Category: Speech

The Symposium by Plato exposes a set of dialogues and speeches of the leading philosophers of that historical period. Giving specific attention to Diotima Speech is imperative to understanding to the role of ideas in real life. According to Socrates, the material world and the divine world are combined through a medium, which is possible through spiritual accomplishment.

By understanding the actual role and definition of ideas, involving truth, the good, God, beauty, and justice, men can achieve immortality. In particular, Diotima deliberates on the concept of love and refers to other related notions, such as wisdom, knowledge, truth, and divinity to define the place of love in the material world.

At this point, the philosopher gives tribute to Diotimas assumptions because she accurately explains the place of ideas in both the moral and immortal world. In particular, ideas are much more real that people normally assume concerning what is actually real. What is more important, it is a mean between the material and divine world uniting both dimensions and creating communication channels.

All these concepts about the importance of ideas are brightly revealed in Wordworths poem called The World Is Too Much with Us and Spensers Sonnet 79. In particular, both literary pieces explore the importance of uniting the material and spiritual world through ideas to reach the harmony with nature.

According to Socrates, specific actions and deeds can be realized through spiritual accomplishment. To find the harmony in a material world, there should be resources and tools that would help the human civilization reach the spiritual union with nature. In the speech, Diotima mentions that love is neither mortal nor immortal, but a mean between the two (Plato 39).

In the poem called The World Is Too Much with Us, Wordsworth underlines, Little we see in Nature that is ours (202 line 3). To reach the harmony in nature is possible through addressing the so-called medium  ideas  that help humans achieve immortality. The concept of harmony is also revealed through explaining the concept of true beauty that is confined to the spiritual world of humans.

The poet reflects, Men call you fair, you do credit it, for that your self ye daily such do see, but the true fair&is much more praised of me (Wordworth 202 line1, line 4). Within the contexts of two poems, ideas can only be realized through spiritual fulfillment to divine world that goes beyond the material one.

In the speech, the author renders the surreal power of love enabling men to reach gods and immortality. In particular, Diotima stresses that the power of love is between gods and men, conveying and taking across to the gods (Plato 39). So, just as love is a mediator between the mortal and divinity, the idea enables humans to reach immortality and achieve harmony.

In Wordworths poem, the poet compares himself with a pagan to &have sight of Proteus rising from the sea or hear old Triton blow his wreathed horn (202 line 13). Through these lines, the author finds it necessary to return to the Greeks origins and provide nature with a divine sense. By referring to the ancient gods, the author refers to the times when men were affiliated to the natural simplicity, which is hard to notice in case people are obsessed with material values.

Similar to Wordworths thoughts, Spenser emphasizes that the true beauty and love cannot be seen unless humans are attached to the physical welfare: But the true faire, that is the gentle wit,/ And virtuous mind is much more praised of me (Spenser lines 3-4). Interpreting this, material values are false; they cannot be last forever. Instead, the virtue of the things that can be perceived through spiritual enrichment is extremely valued.

The dominance of ideas over material reality is also possible through permanence of their presentation. Unlike the material world that is subject to time, the ideas remain eternal, immortal, like humans aspiration to divinity. When Diotima defines the concepts of love, beauty and the good, she also mentions eternal traits as truly beautiful ones. As men appreciate the true beauty of women, they desire to possess this beauty.

In this respect, Diotima also refers to the spiritual needs of men and their everlasting possession of the good because &all men will necessarily desire immortality together with good (Plato 44). Hence, love is the truth, a permanent way for achieving immortality. Spensers ideas are also congruent with the immortality of ideas, a trait that is not typical of the material values: But only that is permanent and free/ From frail corruption, that doth flesh ensue. / That is true beauty: that doth argue you (Lines 7-9). The permanence of ideas is also explicitly represented in the Wordworths poetic lines: The winds that will be howling at all hours,/ And are up-gathered now like sleeping flowers;/ For this, for everything, we are out of tune (202 lines 6-8).

In this extract, the poet assumes a close confrontation between the internal noises of material progress and the external character of natural phenomena, such as wind that will blow at all time. In this respect, the idea bears similar character and, therefore, it can be transmitted forever by enriching human spirituality.

The eternity of the ideas are contrasted with the temporality of material world and physical appearance. Because humankind is obsessed with physical wellness and material wealth, they often forget about the things that make them much richer that they traditionally assume. In the speech, the author calls for developing spirituality and learning the truth as a necessity to cognize the self: each of [immortals] experiences a like change, but knowledge&appears to be the same (Plato 45).

