M.A. (African Languages) / Correct pronunciation of a language is essential since deviations in pronunciation may change the meaning of a word or render it meaningless. This study investigates the pronunciation of Zulu, as second language, by English speaking learners. Similar deviations have been studied with reference to other languages and resulted in theories such as 'Contrastive Analysis Hypothesis', 'Markedness Differential Hypothesis', 'The Error Analysis', 'Autonomous System Analysis' and 'Inter language'. A brief discussion of this research creates the theoretical framework for this study. Differences in the orthography of Zulu and English seem to be problematic. In certain instances, English utilises a variety of letters to represent identical sounds in written form, whilst Zulu is phonetic. When comparing the pronunciation of vowels and consonants of Zulu and English, it is clear that learners find sounds with a similar pronunciation especially confusing. In addition to this, sounds foreign to English often cause problems. Possible reasons for replacement of Zulu sounds by that of English sounds are indicated by this dissertation. The conclusion of this dissertation is that second language Zulu educators should be aware of these possible pitfalls and affords it special attention in order to improve the quality of pronunciation amongst second language learners.

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There has been some research in recent years which has attempted to demonstrate the effect of needs, attitudes and stereotyped beliefs on social judgements and perception (see, for instance , Secord,1959). One type of experimental design that highlights the role that such factors play in perception consists of observing and comparing the reactions of a subject when presented with the same stimulus under different labelling conditions .

The thesis mainly concerns itself with an analysis of the present day pronunciation of Xhosa-English. The isolation and identification of the segmental phonemes and the phonemes of stress, intonation and transition form the core of the work. The author has attempted to give continuity by introducing a subsidiary theme, the Lado hypothesis as stated on page 1. In conformity with the the methodology imposed by the Lado formula, it was first necessary to establish two things: first, a standard background against which the characteristics of XEP could be compared, and secondly, to give briefly, but in sufficient detail for our purpose, the main phonological features of the mother tongue.

University of Macau / Faculty of Arts and Humanities. / Department of English

This dissertation is designed for Japanese singers to aid them in mastering correct American-English singing diction. Many Japanese singers of college age or older have knowledge of English through high school programs. However, they often lack the communicative ability to hear and speak English. This study enables those singers to sing American-English repertoire with more precise diction.Chapter 1 contains introductory materials. Chapter 2 presents a pronunciation guide for American English and Japanese using IPA symbols, which includes the sounds that are common to Japanese and American English, the vowels and consonants found in Japanese only, and the vowels and consonants found in American English only. Chapter 3 contains the analyses and approaches to problems in learning American-English singing diction, including the comparison of speech and singing and the analyses of Japanese word structures. Chapter 4 incorporates the previous chapters and introduces approach and solutions to the successful performance of American-English repertoire. Chapter 5 consists of the IPA transcriptions of selected American-English songs. / School of Music

This research addressed the nature of mainstream counsellors' attitudes towards their culturally different clients. This investigator conducted two separate studies in which all of the subjects were students in the Department of Counselling Psychology at The University of British Columbia. The counsellors in the first study were in the first year of the counselling program (novice) while those in the second study were in their final year (mature). The research design was an experimental post-test only control group. Counsellors' attitudes towards their culturally different clients were investigated by presenting a client who had a foreign accent. In each study one group was exposed to a non-accented client in a counselling situation and the other group was exposed to a foreign-accented client. A matched-guise videotape of a client presenting a counselling problem was shown to the two groups of counsellors in each study. Each counsellor in the control group viewed a non-accented client and each counsellor in the experimental group viewed the same client but with a foreign accent. To measure the attitudes of counsellors towards their clients, a Semantic Differential Attitude Scale was constructed utilizing 50 bipolar adjectives. In addition, the counsellors responded to a written Interview Questionnaire designed to investigate what may influence the attitudes of the counsellors, such as: similarity of beliefs; perception of the client's motivation and an awareness of cultural differences. In both studies all counsellors rated the client in the accented and non-accented situations with an overall positive attitude on the Semantic Differential Scale. However, the counsellors exposed to the accented client, in Study One responded with a more positive intensity of attitude than the counsellors who viewed the non-accented client (p≤.001). The counsellors in the second study did not differ in their attitudes towards the accented or non-accented client (p>.05). In response to the Interview Questionnaire, the novice, beginner counsellors in Study One generally reacted to the client on a more personal level with the mainstream counsellors in the accented situation reporting more affinity towards the client. Those more mature counsellors in Study Two were less involved and attended to the external influences on the client (accented or not). Recommendations for future counselling research are suggested in the areas of the attitudes of counsellors towards their accented clients; similarity of experience as a variable which influences the cross-cultural counselling process; and the utilization of the matched-guise videotape in training and education. / Education, Faculty of / Educational and Counselling Psychology, and Special Education (ECPS), Department of / Graduate

This research project was designed to determine whether anxiety in counsellors was higher with clients with foreign accents, and if so, whether this resulted in counsellors being less effective within the counselling session. Other feelings experienced by counsellors specific to counselling accented clients were also examined. Two separate, but related studies were conducted in which a comparison between two groups of counsellors-in-training was made. One group counselled a client with a European accent, while the other counselled a client with a Western Canadian speech style, typical of the region in which the study took place. Subjects in both groups were presented with a 20-minute video training tape of a client presenting a problem. Each subject was asked to respond verbally as they would in a real counselling session. The video tapes shown to the two groups were identical with the exception of the accent variable. The findings in both studies were similar. No statistically significant differences were found between the two groups in level of state anxiety as measured by the A-State of the STAI. Results from a questionnaire constructed specifically for this research project supported these findings. It did appear, however, that counsellors presented with the foreign accented client may have experienced more anxiety in the first few minutes of the session resulting from their inability to fully understand the accent. An unexpected finding emerged when both studies were examined together. It was found that a lower proportion of counsellors exposed to the foreign accented client expressed feelings on a frustrated/thwarted dimension (p<.05). More expected however, was the finding that higher levels of counsellor state anxiety were correlated with lower levels of counsellor functioning in the session (p<.001). The results of this study are discussed in relation to cross-cultural counselling, the anxiety-counsellor competence relationship, and sociolinguistic accent research. These results question several assumptions prevalent in the cross-cultural literature and suggest that a new set of issues may be emerging for the counsellor working with the minority client. / Education, Faculty of / Educational and Counselling Psychology, and Special Education (ECPS), Department of / Graduate

Leung, Ming Ming Grace. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2011. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 265-277). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstract also in Chinese.