Abstract : In the contemporary world, English has become the international language in which most intercultural communication is conducted (Seidlhofer, 2011). The number of speakers using English as a foreign or second language (L2) outnumbers the number of native speakers of the language six times (Crystal, 2003) and, accordingly, English is used more commonly as a Lingua Franca in the international context than to communicate with its native speakers (Jenkins, 2007). Because of the global spread of English, there are more people who speak English with a non-native accent. Such accents often trigger a set of stereotypes insofar as it could have negative consequences for the speaker in terms of academic success and employability (Lippi-Green, 1994). From decades of research in social psychology and sociolinguistics, it has been established that accent plays a significant role in how native speakers perceive non-native speakers of English (Garrett, 2010). However, little has been done in exploring how non-native speakers of English view their own accent and judge acceptability of other non-native English accents. Therefore, this study addressed the need for further research focusing on non-native students’ attitudes towards Arabic- and Chinese-accented English in an English Intensive Program at an English-speaking university in Montreal. This study employed the verbal guise technique from the field of social psychology to elicit spontaneous reactions to L2 accented speech with two levels of first language (L1) influence. Unlike other verbal guise studies, this study did not include a native speaker sample for comparison. We believed our participants’ potential negative attitudes to L2-accented speech would be attenuated by the reference frame effect. To explain and clarify verbal guise test results, we also conducted semi-structured interviews. The results show that the respondents displayed a relatively low level of solidarity with Chinese and Arabic accents in English. Notwithstanding relatively low solidarity ratings given to the accented voices, they were still higher than the evaluations documented in the literature. In addition, high status ratings were found for non-native speakers despite the fact that they were recognized as such. This suggests that in addition to the positive effect triggered by the lack of inclusion of native speaker accents, there might be some contextual factors at play. We found that the participants were harsher in their ratings when the voices represented the more formal domain of higher education but more lenient when they referred to informal settings. From our data, it is also evident that non-segmentals play an important role in language attitudes. The female speakers who approximated their rhythm patterns and intonation contours to those of a native speaker received higher ratings on all the traits in our data. We believe that, if we want them to serve the needs of international students, these often ambivalent attitudes should be considered in the choice of a classroom pronunciation model, and in the development of pronunciation materials. / Résumé : Dans le monde contemporain, l’anglais est devenu la langue internationale utilisée pour la plupart des communications interculturelles (Seidlhofer, 2011). Le nombre de locuteurs utilisant l’anglais comme langue étrangère ou langue seconde est six fois plus important que le nombre de locuteurs natifs (Crystal, 2003). L’anglais est plus souvent utilisé comme Lingua Franca dans un contexte international que pour communiquer avec des locuteurs natifs (Jenkins, 2007). A cause de cette diffusion globale de l’anglais, la plupart des gens qui parlent anglais ont un accent non-natif. Ces accents déclenchent souvent une panoplie de stéréotypes qui peuvent avoir des conséquences négatives sur l’employabilité ou la réussite professionnelle des locuteurs (Lippi-Green, 1994). Des décennies de recherche en psychologie sociale et sociolinguistique ont reconnu que l’accent joue un rôle significatif sur la perception des locuteurs non-natifs par les locuteurs natifs (Garrett, 2010). Cependant, peu d’études se sont penchées sur la façon dont les locuteurs non-natifs perçoivent leur propre accent et jugent l’acceptabilité des autres accents non-natifs. Par conséquent, la présente étude se concentre sur les attitudes des étudiants internationaux du programme d’anglais intensif d’une université anglophone montréalaise envers les accents arabes et chinois en anglais. Cette étude utilise la technique de locuteur masqué employée dans le domaine de la psychologie sociale pour déclencher des réactions spontanées à un discours de langue seconde accentué par deux niveaux d’influence de la langue maternelle. Contrairement aux autres études utilisant la technique de locuteur masqué, cette étude n’inclus pas de discours de locuteurs natifs à des fins de comparaison. Nous pensons que les attitudes négatives potentielles pourraient être atténuées par l’effet de cadre de référence. Pour expliquer et clarifier les résultats de la technique de locuteur masqué, nous avons également mené des entrevues semi-dirigées. Les résultats montrent que les participants expriment un niveau de solidarité relativement faible envers les accents arabes et chinois en anglais. Pourtant, ce niveau de solidarité est tout de même plus haut que les études reportées dans la littérature. D’autre part, le statut social des locuteurs non-natifs a été évalué positivement malgré que les locuteurs aient été reconnus comme non-natifs. Ceci suggère qu’en plus d’un effet positif déclenché par l’exclusion des accents natifs, certains facteurs contextuels peuvent avoir influencé les résultats. Nous avons trouvé que les personnes interrogées notaient plus sévèrement les voix suggérant un niveau d’éducation élevé, mais étaient plus clémentes envers les voix faisant référence à un contexte informel. De l’analyse des données, il apparait que les non-segmentals jouent un rôle important dans les attitudes langagières. De plus, les locutrices se rapprochant du rythme et de l’intonation des natifs ont reçu des évaluations supérieures sur tous les traits. Nous pensons que ces attitudes souvent ambivalentes devraient être considérées dans le choix du modèle d’enseignement et dans le développement de nouveaux supports d’apprentissage de la prononciation pour les étudiants internationaux.