The ideals notions, such as truth, beauty, the good, and the God are transferred through our minds whereas the latter is enclosed in the physical body, the temporal bearer of the ideas: &the mortal body, or mortal anything, partakes of immortality; but the immortal in another way (Plato 46). The Wordworths and Spensers masterpieces highlight the strong correlation between physical objects and reliance of spiritual values on material foundation.

In this respect, Wordworth relies on words late or soon to signify the flow of time, as well as the changes that can challenge the material world (202 line 1). People are getting and spending taking no responsibility for the consequences (Wordworth 202 line 4).

To fulfill themselves as the ones dependent on physical bodies, the author states, We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon (Wordworth 202 line 4). Humans, therefore, did not realize the actual benefits of knowledge, the truth, the good, and the spiritual beauty. Being dependent on change, as a signifier of mortality, people are hampered on the way to spiritual immortality.

The concept of God is also heavily applied in both poems to signify the seriousness and grace of the ideas that enable people to become immortal through their spiritual freedom. Sacred themes are also discussed in Socrates dialogues. Specifically, the speaker repeatedly compares love with a great god due to its divine and immortal nature (Plato 39).

God, therefore, is the measure of the truth and beauty; it signifies the divinity of ideas and, there supernatural ability to reach the divine boundary. The mortals, therefore, are able to learn gods by expressing their ideas. The power of spirit is also represented in Spensers Sonnet 79: To be divine and born of heavenly seed: / Derived from that fair Spirit, from whom all true and perfect beauty did at first proceed (lines 10-13).

In such a manner, Wordworth also expresses his desire to reveal himself from the physical boundaries and &be a pagan suckled in a creed outworn (202 lines 9-10). The ideas are much more sophisticated than it is assumed in the real world because they shape the path to divine representations of the spiritual world that is necessary for reading harmony.

In conclusion, both Wordworth and Spenser reflect on the importance of ideas and their surrealistic nature. In such a way, they provide sufficient explanation and interpretation of Socratess speech on the definition of love through such notions as the good, the beauty, the truth, and god in Platos Symposium. Specifically, Wordworth agrees that the material world is not perfect because it cannot help human achieve harmony with nature.

To return to the origins, a human should revive his/her spiritual world, which is much more real, than it is normally assumed. In addition, Spenser also emphasizes the priority of ideas over the physical appearance. In particular, the poet refers to inner beauty as a permanent phenomenon that will never change over time.

Works Cited

Plato. The Symposium. US: Forgotten Books, 1971. Print.

Spenser, Edmund. Sonnet, 79, n. p. Web.

Wordworth, William. The World is Too Much with Us. New Poetry Works: a Workbook Anthology. Robin Malan. US: New Africa Books, 2007. p. 202. Print.

The speech given by the US senator Robert Byrd on March 19, 2003, was addressed towards all Americans, in search of support and truth. The purpose was to convince the people of the United States that the war in Iraq is a mistake and should not be proceeded with. He wanted to show how US intrudes into the lives of other people by waging wars on their country. Senator Byrd brought forward an argument that the United States was always seen as a democratic country, respecting the views of the people in the world and its allies but now the war is started by choice, there is no real evidence in support of the reasons for it and that in the present time United States demand obedience or threaten recrimination, instead of reasoning, with other countries and governments.

Senator uses Ethos method to appeal to the people. As he is the senator of the United States he is very closely involved in everything that goes on in the country politically, as well as having knowledge about the other countries in the world. It is his direct duty to be well informed and examine the issues that might influence the reputation of America. He is very much appealing to peoples understanding, ethics and kindness in resolving this matter. Robert Byrd is directly interested in finding a mutually beneficial solution, as he is a member of the governing body of the worlds superpower and anything that United States government decides to do worldwide, will influence him personally. He also uses the method of pathos directing his speech to the emotionality of the people. He says how proud he is of his country, its constitution and people but today is saddened by the fact that a wrong decision is being made and that people must use their kindness and reason to think clearly.

He mentioned the opposing side by saying how America is disregarding the view of UN. That the US government is looking for immediate retaliation to the 9/11 attacks and because of the inability to strike at the Al-Qaeda terrorists who are scattered all over the world, it has chosen to direct its anger towards a visible enemy, which is easy to detect. He states that Americas power lies not in its will to intimidate, but in its ability to inspire. The fact that United States has enormous military strength does not mean that it must be used. And he is very distraught by the fact that while the soldiers, American citizens are fighting in Iraq, the administration is not doing its part by debating the issue and coming up with a tangible solution.

