Syllable Simplification Strategies:
A Stylistic Perspective
Presenter: Michelle Lu
Presentation Date: 2012/4/19
Director: Professor Chung
“Formal equals accurate”
It is generally
assumed that greater
accuracy is obtained
by second language
(L2) learners as style
becomes more formal.
Choice
1.
2.
3.
The universal preference for
open syllables: the effect of
adjacent sounds
Native language transfer:
preference for disyllabicity
Recoverability of linguistic
context
Syllable Simplification Strategies
1.
2.
3.
Vowel epenthesis
Consonant deletion
Replacement of one of the
consonants
Preferences




Preference for Open Syllables
Native Language Transfer: Chinese
Preference for Disyllabicity
Recoverability of Linguistic Context
Sociolinguistic or Stylistic Studies on L2
Consonant Clusters
Variables
1.
2.
3.
Degree of structural
markedness of final
consonant clusters
Task formality
Linguistic context
Hypothesis
1.
2.
3.
The degree of overall syllable simplification will
increase as the final consonant cluster increases.
The degree of overall syllable simplification will
increase as the task formality decreases.
The proportion %epenthesis / %deletion should
be greater in tasks without linguistic context
than in tasks with linguistic context.
Participants

Subjects: 20 students
(10 males & 10 females)





Native Languages:
Mandarin Chinese &
Taiwanese
Ages: 21~35
English learning beginning
ages: 13 / 14
Michigan Listening
Comprehension Test
Scores: 42~66
(Average≒51.17)
Procedure and Tasks



Michigan Listening Comprehension Test
Learning the pseudowords.
The main task.
1. Reading minimal pairs with phonetic
transcription
2. Reading word list
3. Sentence reading/grammaticality
judgment test
4. Conversation
The Production Tasks (I+II)
The Production Tasks (III)
The Production Tasks (IV)
Data Gathering and Transcription

1.
2.

Instrument
A low-noise microphone
A SONY 5000 recorder
Data Gathering

A total of 2,600 tokens
= (minimal pair 40 + word list 34 + sentence
40 + conversation 16) × 20 participants
Epenthesis
Deletion
Replacement
Frequency
Results
(Error Rates)
Error Rates
The Prediction:
Minimal Pairs < Word List
< Sentences < Conversation
Results of the study:
Sentences < Word List
< Conversation < Minimal Pairs
Thanks for
your listening!