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- ItemOpen AccessCalgary Working Papers in Linguistics, Volume 31, Fall 2020(2020-11-19) Nikolić, Dušan; Daniel, Adam D.; Nelson, Brett C.; Oguz, Metehan; Xu, KangThe editors of this issue, Dušan Nikolić, Adam D. Daniel, Brett C. Nelson, Metehan Oguz, and Kang Xu, are pleased to present the thirty-first issue of the Calgary Working Papers in Linguistics published by the Department of Linguistics in the School of Languages, Linguistics, Literatures, and Cultures at the University of Calgary. The papers published here represent works in progress and as such should not be considered in any way final or definitive.
- ItemOpen AccessDistribution of PRO in Serbian Subjunctives(2020-11-19) Nikolić, DušanThe paper investigates distribution of PRO in Serbian subjunctives by following the tenets of Landau’s (2000, 2004) theory of control. The goal of the paper is to present theoretically-based and empirical evidence for two types of Serbian subjunctives: Type I and Type II, and to argue that PRO is generated and motivated independently of Case or Binding Theory. I make three main claims in this study. First, PRO in Serbian subjunctives depends on the interaction of Tense [T], Agree [Agr], and Reference [R]. Second, Type I subjunctives allow only PRO, which is anaphoric, or [-R], while Type II subjunctives allow a lexical DP or pro, which is [+R], or an independent reference. In addition, I argue that Type I subjunctives are untensed, whereas Type II subjunctives are tensed. Third, Landau (2004) assumes that [-R] prohibits PRO from being dispatched to the spell-out immediately, and that PRO enters Agreement with the matrix functional head. I argue that his theory has fallen short of providing conceptually strong arguments for such a stipulation. Instead, I propose Harwood’s (2015) variable phase approach that heeds to more dynamic phase structure. By ‘shifting’ the phase to a higher level domain, that is to the matrix clause vP, PRO becomes accessible to the probe, and the derivation of subjunctives converges.
- ItemOpen AccessAcquisition of Tense and Lax Vowels by Persian Learners of English(2020-11-19) Abdollahnejad, EliasThis study investigates the qualitative and quantitative features of English tense (/i: & u:/) and lax (/ɪ & ʊ/) vowels in the L2 production of advanced L1 Persian speakers. The first two formants (F1 & F2) are used to determine the spectral quality of vowels, while the vowel length (in milliseconds) represents the vowel quality. Unlike English, which has two high front (/i:/ & /ɪ/) and back (/u:/ & /ʊ/) vowels, Persian has only one high front vowel /i/ and one high back vowel /u/. Considering this difference, the main questions of this study are whether L1 Persian speakers have separate representations of English tense and lax vowels in their L2 phonological inventory and, if yes, whether they differentiate these vowels based on their qualitative and/or quantitative features. According to the Equivalence Classification Hypothesis (Flege, 1987), L1 Persian speakers are expected to assimilate/merge English front vowels /i: & ɪ/ to their existing L1 single front vowel /i/ and English /u: & ʊ/ to their existing single Persian back vowel /u/. A group of ten female advanced L1 Persian speakers of English are compared with a control group of ten female native English speakers in their production of these vowels in open and closed syllables. Results show that while both quality and quantity are used by English speakers, the Persian speakers have difficulties in acquiring this distinction in their L2 English on both measures. However, the difficulty seems to be mostly in the acquisition of L2 phonetic features (i.e. gradual) than phonological ones (i.e. categorical).
- ItemOpen AccessN-Behavior in Quranic Reading(2020-11-19) Alnuqaydan, AhmedIdgham is a Quranic-reading rule that governs how the coronal /n/ is pronounced when it is followed by a set of segments: /j, w, r, l, n and m/. According to Quranic scholars, when /n/ is followed by a glide /famən jaʔməl/ or a nasal /mɪn mal/, it deletes and the [+nasal] feature moves to the following segment yielding [famə j̃aʔməl] and [mɪ m̃al], respectively. On the other hand, when /n/ precedes a liquid, both the /n/ and the [+nasal] feature are phonetically unrealized: /mɪn ladunh/ [mɪ ladunh]. Idgham only applies when /n/ occurs word-finally and the triggering segments occupy the initial onset position of the following word. It does not occur word-medially: [qɪnwan].The present paper provides a unified OT account for the phenomenon illustrated above. Since, in most cases, the [+nasal] feature sticks around, I argue that Idgham is a fusion process not a deletion process. This paper also explores the vulnerability of /n/ and the immunity of /m/ to Idgham: /lam nara/ “we did not see” [lam nara] not *[la ñ1,2ara]. I argue that in Quranic reading, the more marked /m/ is exempt from fusion while the less marked /n/ is not because IDENT constraints for the more marked segment /m/ outrank IDENT constraints for the less marked segment /n/ (De Lacy, 2002). Finally, in answering why /n/ only fuses with sonorants, the reason is attributed to faithfulness.
- ItemOpen AccessExploring L2 English Learners’ Articulatory Problems Using a Read-Aloud Task(2020-11-19) Kang, ShuoAlthough the irregular pause in oral production is a common problem in the speech of language learners, it is unclear what factors cause the pauses and to what extent learners’ native language affects the oral fluency of their target language. This study investigated the anomalous pauses made by English learners who speak Mandarin Chinese as their mother tongue, with attempts of finding out why these pauses occur in the articulation process of their speech productions. 36 learners and 36 native English speakers participated in a read-aloud task (124 English texts with 26081 words for each participant), which was recorded for further analysis. Based on previous research into oral fluency, the anomalous pause in this study is operationalized to have a long duration (over 1s) and occur in the formulaic sequences or in a single sentence. That is, any pauses that conform to both long silent intervals in formulaic sequence and long silent intervals in a sentence where there is no formulaic sequence, count as anomalous pauses in this study. The results demonstrated that L2 learners made significantly more anomalous pauses when reading aloud English texts and they had difficulty articulating the phonemes /b/, /d/, /g/, /dʒ/, /z/ and /ð/. More importantly, no difference was found in the frequency of anomalous pauses between advanced and less advanced learners, indicating that even proficient learners have difficulties in L2 pronunciation. The reasons why these articulatory problems cause irregular pauses and related pedagogical implications are discussed.