2018 Fiscal Year Annual Research Report
A comprehensive analysis of the phonetic characteristics of English as a lingua franca
| Project/Area Number |
16K02776
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| Research Institution | Aichi University |
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Principal Investigator |
ギルナー リーア 愛知大学, 法学部, 教授 (20558803)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2016-04-01 – 2019-03-31
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| Keywords | descriptive phonology / usage-based theory / vowel systems / functional load / world Englishes |
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| Outline of Annual Research Achievements |
The research project focused on the examination and characterization of vowel systems of world English varieties. Specific venues of inquiry included the detection of frequency patterns of lexical distribution in several corpora and the subsequent application of functional load measures in order to identify emergent phonological patterns of localized English-language use worldwide.
Analyses targeted various levels of phonological organization including componential, systemic, and sub-syllabic. The outcomes of the research activities for 2018 can be summarized as follows: Phonological models for the eight world Englishes under investigation (viz. Canadian, East African, Hong Kong, Ireland, Indian, Jamaican, Philippine, and Singapore English) were validated based on a literature review relating to descriptions of phonological systems of world Englishes. Data sets comprising phonological forms of the dominant vocabulary of each variety were scrutinized and verified. A series of functional load analyses were carried out on each data set. An interpretative framework was devised in order to describe and discuss organizational patterns in terms of the usage intensity of articulatory gestures and phonetic features associated with the phonemes that constitute each vowel system under investigation. A platform to aggregate and query data sets was developed. An analytical tool that renders visual representations of results was developed.
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