http://hdl.handle.net/11089/9530 Sun, 05 Apr 2026 23:19:29 GMT 2026-04-05T23:19:29Z http://hdl.handle.net/11089/9574 Rhythm and Vowel Quality in Accents of English Schwartz, Geoff In a sample of 27 speakers of Scottish Standard English two notoriously variable consonantal features are investigated: the contrast of /m/ and /w/ and non-prevocalic /r/, the latter both in terms of its presence or absence and the phonetic form it takes, if present. The pattern of realisation of non-prevocalic /r/ largely confirms previously reported findings. But there are a number of surprising results regarding the merger of /m/ and /w/ and the loss of non-prevocalic /r/: While the former is more likely to happen in younger speakers and females, the latter seems more likely in older speakers and males. This is suggestive of change in progress leading to a loss of the /m/ - /w/ contrast, while the variation found in non-prevocalic /r/ follows an almost inverse sociolinguistic pattern that does not suggest any such change and is additionally largely explicable in language-internal terms. One phenomenon requiring further investigation is the curious effect direct contact with Southern English accents seems to have on non-prevocalic /r/: innovation on the structural level (i.e. loss) and conservatism on the realisational level (i.e. increased incidence of [r] and [r]) appear to be conditioned by the same sociolinguistic factors. Tue, 19 Oct 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/11089/9574 2010-10-19T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/11089/9575 From Focus on Sounds to Focus on Words in English Pronunciation Instruction Szpyra-Kozłowska, Jolanta; Stasiak, Sławomir The authors present a report on the experiment in which a group of 25 Polish secondary school pupils has undergone a special training in the pronunciation of 50 commonly mispronounced words with the use of special, teacher-designed materials. The effectiveness of the employed procedure as well as the pupils' reactions to it are examined and pedagogical conclusions are drawn. Tue, 19 Oct 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/11089/9575 2010-10-19T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/11089/9576 Sound Symbolism in Foreign Language Phonological Acquisition Wrembel, Magdalena The paper aims at investigating the idea of a symbolic nature of sounds and its implications for in the acquisition of foreign language phonology. Firstly, it will present an overview of universal trends in phonetic symbolism, i.e. non-arbitrary representations of a phoneme by specific semantic criteria. Secondly, the results of a preliminary study on different manifestations of sound symbolism including emotionally-loaded representations of phonemes and other synaesthetic associations shall be discussed. Finally, practical pedagogical implications of sound symbolism will be explored and a number of innovative classroom activities involving sound symbolic associations will be presented. Tue, 19 Oct 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/11089/9576 2010-10-19T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/11089/9573 Variable Scottish English Consonants: The Cases of /m/ and Non-Prevocalic /r/ Schützler, Ole In a sample of 27 speakers of Scottish Standard English two notoriously variable consonantal features are investigated: the contrast of /m/ and /w/ and non-prevocalic /r/, the latter both in terms of its presence or absence and the phonetic form it takes, if present. The pattern of realisation of non-prevocalic /r/ largely confirms previously reported findings. But there are a number of surprising results regarding the merger of /m/ and /w/ and the loss of non-prevocalic /r/: While the former is more likely to happen in younger speakers and females, the latter seems more likely in older speakers and males. This is suggestive of change in progress leading to a loss of the /m/ - /w/ contrast, while the variation found in non-prevocalic /r/ follows an almost inverse sociolinguistic pattern that does not suggest any such change and is additionally largely explicable in language-internal terms. One phenomenon requiring further investigation is the curious effect direct contact with Southern English accents seems to have on non-prevocalic /r/: innovation on the structural level (i.e. loss) and conservatism on the realisational level (i.e. increased incidence of [r] and [r]) appear to be conditioned by the same sociolinguistic factors. Tue, 19 Oct 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/11089/9573 2010-10-19T00:00:00Z