Foreign Accents

To what extent do our accents determine the way we are perceived by others? Is a foreign accent inevitably associated with social stigma? Accent is a matter of great public interest given the impact of migration on national and global affairs, but until now, applied linguistics research has treated accent largely as a theoretical puzzle. In this fascinating account, Alene Moyer examines the social, psychological, educational and legal ramifications of sounding 'foreign'. She explores how accent operates contextually through analysis of issues such as: the neuro-cognitive constraints on phonological acquisition, individual factors that contribute to the 'intractability' of accent, foreign accent as a criterion for workplace discrimination, and the efficacy of instruction for improving pronunciation. This holistic treatment of second language accent is an essential resource for graduate students and researchers interested in applied linguistics, bilingualism and foreign language education.

Foreign Accents sets forth a historical poetics of verse by writers of Chinese descent in the U.S. from the early twentieth century to the present. With readings of works by Ezra Pound, Li-young Lee, Marilyn Chin, Ha Jin, and John Yau, this study charts the dimensions of Asian American verse as an evolving and contested counterpoetic formation.

Even though second-language learners may master the grammar and vocabulary of the new languages, they almost never achieve a native phonology (accent). Scholars and professionals dealing with second-language learners would agree that this is one of the most persistent challenges they face. Now, for the first time, Roy Major's Foreign Accent covers the exploding scholarship in this area and lays out the issues specifically for audiences in the second language acquisition and applied linguistics community.

The phenomenon of foreign accents and their perception have received considerable attention from pronunciation specialists and academic researchers working within different fields of study, such as phonetics, phonology, foreign language teaching, sociolinguistics, psycholinguistics, social psychology, anthropology, and even law. The reason for this widespread interdisciplinary interest is caused by the fact that, in addition to revealing the speaker’s origin, accent carries significant social connotations and evokes various ethnic, racial, religious and socio-economic stereotypes. This book represents the largest, up-to-date qualitative and quantitative investigation into the accentedness, acceptability, intelligibility and comprehensibility of Polish English of three groups of native speakers, the English, the Irish and the Scottish, comparing the ways in which it is perceived by members of three nations and establishing pronunciation priorities. The book will be of interest not only to phoneticians, pronunciation specialists and sociolinguists, but also to EFL teachers and students.

'Foregin Accents' is formed of two parts: the first one offers analyses of translations/interpretations/appropriations of plays and sonnets in different processes of transmutation. The second comprises texts that deal with more general critical readings. Shakespeare is viewed in the light of gender studies, of postmodernism, and of comparative studies.

Essay from the year 2005 in the subject Speech Science / Linguistics, grade: Class 2.1 (66%), University of East London, 7 entries in the bibliography, language: English, abstract: The study of foreign accents and their acceptance of native English speakers has become the favourite topic for this scale study. Therefore, the purpose is to find out if there are differences between the reactions of British and American English native-speakers towards foreign accents. An accent is linguistically known as “a method of pronouncing words common to a certain region. It can also refer to the stress on a certain syllable” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accent, cited 11th November 2005). Consequently, a foreign accent in a different language is a method of pronouncing words common to the speaker’s mother tongue. The British and American nationalities were chosen because they both have English as their first language. Thus, ten questionnaires were prepared which contain questions regarding the age, gender and nationality, whether the participants like or dislike foreign accents in general and their reactions to special foreign accents. Altogether, five British and five Americans of similar age and of equal distribution in terms of gender were asked to complete the questionnaire. The German, French and Indian accents were chosen because all three are very different regarding their intonation, rhythm and pronouncement and can therefore easily be differentiated. Hence, the remainder of this scale study is divided into four sections, the procedure and the reasons behind the structure of the questionnaire, the results of British and Americans respondents including a comparison and analysis of the results, a discussion of the findings in relation to former research and finally, the conclusion.

To what extent do our accents determine the way we are perceived by others? Is foreign accent inevitably associated with social stigma? In this fascinating account, Alene Moyer examines the social, psychological, educational and legal ramifications of sounding 'foreign'.

Machine generated contents note: Introduction; 1. Whose America?; 2. The alien specter then and now; 3. Hyphenated identity; 4. Foreign accents and immigrant Englishes; 5. Multilingual practices; 6. Immigrant children and language; 7. American becomings