Roy C Major
Biographic Data
| ID | 731771 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Roy C Major |
| GIVEN NAMES | Roy C |
| FAMILY NAME | Major |
| SIGNATURE | MAJOR R C |
| AFFILIATIONS | Arizona State University |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 24 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 89 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 24 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1981 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2024 |
| H-INDEX | 6 |
The Cambridge Handbook of Bilingual Phonetics and Phonology
Bilingualism and the study of speech sounds are two of the largest areas of inquiry in linguistics. This Handbook sits at the intersection of these fields, providing a comprehensive overview of the most recent, cutting-edge work on the sound systems of adult and child bilinguals. Bringing together contributions from an international team of world-leading experts, it covers all aspects of the speech perception, production and processing of bilingu…
Foreign Accent
The formation and change of an individual's foreign accent is governed by many interrelated factors. The two most important linguistic factors are language transfer (interference) and universal factors, similar to what children do when they acquire their first language. Nonlinguistic factors include amount of exposure to the second language, first and second language use, age of learning, and sociocultural and psychological factors, such as attit…
Foreign Accent
One of the first things a native speaker (NS) notices about a non‐native speaker (NNS) is a foreign accent.
Phonological Analysis
Phonology is the study of how speech sounds function as a system, and phonological analysis involves analyzing the sound systems of languages.
First language attrition in foreign accent perception
This study investigates first language attrition in perception of a foreign accent in one’s native language. Although studies of first language attrition abound, there are very few studies on L1 attrition in perception of adults. Furthermore, there is apparently no research dealing with L1 attrition in foreign accent identification. The present study is perhaps the first to investigate this issue, which has implications for both L1 and L2 attriti…
Accents and Speech in Teaching English Phonetics and Phonology
ACCENTS AND SPEECH IN TEACHING ENGLISH PHONETICS AND PHONOLOGY. Ewa Waniek-Klimczak and Patrick James Melia (Eds) . Bern: Peter Lang, 2002. Pp. 358. $62.95 paper. This volume is a potpourri of articles written mostly by Polish scholars (all but four authors are from Polish universities; the others are from universities in Croatia, Slovenia, and England). Because of the shear number of articles (24), space limitations preclude my providing more th…
Testing the Effects of Regional, Ethnic, and International Dialects of English on Listening Comprehension
It is widely believed that listeners understand some dialects more easily than others, although there is very little research that has rigorously measured the effects. This study investigated whether listeners experience more difficulty with regional, ethnic, and international dialects of English than with Standard American English. The results demonstrated that speaker dialect had a significant effect for both English as a second language (ESL) …
Gender and stylistic variation in second language phonology
Communicative competence comprises many things, including the ability to use the appropriate pronunciation, based on gender and style. Previous L2 research in phonology has focused on the frequency of nativelike and nonnative forms and variation within nonnative forms, rather than variation within nativelike forms. This study, however, examines variation in nativelike forms by investigating gender and stylistic differences in the English of nativ…
The Effects of Nonnative Accents on Listening Comprehension
Roy C. Major, Susan F. Fitzmaurice, Ferenc Bunta, Chandrika Balasubramanian, The Effects of Nonnative Accents on Listening Comprehension: Implications for ESL Assessment, TESOL Quarterly, Vol. 36, No. 2 (Summer, 2002), pp. 173-190
Foreign Accent
Even though second-language learners may master the grammar and vocabulary of the new languages, they almost never achieve a native phonology (accent). Scholars and professionals dealing with second-language learners would agree that this is one of the most persistent challenges they face. Now, for the first time, Roy Major's Foreign Accent covers the exploding scholarship in this area and lays out the issues specifically for audiences in the sec…
The Similarity Differential Rate Hypothesis
We explored 3 factors-similarity, dissimilarity, and markedness-as they relate to second language (L2) phonological acquisition. Previous studies have made claims about difficulty, order of acquisition, and ultimate achievement depending on L2 exposure but have often presented conflicting claims and results. This study incorporates similarity and dissimilarity into a hypothesis about rate of acquisition: The rate of acquisition for a dissimilar p…
Chronological and Stylistic Aspects of Second Language Acquisition of Consonant Clusters
A major focus in second language acquisition (SLA) studies for the past two or three decades has been the role that universal factors play in acquisition. Prior to then, the influence of transfer had been well documented, since the early work of Lado (1957) and even earlier work of Weinreich (1953). However, in 1971 Nemser reported Hungarian learners of English used substitutions that occurred in neither native English nor Hungarian; likewise, Jo…
Crosscurrents in Second Language Acquisition and Linguistic Theories
1. Preface 2. I. Overview 3. Second language acquisition: litmus test for linguistic theory? (by Huebner, Thom) 4. Recent trends in syntactic theory (by Sells, Peter) 5. Typology/universals and second language acquisition (by Greenberg, Joseph H.) 6. II. From Theories to Hypothesis Testing 7. Prosodic phonology: second language acquisition data as evidence in theoretical phonology (by Vogel, Irene) 8. Natural morphology: the organization of parad…
Losing English as a First Language
A Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics
This second edition is throughly revised and corrected to take account of the many changes in the subject over the last 6 years, and has been enlarged by over 20per cent.
