Congratulations
S PhD student LAUREN SCHNEIDER is conducting research focused on the Hul'q'umi'num' language. This month she received two grants to aid in the continuation of her research.
- The Jacobs Research Funds Grant for her project Information flow and the distribution of NPs and Vs in Hul'q'umi'num'.
- The Philips Fund for Native American Research Grant for her project The use of complex verb phrases and noun phrases in Hul'q'umi'num' Salish Oral paragraphs.
S The Undergraduate Student Research Awards (USRA) programs provide opportunities for students to be part of a major research project, while being supervised by a university professor. This summer, five undergraduate students in the Department of Linguistics received USRAs to work in four of our research labs.
- BEN JOSEPH will be working with Professor MAITE TABOADA in the Discourse Processing Lab on the project Anonymity and toxicity in online news comments.
- GLORIANNA JUE will be working with Assistant Professor HENNY YEUNG in the Language Learning and Development Lab on the project Audiovisual recalibration in English-speaking adults.
- JANE LI will be working with Professor JOHN ALDERETE in the Language Production Lab on the project Big Data and Cantonese: Using corpus tools to document sound frequencies and word frequencies.
- CELESTE MEDINA will be working with Assistant Professor HENNY YEUNG in the Language Learning and Development Lab on the project Links between language use, executive control and multilingualism in young children.
- LARISSA MELVILLE will be working with Assistant Professor ASHLEY FARRIS-TRIMBLE in the Phonological Processing Lab on the project Learning complex phonology: Evidence for child, adult and simulated learners.
Publications
S The article, Quinlingualism in the Maghreb?: English Use in Moroccan Outdoor Advertising, co-authored by PhD student BOUCHRA KACHOUB and Professor SUZANNE K. HILGENDORF has been selected as the lead article of the June, 2020 hard copy issue of the Cambridge University Press journal English Today. The issue's cover page features a photo of a Moroccan city with the caption "Multilingual Morocco."
Kachoub, Bouchra, and Suzanne K. Hilgendorf. (2020). Quinlingualism in the Maghreb?: English Use in Moroccan Outdoor Advertising, English Today, 36(2), 3-16.
Quinlingualism in the Maghreb?: English Use in Moroccan Outdoor Advertising
Abstract:
The widespread use of English in advertising around the world has received considerable attention in recent decades. A number of researchers have looked at this practice in European countries such as France, Germany, Greece, and Italy (e.g. Martin, 1998, 2002, 2006, 2007, 2008; Hilgendorf & Martin, 2001; Oikonomidis, 2003; Vettorel, 2013). Other scholars have examined this phenomenon in various contexts in Asia, for instance in India, Iran, and Russia (e.g. Bhatia, 1987, 1992, 2006, 2007, 2012; Ustinova & Bhatia, 2005; Bhatia & Baumgardner, 2008; Baumgardner & Brown, 2012). One part of the world, however, drawing relatively little scholarly attention to date has been the Maghreb region of northern Africa.
S The Language and Brain Lab has a new publication out this month in the Journal of Phonetics.
Redmon, Charles, Keith Leung, Yue Wang, Bob McMurray, Allard Jongman, and Joan A. Sereno. (2020). Cross-linguistic perception of clearly spoken English tense and lax vowels based on auditory, visual, and auditory-visual information, Journal of Phonetics, 81.
Cross-linguistic perception of clearly spoken English tense and lax vowels based on auditory, visual, and auditory-visual information
Abstract:
The effect of clear speech on the integration of auditory and visual cues to the tense-lax vowel distinction in English was investigated in native and non-native (Mandarin) perceivers. Clear speech benefits for tense vowels /i, ɑ, u/ were found for both groups across modalities, while lax vowels /ɪ, ʌ, ʊ/ showed a clear speech disadvantage for both groups when presented in the visual-only modality, with Mandarin perceivers showing a further disadvantage for lax vowels presented audio-visually, and no difference in speech styles auditorily. English perceiver responses were then simulated in an ideal perceiver model which both identified auditory (F1, F2, spectral change, duration) and visual (horizontal lip stretch, duration) cues predictive of the clear speech advantage for tense vowels, and indicated which dimensions presented the greatest conflict between cues to tensity and modifications from clear speech (F2 and duration acoustically, duration visually). Altogether, by combining clear speech acoustics, articulation, and perception into a single integrated framework we are able to identify some of the signal properties responsible for both beneficial and detrimental speech style modifications.
S The 2020 Undergraduate Research Symposium was forced to cancel in March, but in order to highlight the work of the students who were selected to present at the symposium, organizers have published a journal of abstracts. Several students from the Department of Linguistics are featured in this journal:
- SIMONE KURSCHNER for her abstract Overlooked language learners: Developing research-based teaching methods for children learning German (and other foreign languages).
- RACHEL WANG and LARISSA MELVILLE for their abstract PhoN: Phonology of Flapping in Non-Words.
- JANE LI for her abstract Opening new doors for psycholinguistic research: word and sound frequencies of Cantonese.
- BEN JOSEPH for his abstract Truth as a Question of Linguistic Subjectivity in Politics
Farewell
S After nearly five years working in the Department General Office, DEBRA PURDY KONG is writing the next chapter of her life. Debra will soon be spending more time writing, babysitting, and, we hope, enjoying retirement. Thank you for all of your work Debra, we will miss you!
> DEBRA PURDY KONG RETIRES FROM LINGUISTICS GENERAL OFFICE
