Re: Lojban Accent

[sdlee@cs.hku.hk (Lee Sau Dan ~{@nJX6X~})]

>>>>> "Robin" == Robin Turner <robin@Bilkent.EDU.TR> writes:

Robin> Change in volume is probably universal; change in stress
Robin> and intonation is probably not. Speakers of tonal
Robin> languages often have problems speaking English because they
Robin> sound "flat" or "singsong" and thus, to English ears,
Robin> unemotional. 

This is because most speakers of tonal language do not understand the
concept of "word stress" well. The Westerners and teachers tell them
it is "stress", without explaining clearly what physical properties
distinguishes a stressed and an unstressed syllable. So, they have to
rely on their own observeration to tell what stress is. Because of
the tonal nature of their mother tongues, they tend to be more
sensitive to the differences in pitch levels, and they tend to ignore
the durations, loudness and the possible variations of pitch-levels of
the stressed syllables. That's why their accents sound flat and
singsong. That pitch-level cannot be varied freely is so incarned
into their brains that they simply ignore such variations made by the
Westerners. As a result, the memorize word stress positions using the
same methods as they memorize word tones in their native tongues.
Very often, they simply interpret "word stress" as the differences in
pitch (but not loudness nor duration), i.e. a synonym of "tone".




Robin> If Lojban were widely used as an auxiliary languages, such
Robin> intercultural misunderstandings would probably still occur,
Robin> but would be ameliorated by the use of attitudinal
Robin> indicators.

Yeah. Intonational indicators in English (and most European
languages) are not well documented. Even textbooks would not mention
too much about how to intonations correctly. Too often, the learner
has to rely on his own listening skills. However, most learners are
not trained by linguists. They are trained by their mother tongues.
So, it is not suprising that they tend to ignore differences that are
not made in their mother tongues, and they tend to overemphasize
subtle differences that are vital in their mother tongues.




-- 
Lee Sau Dan §õ¦u´°(Big5) ~{@nJX6X~}(HZ) 
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