Current linguistics views grammar as an integrated syntactic-semantic-phonological description of a language; as generative, that is, that sentences have a definite structure, that there are an infinite number of sentences, and that, therefore, a grammar cannot be a list of elements, but instead a finite set of explicit rules which can automatically assign a structure to an infinite set of sentences. The present thesis - a phonological grammar of the cultivated dialect of Ilokano as spoken in the town proper of Bayombong, Nueva Vizcaya - has aimed to reflect these modem concepts of a grammar in both its content and methodology. It suggests a methodology for the description of the sound pattern of a given dialect. As to content, the results of this study should be useful as basis for a contrastive phonology of Ilokano and English, or the other Philippine languages and dialects, with the end in view of contributing to an effective second-language teaching and curriculum construction. The study has the following salient features: (1) Chapter 1 covers general discussions on Ilokano and its dialects, and the relationships of Ilokano to the other Philippine languages and dialects. Chapter 2 includes preliminary discussions on content and procedure of the descriptive analyses. (2) The study operates on the taxonomic and explanatory levels of linguistic science. The taxonomic level is achieved by the etic and the emic analyses in Chapters 3 and 4. The explanatory level is reflected in Chapter 5 -in the phonological grammar which is a system of 34 (23 segmental and 11 suprasegmental) emic units of the Ilokano dialect, and a set of 42 unordered structure-assigning rewrite rules (32 phonetic rules and 10 morphophonemic rules) which enumerate Ilokano utterances and their associated phonological analysis. This feature of the study may be stated in terms of the outputs of each level, the relationships of which have been schematically shown as follows: [scheme omitted] (3) For the descriptive methodology and procedure employed in this study, the writer has taken cues from two linguists: (a) from Kenneth L. Pike, his tagmemic theory which basically assumes that any unit of purposive human behavior is well-defined if and only if one describes it in reference to (1) contrast, (2) variation, and (3) distribution. This trimodal theory of analysis has been briefly stated, thus: Unit =Contrast Variation Distribution; (b)from Noam A. Chomsky, his generative grammar theory which has been briefly stated in the first paragraph of this abstract and discussed at considerable length in Chapter 5. (4) The analysis of the stream of speech at the end of Chapter 4 graphically illustrates some general concepts in linguistics as applied to Ilokano. (5) The trimodal scheme, U = C V D, is operative at both the taxonomic and explanatory levels of this research. The detailed etic analysis which is predominantly articulatory delineates the raw materials of speech - the 41 etic units of the Ilokano dialect, extracted from the phonetic data, the corpus of utterances presented in Chapter 2. By the criterion of phonetic resemblance and by the CVD-formula employed in the process of phonemization - Chapter 4 - the 41 etic units have been reduced to 34 emic units. (6) The patterns of occurrence relationships of the emic units are described in terms of the phonological rules. Each rule is of the form: X -- Y. Within the limits of its organized data, facts and information, this thesis asserts: (1) That the phonemes /e, o, f, v, h/ - occurring in Spanish or English loan words which are currently used by the Ilokanos represented in this study - have become assimilated into the phonemic system of the Ilokano dialect; (2) That the basic syllable structure of Ilokano has for its underlying pattern, CV(C) and not V or CV; and,- (3) That the linguistic description at the explanatory level of the research is generative, since the phonological structure of the Ilokano dialect can best be accounted for, not by an inventory of elements,but by a system of rules - its generative phonological grammar. / Arts, Faculty of / Linguistics, Department of / Graduate

