Naslov
Linguistic schizophrenia in Croatia: internationally intelligible ELF that does not 'sound good'

Autori
Stanojević, Mateusz-Milan ; Josipović Smojver, Višnja ; Klubička, Filip ; Geld, Renata

Vrsta, podvrsta i kategorija rada
Sažeci sa skupova, sažetak, znanstveni

Skup
ELF 7 - The 7th International Conference of English as a Lingua Franca

Mjesto i datum
Atena, Grčka, 04.09.2014. - 07.09.2014

Vrsta sudjelovanja
Predavanje

Vrsta recenzije
Međunarodna recenzija

Ključne riječi
ELF; pronunciation; foreign accent; rhythm; Croatian; Arabic; Polish; German; Lithuanian

Sažetak
The present research follows up some earlier studies on the pronunciation features of Croatian young learners of English and relates to attitude studies on ELF in Croatia (Authors 2011 ; 2012). Here we focus on 'mature' ELF users at the highest level of English competence. The participants are five graduate students of English with different first languages, who have reached the level of complete fluency and international intelligibility. The only give-aways of their foreign accent are the non-core features as defined by Jenkins (2000), which, according to an earlier study (Authors, in preparation) Croatian ELF users, exhibiting linguistic schizophrenia (Kachru 1977) tend to explicitly associate with 'bad pronunciation'. The questions we raise here are: What are the non-core features of Croatian-accented ELF? What is their auditory and acoustic description? Finally, how do they set apart Croatian ELF users from comparable ELF users of other nationalities? The participants were a focus group of five university students of English with different first languages: Croatian, Arabic, Lithuanian, Polish, and German. They discussed topics related to cross-linguistic and cross-cultural differences among them. The recorded material covered three hours of their speech, which was analysed auditorily and acoustically. Four independent assessors identified the features of the participants' pronunciation. These were shown to depend on their first-language background. However, what they all share is the impression of a syllable-based rhythm. To define acoustically the participants' nationally identifiable rhythm, we used the PVI method according to Low, Grabe and Nolan (2000) and worked out the Pairwise Variability Indices for Croatian-accented English paired with each of the remaining four accents. It is shown that the identity of each of these accents is defined by the extent of the syllabicity of rhythm. We discuss the implications that these findings have for teaching English pronunciation and further research on ELF rhythm.

Izvorni jezik
Engleski

Znanstvena područja
Filologija

POVEZANOST RADA