http://hdl.handle.net/11089/26516 Mon, 06 Apr 2026 05:45:55 GMT 2026-04-06T05:45:55Z https://dspace.uni.lodz.pl:443/xmlui/bitstream/id/9af6028a-b652-441b-998f-c99033cafb4b/ http://hdl.handle.net/11089/26516 http://hdl.handle.net/11089/26539 Which phonetic features should pronunciation Instructions focus on? An evaluation on the accentedness of segmental/syllable errors in L2 speech Gao, Zhiyan; Weinberger, Steven Many English language instructors are reluctant to incorporate pronunciation instruction into their teaching curriculum (Thomson 2014). One reason for such reluctance is that L2 pronunciation errors are numerous, and there is not enough time for teachers to address all of them (Munro and Derwing 2006; Thomson 2014). The current study aims to help language teachers set priorities for their instruction by identifying the segmental and structural aspects of pronunciation that are most foreign-accented to native speakers of American English. The current study employed a perception experiment. 100 speech samples selected from the Speech Accent Archive (Weinberger 2016) were presented to 110 native American English listeners who listened to and rated the foreign accentedness of each sample on a 9-point rating scale. 20 of these samples portray no segmental or syllable structure L2 errors. The other 80 samples contain a single consonant, vowel, or syllable structure L2 error. The backgrounds of the speakers of these samples came from 52 different native languages. Global prosody of each sample was controlled for by comparing its F0 contour and duration to a native English sample using the Dynamic Time Warping method (Giorgino 2009). The results show that 1) L2 consonant errors in general are judged to be more accented than vowel or syllable structure errors; 2) phonological environment affects accent perception, 3) occurrences of non-English consonants always lead to higher accentedness ratings; 4) among L2 syllable errors, vowel epenthesis is judged to be as accented as consonant substitutions, while deletion is judged to be less accented or not accented at all. The current study, therefore, recommends that language instructors attend to consonant errors in L2 speech while taking into consideration their respective phonological environments. Wed, 22 Aug 2018 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/11089/26539 2018-08-22T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/11089/26537 The semantics of the Spanish adjective positions: a matter of focus Dam, Lotte This paper presents a hypothesis about Spanish adjective position that accounts for different occurrences in language use. The hypothesis is based on the idea that the modifier position itself is a meaningful sign and that the meaning of the modifier position is related to focus: the postnominal modifier creates focus, whereas the prenominal modifier does not create focus. Drawing on the analysis of examples from a text corpus, the paper suggests that the proposed meaning of the two positions offers an account of various empirical phenomena. For example, it can explain why some adjectives are normally placed in one of the positions and why some adjectives change meaning according to their position. Wed, 22 Aug 2018 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/11089/26537 2018-08-22T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/11089/26538 The Challenge of Terminographic Gaps in Translation: A Text-based Approach Put to Practice Mehrpooya, Abbas; Moinzadeh, Ahmad; Dabaghi, Azizollah The issue of terminographic gaps in specialized discourses has always concerned the researchers and readers alike. However, due to the interlingual nature of such a technical issue, the need for interdisciplinary collaboration between translation and terminography seems to be in prospect. For such a reciprocation scheme to come into practical effect, the present study has aimed to conduct a translational-terminographic concerto by putting a specialized English text to the test of Persian translation. This has been done to answer the question if a translator is required to provide for any terminological gap once all attempts at finding the corresponding terminological items have failed. In this pursuit, certain workable criteria for terminographic proposition via translation have been discussed. As such, the practical phase of this study concerns itself with addressing the issue of Persian terminological gaps in a language-related metadiscoursal field and consequently detecting the problem zones of non-equivalence in a specialised text carefully selected for translation. Ultimately, a list of Persian terminological items constructed on the basis of the proposed translational-cum-terminographical scheme is compiled to address the identified terminological gaps in the target metadiscourse under study. Tue, 22 Jan 2019 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/11089/26538 2019-01-22T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/11089/26536 Production accuracy of L2 vowels: Phonological parsimony and phonetic flexibility Šimáčková, Šárka; Podlipský, Václav Jonáš Ultimate attainment in foreign-language sound learning is addressed via vowel production accuracy in English spoken by advanced Czech EFL learners. English FLEECE–KIT, DRESS–TRAP, and GOOSE–FOOT contrasts are examined in terms of length, height, and backness. Our data show that, while being constrained by phonemic category assimilation (new vowel height distinctions are not created), the learners’ interlanguage combines phonological parsimony (reusing L1 length feature to contrast L2 vowels) with phonetic flexibility (within-category shifts reflecting L1–L2 phonetic dissimilarity). Although achieving nativelike phonological competence may not be possible learners who acquire L2 in the prevailingly L1 environment, the Czech learners’ implementations of English vowels revealed their ability to adjust for phonetic detail of L2 sounds. Wed, 22 Aug 2018 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/11089/26536 2018-08-22T00:00:00Z