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Canadians are perceived worldwide as being welcoming to people of diverse backgrounds, partly due to the government’s adoption of official multiculturalism. Nevertheless, immigrants face substantial barriers to integration. The present study explores whether bias exists against job applicants with non-Canadian English accents in the province of Ontario and what variables influence listeners’ evaluations of candidates’ responses. Verbal guises of ‘good’ and ‘bad’ answers to job interview questions were recorded by British, Chinese, German, Indian, Jamaican, and Nigerian women, and Canadian women with at least one parent from these countries. Ninety-six human resources students from nine post-secondary institutions in southern Ontario rated (1) the content of job interview responses, whether candidates were (2) easy to understand and (3) desirable employees, and (4) determined what job they should be interviewed for. Quantitative analysis via conditional inference trees and random forests reveals accent discrimination. Local voices received significantly higher ratings than non-local voices on all parameters and were recommended for more managerial-level and customer-facing job interviews. These results indicate that linguistic assimilation is expected of immigrants and bias against accents can lead to inequitable access to employment, contra to multiculturalism. Consequently, we call for language to be added to Ontario’s grounds for discrimination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current study tested the potential effect of regional-accented speech on perceived credibility. Canarian and Madrid listeners were presented with a series of audio recordings in which speakers read out loud news items with either a Canarian or a Madrid accent, and they were tasked to rate the credibility of each news item. The within-subject manipulation of accent demonstrated a small but significant effect on credibility judgment, which was not moderated by listener's origin. Specifically, in line with socio-linguistic stereotyping, news items presented in a Canarian accent were judged as less credible on average than news items presented in a Madrid accent. These findings are discussed both within the perspective of cognitive-linguistic theory, and within a sociological perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examining the vernacular lives of Punjabi language in Pakistan, this essay considers the question: what is the life of a language undesired in a hostile politicolinguistic ecology? By way of an answer, it employs the term paindoo to argue that Anglo-Urduphile postcolonial Pakistan reduces Punjabi to a lingual and visual accent that is caricatured, embodied, and gendered. This reductive accent is produced not by the speaker, but rather through the accented -perception of the listener. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a scientific discipline phono stylistics originates from the scientific studies by N.S. Trubetskoy. In the Turkic languages, phono stylistics is synharmonic. The words of the Turkic languages are marked with one of the four types of synharmonism - synharmolingvohard, synharmolingvosoft, synharmolingvolabiohard, siyharmolingvolabiosoft. Synharmonism is a universal prosodic property of the Turkic languages, it permeates the entire word, both monosyllabic and polysyllabic, therefore, phono variations are synharmonic: when alternating phonemes in synharmonic phono variants, another synharmonious phoneme functions in the place of synharmohard phoneme, and another synharmosoft phoneme functions in the place of synharmosoft phoneme. Synharmonism covers both segmental and supersegmental phono stylistics of the Turkic languages. The synharmonic phono stylistics of the Kazakh language is synharmolingual, since labial synharmonism is not manifested in it, with the exception of several words in which the presence of labial synharmonism is debatable. The article is devoted to the study of relevant issues in the field of phono stylistics on the basis of vocabulary of synharmonic and accent languages. The phono variations of the Kazakh language at the prosodic (synharmonic) level are characterized by the following differentiation: into stylistically equivalent singharmonic phono variants; into stylistically not equivalent synharmonic phono variants; into synharmonic phono variants, the sound of which, depending on type of synharmonism, is spelled differently, but in status of normative spelling. In this case synharmonic phono variants of one word can be spelled differently. The polysemy in the manifestation of sound stylistics is based on the typological diversity of languages possessing different systems. Thus, in Russian, the prosodic dominant of a word is verbal stress, heterogeneity and mobility of which contributes to generation of supersegmental phono stylistics of language unit. A change in pronunciation of a word of synharmonic type contributes to the generation of its synharmonic phono variant. This diversity of systems is the basis for heterogeneous manifestation of both segmental and super-segmental phono stylistics in these languages. In course of conducting scientific study, such methods of scientific research as comparative, contrastive, opposition of minimal pairs, semantic-stylistic were used. The results of contrastive study are of theoretical and practical importance.

