This research was aimed at investigating L1 Thai learners' English word stress production in two aspects of English words -- 1) English words with different suffixes: suffixes affecting stress shift, i.e. '-ic' (e.g. 'fantástic'), '-ity' (e.g. 'idéntity') and '-tion / -sion' (e.g. 'eléction') and suffixes demanding stress, i.e. '-oon' (e.g.…

Studies the possible influence of Spanish on native speakers of that language during their assessment of marked iconicity in English. Looks at discrimination by Spanish learners of English of information focus as signaled by placement of nuclear tones in sentence initial and medial positions. (Author/VWL)

A descriptive model elaborated to account for the rhythmic organization of French and English is applied to the speech of French learners of English to identify the particular type of cross-linguistic influence operating therein. Evidence is presented for the existence of transitional rhythmic groups, perceived in the interlanguage vowel reduction…

Error analysis has consistently neglected to give any treatment of the phonological aspects of non-native linguistic performance. Using Selinker's Interlanguage model as a starting-point, an attempt is made here to develop a descriptive apparatus capable of accounting for the phenomena of "foreign accents." The data of one such…

Presents the results of an experiment which examined the temporal characteristics of voiceless plosives in American English, Arabic, and Arabic-accented English. Results showed that Arabic-accented English departed from the target language goal and constituted an articulation type characterizable as more Arabic than Arabic itself. (Author/SED)

Discusses the amount of influence that a learner's native language has on the acquisition of a second language. Suggests that some important properties of a learner's interlanguage (IL) can be predicted, as shown by the different IL rules that Cantonese and Japanese use in dealing with English word-final voice contrasts. (Author/MES)

Shows positive and negative aspects of the interference of the Polish voicing system on the learner's attempt to master the pronunciation of English. Argues that visual feedback can help foreign learners acquire the nuances of English pronunciation. (Author/VWL)

An analysis of Brazilian learners' errors in English word stress revealed a difficulty hierarchy of stress pattern rules and six stress prediction strategies: (1) cognate stress patterns; (2) predominant stress patterns of English; (3) initial vowels and consonants; (4) verbs with a tense vowel in the final syllable; (5) tertiary stress; and (6)…

An analysis of the English word stress placement of six native Arabic speakers and six native English speakers studying Arabic revealed that, while most of the native English subjects produced the expected word stress, the Arab subjects placed stress on English words in conformity with Arabic stress patterns. (CB)

A language typology based on common errors made in pronunciation of English by speakers of other languages is presented and discussed. The classification system was developed from the concept of interlanguage, the intermediate step between a language learner's native and target languages, and the notion that interference in learning a new language…

This paper discusses some theoretical aspects of contrastive phonetics. A fundamental problem in contrasting the sound structure of two languages is the question of equivalence between the two sound systems. There are four possible criteria: (1) similar spelling; (2) similar phonetic description and transcription; (3) use of phonological criteria;…