Rhythmic Typology and Chance in Brazilian Portuguese
Current perspectives on pronunciation
Pronunciation and personality
Measuring pronunciation accuracy using computerized techniques
Techniques for measuring pronunciation accuracy have lagged far behind measuring competence in other areas. It is argued that pronunciation is an important aspect of second language proficiency and just as it is important to have reliable measures of competence in such areas as listening comprehension, grammar, reading and writing, so it is important to have reliable measures of pronunciation accuracy. This paper discusses several computerized te…
Language Acquisition of a Bilingual Child
English voiceless stop production by speakers of Brazilian Portuguese
The Ontogeny Model
This study tests a model for L2 phonological acquisition, using longitudinal data from beginning learners of Spanish. The model claims that transfer processes decrease over time, while developmental processes increase and then decrease. The data for L2 acquisition of Spanish r largely support the claims. The analysis also reveals a hierarchical organization of processes in L2 acquisition and an interaction of the L1 and L2 systems. The study furt…
Stress and Rhythm in Brazilian Portuguese
Brazilian Portuguese prosody is organized in a rhythmic hierarchy which governs the phonology of the language, and which is demonstrated by instrumental and phonological evidence to be present diachronically and synchronically in different speech styles. Principles of stress, which yield two degrees, assign secondary stress to pretonic syllables and no stress to posttonic syllables. From this follows the relationship pretonic ⊃ posttonic—which me…
Stress-timing in Brazilian Portuguese
The Effects of Nonnative Accents on Listening Comprehension
Roy C. Major, Susan F. Fitzmaurice, Ferenc Bunta, Chandrika Balasubramanian, The Effects of Nonnative Accents on Listening Comprehension: Implications for ESL Assessment, TESOL Quarterly, Vol. 36, No. 2 (Summer, 2002), pp. 173-190
Gender and stylistic variation in second language phonology
Communicative competence comprises many things, including the ability to use the appropriate pronunciation, based on gender and style. Previous L2 research in phonology has focused on the frequency of nativelike and nonnative forms and variation within nonnative forms, rather than variation within nativelike forms. This study, however, examines variation in nativelike forms by investigating gender and stylistic differences in the English of nativ…
Testing the Effects of Regional, Ethnic, and International Dialects of English on Listening Comprehension
It is widely believed that listeners understand some dialects more easily than others, although there is very little research that has rigorously measured the effects. This study investigated whether listeners experience more difficulty with regional, ethnic, and international dialects of English than with Standard American English. The results demonstrated that speaker dialect had a significant effect for both English as a second language (ESL) …
The Similarity Differential Rate Hypothesis
We explored 3 factors-similarity, dissimilarity, and markedness-as they relate to second language (L2) phonological acquisition. Previous studies have made claims about difficulty, order of acquisition, and ultimate achievement depending on L2 exposure but have often presented conflicting claims and results. This study incorporates similarity and dissimilarity into a hypothesis about rate of acquisition: The rate of acquisition for a dissimilar p…
Stress-timing in Brazilian Portuguese
English voiceless stop production by speakers of Brazilian Portuguese
The Ontogeny Model