This qualitative study examines the language attitudes and language use of two North Korean refugees living in the Gyeongsang provincial region of South Korea and actively trying to assimilate into mainstream Korean society. In interviews, the participants expressed a hierarchical view of three varieties of Korean (their North Korean Hamgyong dialect, the South Korean Gyeongsang dialect, and standard South Korean). They discussed how their North Korean accents exacerbated their marginalization, described the Gyeongsang dialect as "ignorant" and "rude," and explained how and why they were trying to acquire standard South Korean. They also described how their North Korean accent continued to affect their communication with local South Korean speakers, who often perceived them as sounding angry and commanding. The participants had developed diverse communicative strategies in response to these language-related challenges, including smiling so as to not appear aggressive, remaining silent to avoid being outed by their speech, speaking carefully to appear more South Korean and avoid potential misunderstandings, and proactively revealing their North Korean background and seeking their interlocutors' understanding in advance. Based on the findings, the study offers practical implications for language-support programs designed for North Korean refugees. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of JALT Journal is the property of Japan Association for Language Teaching and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This meta‐analysis examined biases in personnel selection owing to applicants' use of non‐standard language such as ethnic and migration‐based language varieties or regional dialects. The analysis summarized the results of 22 studies with a total N of 3615 raters that compared applicants with an accent or dialect with applicants speaking standard language. The primary studies used different standard and non‐standard languages and assessed different dependent variables related to hiring decisions in job interviews. The k = 109 effect sizes (Hedges' g) were assigned to the dependent variables of competence, warmth, and hirability. Non‐standard speakers were rated as less competent (δ = −0.70), less warm (δ = −0.17), and less hirable (δ = −0.51) compared to standard speakers. Thus, at the same level of competence, non‐standard speakers are rated lower than standard speakers and might, therefore, be disadvantaged in personnel selection contexts. We also considered several potential moderator variables (e.g., applicants' specific language variety, raters' own use of non‐standard language, and raters' background) but only found rather limited support for them. Furthermore, publication bias had only limited effects. Practical implications for personnel selection are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a reciprocal relationship between trust and vocal communication in human interactions. On one hand, a predisposition towards trust is necessary for communication to be meaningful and effective. On the other hand, we use vocal cues to signal our own trustworthiness and to infer it from the speech of others. Research on trustworthiness attributions to vocal characteristics is scarce and contradictory, however, being typically based on explicit judgements which may not predict actual trust-oriented behaviour. We use a game theory paradigm to examine the influence of speaker accent and prosody on trusting behaviour towards a simulated game partner, who responds either trustworthily or untrustworthily in an investment game. We found that speaking in a non-regional standard accent increases trust, as does relatively slow articulation rate. The effect of accent persists over time, despite the accumulation of clear evidence regarding the speaker's level of trustworthiness in a negotiated interaction. Accents perceived as positive for trust can maintain this benefit even in the face of behavioural evidence of untrustworthiness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines how listeners categorize second language (L2) accents and how their linguistic background affects this categorization. Ninety‐eight adult bilingual and multilingual Greek listeners categorized accents in a familiar (British English)–unfamiliar (Australian English) L2 accent condition. Data were collected through an online survey and analysed using binomial mixed‐effects models and signal detection analysis. The results demonstrated that both bilinguals and multilinguals exhibited low performance in the task, potentially due to their decreased familiarity with the Australian English accent and the fact that the two accents are phonetically similar. However, despite both groups' low performance, multilinguals outperformed bilinguals in accent categorization accuracy. This advantage could be attributed to a combination of cognitive and social dynamics. Results expand upon prior research, indicating that exposure to accent variation enhances listeners' abilities to categorize non‐native accents. The study provides important theoretical implications for the perception of accents and practical insights into foreign language learning and multilingual communication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current study tested the potential effect of regional-accented speech on perceived credibility. Canarian and Madrid listeners were presented with a series of audio recordings in which speakers read out loud news items with either a Canarian or a Madrid accent, and they were tasked to rate the credibility of each news item. The within-subject manipulation of accent demonstrated a small but significant effect on credibility judgment, which was not moderated by listener’s origin. Specifically, in line with socio-linguistic stereotyping, news items presented in a Canarian accent were judged as less credible on average than news items presented in a Madrid accent. These findings are discussed both within the perspective of cognitive-linguistic theory, and within a sociological perspective.

This article investigates the role of accents in an English as a Foreign Language classroom with college students in Mexico. The paper starts by defining key concepts necessary to understand the topic, such as accent and different types of accents. Then, a description of the setting and participants is presented, followed by a detailed explanation of how the study was carried out and a discussion of the results. This study demonstrated that there is no need to use just one type of accent in the EFL classes but rather a variety of accents regardless of the student's proficiency level. What is needed, however, is to design warm-up activities to prepare students for listening to audio recordings to succeed with the tasks.

For many second language (L2) speakers, including immigrants, speaking with an L2 accent can be a source of unfair or biased treatment in many workplace contexts. However, apart from research on language learners, there is currently little knowledge as to what the general public, and especially members of professional communities, know about accent and accent bias. Our goal in this study was to examine the intuitive understanding of accent and accent bias by university students in human resource (HR) management as future gatekeepers to gainful employment. We interviewed 14 students across two four-year university HR programs in Canada asking the students about their prior experience with accent bias and exploring their understanding of the broader construct of accent through thematic interview coding. The students reported multiple examples of accent bias, demonstrating a nuanced understanding of accent, where they characterized accent bias as an unconscious phenomenon, highlighted its experiential component, expressed sensitivity to different linguistic sources of accent, emphasized the role of a listener in L2 communication, and generally showed flexibility and tolerance toward accented L2 speech. We discuss these findings in light of prior work on accent awareness and highlight the importance of dedicated accent-focused training for HR professionals. Speaking a second (or additional) language with an accent typically involves speakers producing pronunciation features from their mother tongue(s) in their second language. Prior research shows that individuals who speak a second language with an accent are subject to negative biases in professional settings. Because university students enrolled in human resource (HR) management programs are future HR professionals, it is important to uncover what they know about accent and accent bias (i.e., negative judgments based on a speaker's pronunciation). To that end, we interviewed 14 undergraduate HR students in two Canadian universities, in Calgary and Montreal, to determine how they understand accent and accent bias. Students were asked about their own understanding of accent bias, their previous experiences with it, and the importance of accent bias awareness among the HR community. Overall, the students demonstrated a nuanced understanding of accent and suggested that accent-based discrimination may be an unconscious phenomenon. They also showed flexibility and tolerance toward accents, emphasizing that establishing successful communication is a shared responsibility among speakers and listeners. We discuss how negative attitudes toward second language accents may contribute to detrimental, real-life consequences for those who speak a second language with an accent. Finally, we provide suggestions for how HR students' awareness about accent bias may be honed, including through activities that require them to take the perspective of a second language speaker, through diversity training and awareness-raising about different personal characteristics that may influence professional evaluations, and finally through informal contact activities with second language speakers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A central question in social cognitive development concerns the degree to which children prefer social ingroup members relative to social outgroup members. Forced‐choice measures and continuous rating scales are often used to assess these preferences, but little work has examined the extent to which these two methods yield similar or divergent estimates. In Study 1, we used a within‐subjects design to assess gender‐, race‐, and accent‐based preferences in 5–6‐year‐old predominantly white children (N = 100) with both a forced‐choice and a rating measure (on a 1–6 scale); replicating prior work, children expressed ingroup preference along all three dimensions regardless of how they were assessed. In Study 2, we replicated the discrepancy between forced‐choice and rating in children's ingroup gender preferences in a more racially diverse sample (N = 55). In both studies, while responses on forced‐choice and rating measures were correlated, estimates of ingroup preference were stronger in each domain when assessed with a forced‐choice measure. We discuss the implications for researchers who wish to assess social group preferences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given the challenges immigrants and their descendants face in entering the labour market, we add to the existing literature by considering a previously neglected explanation: a foreign accent. Using unique data with objective accent measures from the Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Survey in Four European Countries (CILS4EU), we first establish whether foreign-accent effects could be found in a non-experimental setting. Second, we seek to disentangle the accent effect by human capital, signalling, and discrimination approaches. Finally, we explore the extent to which employment and educational paths of accented speakers reflect their self-selection into the fields of study that lead to occupations for which accented speech is not a precondition. Our findings demonstrate that respondents with a stronger foreign accent are more likely to be found in occupations for which language skills are less essential. This is in line with the human-capital explanation. Self-selection tendencies might also be present, even though the findings are equivocal. Our analyses lend no support to the statistical discrimination explanation, as employers' perceptions of foreign accents do not vary according to the extent of their contact with accented speakers at work or at home. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study reports the results of an experiment (N = 502) investigating how speakers are socially categorized based on accent (Standard American English [SAE] or Nigerian) and race (White or Black) separately and concurrently, as well as the intergroup outcomes of such categorizations as mediated by language attitudes (status, solidary, and dynamism). Findings revealed that SAE-accented speakers were evaluated more favorably than Nigerian-accented speakers on status. Status also mediated the relationship between accent and (a) symbolic threat and (b) social distance. Additionally, Black males were rated higher on solidarity and dynamism than White males. Finally, status mediated the combined effect of the speaker's race and accent on symbolic threat, intergroup anxiety, and social distance. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Matica Srpska Journal of Philology & Linguistics / Zbornik Matice Srpske za Filologiju i Lingvistiku is the property of Matica srpska and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Journal of Arabian Sciences Heritage is the property of Republic of Iraq Ministry of Higher Education & Scientific Research (MOHESR) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Introduction: Listeners rapidly “tune” to unfamiliar accented speech, and some evidence also suggests that they may improve over multiple days of exposure. The present study aimed to measure accommodation of unfamiliar second language- (L2-) accented speech over a consecutive 5-day period using both a measure of listening performance (speech recognition accuracy) and a measure of cognitive load (a dual-task paradigm). Methods: All subjects completed a dual-task paradigm with L1 and L2 accent on Days 1 and 5, and were given brief exposure to either L1 (control group) or unfamiliar L2 (training groups) accent on Days 2–4. One training group was exposed to the L2 accent via a standard speech transcription task while the other was exposed to the L2 accent via a transcription task that included implicit feedback (i.e., showing the correct answer after each trial). Results: Although overall improvement in listening performance and reduction in cognitive load were observed from Days 1 to 5, our results indicated neither a larger benefit for the L2 accent training groups compared to the control group nor a difference based on the implicit feedback manipulation. Discussion: We conclude that the L2 accent trainings implemented in the present study did not successfully promote long-term learning benefits of a statistically meaningful magnitude, presenting our findings as a methodologically informative starting point for future research on this topic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this research, we investigate the impression management (IM) strategies used by nonnative speakers. We ask the following questions: (1) What IM strategies do nonnative speakers employ, (2) Are some IM strategies more effective than others, and (3) What determines the use of different IN strategies among nonnative speakers? Across two studies, we examine if some IM strategies are more effective than others in improving outcomes for nonnative speakers. Results from both studies revealed negative effects associated with the use of defensive strategies, and results from Study 2 demonstrated benefits associated with assertive strategies (i.e., self-promotion and flattery). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In popular and scholarly discourse on texted music and music-speech intersections, the prevailing assumption is that the linguistic features of the lyrics (e.g., syllabic stress) align with the way the lyrics are sung (e.g., phenomenal accent in or affecting the melody)--or, if not, that they should. However, not only can text and music conflict, but they do so in a variety of ways, to varying degrees, and with different effects on our listening experience. I define prosodic dissonance as any conflict between the prosodic linguistic features and musical rendition of text. This could include misalignment between syllabic and durational/registral stress, between spoken and sung phrases, or between spoken and sung intonation. Prosodic dissonance/consonance can also interact with rhyme, vowel shape, parallelism, and syncopation. To recognize prosodic dissonance, I (1) determine the prosody for the lyrics as spoken, (2) determine the prosody for the melody as sung, (3) identify mismatches as dissonances, (4) consider the effect of the surrounding melody/lyrics, (5) consider alternate pronunciations or hearings that might account for it, and (6) consider the perceptual and analytical implications. This article focuses on prosodic dissonance in popular music, with longer analyses of Kesha's "Tonight" (2020), Royal & the Serpent's "Overwhelmed" (2020), and Rina Sawayama's "This Hell" (2022). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous research found that accents cause the listener to exhibit prejudice toward the speaker. The present study tested whether the familiarity of the listener and speaker moderated this effect. Study 1 tested this question in a simulated recruit scenario and found that participants were less likely to recruit candidates with an accent, but this effect existed only when the candidate was a stranger to the interviewer, not when the candidate was an acquaintance. Study 2 retested this question in a scenario of talking one-on-one and also found that the effect of accent existed only when they were strangers, not when they were acquaintances. Both studies suggested that the effect of accent on the attitude and behavior of the listener vanished when the speaker and listener were familiar with each other. This work offers insights for understanding the effect of accent on social interaction from the perspective of the familiarity of the speaker and listener and reveals the moderated role of familiarity in the dynamic of the effect of accent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated accent bias against job applicants with extralocal (non-Canadian) English accents in the Greater Toronto Area. Verbal guises recorded by British, Chinese, German, Indian, Jamaican, and Nigerian women and by Canadian women with at least one parent from these countries were evaluated by forty-eight human resources students, who rated the content of job interview responses and the candidates' 'expression' and 'employability', determined what job they should be interviewed for, and provided commentary. Canadian voices were especially privileged in comments on speech. Quantitative analysis of responses reflected bias against extralocal voices. Consequently, we provide recommendations for relevant stakeholders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper describes and analyzes phonological processes pertinent to the glottal stop in A’ingae (or Cofán, iso 639-3: ). The operations which the glottal stops undergo and trigger reveal an interaction of two morphophonological parameters: stratum and stress dominance. First, verbal suffixes are organized in two morphophonological domains, or strata. Within the inner domain, glottal stops affect stress placement, which I analyze as an interaction with foot structure. In the outer domain, glottal stops do not have any effects on stress. Second, some verbal suffixes delete stress (i. e. they are dominant). Dominance is unpredictable and independent of the suffix’s morphophonological domain, but dominance and the phonological domain interact in a non-trivial way: only inner dominant suffixes delete glottalization. To account for the A’ingae data, I adopt Cophonologies by Phase (Sande et al. 2020), which (i) models phonological stratification while (ii) allowing for morpheme-specific phonological idiosyncrasies, which (iii) interact with the phonological grammar of their stratum. Stress deletion triggered by the dominant suffixes is modeled with AntiFaithfulness (Alderete 1999, 2001). Antifaithfulness to a metrical foot entails antifaithfulness to its features (glottalization). This captures the fact that only the inner dominant suffixes delete glottal stops.

