Erik Schleef
Biographic Data
| ID | 737841 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Erik Schleef |
| GIVEN NAMES | Erik |
| FAMILY NAME | Schleef |
| SIGNATURE | SCHLEEF E |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Salzburg |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-6636-1085 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 20 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 72 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 20 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2003 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 6 |
Noticing, identifying and discriminating sociolinguistic variants in England
This article explores the extent to which listeners vary in their ability to notice, identify and discriminate variable linguistic features. With a view to improving speaker evaluation studies (SES), three types of experiments were conducted ( noticing tasks , identification tasks and discrimination tasks ) with regard to variable features using word- or sentence-based stimuli and focusing on three variables and their variants – (ING): [ɪŋ], [ɪn]…
Sociolinguistic Competence in Curricula, Teacher Cognition, and Classroom Practice: Research Gaps and Future Directions
Sociolinguistic competence (SC) has been recognised as essential for Communicative Language Teaching since the 1970s and features prominently in policy documents like the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR). Research demonstrates that explicit, systematic instruction effectively develops learners’ SC. While the academic case for SC in language teaching remains strong, we identify significant weaknesses and barriers to its …
The effects of bidialectalism on cognitive functioning among young and midlife adults in Austria
One of the most widely debated topics in bilingualism research pertains to the issue of the “bilingual advantage”, that is the idea that regular use of multiple languages can enhance cognitive abilities. A related notion is that control of two typologically very close languages such as a vernacular and standard language variety (i.e., bidialectalism) may foster cognitive control abilities due to the ubiquitous everyday usage of both varieties. We…
Frequency-Based Professionalism Evaluation of ( ing ) and ( t )-Deletion in England and Pennsylvania
This study investigates the social evaluation of linguistic variation and the cognitive monitoring processes involved. Recognizing the need for cross-regional research that keeps experimental factors constant, we focus on ( ing ) and ( t )-deletion. We investigate frequency evaluation as managed in England, UK ( N = 200), and in Pennsylvania, US ( N = 150). Results for ( ing ) indicate no significant effect of [ɪn]-frequency in England, while in …
Sociolinguistic monitoring and L2 speakers of English
This study contributes to a growing body of research on the social meanings of linguistic variation with particular interest in the cognitive processes governing their emergence. Our research follows in the tradition of Labov et al.’s (2011) work on the sociolinguistic monitor, a cognitive mechanism hypothesized to track quantitative linguistic variation and prompt social evaluations (Labov et al. 2011. Properties of the sociolinguistic monitor. …
Mechanisms of meaning making in the co-occurrence of pragmatic markers with silent pauses
This study explores the social meanings of unfilled pauses, you know, like, and combinations thereof by comparing the evaluation of speech with these features to speech without them. The comparison is based on a set of perception surveys in which participants listened to manipulated audio stimuli and rated them on a series of scales. Unfilled pauses are evaluated differently from all other features: they are rated high on Status and low on Dynami…
Individual differences in intra-speaker variation: T-glottalling in England and Scotland
This paper explores stylistic variation in the use of word-medial and word-final released and glottalled /t/ in London and Edinburgh. Specifically, it investigates the extent to which the social salience of a linguistic feature constrains individual differences in the degree and direction of intra-individual variation. Variation in the social salience of t-glottalling is explored in two linguistic contexts: word-medially, where it is high in Lond…
Processing ‘Gender-neutral’ Pronouns: A Self-paced Reading Study of Learners of English
This article explores the online processing of singular he and she and singular they by learners of English to discover whether singular they presents a processing problem for non-native speakers (NNSs). It also examines the extent to which such issues may vary as a function of L2 proficiency at B2, C1, and C2 levels. A self-paced reading study was conducted with 51 students at an Austrian university. Results were compared with a similar study ba…
The evaluation of unfilled pauses: Limits of the prestige, solidarity and dynamism dimensions
Regional diversity in social perceptions of (ing)
This article examines the perception of the (ing) variants, [ɪŋ] and [ɪn], in three regionally distinct localities in Britain: London in the South of England; Manchester in the North; and Edinburgh in Scotland. Data was gathered in perceptual tests in which respondents from each location rated stimuli doublets, each containing only one of the variants of (ing), on multiple social attribute scales. In London and Manchester, the perception of [ɪŋ] …
Acquisition of sociolinguistic awareness by German learners of English: A study in perceptions of quotative be like
This article examines the perception of the quotatives
Ageing meanings of (ing): Age and indexicality in Manchester, England
This study examines the social meanings that speakers associate with variants of the variable (ing) in Manchester, focusing on a comparison of two age groups: a young age group of adolescents and those in very early adulthood, and an older age group. In most English varieties, (ing) has two possible realisations: [ɪŋ] and [ɪn]. However, in Manchester, a third possibility exists: [ɪŋg]. Social meanings differ between age groups on three scales: ar…
