Papers by Eleni Tsiartsioni
Cross-dialectal/linguistic surveys on vocalic systems allow for a better understanding of the pos... more Cross-dialectal/linguistic surveys on vocalic systems allow for a better understanding of the possible organization of vocalic systems. Across languages, 75% of vowel inventories contain the same specific five to seven vowels, most often /i, e, a, o, u/ for five-vowels (Maddieson, 1984). Such proclivities have given rise to well-known hypotheses on the forces shaping vowel spaces: Dispersion Theory postulates that the distance among vowels serves to reduce confusion and increase perceptual contrast (Liljencrants and Lindblom, 1972; Lindblom, 1986); the Quantal Theory of speech (Stevens, 1989) suggests there are regions of stability in the phonetic space, in particular for the point vowels /i/, /a/, /u/ which are predicted to remain in the same positions across languages, regardless of vocalic inventory size. Our paper presents evidence suggesting a more complex picture than either of these hypotheses suggest.
This study investigates the production of features of the English rhythm by Greek learners of 10,... more This study investigates the production of features of the English rhythm by Greek learners of 10, 13 and 16 years old before and after 16 pronunciation lessons. Rhythm is approached with the PVI measure which examines vocalic and consonantal variability in a long stretch of speech. The results show a positive effect of pronunciation instruction with the 13-year-old speakers exhibiting a greater improvement than the 10-year-old ones. The comparison of these age groups with the 16-year-old students is not straightforward: the latter seem to have had a different starting point, as their consonantal variability was close to L1 English before the teaching intervention.
This paper examines the effectiveness of pronunciation teaching to Greek state school students of... more This paper examines the effectiveness of pronunciation teaching to Greek state school students of three different ages (10, 13 and 15 years old). In particular, it examines the production of VOT of word initial /p, t, k/ and /b, d, g/ and preceding vowel duration of word-final stops. Recordings of students’ speech samples were made before and after the teaching intervention, which involved 12 pronunciation lessons embedded in the regular English language lessons at the state school. The study examines: (a) the effectiveness of pronunciation teaching in a foreign language (FL) context, (b) the role of students’ age, (c) the relation of the results to theories of phonological acquisition. The results suggest that pronunciation instruction is applicable and effective in a FL context and could be integrated into EFL
This study investigates the production of features of the English rhythm by Greek learners of 10,... more This study investigates the production of features of the English rhythm by Greek learners of 10, 13 and 16 years old before and after 25 pronunciation lessons. Rhythm is approached with the PVI measure which examines vocalic and consonantal variability in a long stretch of speech. The results show a positive effect of pronunciation instruction with the 13-year-old speakers exhibiting a greater improvement than the 10-year-old ones. The comparison of these age groups with the 16-year-old students is not straightforward: the latter seem to have had a different starting point, as their consonantal variability was close to L1 English before the teaching intervention.
Major Trends in Theoretical and Applied Linguistics Volume 1, 2014
Research on Greek Dialects: Institutions and Projects
... NINA TOPINTZI, KATERINA NICOLAIDIS & ELENI TSIARTSIONI e-Proceedings of 4th Moder... more ... NINA TOPINTZI, KATERINA NICOLAIDIS & ELENI TSIARTSIONI e-Proceedings of 4th Modern Greek Dialects and Linguistic Theory 211 ... Σύγχρονες Τάσεις στην Ελληνική Γλωσσολογία [Contemporary Trends in Greek Linguistics], D. Theophanopoulou-Kontou, C. Lascaratou, M ...
14th Laboratory Phonology Conference
Cross-dialectal/linguistic surveys on vocalic systems allow for a better understanding of the pos... more Cross-dialectal/linguistic surveys on vocalic systems allow for a better understanding of the possible organization of vocalic systems. Across languages, 75% of vowel inventories contain the same specific five to seven vowels, most often /i, e, a, o, u/ for five-vowels (Maddieson, 1984). Such proclivities have given rise to well-known hypotheses on the forces shaping vowel spaces: Dispersion Theory postulates that the distance among vowels serves to reduce confusion and increase perceptual contrast (Liljencrants and Lindblom, 1972; Lindblom, 1986); the Quantal Theory of speech (Stevens, 1989) suggests there are regions of stability in the phonetic space, in particular for the point vowels /i/, /a/, /u/ which are predicted to remain in the same positions across languages, regardless of vocalic inventory size. Our paper presents evidence suggesting a more complex picture than either of these hypotheses suggest.
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Papers by Eleni Tsiartsioni