The way characters in film are portrayed, through dress code, behaviour and speech, is often revealing of social patterns and social critique, independently from the film genre or the target audience. This article focuses on the portrayal of lead and supporting actors in the two instalments of Kingsman, The Secret Service and The Golden Circle (2014 and 2017 respectively, both by Mathew Vaughn), departing, in the first case, from a Pygmalionesque transformative idea and, centered in Harry/Galahad’s (Colin Firth) motto “Manners Maketh Man” to partially portray social context in Britain and extending its “tongue-in-cheek” critique to the American Southern culture in The Golden Circle, in purposely biased portraits. The emphasis is on how dialect, particularly accent, aid in the construction or deconstruction of stereotypes, both in British and North American contexts, and how they reflect particular views of the world(s).

Multicultural Australian English – Voices of Sydney (MAE-VoiS) is a project designed to examine the relationship between phonetic variation, community diversity, ethnicity and identity in the Australian context. The MAE-VoiS corpus samples five separate areas in Sydney that vary according to the dominant language backgrounds in the communities (four non-English dominant areas and one English dominant area). The corpus comprises audio recordings of 186 teenagers from 38 language backgrounds who engaged in a picture response elicitation task and a conversation with a peer facilitated by a local research assistant. A total of 42,760 words and short phrases are included in the corpus in addition to 25.47 hours of conversational data incorporating 186,775 words. Participants also completed an extensive Ethnic Orientation Questionnaire and their parents completed a demographic/language survey. The corpus is unique in its focus on adolescent speech collected from participants selected from communities of Sydney that have been under-represented in sociophonetic analyses of Australian English. The main aim of the project is to provide source material for analyses that will ultimately allow us to forge a new model of Australian English that embraces difference, acknowledging the contribution of all spoken varieties in the representation of Australian identity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increase of immigrant employees in services has made intercultural service encounters a commonplace phenomenon. In these encounters, customers frequently use service employees' accent to infer their ethnic background, often eliciting cultural stereotypes. However, it is still unknown how accent-based stereotyping impacts customer participation (CP), that is, the degree to which customers engage in the service process by contributing effort, knowledge, and information to improve their service experience. Addressing this question in four experimental studies (N total = 1,027), we find that (1) customers contribute less to the service encounter voluntarily when the employee has an unfavorable foreign (compared to a local) accent, (2) the negative effects of unfavorable accents on voluntary CP are stronger than the positive effects of favorable ones, (3) accent-based employee stereotypes (superiority, attractiveness, dynamism) mediate the impact of accents on CP, (4) unfavorable accents impede even participatory tasks mandatory for service completion, and (5) accent effects on CP are dampened for customers with a high need for interaction and can be managerially neutralized through self-service options that offer customers higher control over the service delivery. Our findings inform staffing and training decisions for frontline service roles commonly undertaken by immigrants and assist the design of intercultural service delivery systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Auditory‐perceptual evaluations of dysphonia, though essential for comprehensive voice evaluation, are subject to listener bias. Knowledge of an underlying voice disorder can influence auditory‐perceptual ratings. Accented speech results in increased listener effort and delays in word identification. Yet, little is known about the impact of foreign language accents on auditory‐perceptual ratings for dysphonic speakers. The purpose of this work was to determine the impact of a foreign language accent on experts' auditory‐perceptual ratings of dysphonic speakers. Methods: Twelve voice‐specializing SLPs who spoke with a General American English (GAE) accent rated vocal percepts of 28 speakers with a foreign language accent and 28 with a GAE accent, all of whom had been diagnosed with a voice disorder. Speaker groups were matched based on sex, age, and mean smoothed cepstral peak prominence. Four linear mixed‐effects models assessed the impact of a foreign language accent on expert auditory‐perceptual ratings of the overall severity of dysphonia, roughness, breathiness, and strain. Results: The twelve raters demonstrated good inter‐ and intra‐rater reliability (ICC[3, k] =.89; mean ICC =.89). The linear mixed‐effects models revealed no significant impact of foreign language accent on ratings of overall severity of dysphonia, roughness, breathiness, or strain. Conclusion: Despite the possibility of increased listener effort and bias, foreign language accent incongruence had no effect on expert listeners' auditory‐perceptual evaluations for dysphonic speakers. Findings support the use of auditory‐perceptual evaluations for voice disorders across sociolinguistically diverse populations. Level of Evidence: 3 Laryngoscope, 134:2272–2276, 2024 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article argues that the patterns governing the retention and elision of Proto-Uto-Aztecan (PUA) * p in the language groups Nahuan and Corachol can be explained by reference to accent patterns in the most recent shared ancestor Proto-Corachol-Nahua (PCN). The PCN accent can be reconstructed by application of Sapir's law of accent in Nahuan, which posits that accent in pre-Nahuan can be predicted from the patterns of syncope. Comparison shows that the pre-Nahuan accent coincides with lexical accent in Corachol. It is argued that in both language groups * p is retained in accented syllables and weakened to * h (and then elided) in unaccented syllables. Accent appears to interact with the Uto-Aztecan system of consonant gradation. The reconstruction of accent and its effects in Corachol and Nahuan and other SUA languages may permit a better understanding of the relations between the languages and of phenomena that may otherwise appear to be irregular. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing on interviews with British passport holders who moved to the United Kingdom to start University, this paper explores slang and accent as sonic spatial identities. The paper analyses the inclusions and exclusions in belonging as articulated by British mobile young people through their sonic spatial identities. In doing so, the paper extends wider conceptual debates on embodied belonging by arguing for a need to further explore the sonic as a register of belonging. It argues that research on sonic spatial identities needs to be more attuned to mobility in order to explore and challenge wider discourses of exclusion. The article concludes by offering suggestions as to how to develop research in belonging and identity on an everyday sonic register. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines L2 speakers' accent attitudes in relation to their linguistic profile and current practices, recruiting 107 multilingual postgraduate students of 34 different nationalities enrolled in leading research universities in Japan. The participants completed a survey regarding their perceptions of different English varieties in English as a lingua franca (ELF) contexts. Interviews were additionally conducted to solicit in-depth perspectives on their accent attitudes and contextual accent variation. Factor analysis of the survey data generally supported the thematic trends observed during the interviews, in which three-quarters of the interviewees expressed a wish to attain native-like English accents. However, those who aspire to native-like pronunciation do not necessarily maintain negative attitudes towards others who speak with foreign accents. Rather, they appear indifferent to others' accents and varieties of World Englishes, and they do not associate their accents with nationhood or cultural identity. Thematic analysis of the interview data revealed that participants' pressing need to sound native-like stems from not only pragmatic considerations such as better intelligibility but also their context specificities, which entail frequent high-stakes ELF interaction and arrangements for professional entry in the imminent future. These observations imply that a linguistic hierarchy still lingers in the World Englishes paradigm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Yegah Musicology Journal / Yegah Müzikoloji Dergisi is the property of International Yegah Music Journal and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Speech is a complex auditory signal that contains multiple layers of linguistic and non-linguistic structure, it contains both linguistic and social class information. Perceivers are exquisitely sensitive to this layered structure and extract not only linguistic properties, but also indexical characteristics that provide information about individual talkers and groups of talkers. Social class information involves inferring the speaker's social class or forming an impression of their social status based on their speech. Previous research on social class perception in speech has primarily focused on English, with relatively little research on Chinese. This study examines social class perception in Chinese speech. Study 1 employed class judgment and evaluation tasks with a subjective social class scale as the main measure to examine whether listeners could infer class information from Chinese speech and how their own class background influenced their perception. The results of Study 1 showed that subjects could accurately discriminate between speakers' social classes, but there may be a response bias that overestimates lower-class speakers as upper-class speakers. Study 2 focused on whether the speech of different classes of speakers actually differed on a number of indicators. It was found that the speech of higher class speakers was perceived to be more standardised, more pleasant to listen to and less accent-intensive. Overall, listeners can perceive class information from Chinese speech; different classes of Chinese speech do contain different levels of indexical information. In Chinese language societies, individuals can also judge their class information through the speech, which is consistent with the relevant research results in English.

В статье проводится сопоставительный анализ фонетических систем русского и китайского языков на сегментном уровне с целью выявления зон возможного проявления межъязыковой интерференции в китайской речи носителей русского языка. При языковом контакте овладение китайским языком происходит по-разному в зависимости от условий естественного и искусственного билингвизма. Необходимо лингвистическое описание устной речи для выявления отклонений от языковых норм. Также в исследовании проведен анализ собранных интерференционных ошибок в устной китайской речи носителей русского языка и их классификация. Материалы исследования в дальнейшем могут быть использованы для сбора корпусных ошибок, а также в лингводидактике китайского языка.

