27.3999, Calls: Lang Acquisition, Phonetics, Phonology, Socioling/Spain

Fri Oct 7 18:38:44 UTC 2016

LINGUIST List: Vol-27-3999. Fri Oct 07 2016. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 27.3999, Calls: Lang Acquisition, Phonetics, Phonology, Socioling/Spain

Moderators: linguist at linguistlist.org (Damir Cavar, Malgorzata E. Cavar)
Reviews: reviews at linguistlist.org (Anthony Aristar, Helen Aristar-Dry,
                                   Robert Coté, Michael Czerniakowski)
Homepage: http://linguistlist.org

*****************    LINGUIST List Support    *****************
                       Fund Drive 2016
                   25 years of LINGUIST List!
Please support the LL editors and operation with a donation at:
           http://funddrive.linguistlist.org/donate/

Editor for this issue: Kenneth Steimel <ken at linguistlist.org>
================================================================

Date: Fri, 07 Oct 2016 14:38:22
From: Robert Fuchs [rfuchs at hkbu.edu.hk]
Subject: Speech Rhythm in L1, L2 and Learner Varieties of English

Full Title: Speech Rhythm in L1, L2 and Learner Varieties of English 

Date: 28-Sep-2017 - 30-Sep-2017
Location: Vigo, Spain 
Contact Person: Robert Fuchs
Meeting Email: rfuchs at hkbu.edu.hk
Web Site: https://sites.google.com/site/rflinguistics/workshops/rhythm2017 

Linguistic Field(s): Language Acquisition; Phonetics; Phonology; Sociolinguistics 

Call Deadline: 15-Dec-2016 

Meeting Description:

Speech rhythm has long been recognised as an important supra-segmental
category of speech, yet its measurement, relevance and the theoretical
soundness of the concept continue to be hotly debated. The arguably most
widely supported approach considers speech rhythm to consist of a continuum
ranging from (1) a syllable-timed pole, with relatively small differences in
prominence between syllables, to (2) a stress-timed pole, with relatively
large differences in prominence between syllables. Most L1 varieties of
English are widely regarded to be more stress-timed than most L2 and learner
varieties, and this is supported by a considerable amount of empirical
evidence (e.g. Deterding 1994, 2001, Fuchs 2016, Gut 2005, Gut and Milde 2002,
Low 1998).

Yet, upon closer inspection, many of the concepts underlying this research
appear to be contested. For one, L1 varieties of English are themselves
heterogeneous in their rhythm. There is, for example, regional variation, with
some dialects spoken in the British Isles being more syllable-timed than
others (Ferragne 2008, Ferragne and Pellegrino 2004, White and Matty 2007a,
2007b, White et al. 2007). Similarly, in L2 varieties, sociolinguistic
differences such as that between acrolect and basilect might go hand in hand
with a difference in speech rhythm. As for learner Englishes, while there is
good evidence of the transfer of rhythmic characteristics from L1 to L2 (e.g.
Dellwo et al. 2009, Gut 2009, Jang 2008, Sarmah et al. 2009), more research is
needed to show that this has consequences in terms of foreign accent and
accent recognition. More generally, research on speech rhythm would benefit
from studies showing that quantitative measures of speech rhythm (so-called
rhythm metrics) are perceptually relevant and psychologically ‘real’ in the
sense that what is measured is reflected in a certain kind of percept.
Finally, the very nature and reliability of these rhythm metrics has been
discussed extensively, but arguably inconclusively, in the past years, with
some researchers attempting to identify those duration-based metrics that are
most reliable (White and Mattys 2007a, White et al.2007, Wiget et al. 2010),
others concluding that none of them are reliable (Arvaniti 2009, 2012,
Arvaniti et al. 2008), and yet others suggesting metrics that focus on
acoustic correlates of prominence other than duration, such as intensity
(Fuchs 2016, He 2012, Low 1998), loudness (Fuchs 2014a), f0 (Cumming 2010,
2011, Fuchs 2014b) and sonority (Galves et al. 2012).

Call for Papers: 

In order to address these issues, this workshop aims to bring together
researchers working on one or more of the following aspects:

- Applications of rhythm metrics that measure speech rhythm based on acoustic
correlates of prominence other than duration
- Comparative tests of the validity and reliability of existing rhythm metrics
- Perceptual relevance and psychological reality of speech rhythm
- Relevance of speech rhythm in Second Language Acquisition/learner Englishes,
e.g. its contribution to foreign accent as well as pedagogical approaches
- Differences in speech rhythm between varieties previously thought to be in
the same ''rhythm class''
- Sociolinguistic relevance of speech rhythm in indexing e.g. lectal
differences or ethnic subvarieties within the same national variety of English

Apart from addressing one or more of the issues above, papers need be
concerned with (a variety of) English or a language contact situation
involving English (in keeping with the scope of the conference).

The workshop will consist of full papers and work in progress reports, which
will be allotted 20 minutes for presentation (plus 10 minutes for discussion).
The deadline for submission of abstracts (ca. 500 words, excluding title,
references and keywords) is 15 December 2016. Notification of acceptance will
be sent out by the end of January 2017. Abstracts should be sent to
rfuchs at hkbu.edu.hk .

Robert Fuchs
Department of English Language and Literature
Hong Kong Baptist University
https://hkbu.academia.edu/RobertFuchs

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

*****************    LINGUIST List Support    *****************
                       Fund Drive 2016
Please support the LL editors and operation with a donation at:
            http://funddrive.linguistlist.org/donate/

        Thank you very much for your support of LINGUIST!

----------------------------------------------------------
LINGUIST List: Vol-27-3999	
----------------------------------------------------------