Help: A linguistic project

[Slyer]

Groovy!
I'll see what I can do to help tonight.

[grendel]

ooo that sounds interesting. I'm a bit of a 'creative speaker' at times and don't have hang ups about good engrish dying out. I have a time and a place for my perfunctly put together communications - both written and verbal So I would not be surprised to find that my speech is a bit evolved - somewhere Hitcher and others would probably cring to go if I am completely honest

Change is inevitable - growth is optional and all that.

So, which of my split personalities voices would you like to hear Mr Poland?

Yep, there's nothing wrong about change... “Of the four seasons, none lasts forever... and the moon waxes & wanes...” [Sun Tzu]. There's a nice book out there, by the way – it's called Language change: Progress or decay? by Jean Aitchison – very readable, very interesting, highly recommended...

As for the split personalities – I'm not sure, but I gather the naughty one would display more variability and innovation

Groovy!
I'll see what I can do to help tonight.

Thanks heaps! Looking forward to it...

[Slyer]

To pay me back I hope you at least investigate the idea of buying a motorbike.

[grendel]

To pay me back I hope you at least investigate the idea of buying a motorbike.

haha... yeah, sure! I mean, I AM kinda into motorbikes – I've already got the attire (a traditional leather jacket & boots) due to my heavy metal past and so after finishing with this project (and providing my financial income increases) I'll seriously consider buying a bike... The only problem is that a biker somehow doesn't fit into the landscape of my town too well; I envy you guys your beautiful surroundings (and much better roads, I reckon)

[Slyer]

Bah, bikers never fit in anywhere!
A few suggestions... see if you can use an alternate file type for the bits that we have to read as not everyone has microsoft word in order to read the .doc files.
rtf or txt and everyone can read it without installing anything.
I'm just installing word now and then I'll record.

Also, heavy metal "Fashion leather" might not protect you that well in a crash. Our roads are definitely twisty and interesting but not of the highest quality

[Slyer]

Alright I've recorded, heres a link:
http://www.9thrangers.com/Sam-Linguistic.zip
I didn't try to correct any of my speech just like you asked!
Have you received many other contributions?

[grendel]

A few suggestions... see if you can use an alternate file type for the bits that we have to read as not everyone has microsoft word in order to read the .doc files.
rtf or txt and everyone can read it without installing anything.
I'm just installing word now and then I'll record.

OK... Following your suggestion, I've saved each file as rtf as well as pdf, so I suppose everyone will be able to read them now... Here's the updated package: http://rapidshare.com/files/17145181...t-package2.zip

Alright I've recorded, heres a link:
http://www.9thrangers.com/Sam-Linguistic.zip
I didn't try to correct any of my speech just like you asked!
Have you received many other contributions?

THANK YOU! That's a job well done, indeed

As for the number... Well, around 20 people said they were going to do it, but I've received just 5 packages (mostly South African English), so I'm still waiting... My supervisor says I should have at least 30 people for the study to be treated seriously (and she's right obviously; in order to draw any conclusions about how people speak, one needs a bigger sample). So I hope those other people are simply busy, but are going to deliver their recordings some time soon... Perhaps this project is slightly too ambitious for an MA thesis, but I don't want to give up just now, I still have some time...

My colleague's got a greater challenge – she's writing about speech processes in bilingual kids, and she wants to study an English-Polish (or Polish-English) bilingual child... That's a huge problem because firstly, she needs to find such a child (and it should be preferably something like 6-months old), and then she has to ask its parents for permission to study the child.
And she actually had everything done (!), but one day, the child's mother came from work and found my colleague (and I must say she's a good-looking girl) chatting with the dad about the child... Everything was absolutely normal, but the mother had interpreted their smiles and the whole situation as an affair of some sort! She asked my colleague to leave and never approach her family again, or else...
As a result, the girl didn't manage to finish her work, and what's more - she cannot use those recordings because she hasn't got the parents' consent anymore... She has to start all over again :/

[Slyer]

Hahaha gutted!
Women eh.

[Dilligaf]

I'd help but my accent's all over the place.
Growing up in Australia, I was mocked by my peers because of my "English" accent - thanks to my British parents. Of course, they thought that I sounded 'Strine...
Now living here, most Kiwis peg me as an Aussie but foreigners sometimes ask if I'm English and now of course my Aussie family reckon I sound like a Kiwi.
I can't win

[grendel]

Hahaha gutted!
Women eh.

Exactly

I'd help but my accent's all over the place.
Growing up in Australia, I was mocked by my peers because of my "English" accent - thanks to my British parents. Of course, they thought that I sounded 'Strine...
Now living here, most Kiwis peg me as an Aussie but foreigners sometimes ask if I'm English and now of course my Aussie family reckon I sound like a Kiwi.
I can't win

I think you could still help. I'm investigating just a few tiny features of southern-hemisphere accents (which my texts are supposed to elicit), and if your speech had them as well, that would certainly mean something. Your linguistic background would be taken into consideration, and besides – English English has more in common with Aussie or Kiwi pronunciation than, say with Northern American English. It could work in my opinion, so if you have some free time, you can have a go at the texts.
Perhaps there's someone around ya who could do it too?

Cheers

EDIT: I've just received your e-mail! That was quick Thank you!!!

[kezzafish]

Grendel. I've emailed you my attempt, lemme know if it works. Have a go peeps, it's kinda funny listening to your own muppet voice

[grendel]

Grendel. I've emailed you my attempt, lemme know if it works. Have a go peeps, it's kinda funny listening to your own muppet voice

Thanks for the input! Works very well...

And I 'd like to say one more thing. I don't want to disclose the features that I'm seeking in these accents just now, but I do want to say something about the research at this point.
The MA thesis can go two ways: 1) I observe a feature, I create hypotheses about it, or certain assumptions and then the results confirm the assumptions, or... 2) I assume something, but then the results are contradictory and indicate that I was totally wrong... Either way – it's all good! What's more, those contradictory results are often more interesting.

So what I'm trying to say is that even if I don't find too many instances of the features I want to observe in your speech, it will still be OK and I'll most likely pass the exam; it'll just show that there is some kind of a change on the horizon, but it's progressing slowly and it's too early to make new generalizations about a given variety.
And there's another good thing about the whole project, even if it fails to prove my assumptions – it provides modern descriptions of the discussed dialects. It can confirm what has been written in similar publications or show that they are wrong here and there due to language change. Hence, it will be extremely valuable for other researchers and will provide a point of reference for them. Aussie-Kiwi-South African English from 2008/09, supported by recordings – there are a lot of linguists out there who'd like to read such a work.

To conclude, try to be as natural as you can and don't worry if you think you pronounce something which contrasts with my hopes. Nothing like that is going to happen There are linguists who, in a way, fabricate their results and force people to say things they would normally never (or rarely) produce. I'm not one of them, I'm interested in real language, language that is used by real people. Real language is not perfect, just as we ourselves are not perfect, and nothing we create will ever be perfect. There will always be exceptions to the rules...

Alright, enough of my monologues :P

[Pixie]

Hello everybody,

I'm an MA student at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan, Poland, and in order to finish writing my MA thesis, I'm going to need some help from speakers of Australian, New Zealand and South African English.
My MA project includes some research on the vowel systems of the above varieties of English, and for that I need samples of authentic, natural speech.
Unfortunately, I don't have any money to pay you for your help, but your input into linguistic studies will be highly appreciated.

Now, all I want you to do is make a recording (preferably in .mp3) of yourself reading a short text which I'm going to send you.
After that, you would send me a copy of your recording (directly via e-mail or by uploading the file e.g. to rapidshare.com...).

I would also need some information such as your age, education and possibly region (e.g. New South Wales, Australia; Northern Cape, South Africa; Wellington, New Zealand etc.), as accents differ according to these factors.
However, you don't have to give me your exact address or any minute details, etc... In the study, you will be referred to simply as “Speaker 5”, and so on...

To conclude, if you're a speaker (or know any speakers) of Australian English, New Zealand English or South African English and would like to help me out – please, let me know!
I need at least 30 recordings in total before my research is considered “valid”.

Thanks in advance!

This is easy: New Zealand English (New Zild) has only one vowel sound - u

All five vowels are pronounced the same.

[klingon]

... I'm interested in real language, language that is used by real people. Real language is not perfect, just as we ourselves are not perfect, and nothing we create will ever be perfect. There will always be exceptions to the rules...

I'm with you there, grendel. I'm fascinated by 'descriptive' linguistics and rather annoyed by the 'prescriptive' approach - the one that tries to tell us we're wrong if we pronounce something in a way that the listener doesn't approve of. [And I positively endorse ending sentences with prepositions.]

A good Kiwi accent is nothing to be ashamed of (or proud of for that matter). It just is what it is. There is no reason that we should sound like people in any other part of the world.

Sorry I can't help you with your research (no microphone) but I wish you the best of luck!

[grendel]

This is easy: New Zealand English (New Zild) has only one vowel sound - u

All five vowels are pronounced the same.

LoL

I'm with you there, grendel. I'm fascinated by 'descriptive' linguistics and rather annoyed by the 'prescriptive' approach - the one that tries to tell us we're wrong if we pronounce something in a way that the listener doesn't approve of. [And I positively endorse ending sentences with prepositions.]

A good Kiwi accent is nothing to be ashamed of (or proud of for that matter). It just is what it is. There is no reason that we should sound like people in any other part of the world.

Sorry I can't help you with your research (no microphone) but I wish you the best of luck!

I totally agree! On the one hand, speech standards are important... but they should not serve as a weapon against anybody.

If you happen to visit someone with a microphone then, please remember about the study
All the best to you too