Based on the assumption that the standard language in use, including prosodic features, is a distinct supradialectal idiom that lacks regionally distinctive features and can be acquired by speakers originating from dialect regions that are structurally distant from the dialects that serve as the basis for the standard language, we aim to investigate whether speakers from different dialect regions can be identified in TV speech by their dialectal origin. The study involved 45 participants, including 30 high school students and 15 linguists, who were asked to identify the dialect origins of speakers from different dialect regions using a multimedia survey. The results of the study indicate that a person's speech does not always clearly reveal their dialect base. Furthermore, the standard language can also be acquired by speakers of Serbian who come from dialect regions that are distant from the dialects that formed the basis of the standard Serbian language. This study could pave the way for further research in the field of perceptual dialectology and contribute to a broader and deeper understanding of this phenomenon.

The study examines how the US Cold War cinema employed linguistic means to construct images of the USSR and American communists. The research relevance is determined by: the need to study the techniques of creating the enemy image as one of the crucial issues in international relations; and the importance of the topic amidst the aggravation of Russia- US relations. The study aims at analysing the usage of linguistic means in such practices of constructing/deconstructing the images of ‘enemy number one’ as dehumanisation of the enemy, its normalisation, domestication, and rehumanisation. The research novelty lies in the fact that, for the first time, the language as a resource for constructing enemy images in the Cold War films is analysed. The material for the study makes American films of the 1940s-1960s, in which contaminated speech for depicting Soviet characters is extensively used. Particular attention is paid to the means of creating speech portraits of Soviet characters. The research methods used are descriptive, linguistic, and sociolinguistic methods, and discourse analysis. The authors conclude that linguistic means (primarily linguistic competences and accent) were instrumental for creating enemy images in the cinematic Cold War. Linguistic otherness served as a means of emphasising second-rate culture, which in turn was intended to mark political foreignness. Linguistic means helped fulfil functions of the enemy image: showing its otherness; depriving it of the linguistic abilities as an essential attribute of humanity, helping dehumanise it; emphasizing its civilisational inferiority; and making the enemy comical. Finally, attention is drawn to the fact that the cinematic image of ‘enemy number one’ contributed to the hierarchisation of languages; everything Russian was associated with communism and therefore perceived as inferior and hostile.

IntroductionListeners rapidly “tune” to unfamiliar accented speech, and some evidence also suggests that they may improve over multiple days of exposure. The present study aimed to measure accommodation of unfamiliar second language- (L2-) accented speech over a consecutive 5-day period using both a measure of listening performance (speech recognition accuracy) and a measure of cognitive load (a dual-task paradigm).MethodsAll subjects completed a dual-task paradigm with L1 and L2 accent on Days 1 and 5, and were given brief exposure to either L1 (control group) or unfamiliar L2 (training groups) accent on Days 2–4. One training group was exposed to the L2 accent via a standard speech transcription task while the other was exposed to the L2 accent via a transcription task that included implicit feedback (i.e., showing the correct answer after each trial).ResultsAlthough overall improvement in listening performance and reduction in cognitive load were observed from Days 1 to 5, our results indicated neither a larger benefit for the L2 accent training groups compared to the control group nor a difference based on the implicit feedback manipulation.DiscussionWe conclude that the L2 accent trainings implemented in the present study did not successfully promote long-term learning benefits of a statistically meaningful magnitude, presenting our findings as a methodologically informative starting point for future research on this topic.

