Linguistics

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Acoustic analysis of voiceless initial stops in the speech of study abroad and regular class students: Context of learning as a variable in Spanish second language acquisition
(Cascadilla Proceedings Project, 2003) Díaz-Campos, Manuel
Studies in the area of second language acquisition have pointed out that context of learning is an important factor for predicting subjects' linguistic gain (Armstrong 1981, Brecht 1993a, 1993b; Brecht, Davidson. and Ginsberg 1995. Freed 1995. submitted, Lafford 1995, submitted, Lapkin, Hart, and Swain 1995, Collentine submitted, Diaz-Campos submitted, Lazar submitted, Segalowtiz submitted; among others). In general terms, these previous investigations found that students traveling abroad to a country where the target language is spoken return home with a better linguistic command. For instance, Armstrong (1981 :85), who analyzes a group of study abroad students of Spanish in a program in Mexico, maintains: "The discussion of achievement in the four skills in chapter 3 pointed out that listening, reading, and writing gains proved to be greater than those which might be normally expected in a full year of traditional language instruction at the high school level." This idea of improvement after a study abroad program is also pointed out by Freed (1995) in her survey of the literature examining linguistic gain in the study abroad context. Nonetheless, she also maintains that what emerges from previous studies is a somewhat a contradictory perspective as far as linguistic benefits are concerned in a study abroad experience. Freed (1995:8} agrees with Ellis (1994) in that formal instruction is an important key aspect for developing proficiency in a second language, especially if the process of learning includes opportunities for natural exposure.
Acquisition of sociolinguistic variables in Spanish: Do children acquire individual lexical forms or variable rules?
(Mouton de Gruyter, 2004-06) Díaz-Campos, Manuel
Previous research in the area of phonological variation has focused on describing internal and external constraints in the speech of adult speakers. These previous investigations have contributed to our understanding of the role played by different groups within the speech community in the process of language change. The study of variation in child language was not taken into consideration for a long period of time in sociolinguistic studies. Pioneer work on the acquisition of variation in child phonology (Labov 1964) proposes that development of stylistic variation probably starts when individuals are 14 years old under the influence of wider contacts with peers beyond the neighborhood or high school. More recently this idea has been challenged by some scholars who have conducted research on the acquisition of variable phonology in English, French, and Spanish (Roberts and Labov 1995; Roberts 1994, 1997a, 1997b; Chevrot, Beaud, and Varga 2000; Díaz-Campos 2001). The assumption in the work of Roberts and Labov 1995; Roberts 1994, 1997a, 1997b, and Díaz-Campos 2001 is that the acquisition of variable phonology entails the encoding of a variable rule . According to Labov (1972), variable rules are based on generative phonological rules with the ingredient of incorporating the probability of application of them when linguistic and social constraints are satisfied. Nonetheless, Chevrot, Beaud, and Varga (2000:295) suggest that children tend to copy adult surface forms instead of acquiring a variable rule. This suggestion that children copy lexical forms is consistent with Bybee's (2001) usage-based model of phonology in which linguistic regularities are not expressed as rules, but rather as schemas. This means that speakers discover generalizations about linguistic units and create a series of connections based on similarities among them.
Agreement and scope of modification in Hausa coordinate structures
(Chicago Linguistic Society, 1988) Schwartz, Linda; Newman, Paul; Sani, Sammani
Análisis del discurso narrativo infantil: correlaciones entre orden de palabras y tipos de verbos
(Lengua y habla, 1997) Díaz-Campos, Manuel
The present research contrasts child and adult speech with respect to the position fr subject noun-phrases in relationship to verb typology. This study analyzes a tape-recorded sample of thirty six hours of child language productions. The children, aged three to six, are native speakers of Spanish, born to Venezuelan, middle-class Spanish-speaking parents. Our findings show that nominal phrases longer than seven syllables which have the S role and codify inanimate inactive referents have a high probability of appearing after the verb.
An Analysis of Frequency as a Factor Contributing to the Diffusion of Variable Phenomena
(Cascadilla Proceedings Project, 2011) Díaz-Campos, Manuel; Gradoville, Michael
This investigation examines the behavior of intervocalic dental fricative deletion in past-participle contexts versus all other instances, as well as palato-alveolar fricative devoicing to determine the effect of frequency. The evidence found reveals that lexical frequency and type frequency are relevant to explain rates of deletion in the case of intervocalic dental fricative. High frequency tokens show more deletion than less frequent ones. Past participles ending in -ado reflect the influence of high type frequency. Regarding devoicing of the palato-alveolar fricative, words that occur more frequently in contexts favoring the devoicing also devoice at a higher rate in disfavoring contexts as the phenomenon is spreading from favoring contexts to disfavoring ones. Furthermore, in the disfavoring context, low frequency words devoice at a higher rate than high frequency words. The evidence presented contributes to the growing body of studies regarding frequency effects on Spanish phonological processes.