Glottal replacement of /t/ in two British capitals: Effects of word frequency and morphological compositionality
This study examines the internal and external constraints on glottal replacement of /t/ among adolescents in London and Edinburgh. Results show that phonological and stylistic constraints play an important role in determining the realizational variation of /t/, as many similar studies have shown. However, there is also clear evidence that our understanding of this phenomenon has been restricted by the limited set of factors that have been investi…
Variation, contact and social indexicality in the acquisition of (ing) by teenage migrants 1
We discuss some apparent limits on the acquisition of variation suggested by our recent work exploring how teenage migrants to the U.K. acquire local norms of variation. We focus on the constraints on the (ing) variable that emerged from a multivariate analysis. We find evidence for a systematisation of the variable among immigrants, involving some linguistically and cognitively predictable constraints, but also the emergence of social constraint…
Teenagers’ acquisition of variation: A comparison of locally-born and migrant teens’ realisation of English (ing) in Edinburgh and London
In recent years, the UK has experienced unparalleled numbers of migrants from Eastern Europe, particularly Poland. Many migrants came with their families. We examined variation in the English spoken by adolescent Polish migrants in Edinburgh and London. We asked: to what extent are teenage Polish migrants acquiring the patterns of variation typical of their local peer group? We compare the results for the well-known variable (ing) in the speech o…
The acquisition of sociolinguistic evaluations among Polish-born adolescents learning English: Evidence from perception
In order to achieve full native-like competence in a second language, speakers must also acquire sociolinguistic awareness in that language. This paper reports the results of a study investigating the acquisition of sociolinguistic awareness among immigrant Polish adolescents learning English in the UK. This paper asks whether Polish-born adolescents living in the UK can identify different varieties of British English as well as their native-spea…
A cross-cultural investigation of German and American academic style
The “Lecturer'sok” Revisited: Changing Discourse Conventions and the Influence of Academic Division
This article examines the structural markers okay, alright, right, and now and discusses the use and functions of these structures in the speech of Humanities and Natural Sciences instructors in 24 American university lectures. It then investigates whether there is a correlational link between different structural markers and the academic division, age, and sex of the speaker. This article argues that cross-disciplinary differences in preferred t…
Gender and academic discourse: Global restrictions and local possibilities
This article investigates the academic speech of humanities and natural science instructors and students in 32 lectures and interactional classes at a U.S. university. It examines how structural markers, questions, question tags, and turn-initial response tokens contribute to variations of style in response to academic division, context, gender, and communicative role in academic discourse. Data analysis couples qualitative discourse analytic met…
Prosody and Narrative Structure in Varieties of Low German and Alemannic
This study analyzes prosodic cues and discourse markers in varieties of Low German and Alemannic in order to uncover how narrative structure is cued lexically and prosodically in different varieties of German. Intonational boundary tones, discourse markers, and pauses turned out to be sufficient to cue discourse units at different levels. Although the varieties under discussion use the same type of linguistic features, there are important differe…
Teenagers’ acquisition of variation: A comparison of locally-born and migrant teens’ realisation of English (ing) in Edinburgh and London
In recent years, the UK has experienced unparalleled numbers of migrants from Eastern Europe, particularly Poland. Many migrants came with their families. We examined variation in the English spoken by adolescent Polish migrants in Edinburgh and London. We asked: to what extent are teenage Polish migrants acquiring the patterns of variation typical of their local peer group? We compare the results for the well-known variable (ing) in the speech o…
The “Lecturer'sok” Revisited: Changing Discourse Conventions and the Influence of Academic Division
This article examines the structural markers okay, alright, right, and now and discusses the use and functions of these structures in the speech of Humanities and Natural Sciences instructors in 24 American university lectures. It then investigates whether there is a correlational link between different structural markers and the academic division, age, and sex of the speaker. This article argues that cross-disciplinary differences in preferred t…
Acquisition of sociolinguistic awareness by German learners of English: A study in perceptions of quotative be like
This article examines the perception of the quotatives
Glottal replacement of /t/ in two British capitals: Effects of word frequency and morphological compositionality
This study examines the internal and external constraints on glottal replacement of /t/ among adolescents in London and Edinburgh. Results show that phonological and stylistic constraints play an important role in determining the realizational variation of /t/, as many similar studies have shown. However, there is also clear evidence that our understanding of this phenomenon has been restricted by the limited set of factors that have been investi…
Regional diversity in social perceptions of (ing)
