E-grāmata: Universal or Diverse Paths to English Phonology

This volume consists of 10 essays on the acquisition of English phonology by learners of English as a second language and third language and speakers of a postcolonial, or new, variety of English. It considers their commonalities and differences, as well as the viability of the distinction between these types of language acquisition on a phonological basis; the role of cross-linguistic influence, language universals, and non-linguistic factors in the acquisition of English phonology and their constraints; and methods of investigating the path and outcome of phonological acquisition in these speakers. Scholars from Europe, Africa, and Malaysia describe the acquisition of English vowels and consonants and their distribution in syllables and the acquisition of English prosody, discussing rhoticity in Brunei English and Malaysian English, the acquisition of voice onset time, the vowel perception of Polish children who moved to Ireland, the realization of English loanwords in Bangla (Bengali), the production of onset clusters by Nigerian speakers of English, the acquisition of speech rhythm in German and Mandarin Chinese speakers of English, the perception and production of stress placement in English, and prosodic strategies of marking focus and givenness in South African English. Annotation ©2016 Ringgold, Inc., Portland, OR (protoview.com)

The future of English linguistics as envisaged by the editors of Topics in English Linguistics lies in empirical studies which integrate work in English linguistics into general and theoretical linguistics on the one hand, and comparative linguistics on the other. The TiEL series features volumes that present interesting new data and analyses, and above all fresh approaches that contribute to the overall aim of the series, which is to further outstanding research in English linguistics.

The book is concerned with the acquisition of English phonology, both segmental and suprasegmental, by learners of English as a second language, as a third language and by speakers of a postcolonial (“new”) variety of English. It focuses on the acquisition process and factors influencing it, based on insights from all three disciplines.