PUB - Publikationen an der Universität Bielefeld

This paper reports findings of an experiment investigating the vocalisation and the realisation of post-vocalic In in varieties of English and German. The study aims to explore whether there are differences in the realisation of post-vocalic In produced by native speakers of a German non-rhotic variety spoken in Berlin as a result of long-term exposure to a rhotic and a non-rhotic variety of English spoken in Belfast and Oxford. Rhotic and non-rhotic varieties of English and German differ in the realisation of constrictive and non-constrictive post-vocalic /r/. The results of an auditory and acoustic analysis of post-vocalic In in the speakers' first language (L1) German and second language (L2) English suggest that exposure to a rhotic variety of English results in the realisation of a constrictive post-vocalic In in their non-rhotic native language, German. However, this effect cannot be generalised since it varies according to the phonetic contexts of post-vocalic Id. A usage-based approach can explain this variation by taking into account actual creative language use and communicative events, as well as cognitive aspects of language development. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.