Robert Byrd uses Toulmin method in his argumentation. He first presents the audience with a claim that US is going to war for the wrong reasons, without any evidence and that it will cause more harm than good in the future of the country, relative to the world. His grounds pertain to the fact that there is a falsification of documents, that the international organizations have not been consulted, US is acting on their own behalf and that there is no evidence that Saddam Hussein has any relation to 9/11. He precisely states the grounds and reasons why US should not go to war and that it is a mistake by the administration in how it is directing its anger towards the wrong villain.

References

Byrd, Robert. Today I Weep for My Country. Information Clearing House. n.d. Web. 2012.

Lyndon Johnsons Speech

The address given by President Lyndon Johnson at the University of Michigan reflects the aspirations of many people for social change. This speech was given at the time when the civil rights movement was particularly active in the United States. Lyndon Johnson rejects the conservative rhetoric and argues that a good society continuously evolves and seeks to remedy its shortcomings. In particular, he says, The Great Society is not a safe harbor, a resting place, a final objective, a finished work.

It is a challenge constantly renewed (Lyndon Johnson as cited in Johnson 252). From his point of view, the main issues to be addressed are poverty, education, and environmental pollution. He thinks that material progress can become the cornerstone on which a richer life of mind and spirit can be built (Lyndon Johnson as cited in Johnson 252). This speech illustrates that in the early sixties, the government was regarded by many people as an instrument of social change.

However, it should be noted that in this speech, Lyndon Johnson doesnt focus his attention on other social problems, which were extremely important for many people, such as gender inequality, racial discrimination, and the War in Vietnam. Certainly, he says that the citizens of the American society will have equal rights irrespective of their race, belief of the color of skin, but this idea is not sufficiently emphasized.

To some degree, it is possible to draw parallels between Lyndon Johnsons address and the speeches made by political activists, for instance, one can mention the statement made by Students for a Democratic Society (Johnson, 254). In both cases, the necessity for change is discussed. However, Lyndon Johnson avoids making statements that can side him with more radical representatives of the civil rights movement.

Ronald Reagans Speech

The speech made Ronald Reagan at the National Association of American Evangelicals is important because it illustrates the social and political changes which took place in the United States in the early eighties. In particular, one can speak about the shift to right-wing politics. In his address, Reagan views religion, especially the Judeo-Christian tradition, as the cornerstone of a good society. He says that Founding Fathers never intended to construct a wall of hostility between government and the concept of religious belief, itself (Reagan as cited in Johnson, 312). This address throws light on Reagans perception of history.

He contrasts a religious image of the United States with the atheistic Soviet Union. In Reagans view, history is the antagonism of good and evil, and he argues that America represents the side of good. He also believes the main threat to American society is not an economic crisis or a military conflict with the Soviet Union. Ronald Reagan says, the real crisis we face today is a spiritual one; at root, it is a test of moral will and faith.. (Reagan as cited in Johnson, 314). This is the main argument that he advances

This address differs from many other speeches made by the Presidents of the United States. For example, Lyndon Johnsons address that was discussed before emphasizes social and economic problems. In turn, Ronald Reagan pays more attention to the value system of the society and its religious life. Both Presidents share the belief in the strength of the country, but they think that it ought to have different foundations. Lyndon Johnson stresses material prosperity, whereas Donald Reagan attaches more importance to religion, which should determine the principles and values of American people.

Works Cited

Johnson, Michael. Reading the American Past, Volume II: From 1865: Selected Historical Documents. New York: Bedford, 2008. Print.

This essay examines a speech by Tristram Stuart about the global food waste scandal, delivered at TEDsalon on May 2012. Tristram is an activist fighting food wastage in the developed world.

He works with many nongovernmental organizations, governments and private organizations to tackle food wastage, hunger, and environmental pollution.

He addressed a Ted talk show audience, with the objective of tackling the global food wastage problem. The speech sensitized the audience on the dangers of food overproduction and cosmetic food standards.

In the speech, Tristram proves how western governments policies and food standards have contributed to food overproduction.

They directly lead to food wastage. In the process, valuable resources are lost and environmental degradation occurs through deforestation and carbon dioxide emission. He shows how factories, supermarkets, and people waste food without consideration.

His speech is effective, because it connects with the audience and gives them practical ways of avoiding food wastage. Excess food should instead, be used to feed hungry people all over the world.

Tristram makes powerful opening remarks that effectively capture the audiences attention. His statements spark curiosity and he smoothly introduces his topic. He relates to the audience using real life examples that resonate with the audience. The examples connect him with the audience and people in different parts of the world.