Infant word recognition is sometimes hindered by variability in the speech input. Previous research has shown that, at 9 months, monolinguals do not generalize wordforms across native- and accented-speakers (Schmale & Seidl, 2009). In the current study however, it was predicted that bilingual infants would be advantaged in accommodating for accented speech due to experience with phonetic variability across their two phonological systems. It was also predicted that this hypothesized ability would be restricted to accommodating for an accent derived from a familiar language (e.g., French-English bilinguals would accommodate for French-accented English but not Mandarin-accented English), since this type of variability would be consistent with the language sounds to which infants were regularly exposed. Study 1 set the experimental stage by identifying native and non-native speakers with similar voices, as perceived by a group of adults. This was done in order to restrict variability across speakers to differences in accent, rather than biological differences in voice (e.g., a higher or lower pitched voice). Following speaker selection, acoustic measurements of vowels and word stress placement were taken to compare native and non-native speakers and confirmed several expected deviations between native and accented speech. Study 2 tested the hypothesis that bilingual infants would be advantaged in accommodating for these deviations when the accent is derived from a familiar phonology. Using a headturn preference procedure (HPP), 9- and 13-month-old English-learning monolinguals and French-English learning bilingual infants were tested on their ability to recognize familiarized English wordforms across a native- and French-accented speaker. Bilinguals in both age groups succeeded in generalizing wordforms across speakers, however monolingual infants failed regardless of age. Study 3 tested whether bilinguals’ success would persist when the accented speaker’s first language was unfamiliar. Infants in this study failed as a group to generalize across native- and Mandarin-accented productions of English wordforms. However, bilinguals who received balanced exposure to their two languages performed better in accommodating for Mandarin accented speech than unbalanced bilinguals. This hints at a general ability to ignore irrelevant phonetic information, perhaps due to an advantage in cognitive control.

The goals of the dissertation are documentation and description of the language, and investigation of theoretical issues raised by the language data. Nuu-chah-nulth, which constitutes, along with Ditidaht and Makah, the Southern branch of the Wakashan family, is in immediate danger of extinction. There are many factors contributing to endangerment, but above all, there is an enormous generation-gap between people who can speak the language and people who cannot, which may ultimately be too deep and broad to bridge without significant linguistic or educational measures. The problem is compounded by the fact the there is very little documentation of the language, hampering both linguistic research and efforts in the realm of education/revitalisation of the language. This work will contribute to documentation of Nuu-chah-nulth, which will ultimately help Nuu-chah-nulth people to develop education materials for their children. Although previous studies describe and analyse Tseshaht and Kyuquot, two of the 12 Nuu-chah-nulth dialects, there is not much comprehensive work where both the Nuu-chah-nulth sound system and related phonological phenomena and its morphology, are both well-described and analysed. Nuu-chah-nulth has unique and interesting dialect variation as well as linguistic phenomena which require organisation and generalisation. This thesis focuses on the description of the Ahousaht dialect. The documentation, in conjunction with previous work, will help us understand Nuu-chah-nulth better in terms of the different evolution between dialects as well as both linguistic and typological characteristics of the language. It is important to investigate the phonology and morphology of Nuu-chah-nulth from the perspective of linguistic theory. Many phonological and morphological processes in Nuu-chah-nulth raise interesting questions in terms of universality, markedness, learnability, variability, and typological issues. Theoretical treatments of linguistic phenomena will help us understand the language itself better, and general characteristics of human language as well. I discuss the segmental phonology of the language in Chapter 3, including the treatment of pervasive phonological processes such as glottalisation, lenition, (de)labialisation, vowel lengthening, vowel shortening, and vowel alternation due to variable vowels; I treat prosodic phonology in Chapter 4, the morphological structure of words in Chapter 2, and morphological processes such as reduplication and allomorphy in Chapter 5. I treat these phenomena within Optimality Theory, due to its direct encoding of claims concerning universality, language variation, and typology. / Arts, Faculty of / Linguistics, Department of / Graduate