Annotating Antisemitic Online Content. Towards an Applicable Definition of Antisemitism
(arXiv, 2019-10-03) Jikeli, Gunther; Cavar, Damir; Miehling, Daniel
Online antisemitism is hard to quantify. How can it be measured in rapidly growing and diversifying platforms? Are the numbers of antisemitic messages rising proportionally to other content or is it the case that the share of antisemitic content is increasing? How does such content travel and what are reactions to it? How widespread is online Jew-hatred beyond infamous websites and fora, and closed social media groups? However, at the root of many methodological questions is the challenge of finding a consistent way to identify diverse manifestations of antisemitism in large datasets. What is more, a clear definition is essential for building an annotated corpus that can be used as a gold standard for machine learning programs to detect antisemitic online content. We argue that antisemitic content has distinct features that are not captured adequately in generic approaches of annotation, such as hate speech, abusive language, or toxic language. We discuss our experiences with annotating samples from our dataset that draw on a ten percent random sample of public tweets from Twitter. We show that the widely used definition of antisemitism by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance can be applied successfully to online messages if inferences are spelled out in detail and if the focus is not on intent of the disseminator but on the message in its context. However, annotators have to be highly trained and knowledgeable about current events to understand each tweet’s underlying message within its context. The tentative results of the annotation of two of our small but randomly chosen samples suggest that more than ten percent of conversations on Twitter about Jews and Israel are antisemitic or probably antisemitic. They also show that at least in conversations about Jews, an equally high number of tweets denounce antisemitism, although these conversations do not necessarily coincide.
Are ideophones really as weird and extra-systematic as linguists make them out to be?
(John Benjamins, 2001) Newman, Paul
ARTICULATORY AND ACOUSTIC PHONETICS OF VOICE ACTING
([Bloomington, Ind.] : Indiana University, 2021-11) Feehan, Colette; de Jong, Kenneth
Professional voice actors are an excellent, but fairly untapped population for linguistic study. These actors are linguistically naïve but perform complex linguistic tasks throughout the course of their profession, and they perform these tasks safely, reliably, and consistently. While some previous studies used auditory and instrumental acoustic methods to investigate the speech produced by voice actors (Teshigawara, 2003; Teshigawara et. al., 2007; Teshigawara, 2009, cited in Teshigawara, 2011; Starr, 2015), in contrast there has been very little research on their articulation (Teshigawara & Murano, 2004). This work uses a combination of 3D/4D ultrasound, electroglottography (EGG), audio recordings, and webcam footage to observe the articulations of six voice actors (3 professionals and 3 amateurs) and compare those articulations to the acoustic outputs. Each actor read a syllable list and two stories from the Goldman Fristoe Test of Articulation 3rd ed. in both their regular adult speaking voice and a simulated child voice. Some general findings of this study indicate that actors do produce different acoustic outputs for a child voice compared to their adult voice including higher fundamental frequency (F0), different averages in acoustic measurement of vowel formants, and shorter estimates of vocal tract length. The ultrasound data indicate that actors also alter the place of lingual constriction to be more anterior, farther forward in the mouth, when imitating a child voice. EGG data, while limited to only two subjects due to the 2020 pandemic, indicate that actors may also raise their larynx to shorten the vocal tract while speaking in an imitated child voice. This work opens a new angle for linguistic study while also providing an empirical basis upon which new pedagogical methods to teach voice acting can be developed. Looking at voice actors speaking with intentionally contorted tongue positions could help us learn more about over which muscles we have volitional control within the vocal tract. This could help to improve interventions in speech therapy and even test and update acoustic-articulatory models of speech.
Aspects of Chimpoto Grammar: Text Recordings
(2017) Botne, Robert
Chimpoto is a Bantu language spoken in southwestern Tanzania, along the shores of Lake Nyasa. There are no offical statistics on the number of speakers, but estimates place the number at approximately 85,000. These recordings accompany the first published documentation of the language, representing the language of the Mbaha area (about 5 miles north of the Lundu Mission) as spoken by members of the Mwingira family. Data were obtained at Indiana University through elicitation by Margaret P. Mwingira, complemented by some recorded conversations and supplemented by written texts from several individuals. The following recordings correspond with the book LSAL 98: Aspects of Chimpoto Grammar, available at http://lincom-shop.eu/epages/57709feb-b889-4707-b2ce-c666fc88085d.sf/de_DE/?ObjectPath=/Shops/57709feb-b889-4707-b2ce-c666fc88085d/Products/%22ISBN%209783862889600%22.
Attention Control and Inhibition Influence Phonological Development in a Second Language
(Concordia Working Papers in Applied Linguistics, 2014-03) Darcy, Isabelle; Mora, Joan C.; Daidone, Danielle
This study investigated the role of attention control and inhibition in L2 learners’ phonological processing. Participants were 16 L1‐Spanish/L2‐English learners, and 18 L1-English/L2‐Spanish learners. We measured attention and inhibition through a novel speech‐based attention‐switching task and a retrieval‐induced inhibition task. L2 phonology (perception and production) was assessed through a speeded ABX categorization task and a delayed sentence repetition task. We used a measure of L2 vocabulary size to partial out L2 proficiency effects. A more efficient attention control was associated with more accurate performance in ABX (for the L2‐English learners), and higher inhibitory skill was related to higher ABX accuracy in both learner groups. No clear relationship emerged with the production scores. These results suggest that a more efficient attention control and inhibitory skill enhance the processing of phonologically relevant acoustic information in the L2 input and may lead to more accurate L2 speech perception and production.
