Schedule 75. StuTS

The rapid global expansion of English has led to an increase in the number of fluent non-native speakers, thereby introducing and highlighting new non-native English accents in linguistic research. Among these, the Russian accent in English has attracted attention for its distinctive phonetic characteristics and its representation in media and popular culture, often underpinned by broad cultural stereotypes. Traditionally, the notion of ‘Russian accent’ has been broadly applied to all speakers from Russia, attributed to the transfer of linguistic features of the Russian language to English. However, this perspective overlooks Russia's rich ethno-linguistic diversity, shaped over centuries, which presents a multilingual landscape far more complex than commonly acknowledged. This diversity suggests the existence of accent qualities influenced by the native languages of various ethnic groups within Russia (e.g. Tatars, Bashkirs, Udmurts, Chechens, Avars, Yakuts, Buryats, and more), potentially distinct from the traditional Russian accent in English. This study pioneers an in-depth analysis of English pronunciation variations among four ethnic groups from the Volga Federal District in Russia: Bashkirs, Tatars, Udmurts, and ethnic Russians, whose native languages represent three different language families: Indo-European (Russian), Turkic (Tatar and Bashkir), and Finno-Ugric (Udmurt). The actual pronunciation patterns at the segmental level (vowels and consonants) were explored, based on the recordings of ninety-six individuals reading the passage ‘The Boy Who Cried Wolf’. This empirical research was supplemented by contrastive analysis, which helped to identify transfer effects from the speakers' native languages to their English pronunciation. By investigating these nuances, this research aims to challenge and expand the conventional understanding of the Russian accent in English, illuminating the impact of Russia's ethno-linguistic diversity on English pronunciation. Beyond contributing to the field of accent studies, this investigation enriches our understanding of language learning processes in multilingual settings, advocating for a more nuanced recognition of linguistic diversity.

Info

Day: 2024-05-10
Start time: 16:40
Duration: 00:30
Room: Seashell (33.4.032)
Track: Phonetics and Phonology
Language: en

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