This study investigates the possible influence of L1 structures on the linguistic system of New Englishes. It focuses on the realization of final consonant clusters in two 'new' varieties of English for which L1 influence has been reported: Singapore English and Nigerian English. Although a comparison of the phonological structure of the background languages in the two countries with the phonological structure of English predicts the same type of influence in both varieties, the analyses in this study show great variation between the New Englishes in terms of overall cluster reduction rate, influence of cluster length, variation with following phonetic context and the reduction patterns of certain types of clusters. It is argued that these discrepancies are due to the different status of English in Singapore and Nigeria. The Norm-Orientation Hypothesis is proposed, which claims that the spread of L1 structures in a new variety of English is crucially influenced by the specific sociolinguistic settings. 1
Nigerian English (NigE) prosody has often been described as strikingly different from Standard English varieties such as British English (BrE) and American English. One possible source for this is the influence of the indigenous tone languages of Nigeria on NigE. This paper investigates the effects of the language contact between the structurally diverse prosodic systems of English and the three major Nigerian languages. Reading passage style and semi-spontaneous speech by speakers of NigE, BrE, Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba were analysed acoustically in terms of speech rhythm, syllable structure and tonal structure. Results show that NigE prosody combines elements of intonation / stress languages and tone languages. In terms of speech rhythm, syllable structure and syllable length, NigE groups between the Nigerian languages and BrE. NigE tonal properties are different from those of an intonation language such as BrE insofar as tones are associated with syllables and have a grammatical function. Accentuation in NigE is different from BrE in terms of both accent placement and realisation; accents in NigE are associated with high tone. A proposal for a first sketch of NigE intonational phonology is made and parallels are drawn with other New Englishes.
This article investigates the use of commentary pragmatic markers in Nigerian English. The frequency and stylistic variability of five types of commentary markers – assessment, manner of speaking, evidential, hearsay and emphasis markers – were examined in ICE-Nigeria and compared with ICE-Great Britain. The results reveal that Nigerian English has patterns of use of pragmatic markers that differ systematically from British English: speakers of Nigerian English use an overall lower frequency and a reduced inventory of commentary pragmatic markers compared to British English, show distinct preference patterns for individual pragmatic markers and demonstrate different stylistic variability in the use of pragmatic markers. Some of the preference patterns may be influenced by Nigerian languages and socio-cultural norms.
A B S T R A C TSeveral descriptions of the transition from single to multiword utterances use prosody as an important diagnostic criterion. For example, in contrast to successive single-word utterances, 'real' two-word utterances are supposed to be characterized by a unifying intonation contour and a lack of an intervening pause. Research on the acquisition of prosody, however, revealed that control of the phonetic parameters pitch, loudness, and duration is far from complete at such an early stage. In this study, we examine the interaction between the development of different types of syntactic structures and their prosodic organization. Data from a detailed production record of a monolingual German-learning boy is analysed both auditorily and acoustically with a focus on four different types of two-word utterances produced between 2; 0 and 2; 3. Two major findings are reported here. First, the different types of two-word utterances undergo individual trajectories of prosodic (re-)organization, in part depending on the time course in which they become productive. This suggests that different types of [*] The data collection and research was carried out at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, which also provided a stimulating environment for working on our ideas. We are grateful to several transcribers, most notably Solvejg Kü hnert, Jana Jurkat, and Susanne Mauritz for their indispensable groundwork in transcribing the data, and to Anne Alexander for her help in the acoustic analyses of a part of the data. Of course, none of this would have been possible without the continuous good spirit of Leo and his parents. We would like to thank the audience at the International Association for Child Language (IASCL) in Madison/Wisconsin, July 2002 for their helpful comments and suggestions.
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