This article examines the perception of the (ing) variants, [ɪŋ] and [ɪn], in three regionally distinct localities in Britain: London in the South of England; Manchester in the North; and Edinburgh in Scotland. Data was gathered in perceptual tests in which respondents from each location rated stimuli doublets, each containing only one of the variants of (ing), on multiple social attribute scales. In London and Manchester, the perception of [ɪŋ] …
Ageing meanings of (ing): Age and indexicality in Manchester, England
This study examines the social meanings that speakers associate with variants of the variable (ing) in Manchester, focusing on a comparison of two age groups: a young age group of adolescents and those in very early adulthood, and an older age group. In most English varieties, (ing) has two possible realisations: [ɪŋ] and [ɪn]. However, in Manchester, a third possibility exists: [ɪŋg]. Social meanings differ between age groups on three scales: ar…
Mechanisms of meaning making in the co-occurrence of pragmatic markers with silent pauses
This study explores the social meanings of unfilled pauses, you know, like, and combinations thereof by comparing the evaluation of speech with these features to speech without them. The comparison is based on a set of perception surveys in which participants listened to manipulated audio stimuli and rated them on a series of scales. Unfilled pauses are evaluated differently from all other features: they are rated high on Status and low on Dynami…
Gender and academic discourse: Global restrictions and local possibilities
This article investigates the academic speech of humanities and natural science instructors and students in 32 lectures and interactional classes at a U.S. university. It examines how structural markers, questions, question tags, and turn-initial response tokens contribute to variations of style in response to academic division, context, gender, and communicative role in academic discourse. Data analysis couples qualitative discourse analytic met…
The evaluation of unfilled pauses: Limits of the prestige, solidarity and dynamism dimensions
A cross-cultural investigation of German and American academic style
Prosody and Narrative Structure in Varieties of Low German and Alemannic
This study analyzes prosodic cues and discourse markers in varieties of Low German and Alemannic in order to uncover how narrative structure is cued lexically and prosodically in different varieties of German. Intonational boundary tones, discourse markers, and pauses turned out to be sufficient to cue discourse units at different levels. Although the varieties under discussion use the same type of linguistic features, there are important differe…
The “Lecturer'sok” Revisited: Changing Discourse Conventions and the Influence of Academic Division
This article examines the structural markers okay, alright, right, and now and discusses the use and functions of these structures in the speech of Humanities and Natural Sciences instructors in 24 American university lectures. It then investigates whether there is a correlational link between different structural markers and the academic division, age, and sex of the speaker. This article argues that cross-disciplinary differences in preferred t…
Gender and academic discourse: Global restrictions and local possibilities
This article investigates the academic speech of humanities and natural science instructors and students in 32 lectures and interactional classes at a U.S. university. It examines how structural markers, questions, question tags, and turn-initial response tokens contribute to variations of style in response to academic division, context, gender, and communicative role in academic discourse. Data analysis couples qualitative discourse analytic met…
A cross-cultural investigation of German and American academic style
The acquisition of sociolinguistic evaluations among Polish-born adolescents learning English: Evidence from perception
In order to achieve full native-like competence in a second language, speakers must also acquire sociolinguistic awareness in that language. This paper reports the results of a study investigating the acquisition of sociolinguistic awareness among immigrant Polish adolescents learning English in the UK. This paper asks whether Polish-born adolescents living in the UK can identify different varieties of British English as well as their native-spea…
Teenagers’ acquisition of variation: A comparison of locally-born and migrant teens’ realisation of English (ing) in Edinburgh and London
In recent years, the UK has experienced unparalleled numbers of migrants from Eastern Europe, particularly Poland. Many migrants came with their families. We examined variation in the English spoken by adolescent Polish migrants in Edinburgh and London. We asked: to what extent are teenage Polish migrants acquiring the patterns of variation typical of their local peer group? We compare the results for the well-known variable (ing) in the speech o…
Variation, contact and social indexicality in the acquisition of (ing) by teenage migrants 1
We discuss some apparent limits on the acquisition of variation suggested by our recent work exploring how teenage migrants to the U.K. acquire local norms of variation. We focus on the constraints on the (ing) variable that emerged from a multivariate analysis. We find evidence for a systematisation of the variable among immigrants, involving some linguistically and cognitively predictable constraints, but also the emergence of social constraint…
Glottal replacement of /t/ in two British capitals: Effects of word frequency and morphological compositionality
This study examines the internal and external constraints on glottal replacement of /t/ among adolescents in London and Edinburgh. Results show that phonological and stylistic constraints play an important role in determining the realizational variation of /t/, as many similar studies have shown. However, there is also clear evidence that our understanding of this phenomenon has been restricted by the limited set of factors that have been investi…
