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This thesis presents experiments and interviews which investigate pronunciation variation in the Liverpool accents of young speakers. Experiment One investigates inter-speaker variation, Experiment Two investigates intra-speaker variation, and Experiment Three investigates both inter- and intra-speaker variation. These three experiments are conducted from a sociophonetic perspective, with controlled elicitation of natural speech and acoustic analysis of speech data. The experimental investigations are complemented by interviews, which incorporate the perceptions and opinions of speakers of Liverpool English into the study. The study makes several contributions to the field of sociolinguistic research. It provides a new examination of Liverpool English. Experiment One is specifically designed to explore one of its most complex and ill-defined phonetic features, the realisation of plosives as affricates or fricatives. In addition to this phonetic investigation, Experiment One also examines sociolinguistic variation in this feature, and shows that speakers' individual attributes (such as their social networks and their plans for the future) are as relevant to variation as their socio-economic status. The study also makes important methodological contributions. Instrumental phonetic techniques and standards are successfully applied to sociolinguistic investigation conducted in the field. An interdisciplinary approach, bringing together qualitative interviews and sociophonetic experiments, is adopted. A new quiz-questionnaire technique for data collection, which should prove useful for many kinds of future sociolinguistic research, is developed for Experiment Three. Finally, Experiment Three tests many accounts and models of intra-speaker variation. Speakers are shown to vary their pronunciation as the speech situation varies, but not all the seven phonetic variables investigated show the same patterns of variation. Speakers vary their pronunciation according to audience, and also according to topic. Speakers with a high level of ambition vary their pronunciation of certain phonetic variables more than those with a lower level of ambition, and female speakers vary their pronunciation more than male speakers.

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This study is an investigation of instances of conversational failure in interaction as evidenced by speakers of Black South African English (BSAE) , with a particular focus on the role of prosody in conversational (a)synchrony. The data analysed consist of six conversations, one SAE-SAE (South African English) encounter, four BSAE- SAE encounters and one BSAE- BSAE encounter. After a theoretical framework is set up, the analysis is conducted by means of two triangulation research processes based on Ethnomethodology. The analysis consists of an investigation into selected extracts which participants and informants alike perceived as 'stressful'. An attempt is made to isolate the sources of each instance of pragmatic failure. Prosodic features are found to be important in establishing and maintaining theme and conversational synchrony. But other factors are also involved. The analysis reveals two major influences of asynchrony: deviance in the use of (in order of importance) prosodic, lexical and syntactic cues to discourse functions; and a mismatch in the application of socio-cultural principles guiding conversational behaviour. The study leads into a brief outline of aims, objectives and conversational competence at a tertiary level and concludes with suggestions for further research.

Lee Lin Yau, Sandy. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1996. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 90-95). / Introduction --- p.1 / Research Objectives --- p.6 / Background of Research / Literature Review --- p.8 / Comparison of the Testing Techniques --- p.18 / Research Methodology --- p.28 / Data Analysis --- p.39 / Opinion from Testers and Testees --- p.48 / "Discussion, Recommendation and Areas of Further Research" --- p.51 / Appendices --- p.59 / Bibliography --- p.90

published_or_final_version / Curriculum Studies / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

published_or_final_version / Language Studies / Master / Master of Arts

published_or_final_version / Education / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy