2,227 research outputs found
Seeing Speech: A Pronunciation Toolkit for Indigenous Language Teaching and Learning
No full textPronunciation can present a serious challenge for language teachers and learners (e.g., Munro & Derwing 2015). In the context of Indigenous languages in particular, this can be compounded by a number of factors, including small numbers of speakers and teachers, a paucity of pedagogical resources and clear descriptions of sound systems, and the pressures faced by heritage learners to authentically preserve their ancestral language (Carpenter 1997; Hinton 2011; Hinton & Ahlers 1999). Latent speakers may be inhibited from speaking by perceived concerns over their pronunciation, particularly in the presence of elders (Basham & Fatham 2008), and other learners may face similar social and linguistic challenges. Despite these hurdles, pronunciation is considered by many to be an important aspect of Indigenous language learning, and one which requires creative community-oriented solutions (AUTHOR & Kell 2015; Carpenter 1997). Towards this end, we have developed a pronunciationlearning toolthat incorporates ultrasound technology, giving learners a visual aid to help them learn to articulate challenging or unfamiliar sounds, for example “back of the mouth” consonants (e.g. /k/ vs. /q/). Ultrasound is used to create videos of a model speaker’s tongue movements during speech, which are then overlaid on videos of an external profile view of the model’s head to create ultrasound-enhanced pronunciation videos for individual words or sounds (Abel et al. 2015). A key advantage of these videos is that they allow learners direct access to the articulatory shapes and movements that are involved in pronouncing challenging words or sounds; learners are able see how speech is produced rather than just hear and try to mimic it. Although ultrasound-enhanced videos were originally developed for commonly taught languages such as Japanese and French, there has been widespread interest from Indigenous communities in Western Canada to develop their own customized videos. To date, we have partnered with communities in Alberta and British Columbia to develop videos for four languages: SENĆOŦEN, Secwepemc, Halq’emeylem, and Blackfoot. Community-driven and capacity-building, these projects involved training community members in how to produce customized ultrasound-enhanced videos using our toolkit. The resulting videos will be featured in our presentation, along with demonstrations of how and why to use ultrasound in pronunciation teaching. Our goal is to show that the ultrasound-enhanced videos can help to address some of the challenges of pronunciation learning in Indigenous languages by giving learners a new way to understand pronunciation that focuses on seeing speech. References Abel, J., B. Allen, S. Burton, M. Kazama, M. Noguchi, A. Tsuda, N. Yamane, & AUTHOR. 2015. Ultrasound-Enhanced Multimodal Approaches to Pronunciation Teaching and Learning. Canadian Acoustics 43 (3), 130-131. Basham, C. and A. Fathman. 2008. The latent speaker: Attaining adult fluency in an endangered language. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 11: 577-97. AUTHOR and S. Kell. Pronunciation in the context of language revitalization. Paper presented at ICLDC 4, 2015. Carpenter, V. 1997. Teaching Children to "Unlearn" the Sounds of English. In Teaching Indigenous Languages, ed. by Jon Reyhner. Flagstaff, AZ: Northern Arizona University, pp. 31-39. Hinton, L. 2011. Language revitalization and language pedagogy: New teaching and learning strategies. Language and Education 25(4): 307-318, Hinton, L. and J. Ahlers. 1999. The issue of “authenticity” in California language restoration. Anthropology & Education Quarterly, 30: 56-67. Munro, M. J. & Derwing, T. M. 2015. A prospectus for pronunciation research in the 21st century: A point of view. Journal of Second Language Pronunciation 1(1): 11-42
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COVID-19 Interview with Bryan Caplan
No full textA discussion on the COVID-19 pandemic with Bryan Caplan, an economist from George Mason University as well as the author of "The Case Against Education" and "Open Borders."Salem Cente
Sharon Bryan 03-15-1990
No full textReading List
"Breaking and Entering" from "Objects of Affection" (0:35)
"Viewing the Body" "from Salt Air" (16:08)
"Theory" from "Flying Blind: Poems" (38:27)
"Trimmings" from "Flying Blind: Poems" (39:47)
Abstract
Sharon Bryan Reads "Breaking and Entering" from "Objects of Affection" (0:35). Stan Saville Rubin interviews Sharon Bryan. Bryan was born in Salt Lake City, Utah and educated at the University of Utah where she studied philosophy, Cornell University where she received an MA in anthropology, and The University of Iowa Writers Workshop where she earned her MFA. She's the author of two collections of poetry, "Salt Air" published in 1983, and "Objects of Affection" published in 1987 by Wesleyan University Press. She has received awards including The Academy of American Poets Prize, the Discovery the Nation Award, and the Governor's Award from the State of Washington, and has held NEA fellowships. At the time of filming Bryan is a Professor of English at the Memphis State University and editor of the literary magazine River City. Stan opens the conversation with an invitation to discuss the origin and nature of the opening poem. Bryan outlines the story and the influences that aided her creation of the poem. Expanding further into the content of "Objects of Affection", they discuss the heavy handed artistic and literary influences that are found in a number of the collected poems. Bryan talks about why the unaddressed epitaph is at the beginning of "Objects of Affection" and what informed her decision to put it there. Stan asks her about the careful organization of the collection but Bryan reveals that the organization wasn't as deeply considered as it appears. They talk about the style of her poems and how she tends not to use prose. Stan moves the conversation to "Salt Air" which was written 6 years after leaving Iowa. Bryan talks about how so much of her life was leaving behind Salt Lake. Bryan reads "Viewing the Body" "from Salt Air" (16:08). Bryan speaks on when she first knew she wanted to write and how she meandered through her education because, as far as she was aware, creative writing as an occupation wasn't available until she had arrived at Cornell and then why she chose to go to the Iowa Writers Workshop. Stan asks Bryan to speak at length about her role as Editor of the River City literary magazine and how she looks at poetry through that editor's lens. They discuss the social significance of poetry and address critiques about poetry's place for speaking on difficult issues of the time. Bryan talks about the major influences on her writing and her push to publish her poetry for public consumption and how she found out her first collection was going to be printed. Bryan reads "Theory" from her upcoming collection of poems "Flying Blind: Poems" (38:27) and "Trimmings" also from "Flying Blind: Poems" (39:47).Archived web conten
JCCC Hosts \u27Public Enemies\u27 Author, Bryan Burrough
No full textBest-selling author Bryan Burrough will present \u27Public Enemies: The True Story\u27 at 11 a.m. Monday, November 2, in Craig Community Auditorium
Integrating posture control in speech models
No full textIn this dissertation, I investigated the control of postures in the human vocal tract and integrated these controls into speech models using simulative methods and provided correspondent behavioral evidence. Chapter 1 presents the theoretical background, highlighting that although speech postures behave similarly to other postures, they have only been observed among English speakers and have not been incorporated into any speech motor control models. This chapter then proposes a parallel control model that includes both speech postural control and movement control. The simulated outcomes support the view that speech posture, like body posture, constitutes a necessary and universal substrate for speech (tested in Chapter 2) which is maintained under perturbation (tested in Chapter 3), and that anticipatory postural adjustments should contribute to equilibrium in the context of internal perturbations (tested in Chapter 4). Chapter 2 examines the universality of the lingual bracing posture, observing that it is present across different languages. Chapter 3 investigates the robustness of the lingual posture under external perturbations, finding that the lingual bracing posture is consistently maintained with the presence of external perturbation. Chapter 4 studies the interaction of the smiling posture with internal perturbations, revealing that the posture is also robustly maintained with some anticipatory adjustments. Finally, Chapter 5 reviews the dissertation and summarizes the major findings.Arts, Faculty ofLinguistics, Department ofGraduat
Employment and housing problems of migratory workers in New York and New Jersey canning industries, 1943
