1. /r/-sandhi in the speech of Queen Elizabeth II
- Author
-
Jose A. Mompean
- Subjects
Literature ,050101 languages & linguistics ,Linguistics and Language ,business.industry ,05 social sciences ,Language and Linguistics ,Queen (playing card) ,Sandhi ,030507 speech-language pathology & audiology ,03 medical and health sciences ,Speech and Hearing ,Anthropology ,0501 psychology and cognitive sciences ,0305 other medical science ,business ,Psychology - Abstract
This paper looks at the use of /r/-sandhi in the speech of Queen Elizabeth II. Potential contexts of /r/-sandhi were identified and analysed for the presence or absence of rhoticity and glottalisation in a corpus of Christmas speeches over a period of seven decades. The results show that the Queen avoids intrusive /r/ altogether but that she uses linking /r/ in most potential cases, that glottalisation is common when /r/-sandhi is not used, and that linking /r/ and glottalisation can also co-occur. A comparison with a longitudinal corpus of speakers also shows that the Queen resembles group-level trends in the case of linking /r/ but differs in the case of intrusive /r/. The results also indicate that a number of phonetic and usage-based variables influence linking /r/ usage, including previously unreported factors such as vowel quality collocation frequency. The findings are discussed in the context of usage-based theory.
- Published
- 2021