The perceptibility of English sonority profiling by advanced Iraqi learners of English : a qualitative auditory-acoustic study

Abstract EN

The study explores the perceptibility of English sonority profiling by advanced Iraqi learners (AIL) of English from the perspective of the Sonority Sequencing Principle (SSP) .

By implementing this principle, we disfavour the analyses formulated using strict prosodic hierarchies.

Put in technical terms, due emphasis is dedicated in this study to the role of segment juxtaposition in syllabic patterning (i.e.

the syllabic combinatory constraints) to determine English sonority profiling.

The subjects of the study are 10 postgraduate M.A.

students (5 males and 5 females) at the Departments of English-Colleges of Arts and Education-University of Basra-Iraq (Academic Year 2014-2015).

Twenty tokens ( 10 monosyllabic words and 10 bisyllabic words) are deployed as the targets.

The subjects' responses are treated statistically via mean values and percentage analyses.

A sample spectrograms are also carried out to help highlight the significance of the acoustic correlates in signifying the relative English sonority.

Based on Hogg and McCully's (1987) 10-point sonority scale and the spectrographic analysis of sample spectrograms, intensity charts, and waveforms, the study concludes, given the (80 %) compliance and (20 % ) violation ( in a pattern of reversals) for the monosyllabic targets, and the relative compliance (60%), and (40%) violation (in a form of reversals) for the bisyllabic tokens, that SSP is a considerably reliable phonological predictor for identifying sonority profiling.

Acoustically speaking, intensity profiling, waveform charts, and F1 values totally support the SSP and sonority scaling.