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Regan, Vera
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Regan, Vera
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Regan, Vera
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Now showing 1 - 10 of 16
- PublicationThe significance of age and place of residence in the positional distribution of discourse like in L2 speechThis chapter investigates the use of discourse markers in L2 Irish English, specifically like by Polish people, assuming that the use of discourse markers is an indicator of integration. Quantitative and qualitative approaches are used to analyse the corpus of speech, focusing in particular on the positional distribution of like and the impact of age and place of residence. Results show that the L2 speakers use discourse like in patterns which correspond to those attested for L1 Irish English. Place of residence was a significant factor, with rural and urban speakers following rural and urban L1 patterns respectively. However, the younger speakers tended to favour urban (and global) clause-medial like over clause-marginal like, the more traditional pattern for Irish English. The young L2 speakers appear to be participating in the global change in like patterns.
- PublicationVariation, identity and language attitudes: Polish migrants in FranceThis chapter examines migrants’ use of French L2, analysing the speech of ten L1 Polish speakers, thirty to sixty years, in a naturalistic setting. Using informal conversations, this study focuses on L1 variation patterns; specifically ne deletion, a sensitive and powerful indicator of social issues, using Rbrul. The data permit comparison of use of the same sociolinguistic variable by L2 speakers from two different L1 typological groups: Polish and English. The analysis showed the migrants broadly adopt L1 speech patterns, constraint ordering, and frequently even rates (as had the more formal L1 English learners) with universalistic implications for sociolinguistic variation acquisition. However, two couples are ‘outliers.’ Qualitative analysis indicates that differences in the speech of these two couples relate to language attitudes and ideology and suggests language ideology plays an important role in L2 acquisition and use. Complementary quantitative and qualitative analyses reveal aspects of L2 acquisition, which, separately, might not have been captured.
Scopus© Citations 1 79 - PublicationMaîtriser la norme sociolinguistique en interlangue française: Le cas de l'omission variable de ‘ne’L'acquisition de la norme sociolinguistique française pose des problèmes considérables aux locuteurs non-natifs. L'analyse de la variation dans l'omission du ne dans un corpus d'interlangue avancée de 27 apprenants néerlandophones interviewés dans une situation informelle et formelle confirme que l'instruction formelle est insuffisante pour la maîtrise de la norme sociolinguistique native. Une majorité de locuteurs omettent le ne un peu moins souvent dans une situation formelle mais la variation va dans le sens opposé pour une minorité de locuteurs. L'observation et surtout la participation à des interactions authentiques avec des locuteurs natifs stimulent l'acquisition de la norme sociolinguistique. Une analyse statistique révèle que différentes variables socio-biographiques, psychologiques et situationnelles déterminent la variation intra- et interindividuelle dans les taux d'omission du ne. © 2002, Cambridge University Press. All rights reserved.
17Scopus© Citations 60 - PublicationThe Acquisition of Community Speech Norms by Asian Immigrants Learning English as a Second Language: a preliminary studyWe investigate Vietnamese and Cambodian immigrants' acquisition of the variable (ing), which occurs in progressive tenses, participles, noun phrases, etc., and which can be pronounced [iŋ] or [In]. A VARBRUL 2 program analysis of native speaker speech shows that the production of (ing) is constrained by phonological, grammatical, stylistic, and social factors. An analysis of the nonnative speakers' acquisition of these norms shows that [In] is more frequent before anterior segments (reflecting ease of articulation), and that males use [In] more frequently than females, especially in monitored speech (perhaps reflecting their desire to accommodate to a male native speaker norm rather than to an overall native speaker norm). The analysis also shows evidence of grammatical constraints which are different from those in the native speakers' speech. This difference may reflect the fact that it is easier to acquire the [In] variant in “frozen forms,” such as prepositions, than in productive rules.
1660Scopus© Citations 147 - PublicationL1 and L2 Language Attitudes: Polish and Italian Migrants in France and IrelandUntil recently, research on language attitudes focused mainly on attitudes relating to speakers' L1. However, with the increase in interest in multilingualism in a globalised world, there has been a renewed interest in language attitudes relating to L2 speakers. This article focuses on these issues in the context of migration: how language attitudes associated with migrants' L1 and L2 may affect the L2 acquisition process. The attitudes of two L2 groups (Polish and Italian) are compared to see if, in the case of speakers learning different L2's (French and Irish English), there was a difference based on the different contexts. Qualitative data and analysis were used to attend to the voices of the participants in the study. Analysis revealed differences in language attitudes amongst Polish migrants in France, Polish migrants in Ireland, and Italian migrants in Ireland that paralleled differences in L2 strategies. This supports recent research which indicates that attitudes associated with L2s play a more important role than was previously realised and should be considered alongside L1 language attitudes.
18 - PublicationSecond language adquisition and sociollinguistic approaches: The Case of L2 FrenchFrench is one of the major target languages on which L2 acquisition research has been carried out. SLA research on French highlights specific aspects of L2 acquisition. Codification and prescriptivism long associated with French have wider implications for L2 language ideology and attitudes. Research on L2 French acquisition which reveals the influence of ‘la norme’ – especially the acquisition of sociolinguistic variation and pragmatics – is discussed. Research methods particularly suited to illuminating these issues are outlined, including variation analysis, mixed-methods research and network analysis. Current research themes include agency, identity and individual variation.
25 - PublicationVariationLanguage is inherently variable; this applies whether we are talking about a speaker’s first, second or third language. Yet linguistics in the twentieth century tended to focus on the invariant and variation was considered to be a marginal issue. However, focus has increasingly been shifting to variation in linguistic studies. For instance, in a 2010 article in New Scientist, Kenneally says that Evans and Levinson (2009) “believe that languages do not share a common set of rules . . . their sheer variety is a defining feature of human communications . . . Language diversity is the ‘crucial fact for understanding the place of language in human cognition.’” Whether or not one agrees that all languages share a set of rules (Editors’ note, e.g. Universal Grammar; see Chapters 1, 2, this volume), it is increasingly accepted that variation is an important aspect of language.
369 - PublicationThe Acquisition of Sociolinguistic Native Speech Norms: Effects of a Year Abroad on Second Language Learners of FrenchOne of the perennial debates in language teaching is the one about the benefits, or otherwise, of time spent abroad -- learning the language while immersed in the target speech community. After all, as Gardner (1979) says, in acquiring a second language "the student is faced with the task of not simply learning new information (vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation, etc) .. but rather of acquiring symbolic elements of a different ethnolinguistic community". To what extent is this process facilitated by living in the target language community? This article reports a study which provides concrete empirical data on the effects of such experiences on the language learning process. This sociolinguistic study of second language acquisition tries to investigate just what is the process of the acquisition of symbolic elements of another ethnolinguistic community. It is a study of the acquisition of sociolinguistic competence and focuses on the acquisition of a particularly sensitive sociolinguistic variable which is invested with powerful symbolic significance by the native speech community.
18 - PublicationDiscourse ‘like’ and social identity – a case study of Poles in IrelandIreland experienced momentous change in the last decade and a half. Migrants now make up a significant percentage of the population and the question of integration continues to be pertinent. One indicator of integration is language, and the fluency with which an L2 speaker uses L1 discourse markers indicates how integrated he/she is in the local community (Sankoff et al. 1997). This paper analyses discourse like and its use by Polish speakers of L2 Irish English. Our research shows that speakers follow Irish English patterns, but there is a high degree of interspeaker variation. By drawing on qualitative data, we attempt to illustrate some possible reasons for this, including the potential of this feature as a tool in identity construction.
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