This thesis attempts to bridge the gap between Social Psychology and Sociolinguistics by exploring the relationship between language attitudes and language use. Using a sample of 71 university students in Spain, it investigates how learners deal with phonological variation in the English language, what language attitudes are held towards American and British models of English speech and which social and psychological factors are linked with learners' language attitudes and language use. A social-psychological model was adopted and adapted, allowing learners' use of intervocalic /t/ to be successfully predicted from measures of attitude, subjective norm and perceived behavioural control. Direct measures of learners' preferred accent and pronunciation class were also highly predictive of learners' language use. Several trends were found in the attitudinal data. Firstly, British English speech was rated more favourably overall, though American English speech was often viewed as more socially attractive. Secondly, the evaluative dimensions of competence and social attractiveness were salient amongst learners in the Spanish context. Each of these findings endorses those of previous language attitude studies conducted elsewhere. Thirdly, female speakers were consistently rated more favourably than male speakers; thus, highlighting the need for further investigation into the variable of speaker sex. Familiarity with the speech varieties under investigation – most often gained through education, media exposure, time spent abroad and/or contact with native speakers – seemed to result in learners challenging rigid stereotypes and expressing more individualised attitudes. Overall, British speech emerged as formal and functional, while American speech was thought to fulfil more informal and interpersonal functions. This thesis provides compelling evidence of attitude-behaviour relations, adds to the growing volume of language attitude research being conducted across the globe, and establishes – for the first time – which social and psychological variables are relevant and salient within English-language learning contexts in Spain.

published_or_final_version / abstract / Psychology / Master / Master of Philosophy

The Bitsch Vingt Études are a significant part of the trumpet performers repertoire. They are taught in many university trumpet studios across the United States. David Baldwin, professor of trumpet at the University of Minnesota, has recorded all of them for the International Trumpet Guild. The editor, Raymond Sabarich, is considered the founder of the modern French school of trumpet playing. Articulation is a significant component in performing on a brass instrument. By varying the attacks of the tongue, different timbres can be successfully achieved on the trumpet. Because of the volume the trumpet can generate, any defective articulation will be more noticeable. Articulation is for the brass player what consonants are for the singer—successful execution is imperative or a lack of clarity results. One major problem in teaching the Bitsch etudes is the lack of attention paid to French pronunciation. The musical ideas in these etudes (melodies, articulation, phrasing, etc.) were conceived by a Frenchman. While fluency in French is not a prerequisite for successful performance of these works, understanding the basics of French pronunciation and how they influence French articulation is essential. In order to properly perform the Marcel Bitsch Vingt Études, the trumpeter needs to modify his or her tonguing in accordance with the rules of French pronunciation. The different components of articulation will be discussed, after which the impact of language in recorded performance will be examined. Finally, selected compositions from the Marcel Bitsch Vingt Études will be analyzed, with recommendations for articulation being given for each work.

