Date:    Fri, 13 Mar 1998 13:51:10 -0500
<br>From:    Beverly Flanigan  flanigan[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]OAK.CATS.OHIOU.EDU 
<br>Subject: Re: Accent Reduction Therapy - Yoruba
<br>
<br>A nice reply I thought you'd be interested in.
<br>
<br>
<br>At 10:40 PM 3/12/98 -0500, you wrote:
<br> Vicki,
<br> 
<br> I speak Yoruba and have spent time in West Africa.  The problem you're
<br> dealing with is not specific to Yoruba but rather is characteristic of West
<br> African English, a recognized world dialect of English.  You might check the
<br> Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language on that.  WAE comes from BE,
<br> but it is strongly influenced by WA phenomena.  With reference to the
<br> post-vocalic r problem you mention, Standard BE has no post-vocalic r, and
<br> therefore WAE doesn't either.  What makes your client's speech distinctive
<br> in this way is that most WA languages don't have schwa, the vowel BE uses in
<br> the words you cite.  Instead, they substitute a low central vowel that most
<br> of them have.  This is completely consistent, and it might be easier to
<br> train the people he works with to recognize this peculiarity of his dialect,
<br> since schwa in AmE results almost entirely from vowels being reduced in
<br> unstressed syllables.  Most WA languages are syllable timed, Yoruba
<br> included, and WAE is syllable-timed.  This means that there is no syllable
<br> reduction due to stress and therefore no vowel reduction.  This
<br> suprasegmental difference is much more frequently the source of
<br> comprehension problems then the use of the low central vowel where AmE has
<br> postvocalic r.
<br> 
<br> BTW, given your profession, I'd strongly recommend Rosina Lippi-Green's
<br> English with an Accent (Routledge 1997) on the subject of accent
<br> discrimination and reduction.
<br> 
<br> Herb Stahlke
<br> Ball State University
<br> 
<br> At 14:54 98/03/12 -0500, you wrote:
<br>  
<br>  My first request to this list serve.  Hope my question is appropriate for
<br>this
<br>  membership!  Thank you ahead of time.
<br>  
<br>  Requesting assistance.  Working with a highly motivated individual from
<br>  Nigeria whose native language was Yoruba.  Medical professional with a high-
<br>  profile job who must communicate important information to his patients.
<br>  
<br>  Our biggest problem (surprise) is "r" particularly in the following context:
<br>  earth, birthday, bird, fur, etc...
<br>  
<br>  We have tried every facilitating technique I know of to assist with
<br>successful
<br>  production, i.e., he has watched my mouth as a model, watched self in the
<br>  mirror, closed eyes to "hear sound more sharply" and tried to imitate, tape
<br>  recordings, tongue placement cues.  There has to be an answer out there!  I
<br>  have worked successfully with numerous children who have distorted
<br>productions
<br>  of /r/ but this is the first adult that I have worked with on accent
<br>  reduction.  We are making significant progress with other sounds but this
<br>one
<br>  is driving us both crazy!
<br>  
<br>  Will appreciate any and all suggestions!
<br>  
<br>  Thank you!
<br>  
<br>  Vicki
<br>  Speech Pathologist
<br>  
<br>  
<br>  
<br> 
<br>