A study of the segmental and suprasegmental phonology of Rhondda Valleys English
The research is a study of male working class pronunciation in the Rhondda, part of the 'Valleys' area of South East Wales. It encompasses both segmental and suprasegmental (prosodic) phonology. The segmental analysis is primarily auditory although it has some supporting acoustic detail. It examines the consonant and vowel systems of Rhondda Valleys English (RVE), with phonetic realizations and lexical incidence. Comparisons with British R.P. are made and similarities with neighbouring varieties of English (e.g. the West Country) and the Welsh Language are observed. The suprasegmental (prosodic) analysis is of spontaneous conversational data, and is auditory and instrumental. The phonology of RVE intonation is described mainly via a system of intonation phrases (IPs), accents, and terminal tones. IP tunes (overall contours) are observed to contain accent profiles whose pitch obtrusions to the stressed syllable are, in the majority of cases, downwards and whose initial pitch movement from the stressed syllable is rising in over 80% of final accents and final accents. A large majority of IP terminal tones in the data are ultimately rising. Aspects of length and rhythm are examined. Evidence is found of rhythmic
Walters, J. Roderick
Rhondda Valleys English (RVE) ; male working class pronunciation ; segmental phonology ; suprasegmental phonology ; South East Wales
A study of the segmental and suprasegmental phonology of Rhondda Valleys English. The research is a study of male working class pronunciation in the Rhondda, part of the 'Valleys' area of South East Wales. It encompasses both segmental and suprasegmental (prosodic) phonology. The segmental analysis is primarily auditory although it has some supporting acoustic detail. It examines the consonant and vowel systems of Rhondda Valleys English (RVE), with phonetic realizations and lexical incidence. Comparisons with British R.P. are made and similarities with neighbouring varieties of English (e.g. the West Country) and the Welsh Language are observed. The suprasegmental (prosodic) analysis is of spontaneous conversational data, and is auditory and instrumental. The phonology of RVE intonation is described mainly via a system of intonation phrases (IPs), accents, and terminal tones. IP tunes (overall contours) are observed to contain accent profiles whose pitch obtrusions to the stressed syllable are, in the majority of cases, downwards and whose initial pitch movement from the stressed syllable is rising in over 80% of final accents and final accents. A large majority of IP terminal tones in the data are ultimately rising. Aspects of length and rhythm are examined. Evidence is found of rhythmic
study segmental suprasegmental phonology english study male work_class pronunciation part area south east wales encompass segmental suprasegmental prosodic phonology segmental analysis primarily auditory although support acoustic detail examines consonant_vowel system english phonetic realization lexical incidence comparisons british make similarity neighbour variety_english west_country welsh language observe suprasegmental prosodic_analysis spontaneous conversational data auditory instrumental phonology intonation describe mainly via system intonation phrase accent terminal tone tune overall contour observe contain accent profile whose pitch stress syllable majority case downwards whose initial pitch_movement stress syllable rise final accent final accent large majority terminal tone data ultimately rise aspects length rhythm examine evidence find rhythmic