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Obstruent voicing and devoicing in the English of Cantonese speakers from Hong Kong
Author(s) -
Peng Long,
Ann Jean
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
world englishes
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.6
H-Index - 49
eISSN - 1467-971X
pISSN - 0883-2919
DOI - 10.1111/j.0083-2919.2004.00376.x
Subject(s) - obstruent , voice , linguistics , consonant , stress (linguistics) , ranking (information retrieval) , psychology , history , computer science , artificial intelligence , philosophy , vowel
This study offers a description and analysis of consonant voicing and devoicing in the L2 English of Cantonese speakers from Hong Kong. Focusing on stem‐final voiced obstruents in distinct structural environments, we find that the rates of voicing and devoicing vary with the environment. Stem‐final obstruents are more likely to devoice in prevoiceless and word‐final positions than in prevocalic and pre‐sonorant positions. Our analysis reveals a systematic pattern, expressible by three ranked constraints: I d O n (Lar)»*L ar » I d (Lar). This ranking retains to a large extent the ranking relations of the constraints in Cantonese. Our finding suggests that transfer plays a significant role in shaping the L2 English ranking. The comparison with L1 English shows that the two varieties are distinct, providing further evidence for a distinct Hong Kong English accent (Hung, 2000) and for the emergence of a distinct variety of English with unique sound structures (Peng and Setter, 2000).