Book Review: Style in syntax: Investigating variation in Spanish pronoun subjects by Miguel A. Aijón Oliva & María José Serrano
(Folia Lingüística, 2015-11-10) Díaz-Campos, Manuel
Style in Syntax: Investigating variation in Spanish pronoun subjects is a book that examines the cognitive and discursive implications of syntactic variation in Spanish subject pronouns. Spanish subject pronouns have been studied in several varieties of Latin American Spanish (e.g., Argentina, México, Puerto Rico and Venezuela) as well as in Peninsular Spanish (see Erker and Guy 2012), with a focus on linguistic and/or extralinguistic constraints, on contact issues in the US, on Spanish Second Language Acquisition, and on frequencydriven cognitive effects. Readers of this volume, which is targeted to specialists in discourse analysis, language variation and change, and, most specifically, morphosyntactic variation, as well as graduate students in Hispanic linguistics, will find here an excellent source for the study of discourse analysis and its application to syntactic variation in Spanish.
A brief note on the Maha Language
(West African Linguistic Society, 1965) Newman, Paul
Bringing pronunciation instruction back into the classroom: An ESL teachers’ pronunciation “toolbox”
(Proceedings of the 3rd Pronunciation in Second Language Learning and Teaching Conference, 2012) Darcy, Isabelle; Ewert, Doreen; Lidster, Ryan
Pronunciation is difficult to teach for several reasons. Teachers are often left without clear guidelines and are confronted with contradictory practices for pronunciation instruction. To date, there is no agreed upon system of deciding what to teach, and when and how to do it. Another challenge is the lack of immediate visible results, or a lack of carry-over: very often, students who practice a given pronunciation feature in class do well, but the minute they turn their attention to the message content, the practice effect vanishes. As a result of these difficulties, teaching pronunciation is often secondary, and teachers don’t feel comfortable doing it. Yet researchers and teachers alike agree that pronunciation instruction is important and efficient in improving intelligibility and comprehensibility. In this paper, we describe a new pronunciation curriculum for communication classes currently being designed for an intensive English program. Pronunciation instruction functions as a modular component fully integrated into the institutional learning outcomes across all levels of proficiency, addressing both the lack of carry-over, and the difficulty to teach pronunciation at early levels. Our goal is to provide teachers with enhanced confidence in applying strategies for pronunciation instruction that will contribute to their teaching “toolbox.”
A century and a half of Hausa language studies
(Centre for the Study of Nigerian Languages, 1991) Newman, Paul
Chadic classification and reconstructions
(Undena, 1977) Newman, Paul
This paper contains a comprehensive classification of the Chadic family and new reconstructions of Proto-Chadic phonology and lexicon. The classification shows the position of all known Chadic languages from the level of sub-group to major branch. It is supplemented by an index in which all distinct languages as well as dialect variants and alternative names are identified.
Chadic extensions and pre-dative verb forms in Hausa
(Studies in African Linguistics, 1977) Newman, Paul
Two derivational extensions are reconstructed for Proto-Chadic: a Distant extension *(a)wa, which places the action of a verb at some distance from or in the direction of the speaker, and a Destinative extension * in, which relates the action to a person as its destination, beneficiary, or otherwise affected party. These extensions are illustrated by descriptions of the form and function of their reflexes in present-day Chadic languages belonging to two of the major branches of the family (West and Bill-Mandara). Hausa, which retains the Distant extension in the grade 6 form of the verb, appears to have lost the Destinative. It is argued, however, that a reflex of the Destinative can be identified in Hausa, although it no longer functions as a derivational extension. This is the unusual pre-dative form with final -r/-m of grade 2, 3, and 7 verbs. The interpretation of this pre-dative form as a Destinative is offered as a counterproposal to Parsons' analysis of this form as a "borrowed" grade 5.
A Chadic language bibliography (excluding Hausa)
(1971) Newman, Paul
The Chadic Language Family: Classification and Name Index
(Méga-Tchad, 2013) Newman, Paul
Chado-Hamitic 'adieu': New thoughts on Chadic language classification
(Istituto di linguistica e di lingue orientali, 1978) Newman, Paul
Chatino Speech Corpus Archive Dataset
(2016-10-10) Cavar, Damir; Cavar, Malgorzata; Cruz, Hilaria
The data is the result of experiments related to the process of creating speech technologies to document a low-resourced or endangered language. The language that we picked for the creation of speech corpora and training of forced alignment tools is Eastern Chatino, an unwritten and low-resourced language from Oaxaca, Mexico. As far as we can tell, this is the first such resource available under a free Creative Commons license.

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