Ageing meanings of (ing): Age and indexicality in Manchester, England
This study examines the social meanings that speakers associate with variants of the variable (ing) in Manchester, focusing on a comparison of two age groups: a young age group of adolescents and those in very early adulthood, and an older age group. In most English varieties, (ing) has two possible realisations: [ɪŋ] and [ɪn]. However, in Manchester, a third possibility exists: [ɪŋg]. Social meanings differ between age groups on three scales: ar…
Regional diversity in social perceptions of (ing)
This article examines the perception of the (ing) variants, [ɪŋ] and [ɪn], in three regionally distinct localities in Britain: London in the South of England; Manchester in the North; and Edinburgh in Scotland. Data was gathered in perceptual tests in which respondents from each location rated stimuli doublets, each containing only one of the variants of (ing), on multiple social attribute scales. In London and Manchester, the perception of [ɪŋ] …
Acquisition of sociolinguistic awareness by German learners of English: A study in perceptions of quotative be like
This article examines the perception of the quotatives
Processing ‘Gender-neutral’ Pronouns: A Self-paced Reading Study of Learners of English
This article explores the online processing of singular he and she and singular they by learners of English to discover whether singular they presents a processing problem for non-native speakers (NNSs). It also examines the extent to which such issues may vary as a function of L2 proficiency at B2, C1, and C2 levels. A self-paced reading study was conducted with 51 students at an Austrian university. Results were compared with a similar study ba…
The evaluation of unfilled pauses: Limits of the prestige, solidarity and dynamism dimensions
Individual differences in intra-speaker variation: T-glottalling in England and Scotland
This paper explores stylistic variation in the use of word-medial and word-final released and glottalled /t/ in London and Edinburgh. Specifically, it investigates the extent to which the social salience of a linguistic feature constrains individual differences in the degree and direction of intra-individual variation. Variation in the social salience of t-glottalling is explored in two linguistic contexts: word-medially, where it is high in Lond…
Mechanisms of meaning making in the co-occurrence of pragmatic markers with silent pauses
This study explores the social meanings of unfilled pauses, you know, like, and combinations thereof by comparing the evaluation of speech with these features to speech without them. The comparison is based on a set of perception surveys in which participants listened to manipulated audio stimuli and rated them on a series of scales. Unfilled pauses are evaluated differently from all other features: they are rated high on Status and low on Dynami…
Frequency-Based Professionalism Evaluation of ( ing ) and ( t )-Deletion in England and Pennsylvania
This study investigates the social evaluation of linguistic variation and the cognitive monitoring processes involved. Recognizing the need for cross-regional research that keeps experimental factors constant, we focus on ( ing ) and ( t )-deletion. We investigate frequency evaluation as managed in England, UK ( N = 200), and in Pennsylvania, US ( N = 150). Results for ( ing ) indicate no significant effect of [ɪn]-frequency in England, while in …
Sociolinguistic monitoring and L2 speakers of English
This study contributes to a growing body of research on the social meanings of linguistic variation with particular interest in the cognitive processes governing their emergence. Our research follows in the tradition of Labov et al.’s (2011) work on the sociolinguistic monitor, a cognitive mechanism hypothesized to track quantitative linguistic variation and prompt social evaluations (Labov et al. 2011. Properties of the sociolinguistic monitor. …
Noticing, identifying and discriminating sociolinguistic variants in England
This article explores the extent to which listeners vary in their ability to notice, identify and discriminate variable linguistic features. With a view to improving speaker evaluation studies (SES), three types of experiments were conducted ( noticing tasks , identification tasks and discrimination tasks ) with regard to variable features using word- or sentence-based stimuli and focusing on three variables and their variants – (ING): [ɪŋ], [ɪn]…
Sociolinguistic Competence in Curricula, Teacher Cognition, and Classroom Practice: Research Gaps and Future Directions
Sociolinguistic competence (SC) has been recognised as essential for Communicative Language Teaching since the 1970s and features prominently in policy documents like the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR). Research demonstrates that explicit, systematic instruction effectively develops learners’ SC. While the academic case for SC in language teaching remains strong, we identify significant weaknesses and barriers to its …
The effects of bidialectalism on cognitive functioning among young and midlife adults in Austria
One of the most widely debated topics in bilingualism research pertains to the issue of the “bilingual advantage”, that is the idea that regular use of multiple languages can enhance cognitive abilities. A related notion is that control of two typologically very close languages such as a vernacular and standard language variety (i.e., bidialectalism) may foster cognitive control abilities due to the ubiquitous everyday usage of both varieties. We…
Psychology (16 works) · Linguistics (15 works) · Linguistic Variation and Morphology (14 works) · Sociology (13 works) · Language, Discourse, Communication Strategies (12 works) · Multilingual Education and Policy (8 works) · Phonetics and Phonology Research (8 works) · Philosophy (7 works) · Computer Science (6 works) · History (6 works)