No full textBased on a survey conducted by Helen Bryan Sater and Caroline Manning, this report presents issues involving the employment and housing of migrant laborers in the New York and New Jersey canning industries (especially the tomato-canning industry in producing food for armed services) during World War II. The issues discussed include false promises to migrant workers concerning wages, available facilities and housing costs. Another issue discussed is the low standard of living and working conditions that government agencies uphold for migrant laborers. At this time there was an influx of African American and West Indian migrants to the area to occupy positions within the canning industry. Also, a great number of laborers were women and children. Polish, Italian, and white migrants from the South are also mentioned as significant populations within the industry. This report was issued by the United States Women's Bureau of the United States Department of Labor in 1943
Quantitative analysis of subphonemic flap/tap variation in NAE
No full textExtreme ‘covert’ categorical subphonemic variation has been thought to occur only in rare cases such as American English ‘r ’ [1]. The present study demonstrates that English flaps/taps are produced using up to four distinct kinematic variations: up-flaps, down-flaps, alveolar taps and postalveolar taps. Surface distinctions between up-flaps and down-flaps, and between alveolar taps and post-alveolar taps, have not been previously described for any language. Our research expands on preliminary research by Gick [2,3] to include B/M mode ultrasound measures that capture details of flap kinematics with higher temporal resolution
Speech postures are postures : towards a unified approach to postural control in gross and fine motor skills
No full textIn this dissertation, I examine the concept of posture in the vocal tract and compare it to the concept of posture as discussed in gross motor contexts. We begin in chapter 1 by reviewing theoretical conceptions of body posture, and identifying the necessary conditions for a comparison of vocal tract and bodily posture. In subsequent chapters, I lay out experimental work I have conducted alongside coauthors to examine the relationship between speech and non-speech postural control. In chapter 2, we examine the effects of microgravity adaptation on speech postural control and observe postural shifts comparable to gross motor skills. In Chapter 3 we examine the relationship between speech postures and upcoming motor tasks, and find that speech postures account for upcoming motor demands in a similar manner to body postures, reflecting specific properties of upcoming speech movements rather than generalized linguistic properties. In Chapter 4, we examine the neural control of vocal tract posture and movement and find that they are similar to what has been reported in gross motor contexts. In Chapter 5, we review the implications of our findings for a unified model of postural control across gross and fine motor skills, and outline necessary next steps to evaluate this model.Arts, Faculty ofLinguistics, Department ofGraduat
Game Trails in British Columbia: Big Game and Other Sport in the Wilds of British Columbia:
No full textby A. Bryan Williams
Blackfoot Final Vowels: What Variation and its Absence can Tell us about Communicative Goals
No full textThis paper investigates variation in the production of word-final vowels in Blackfoot, an Algonquian language spoken by approximately 3350 people in Southern Alberta and Northern Montana. The Blackfoot community perceives the language as partitioning into varieties, based on the age of the speaker; ‘old Blackfoot’ is richly polysynthetic and spoken by people born in the 1930s and earlier, whereas ‘new Blackfoot’ is thought to be missing certain inflections, and is spoken by people born in the 1940s or later. Final vowels, which encode a morphosyntactic distinction referred to as obviation, are thought to be particularly susceptible to language loss. Gick et al. (2012) document the phonetic properties of one Blackfoot speaker’s final vowels, demonstrating that, for her, final vowels are not absent but instead soundless in some environments, in that there are distinct articulator positions for -a and -i vowels without any corresponding acoustic distinction. We investigate the articulatory, acoustic, and phonological properties of the final vowels of four additional speakers cross-cutting age, dialect, and gender. Using ultrasound, video, and audio recordings, we found that while there is phonetic variation across speakers in the realization of final vowels, not one speaker altogether omits them. In short, there is variation, but of a limited nature. The robustness of the final vowels reflects the fact that they serve an important communicative function in the grammar by encoding obviation
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