LLS Colloquium: "Aspects of Singapore English Intonation"

On Wednesday 27th October 2021, Adam Chong (QMUL) will be presenting at the Language and Linguistic Science colloquium.

Aspects of Singapore English Intonation

Singapore English is a nativised English variety that displays a number of systematic linguistic features that distinguish it from Western varieties (e.g. British English). In this talk, I present ongoing work on Singapore English intonation, an under-examined aspect of the linguistic system. I first present a preliminary phonological model of Singapore English intonation couched in the Autosegmental Metrical framework. I then present results from two production studies that provide qualitative and quantitative support for aspects of the initial model. In particular, I will focus on evidence for the existence of a prosodic level above the word (the Accentual Phrase), as well as an examination the degree to which lexical prominence is marked at the phrasal level, how this might differ depending on phrasal position. I end by discussing the implications of this work for our understanding of prominence and rhythm in Singapore English prosody and the important contribution New Englishes have for prosodic typology. The implications of these results for future work on sociolinguistic variation and acquisition of intonation in Singapore English is also discussed.

The talk will take place at 4pm on Zoom, and there will be an opportunity to ask questions at the end - you can join using this link. 

Event poster: LLS Colloquium: "Aspects of Singapore English Intonation"