larger for the phonetic/ prosodic quality scales (accentedness, pace, voice) than for the other scales. These results have implications for designers of curricula for training interpreters, material producers and all who are involved in foreign-language study and pedagogy. Show less
This tutorial-like presentation provides a survey of acoustical correlates of word and sentence stress, with emphasis on Germanic languages such as Dutch and English. It also reviews what is known... Show moreThis tutorial-like presentation provides a survey of acoustical correlates of word and sentence stress, with emphasis on Germanic languages such as Dutch and English. It also reviews what is known about the perceptual cue value of the acoustic correlates of stress, and show that highly reliable correlates are not necessarily strong perceptual cues, and conversely that the strongest perceptual cue (pitch change) is an unreliable correlate. Show less
This dissertation provides a comprehensive and cross-religious analysis of representations of religious conversion in early modern English drama. An urgent topic due to the religious upheavals of... Show moreThis dissertation provides a comprehensive and cross-religious analysis of representations of religious conversion in early modern English drama. An urgent topic due to the religious upheavals of the early modern period, conversion provoked questions about a variety of religious and social issues, including divine and human agency, mystical experience, the demarcation of religious identities and the nature and possibility of religious transformation. The stage, which served an important socio-cultural role in early modern England, responded to these questions in dramatizations of conversion that investigated conditions under which it could be successful. By distinguishing between spiritual and interfaith conversion, this study demonstrates that in plays perceptions of faith in spiritual terms were increasingly replaced by an understanding of belief in terms of mutually exclusive denominational identities. Moreover, despite the great interest in interfaith conversion, and despite the importance of religious change and transformation on the stage, early modern playwrights did everything in their power to suppress conversion and the idea that the same depraved Muslim, Jewish, Catholic or pagan identities they had constructed could be shed and exchanged for a righteous (Protestant) Christian one. Show less
The dissertation assesses the influence of British Celtic on the phonological development of English during and shortly after the Anglo-Saxon settlement period, ca. AD 450–700. By reconstructing... Show moreThe dissertation assesses the influence of British Celtic on the phonological development of English during and shortly after the Anglo-Saxon settlement period, ca. AD 450–700. By reconstructing and then comparing the phonological systems of both British Celtic and English at the time of contact, an independent assessment of the differences and similarities between the sound systems of the two languages is achieved. On this basis, the segments which were most likely to have been susceptible to change in a situation of language contact and language shift are identified. Evidence for change in English resulting from British Celtic influence is then sought in the medieval textual records. Numerous possible examples of phonological and phonetic change resulting from contact are identified in especially northern English dialects. These findings are interpreted in the context of other on-going research from linguistics and other disciplines. Show less
