SBE-RCUK: Experimental and Descriptive Investigations of Welsh (cym) Consonant Mutation
Lead Research Organisation:
Bangor University
Department Name: Sch of Language, Literature & Linguistic
Abstract
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Organisations
People |
ORCID iD |
| Peredur Webb-Davies (Principal Investigator) |
Publications
Bell E
(2021)
Northern Welsh
in Journal of the International Phonetic Association
Hammond M
(2020)
Category-specific effects in Welsh mutation
in Glossa: A Journal of General Linguistics
| Description | We have completed the participant data collection for this project and have analysed the component experiments. We have already reported some preliminary findings. We undertook corpus investigation in 2016-17. This involved collecting corpus resources of written Welsh (e.g. from online language use, like Twitter), developing appropriate computational tools and techniques, and then looking at the distribution of mutation using these resources. We have discovered several things so far from our corpus investigations and speaker elicitation: 1. Variability in the distribution of soft mutation with prepositions is relatively minimal. 2. Variability in the distribution of soft mutation as a marker of grammatical gender is enormous. 3. Variability in the distribution of soft mutation with foreign place-names is also extensive. In other words, our preliminary findings (derived from some data types) indicate that the various rules of Welsh soft mutation are sometimes followed by speakers with and sometimes not followed, depending on the linguistic context. This variability could be a sign of ongoing change in the nature of Welsh mutation. We collected participant data in the early summer of 2017 when some of the US team visited Wales to assist with the data collection. We collected data successfully, and obtained data from more adults and children than was originally projected. The data consist of several experiments, which participants undertook as a battery over the course of 2 hours each. Analysis of these experiments is underway. An experiment which aimed to see whether speakers' mutation ability was affected by hearing masked mutation sounds beforehand showed a null result. An experiment sourcing speakers' judgments on various sentences containing mutations is being analysed currently and results showed some significant results relating to word frequency and word type, which we reported in our journal article (co-authored by project members M. Hammond and P. Webb-Davies and other associated researchers) titled 'Category-specific effects in Welsh mutation', published in Glossa in January 2020. Other experiment data is being analysed by some of the research assistants recruited on the US side. Finally, we took the opportunity of collecting data to produce a recording of the basic phonetic facts of Welsh for the Journal of the IPA, which had not been done before. An article authored on this issue by the project members was submitted in 2019 to the Journal of the IPA and is at 'revise and resubmit' status. Although this was not a foreseen objective of the project, it is expected that this article, when it is published, will serve as an authoritative resource for study of the sounds of north Wales Welsh. Our current focus is on coding and analysing child mutation data we collected and analysis is ongoing. Project members intend to write a journal article or similar reporting on the findings of this analysis. We hope to be able to know more about children's knowledge of mutation patterns and proficiency via this study, which will add to what is known in the field of Welsh children's linguistic abilities and behaviour. |
| Exploitation Route | We envisage our findings impacting the field of linguistics (teaching and research) in the higher education sector, as well as having potential societal impact beyond academia in e.g. the teaching of Welsh to children and adults in the community, for cultural aspects of Welsh relating to its vitality and its status as a label of Welsh identity, for issues relating to language technology and information technology (e.g. Welsh speech recognition), intervention and therapy relating to speech disorders in Welsh speakers, etc. Other applications of the project's findings related to e.g. child language data will be realized as those data continued to be examined. Although the project period has come to an end, analysis will continue (particularly on the US side of the project team in the immediate future), and will hopefully yield further insights and impact in time. |
| Sectors | Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software),Education,Healthcare,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections |
| Description | Presentation of project progress at Welsh Linguistics Seminar (Gregynog, Wales, 2016) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | 3 July 2016 Welsh Linguistics Seminar Gregynog Wales Webb-Davies P, Anderson S, Archangeli D, Bell E, Brooks H, Carnie A, Hammond M, Ohala D, Ussishkin A, Wedel A Presentation title "The NSF-RCUK Arizona-Wales Welsh mutation project: overview and objectives." |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| Description | Presentation of project progress at Welsh Linguistics Seminar (Gregynog, Wales, 2017) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | 21 July 2017 Welsh Linguistics Seminar Gregynog Wales Anderson S, Archangeli D, Bell E, Brooks H, Carnie A, Hammond M, Ohala D, Ussishkin A, Webb-Davies P, Wedel A [Presenter: P Webb-Davies] Presentation title: "The Arizona-Wales mutation grant: preliminary results." |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| Description | Presentation of project progress at Welsh Linguistics Seminar (Gregynog, Wales, 2019) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | 1 July 2019 Welsh Linguistics Seminar Gregynog Wales Webb-Davies P, Hammond M, Bell E, Anderson S, Ohala D, Carnie A, Brooks H Presentation title: "Testing the effects of lexical frequency and category on soft mutation." The findings reported in this presentation was the basis for the Glossa publication (listed under Outputs). |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |