LINGUIST List 13.1188

Tue Apr 30 2002

Qs: Arabic Phonetics, EFL/China:Empirical Studies

Editor for this issue: Karen Milligan <karenlinguistlist.org>

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Directory

  1. Kurt S. Godden, Arabic Phonetics
  2. Peter Gu, EFL in China: Empirical Studies

Message 1: Arabic Phonetics

 Date: Mon, 29 Apr 2002 16:39:08 -0400
From: Kurt S. Godden <kgoddenatl.lmco.com>
Subject: Arabic Phonetics

One of my pet peeves with many language texts and dictionaries is that
authors try to describe speech sounds with some home-grown alphabet,
rather than the IPA. Given their deliberate avoidance of linguistic
jargon, I often have a hard time figuring out how many phonemes are
supposed to be realized. 

Can someone please provide a simple articulatory description of the
phonemes for these Arabic letters?

'alif
khaa' (Does this denote a uvular fricative?)
raa' 
Saad 
Daad
Taa'
DHaa'
ghayn (Is this a uvular trill?)
qaaf (Is this a uvular stop?)

The book I have actually describes Saad as an /s/, modified "as if your
mouth was full of cotton wool." How helpful.

- 
Kurt Godden
Lockheed Martin
Advanced Technology Labs
kgoddenatl.lmco.com
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Message 2: EFL in China: Empirical Studies

 Date: Tue, 30 Apr 2002 18:27:11 +0800 (CST)
From: Peter Gu <guyongqiyahoo.com>
Subject: EFL in China: Empirical Studies

Dear All,

A colleague and I are compiling an annotated bibliography focusing on
empirical research on Chinese EFL. The list will be put up on the WWW
for general consumption. It might also appear in an upcoming special
issue of Asian Journal of English Language Teaching. If you have
published such articles IN ENGLISH, or if you could direct us to such
publications, please contact me at yqpgunie.edu.sg. We already have
a list of over 100 articles and books and wouldn't like to miss too
much in terms of coverage. 

Thank you very much in advance. 
Peter

=====
Dr Peter GU
English Language & Literature Academic Group
National Institute of Education
Nanyang Technological University
1 Nanyang Walk, Singapore 637616
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