The Imminent Death Of The São Miguel Dialect? Hardly…, David Silva
Aug 2012
The Imminent Death Of The São Miguel Dialect? Hardly…, David Silva
David Silva
Anybody who has had the opportunity to visit the island of São Miguel and converse with the locals can’t help be struck by some extremely remarkable speech patterns.
There’s the French-sounding “u” in words such as fruta, lula, tudo and uma, as well as the German-like ö pronunciation in forms such as couve, pouco, oito, and noite.
Then there’s there are English-esque vowels in words such as sete or festa (often pronounced with a short-a sound, as in “sat” and “fasht-uh”).
And even when the vowels are, in themselves, Portuguese-sounding-enough, it often seems as they have been somehow misaligned, such …
The Persistence Of Stereotyped Dialect Features Among Portuguese-American Immigrants From São Miguel, Azores, David J. Silva
Jun 2008
The Persistence Of Stereotyped Dialect Features Among Portuguese-American Immigrants From São Miguel, Azores, David J. Silva
David Silva
Among dialects of Portuguese, the variety indigenous to the island of São Miguel exhibits an inventory of vocalic features not found elsewhere in the Lusophone world. The most emblematic characteristics of this dialect are the front round vowels [y] and [ø], which correspond to [u] and [ou/oi] (respectively) of the European standard language. There are also systematic differences in the pronunciation of the tonic vowels, reflexes of a historical chain shift: sete ‘seven’ is often rendered in S. Miguel as [sæt] (Std. [sεt]), avó ‘grandmother’ as [ɐ'vo] (Std. [ɐ'vɔ]), and avô ‘grandfather’ as [ɐ'vu] (Std. [ɐ'vo]). While these characteristic are …
Vowel Shifting As A Marker Of Social Identity In The Portuguese Dialect Of Nordeste, Sao Miguel (Azores), David Silva
Dec 2004
Vowel Shifting As A Marker Of Social Identity In The Portuguese Dialect Of Nordeste, Sao Miguel (Azores), David Silva
David Silva
English:
Several authors have described the variety of Portuguese spoken on the island of São Miguel (Azores,) but the speech of the Micaelans has never been analyzed from a contemporary sociolinguistic perspective. In this work, we present a quantitative analysis of the dialect of the village of Northeast (São Miguel), in which a vowel system is revealed whose variation oscillates between the island pronunciations of the tonic vowels and the corresponding forms of the Portuguese standard language. For example, while all the informants in the corpus pronounced the vowel tonic u as the previous high vowel rounded [y] (as u …
An Acoustic Study Of The American English Pronunciation Of Recently Arrived Korean Adult Immigrants, Ji Eun Kim, David J. Silva
Aug 2003
An Acoustic Study Of The American English Pronunciation Of Recently Arrived Korean Adult Immigrants, Ji Eun Kim, David J. Silva
David Silva
This research examines the production of English high and mid front vowels (/iɪ e ɛ/) by three groups of male Korean speakers whose length of residence in the United States has been relatively short: less than 1 year, 1-5 years, and 5-8 years. Acoustic analyses reveal several statistically significant differences among the three groups. For example, the high front vowels /i/ and /ɪI of the 'less than 1 year' group are significantly lower in front tongue constriction than the other groups. Furthermore, the 'less than 1 year' and '1-5 years' groups produce American English /i/ with a shorter duration than …
Review Of The Korean Alphabet Of 1446 By Sek Yen Kim-Cho And The Korean Alphabet By Young-Key Kim-Renaud, David Silva
Apr 2003
Review Of The Korean Alphabet Of 1446 By Sek Yen Kim-Cho And The Korean Alphabet By Young-Key Kim-Renaud, David Silva
David Silva
Perhaps the most noteworthy product of Korean civilization, han'gŭl is a source of pride among Koreans: not only does it embody a sense of national uniqueness, but it is also a valuable tool against illiteracy. While this great cultural achievement has merited considerable attention in Korea, detailed English-language accounts of han'gŭl are scarce. Most prominent among this small body of work is Gari Ledyard's 1966 dissertation, "The Korean Language Reform of 1446," since republished (with modest revisions) in 1998. Two recent volumes about the Korean script are now looking to claim space alongside Ledyard's text: The Korean Alphabet of 1446 …
Western Attitudes Toward The Korean Language: An Overview Of Late Nineteenth- And Early Twentieth-Century Mission Literature, David Silva
Dec 2002
Western Attitudes Toward The Korean Language: An Overview Of Late Nineteenth- And Early Twentieth-Century Mission Literature, David Silva
David Silva
Descriptions of Korea's linguistic situation written by Westerners during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries not only reveal native and foreign attitudes toward the Korean language but also provide insight into language-focused evangelization tactics embraced by Christian missionaries. Upon their arrival in Korea during the 1800s, Westerners encountered a long-standing system of diglossia: socio-historical relations between China and Korea gave rise to the use of various Korean "lects" in which the degree of Chinese elements differed. Moreover, the nation's indigenous writing system, han'gul, was widely regarded by Koreans as culturally subordinate to Chinese script, an attitude that garnered much attention …
Review Of The Phonology Of Portuguese By Maria Helena Mateus And Ernesto D'Andrade, David Silva
Jun 2001
Review Of The Phonology Of Portuguese By Maria Helena Mateus And Ernesto D'Andrade, David Silva
David Silva
As noted by its publisher in LINGUIST 12.390, The Phonology of Portuguese (TPP) provides "an accurate description of the phonological system of Portuguese"-referencing both European and Brazilian varieties, and seeks to explain phonological and morphological phenomena "within the light of current phonological theories." With TPP, authors Mateus and d'Andrade have delivered a concise and comprehensive English-language volume on Portuguese phonology, nicely complementing the pre-generative English language version of J. Mattoso Camara's 1970 work, The Portuguese Language (translated by Anthony Naro).
The Variable Elision Of Unstressed Vowels In European Portuguese: A Case Study, David James Silva
Dec 1993
The Variable Elision Of Unstressed Vowels In European Portuguese: A Case Study, David James Silva
David Silva
European varieties of Portuguese exhibit a process whereby unstressed vowels, particularly schwa, optionally undergo elision: an item such as idade ‘idea’ can be realized as [ida'd] and para Maria ‘for Maria’ may surface as [prɐmɐrí'ɐ]. While previous research in the study of phonological variation of this sort has typically focused on syntactic, morphological, functional, and segmental factors as the primary linguistic conditions for accurately characterizing variable processes (Guy 1980; Poplack & Walter 1986, among many others), less work has been done investigating the role of prosodic factors in this respect. Yet if one believes (along with Nespor and Vogel 1986, …