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The aim of this thesis is to examine the integration of anglicisms into French from a phonetic point of view. The theoretical part deals with the delimitation of the term 'anglicism', its place in the French lexis, a comparison of the phonological systems of both languages and the regularities in phonetic adaptation of anglicisms in the target language. The practical part includes an analysis of the pronunciation of chosen anglicisms. It records variation in lexicographical works as well as in real speech and determines the degree of variability, based on recordings of native speakers. The thesis proceeds from the assumption that anglicisms were, are and will continue to be a highly relevant issue. In spite of all the measures aimed against their integration into the French lexis, they have their place in it, often in several pronunciation variants - whether due to the different inventory of phonemes or to sociolinguistic factors. KEY WORDS: anglicism, French, pronunciation, phonetic adaptation of loanwords

This diploma thesis deals with the crucial impact of the neutral vowel schwa on creating prominence contrasts in English pronunciation teaching, i.e. a schwa-centred approach. The theoretical part focuses on the complex description of the target sound with regard to the suprasegmental level, including Czech speakers' difficulties to recognise and pronounce this vowel and prominence patterns it participates in. Furthermore, it defines the essence of the schwa-centred approach. The practical part presents the implementation of the schwa-centred approach in teaching practice in the form of a set of activities aimed at perception, production and raising students' awareness of this phenomenon. The effectiveness of the activities is evaluated by means of the analysis of audio recordings made before and after the teaching and assessment of students' questionnaires. The thesis also contains all worksheets with task descriptions applying the schwa-centred approach. KEY WORDS schwa, full vowel, prominence contrasts, perception, production, raising awareness

Author: Rudolf Salvetr Supervisor: PhDr. Pavla Nečasová, Ph. D. Charles University in Prague Title: Mistakes of Czech pupils in the pronunciation of German numerals and the pronunciation of numerals in the textbooks of German language. Number of pages: 94 Title: Mistakes of Czech pupils in the pronunciation of German numerals and the pronunciation of numerals in the textbooks of German language. Summary: The aim of the thesis is to reveal mistakes which Czech pupils make in the pronunciation of German numerals. For the research the the method of observation has been chosen which has been carried out through recording of the pronunciation. Afterwards the recordings were analysed. Due to the analysis we can identify difficult phenomena and numerals. In the second part of the thesis some textbooks have been analysed from the phonetic point of view. The aim of the analysis is to find textbooks which work with the pronunciation in a sophisticated way. Consequently, there are suggested some exercises which can help improve the quality of pronunciation of German numerals by Czech pupils. Key words: analysis, exercises, German numerals, mistakes, pronunciation, recordings, textbooks

TITLE: Distinctive Features of Irish Accent AUTOR: Tomáš Uher DEPARTMENT: Department of English Language and Literature SUPERVISOR: Mgr. Kristýna Poesová ABSTRACT: The aim of this thesis is to examine the distinctive phonetic and phonological aspects of Irish English. The theoretical part provides a comprehensive description of the segmental and suprasegmental features of the Irish accent in contrast with the Received Pronunciation. The first section of the practical part analyses the speech of three Irish actors in Irish films and TV shows in order to examine the use of the distinctive features described in the theoretical part. The second section of the practical part presents a 45 minute long lesson plan on the Irish accent with suggested exercises for intermediate (B2) learners. KEY WORDS: accent, Irish, pronunciation, phonetics, phonology, lesson plan

This thesis deals with the current phenomenon of uptalk. The theoretical part provides a brief overview of the phenomenon, including its characteristics in terms of phonetics and phonology, geographical and linguistic origin, occurrence in contemporary English, relation to gender and functions the pattern fulfils in interactions. The practical part focuses on the implementation of uptalk in teaching English. It aims at producing a lesson plan on the phenomenon and its subsequent application in class. Furthermore, it provides findings of a questionnaire survey conducted among the participants of the implementation project in order to get their feedback on the lesson plan.