This study tests a model for L2 phonological acquisition, using longitudinal data from beginning learners of Spanish. The model claims that transfer processes decrease over time, while developmental processes increase and then decrease. The data for L2 acquisition of Spanish r largely support the claims. The analysis also reveals a hierarchical organization of processes in L2 acquisition and an interaction of the L1 and L2 systems. The study furt…
Chronological and Stylistic Aspects of Second Language Acquisition of Consonant Clusters
A major focus in second language acquisition (SLA) studies for the past two or three decades has been the role that universal factors play in acquisition. Prior to then, the influence of transfer had been well documented, since the early work of Lado (1957) and even earlier work of Weinreich (1953). However, in 1971 Nemser reported Hungarian learners of English used substitutions that occurred in neither native English nor Hungarian; likewise, Jo…
Stress and Rhythm in Brazilian Portuguese
Brazilian Portuguese prosody is organized in a rhythmic hierarchy which governs the phonology of the language, and which is demonstrated by instrumental and phonological evidence to be present diachronically and synchronically in different speech styles. Principles of stress, which yield two degrees, assign secondary stress to pretonic syllables and no stress to posttonic syllables. From this follows the relationship pretonic ⊃ posttonic—which me…
A Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics
This second edition is throughly revised and corrected to take account of the many changes in the subject over the last 6 years, and has been enlarged by over 20per cent.
Language Acquisition of a Bilingual Child
Stress-timing in Brazilian Portuguese
Stress and Rhythm in Brazilian Portuguese
Brazilian Portuguese prosody is organized in a rhythmic hierarchy which governs the phonology of the language, and which is demonstrated by instrumental and phonological evidence to be present diachronically and synchronically in different speech styles. Principles of stress, which yield two degrees, assign secondary stress to pretonic syllables and no stress to posttonic syllables. From this follows the relationship pretonic ⊃ posttonic—which me…
The Ontogeny Model
This study tests a model for L2 phonological acquisition, using longitudinal data from beginning learners of Spanish. The model claims that transfer processes decrease over time, while developmental processes increase and then decrease. The data for L2 acquisition of Spanish r largely support the claims. The analysis also reveals a hierarchical organization of processes in L2 acquisition and an interaction of the L1 and L2 systems. The study furt…
Measuring pronunciation accuracy using computerized techniques
Techniques for measuring pronunciation accuracy have lagged far behind measuring competence in other areas. It is argued that pronunciation is an important aspect of second language proficiency and just as it is important to have reliable measures of competence in such areas as listening comprehension, grammar, reading and writing, so it is important to have reliable measures of pronunciation accuracy. This paper discusses several computerized te…
Language Acquisition of a Bilingual Child
English voiceless stop production by speakers of Brazilian Portuguese
Current perspectives on pronunciation
Pronunciation and personality
Rhythmic Typology and Chance in Brazilian Portuguese
Losing English as a First Language
A Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics
This second edition is throughly revised and corrected to take account of the many changes in the subject over the last 6 years, and has been enlarged by over 20per cent.
