published_or_final_version / Chinese Language and Literature / Master / Master of Arts

published_or_final_version / Chinese Language and Literature / Master / Master of Arts

published_or_final_version / Chinese Language and Literature / Master / Master of Arts

published_or_final_version / Chinese Language and Literature / Master / Master of Arts

Cantonese, the standard and socially the most prestigious of the Yue dialects, is certainly an important dialect for investigation. Apart from being a regional dialect of the Guangdong province, Hong Kong and Macau, it is also widely used throughout the Chinese communities in the U.S., Canada, Australia and the U.K. In the past seventy years, a number of dictionaries on Cantonese have been compiled. Among them, the Langwen chujie zhongwen cidian 朗文初階中文詞典 and the Zhonghua xin zidian中華新字典 are both widely used and are therefore influential standards on the dialect. Yet, despite their importance, specialist and systematic studies on the Cantonese pronunciations given in them are few and far between. The present dissertation is the first attempt to study the subject. It is found that many Chinese characters are given surprisingly different pronunciations in the two dictionaries. However, the two dictionaries do not state very clearly how they determine the Cantonese pronunciation given in them. This results in great confusion for dictionary users. The present thesis attempts to analyze differences between the two dictionaries with reference to (1) the number of pronunciations given to each character, (2) the order of listing the pronunciations, (3) tone change and (4) the listing of commonly used pronunciations. / published_or_final_version / Chinese Language and Literature / Master / Master of Arts

Although we see an increasing use of Putonghua in Hong Kong since the 1997 handover, under the government’s language policy encouraging bi-literacy and tri-lingualism, Cantonese still retains its dominant position in the territory, where a continuing concern over “proper” Cantonese pronunciation persists. To join in this discussion, the present thesis compares Cantonese pronunciation contained in a recently published Chinese dictionary, The New Commercial Press Dictionary (Shangwu xin cidian 商務新詞典, appearing in 2010), with that in a classical reference A Chinese Syllabary Pronounced According to the Dialect of Canton (Yueyin yunhui粵音韻彙, first published in 1941). A detailed analysis reveals that among the 5,872 common characters, 1,182 differ in their Cantonese pronunciation. Apart from differences in phonological makeup, the two books also diverge in their treatment of literary versus colloquial, and archaic versus contemporary readings. This is most likely due to their 70-year span and disparate natures – a dictionary versus a syllabary. / published_or_final_version / Chinese Language and Literature / Master / Master of Arts

Cantonese is not only a lingua franca in Guangdong province, Hong Kong and Macau but also a dialect that is widely used by overseas Chinese communities around the world. Being the most prestigious Yue dialect, Cantonese is definitely an important dialect that is worth investigating. In the past few decades, over a dozen dictionaries on Cantonese have been compiled. Among them, the Guangzhouhua zhengyin zidian 《廣州話正音字典》and Yueyin zhengdu zihui 《粵音正讀字彙》are both widely used and thus influential standards on Cantonese. Despite their importance, systematic studies on the Cantonese pronunciations given in the two dictionaries are few and far between. The present thesis is the first attempt to study the subject. The present dissertation attempts to analyze the differences between the two dictionaries so that a comprehensive list of their differences can be obtained. The analysis is conducted with reference to the number of pronunciations given to each character; the order of listing the pronunciations; tone change; and the listing of commonly used pronunciations. The present thesis also tries to examine the differences between the two editions of Guangzhouhua zhengyin zidian and among the three editions of Yueyin zhengdu zihui. Possible reasons for such differences would also be investigated. It is not surprising to find that many Chinese characters are given different pronunciations in the two dictionaries as the two dictionaries use two different approaches to determine the correct Cantonese pronunciations. The pronunciations recorded in the Guangzhouhua zhengyin zidian are the Cantonese pronunciations commonly used in Guangzhou, Hong Kong and Macau, whilst those recorded in the Yueyin zhengdu zihui are mainly based on the fanqie（反切） recorded in the Guangyun《廣韻》and the Jiyun《集韻》, which were both published in Song Dynasty. Significant differences regarding the criteria of determining the correct Cantonese pronunciations are found in the 3 editions of the Yueyin zhengdu zihui. It is surprising that a tendency of giving more emphasis to the pronunciations commonly used is found in the 2nd and 3rd editions. / published_or_final_version / Chinese Language and Literature / Master / Master of Arts

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The thesis has explored the influence of both perceived and actual mispronunciation upon comprehension of a spoken message. An eight-item short-answer test measured the dependent variable, comprehension. A set of three point scales including distractors measured perception of mispronunciation.In addition, the thesis indicates the value of replicating studies using different samples and different degrees of mispronunciation. It was found that there is a difference in perception of mispronunciations by foreign and American graduate students. It was also found that there is no difference in the way foreign and American graduate students score on comprehension tests, and there is no significant relationship between level of mispronunciation and comprehension on an immediate posttest.

abstract: This study examined the development and acquisition of second language (L2) sounds by adult students enrolled in a communicative language program. The investigation explored the acquisition of L2 phones by analyzing the voice onset time (VOT) of word-initial voiceless stops in Spanish by native English speakers. A total of 40 subjects participated in the study and were divided into three groups; one group of students enrolled in a first semester course, another group of students enrolled in a third semester course, and the last group enrolled in a fifth semester course. The duration of VOT was compared between groups reading from a word list consisting of 60 words during the 13th to 15th weeks of the semester. Significant differences in VOT were found between the first and fifth semester groups, as well as the third and fifth semester groups suggesting that accurate acquisition of L2 phones and the formation of new phonetic categories are possible for late L2 learners in accordance with the Speech Learning Model. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Spanish 2018