Submitted by wjarek on 6 April, 2009 - 21:38.
The Department of Contemporary English Language (DoCELu)
invites you to a Phon&Phon meeting
Wednesday, 15 Apr 2009, 18:30, Room 601A
Prof Ulrike Gut (University of Augsburg)
Final t/d deletion in Singapore English
This talk is concerned with final t/d deletion in Singapore English. Three separate studies reveal it to be a highly complex phenomenon in which phonological, morphological and sociolinguistic factors interact: An analysis of the NIECSSE corpus of spoken educated Singapore English shows that t/d deletion is much more frequent in Singapore English than in American or British English. In a second analysis it was investigated whether this is due to L1 influence (Chinese does not allow final consonant clusters) and whether the increased deletion rate is a general characteristic of the New Englishes (see e.g. Patrick 1991, Santa Ana 1996). A comparison with -t/d deletion in Nigerian English and L2 English produced by Chinese learners revealed that L1 is not the primary factor influencing -t/d deletion in the New Englishes. By contrast, it is suggested that speaker attitudes and the developmental stage of the New English exert a strong influence on this phonological process. A third study examined the question of whether the high rate of -t/d deletion in Singapore English is caused by a general lack of verbal past tense marking in this variety of English, as has been suggested by Wee (2004). The results of the corpus analysis are interpreted as evidence for a phonological basis of most unmarked verb forms in Singapore English. They further imply that past tense marking in Singapore English varies with sociolinguistic factors.
Submitted by J Weckwerth
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