Crosscurrents in Second Language Acquisition and Linguistic Theories
1. Preface 2. I. Overview 3. Second language acquisition: litmus test for linguistic theory? (by Huebner, Thom) 4. Recent trends in syntactic theory (by Sells, Peter) 5. Typology/universals and second language acquisition (by Greenberg, Joseph H.) 6. II. From Theories to Hypothesis Testing 7. Prosodic phonology: second language acquisition data as evidence in theoretical phonology (by Vogel, Irene) 8. Natural morphology: the organization of parad…
Chronological and Stylistic Aspects of Second Language Acquisition of Consonant Clusters
A major focus in second language acquisition (SLA) studies for the past two or three decades has been the role that universal factors play in acquisition. Prior to then, the influence of transfer had been well documented, since the early work of Lado (1957) and even earlier work of Weinreich (1953). However, in 1971 Nemser reported Hungarian learners of English used substitutions that occurred in neither native English nor Hungarian; likewise, Jo…
The Similarity Differential Rate Hypothesis
We explored 3 factors-similarity, dissimilarity, and markedness-as they relate to second language (L2) phonological acquisition. Previous studies have made claims about difficulty, order of acquisition, and ultimate achievement depending on L2 exposure but have often presented conflicting claims and results. This study incorporates similarity and dissimilarity into a hypothesis about rate of acquisition: The rate of acquisition for a dissimilar p…
Foreign Accent
Even though second-language learners may master the grammar and vocabulary of the new languages, they almost never achieve a native phonology (accent). Scholars and professionals dealing with second-language learners would agree that this is one of the most persistent challenges they face. Now, for the first time, Roy Major's Foreign Accent covers the exploding scholarship in this area and lays out the issues specifically for audiences in the sec…
The Effects of Nonnative Accents on Listening Comprehension
Roy C. Major, Susan F. Fitzmaurice, Ferenc Bunta, Chandrika Balasubramanian, The Effects of Nonnative Accents on Listening Comprehension: Implications for ESL Assessment, TESOL Quarterly, Vol. 36, No. 2 (Summer, 2002), pp. 173-190
Gender and stylistic variation in second language phonology
Communicative competence comprises many things, including the ability to use the appropriate pronunciation, based on gender and style. Previous L2 research in phonology has focused on the frequency of nativelike and nonnative forms and variation within nonnative forms, rather than variation within nativelike forms. This study, however, examines variation in nativelike forms by investigating gender and stylistic differences in the English of nativ…
Accents and Speech in Teaching English Phonetics and Phonology
ACCENTS AND SPEECH IN TEACHING ENGLISH PHONETICS AND PHONOLOGY. Ewa Waniek-Klimczak and Patrick James Melia (Eds) . Bern: Peter Lang, 2002. Pp. 358. $62.95 paper. This volume is a potpourri of articles written mostly by Polish scholars (all but four authors are from Polish universities; the others are from universities in Croatia, Slovenia, and England). Because of the shear number of articles (24), space limitations preclude my providing more th…
Testing the Effects of Regional, Ethnic, and International Dialects of English on Listening Comprehension
It is widely believed that listeners understand some dialects more easily than others, although there is very little research that has rigorously measured the effects. This study investigated whether listeners experience more difficulty with regional, ethnic, and international dialects of English than with Standard American English. The results demonstrated that speaker dialect had a significant effect for both English as a second language (ESL) …
First language attrition in foreign accent perception
This study investigates first language attrition in perception of a foreign accent in one’s native language. Although studies of first language attrition abound, there are very few studies on L1 attrition in perception of adults. Furthermore, there is apparently no research dealing with L1 attrition in foreign accent identification. The present study is perhaps the first to investigate this issue, which has implications for both L1 and L2 attriti…
Foreign Accent
One of the first things a native speaker (NS) notices about a non‐native speaker (NNS) is a foreign accent.
Phonological Analysis
Phonology is the study of how speech sounds function as a system, and phonological analysis involves analyzing the sound systems of languages.
Foreign Accent
The formation and change of an individual's foreign accent is governed by many interrelated factors. The two most important linguistic factors are language transfer (interference) and universal factors, similar to what children do when they acquire their first language. Nonlinguistic factors include amount of exposure to the second language, first and second language use, age of learning, and sociocultural and psychological factors, such as attit…
The Cambridge Handbook of Bilingual Phonetics and Phonology
Bilingualism and the study of speech sounds are two of the largest areas of inquiry in linguistics. This Handbook sits at the intersection of these fields, providing a comprehensive overview of the most recent, cutting-edge work on the sound systems of adult and child bilinguals. Bringing together contributions from an international team of world-leading experts, it covers all aspects of the speech perception, production and processing of bilingu…
Linguistics (23 works) · Phonetics and Phonology Research (18 works) · Psychology (18 works) · Linguistic Variation and Morphology (15 works) · Philosophy (15 works) · Computer Science (11 works) · Phonology (8 works) · History (6 works) · Stress (linguistics) (6 works) · Brazilian Portuguese (5 works)