Prior work in speech processing indicates that listening tasks with multiple speakers (as opposed to a single speaker) result in slower and less accurate processing. Notably, the trial-to-trial cognitive demands of switching between speakers or switching between accents have yet to be examined. We used pupillometry, a physiological index of cognitive load, to examine the demands of processing first (L1) and second (L2) language-accented speech when listening to sentences produced by the same speaker consecutively (no switch), a novel speaker of the same accent (within-accent switch), and a novel speaker with a different accent (across-accent switch). Inspired by research on sequential adjustments in cognitive control, we aimed to identify the cognitive demands of accommodating a novel speaker and accent by examining the trial-to-trial changes in pupil dilation during speech processing. Our results indicate that switching between speakers was more cognitively demanding than listening to the same speaker consecutively. Additionally, switching to a novel speaker with a different accent was more cognitively demanding than switching between speakers of the same accent. However, there was an asymmetry for across-accent switches, such that switching from an L1 to an L2 accent was more demanding than vice versa. Findings from the present study align with work examining multi-talker processing costs, and provide novel evidence that listeners dynamically adjust cognitive processing to accommodate speaker and accent variability. We discuss these novel findings in the context of an active control model and auditory streaming framework of speech processing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Learning to process speech in a foreign language involves learning new representations for mapping the auditory signal to linguistic structure. Behavioral experiments suggest that even listeners that are highly proficient in a non-native language experience interference from representations of their native language. However, much of the evidence for such interference comes from tasks that may inadvertently increase the salience of native language competitors. Here we tested for neural evidence of proficiency and native language interference in a naturalistic story listening task. We studied electroencephalography responses of 39 native speakers of Dutch (14 male) to an English short story, spoken by a native speaker of either American English or Dutch. We modeled brain responses with multivariate temporal response functions, using acoustic and language models. We found evidence for activation of Dutch language statistics when listening to English, but only when it was spoken with a Dutch accent. This suggests that a naturalistic, monolingual setting decreases the interference from native language representations, whereas an accent in the listener's own native language may increase native language interference, by increasing the salience of the native language and activating native language phonetic and lexical representations. Brain responses suggest that such interference stems from words from the native language competing with the foreign language in a single word recognition system, rather than being activated in a parallel lexicon. We further found that secondary acoustic representations of speech (after 200 ms latency) decreased with increasing proficiency. This may reflect improved acoustic-phonetic models in more proficient listeners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article aims to examine the analytical potential of the metalinguistic concept of the "word". It is at the same time an important pre-theoretical concept since any language user is free to exploit it in any of its numerous variants in polysemic dimensions. Considering the criteria of grammatical description, this concept first opens the question of delimitation between the morphological and syntactic analysis of linguistic structures. In writing, the problem of definition seems less complex because it is relatively easy to discern a continued series of graphic signs (i.e. letters) between two blanks. Even if the morphosyntactical criteria seem less obscure in writing, it is in the nature of orthography to sometimes hesitate to determine the extension of the word as a graphical unit. In the long term, linguistic practice causes changes that later systemic prescriptions choose or refuse to adopt. The semantic supposition that the word -- as an autonomous unit of meaning -- refers to a particular segment of extralinguistic reality is hardly more precise: the case of compound French nouns (porte-manteau, quatre-vingts, grand-mère etc.) problematizes these semantic units, making it hard to decide whether their structure consists of one word or two. Reflecting on the word very concretely raises the question of the relationship between language and its use. It seem that, to define the word, it is imperative to take into account the oral manifestations of linguistic use and therefore privilege the analysis of accentuation. Even if the division into accent segments does not affect the lexemic unit, which is most often the case in languages with non-fixed accents, the word (or at least the phonetic word) is a unit of meaning that the accent allows us to recognize. The word is therefore also definable as an accentual unit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examined whether source accent moderates jargon's effects on listeners' processing fluency and receptivity to science communication. Americans heard a speaker describing science using either jargon or non-jargon and speaking with either a native (standard American) or foreign (Hispanic) accent. Compared to non-jargon, jargon disrupted listeners' fluency for both speakers, but especially the foreign-accented speaker; jargon also reduced information-seeking intentions and perceived source and message credibility, but only for the foreign-accented speaker. Fluency mediated the effects of jargon on outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the extensive neuroimaging literature on empathy for pain, few studies have investigated how this phenomenon may relate to everyday social situations such as spoken interactions. The present study used functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) to assess how complaints, as vocal expressions of pain, are empathically processed by listeners and how these empathic responses may vary based on speakers' vocal expression and cultural identity. Twenty-four French participants listened to short utterances describing a painful event, which were either produced in a neutral-sounding or complaining voice by both in-group (French) and out-group (French Canadian) speakers. Results suggest that the perception of suffering from a complaining voice increased activity in the emotional voice areas, composed of voice-sensitive temporal regions interacting with prefrontal cortices and the amygdala. The Salience and Theory of Mind networks, associated with affective and cognitive aspects of empathy, also showed prosody-related activity and specifically correlated with behavioral evaluations of suffering by listeners. Complaints produced by in- vs out-group speakers elicited sensorimotor and default mode activity, respectively, suggesting accent-based changes in empathic perspective. These results, while reaffirming the role of key networks in tasks involving empathy, highlight the importance of vocal expression information and social categorization processes when perceiving another's suffering during social interactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to analyze the Accents Of The World series on the Unpuzzled English page on Instagram, which was created by a Brazilian English teacher. In order to achieve this goal, this case study was based not only on the interface between Sociolinguistics and Foreign Language Learning (FL) proposed by Fragozo (2028), but also on other researches being carried out in the Applied Linguistics (AL) field, e.g Crystal (2012), Holliday (2013), Albuquerque e Becker (2021). In this regard, a brief case study was developed through guiding questions that supported the analysis of 11 videos from that page. Lastly, it was concluded that the work of linguistic and scientific dissemination may actively contribute to a less biased linguistic education whereas other teachers are empowered with the instrumental knowledge needed to combat linguistic reductionism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]