This thesis is a comparison of the glottalized resonants in Sancaean and St'at'imcets, two Salish languages. The Licensing by Cue hypothesis as proposed by Steriade (1997) accounts for the distribution of glottalized resonants based on their phonetic cues. The goal of this thesis is to apply the Licensing by Cue hypothesis to the glottalized resonants in Sancaean and St'at'imcets, and evaluate its success in accounting for these two languages. Sancaean is a North Straits, Coast Salish language which does not permit glottalized resonants word-initially. St'at'imcets is an Interior Salish language which allows glottalized resonants word-initially but only in a particular morphological context. Licensing by Cue suggests that glottalized resonants do not occur word initially because of a lack of a supportive context for cues. The distribution of resonants glottalized as a part of a morphological process, namely the actual in Sancaean and the inchoative in St'at'imcets, should also be governed by the same phonetic factors. This thesis first examines the glottal timing of glottalized resonants in both languages. Preliminary phonetic evidence is given for glottalized resonants in Sancaean, which confirm that glottalization is attracted to stress. In contrast, in St'at'imcets, it is perceived that glottalization is repulsed by stress. Modifications are proposed, which enable the hypothesis to account for the timing of glottal events. It is argued, however, that even after such modification, the Licensing by Cue hypothesis is not sufficient to account for the distribution of non-derived glottalized resonants. The same is shown to be true for derived glottalized resonants. The distribution of glottalized resonants is governed by the interaction of three levels of constraints: phonetic constraints, which determine glottal timing, and phonological and morphological constraints, which govern the distribution of glottalised resonants. Also briefly discussed in this thesis are issues related to the relationship between /ʡ/ and glottalized resonant, whether [cg] or [creak] should be used to characterise glottalised resonants, and the Proto-Salish morpheme for the imperfective. Based on the research presented in this thesis, it is concluded that Sancaean and St'at'imcets glottalised resonants do not show strong support for a hypothesis which argues for a strong phonetic presence in phonology. While a cue-based approach can account for the phonetic timing of glottal events for glottalized resonants, segment distribution is determined by phonological and morphological constraints. / Arts, Faculty of / Linguistics, Department of / Graduate

Includes bibliography. / MOTIVATION: The object of this investigation is to record and describe various sounds and sound structures conditioned by interlinguistic contact, as observed in the English speech of South African Bilinguals whose home language is Afrikaans. SUMMARY OF CONTENTS: In Section A the phenomenon of bilingualism is discussed with reference to the findings of leading investigators into the field of contrastive linguistics. Section B contains a brief contrastive analysis of phonetic and phonemic features of English and Afrikaans. The main body of Section C is devoted to an auditory analysis of reading and "free speech" tests. Renderings by Afrikaans-English Bilinguals are matched against renderings of a Norm. The object was to explore and analyse the impact of native Afrikaans linguistic prejudices upon the quality of vocoids in citation forms and in the continuum of speech. Furthermore, several perception tests were used to establish whether native Afrikaans linguistic habits inhibit the aural perception and the identification of English vocoids. Correlates between the aural and the perception tests are recorded. Trends observed in the rendering of vocoids in the speech of Afrikaans-English bilinguals are listed. Section D contains the spectrographic analysis of English structures uttered by A.-E. Bilinguals and by the Norm. The results are compared with trends observed in the auditory analysis in Section C. Section E contains a summary of methods and techniques in the teaching of English speech that follow upon the findings in Sections C and D. CONTRIBUTION TO KNOWLEDGE: A comparative analysis of aspects of English and Afrikaans phonology on scientific principles constitutes some contribution to the body of knowledge of the discipline of contrastive linguistics. Furthermore, language teaching in South Africa lacks a firm basis of principle, the science of language pedagogy hardly exists. A scientific contrastive analysis of live speech offers an excellent basis for the preparation of instructional materials, and this investigation, therefore, should provide a significant contribution towards that end.

I investigate how reading a homophone (e.g. "bye")"a word that sounds the same as another but has different spelling and meaning"can prime judgments and behaviors related to the complementary homophone (e.g. "buy"). Initial reading processes use word sound, not word spelling, to activate word meaning stored in memory. I theorize homophone priming occurs when consumers encounter and process homophones and a secondary, relatively controlled process fails to suppress meanings associated with the incorrect homophone. Additionally, this effect is more likely to occur when consumers experience cognitive load, which reduces ability to suppress the alternate homophone meanings. In this dissertation I document homophone behavioral and perceptual priming, investigate the process underlying the effects, and contribute to the priming literature in general. More specifically, this dissertation contributes to the understanding of the role of phonology (word sound) in behavioral and perceptual priming in general and in consumer contexts. / Ph. D.

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In the present study, the speech of twenty-four normally speaking toddlers and twenty-eight late talking toddlers was analyzed with respect to the syllable structures produced during a speech sample. The groups were matched with regard to age, sex, and socio-economic status, all passed a hearing screening, and all scored at least 85 on the Bayley Scales of Infant Development.

published_or_final_version / Language Studies / Master / Master of Arts