The Department of Contemporary English Language invites you to the second instalment of the Phon&Phon Reading Group.

31 March 2009, 18:30, room 601A.

Vowel shifts: Beyond the Northern Cities. Part 2

Jarosław Weckwerth

The first instalment of the Phon&Phon Reading Group partially built on the content of the (not-so-recent-anymore) guest lectures at IFA by Dennis Preston.

You may want to have a look at the announcement of that first instalment here to see the reading list and the initial list of topics (opens in a new tab/window).

In the second part, I would like us to discuss some issues that were not covered back then, and elaborate on them.

1. We discussed the mechanics of the vowel shifts seen in Australian, New Zealand and South African English. A PDF with the relevant slides is here. This will not be discussed further, but being familiar with the material will be a definite bonus.
2. We noticed that representing the vowel shifts in transcription may be problematic, as seen from this slide (PDF). We will discuss this further, with the following question in mind:
   • Why is transcribing this type of change problematic? Should we try transcribing it at all? If not, what are the other options? (Familiarity with the Cox 2008 paper from the original reading list will be helpful.)
3. As a little perception test, we listened to this recording.
   • Those who were not there on 16 Dec should try to write down what they hear, and try to figure out what the catch may be. Those who were there should think of the following:
   • What do perception effects like this mean for EFL learners? What do they mean – if anything – for native speakers? Are there any consequences for discussions of the distinction between "accent", "dialect" and "language"?
4. We also listened to the this recording.
   • How intelligible is the recording for you? Is it funny? We will look at a transcript and try to discuss the pragmatic effects of the perception problems.