Throughout the speech, Tristram uses strongly worded statements complemented by photographs and scientific data. The photographs make his points real and believable.

They have a big impact in the audience and help move his speech in the right direction. They also help him deliver his main points easily.

He effectively uses demonstration aids to explain complicated ideas. They create interest and hold the audiences attention.

Demonstration aids helps the audience understand the complicated information easily. By using real life stories and humor, Tristram personalizes his speech. The humor makes the audience laugh.

From the start of the speech to the end, Tristram does not use a script. Using direct eye contact, he easily connects with the audience.

This makes his speech have the necessary impact. It also suggests that he had rehearsed his lines several times, and understands his topic perfectly.

Despite his use of gestures throughout the speech, his body language is poor and he appears tensed. He should relax, and add more energy and enthusiasm during his speech to make it lively. He effectively uses vocal variety to signal the important points.

Emphasis, pauses, and pace signal important points. They show enthusiasm and increase understanding of the major points. He however fails to vary his volume throughout the speech.

Tristram should avoid using complicated tables and figures in his presentation. Not many people can interpret and understand the tables.

Complicated information can make people lose their connection and interest in the speech. He should use a simpler method of delivery to disseminate the complicated information.

His dressing is suitable for the occasion and portrays him as a simple man, concerned for the hungry and the environment. This shows that he is passionate and committed to his work.

Tristram signals his conclusion by use of powerful statements followed by a brief pause. This effectively prepares the audience for his closing remarks.

He concludes with enthusiasm and with a call for everyone to stop wasting food. The conclusion was perfect and powerful.

The excerpt the problem of speech genres explores the infinite diversity of speech. The manner in which a speech is delivered is said to be unique in every sense or piece of literary work. Speech is said to only have relevance in its immediate context. Once the style and words used in the delivery of a certain speech are moved to another domain, they become irrelevant.

This inconsistency makes the classification of the types of speech into definite levels difficult. Styles that are common to certain professions or disciplines may give insight into the general orientation of the orator. The genres and styles have a relationship that cannot be changed or modified. In addition, the excerpt argues that style is complex and that it determines the nature of the grammar used in a specific speech.

The author stipulates that communication is the ultimate goal of an utterance and the entire speech. The listener should construct a response according to his or her understanding of the utterances in the speech. The author articulates that an utterance must have a comprehensive meaning and should not be confused for sentences.

The excerpt argues that styles used by a speaker are likely to be related to one unique genre. However, the entire speech is related to a standard language common to many people. The author emphasizes that the orator has to have a certain degree of familiarity with the discipline in question to be able to formulate the most apt composition of the speech.

Furthermore, words in a speech are given their appropriate meaning by the utterance in which they are contained. In this regard, their primary meaning in the language is discarded. In addition, each utterance must be able to provide a link between preceding and the succeeding ideas in a speech.

The orator continuously evaluates previous utterances in order to construct a meaningful speech. Once the orator understands the current situation, he or she can create a succeeding utterance.

The author succeeds in expressing the diversity of styles of speech in relaying verbal information. The details of a speech are explained and their unique nature extracted. In addition, the author explains the most effective way of creating a communication link using speech.

Although the author breaks down speech communication into its details, the relationship between various styles is not explored. Consequently, this seems to depict genres and different styles as independent languages.

Abstract

The present study is the actual replication of the study of Chang (2010) on the analysis of developmental pragmatics and evolution of speech acts of L2 learners with the increased proficiency levels in English. The speech act of apology was analyzed with the help of tools and analysis instruments similar to those of Chang (2010), but with the introduction of a new sample of L2 learners with the levels from moderate to proficient.

The purpose of the study was to enlarge the body of knowledge in developmental pragmatics and to investigate the order of linguistic acquisition in combination with the theoretical account of interlanguage pragmatics.

The article specifically deals with the acquisitional pragmatics field, investigating the development of such pragmatic competencies as expressing an apology in the L2 at various proficiency levels. The conclusion reached in the present study is fully consistent with the replicated study of Chang (2010) on the direct impact the increase of linguistic proficiency produces on the speech act competencies and variability.

Introduction

The current attention to interlanguage pragmatics results in the necessity to conduct deeper, more grounded and expanded research in the field of language acquisition and pragmatic performance of L2 learners. There is much research being held nowadays in the field of developmental pragmatics, though the field itself is rather young, and findings in the discussed area of scholarly attention are scarce.

There is much incongruence between the actual pragmatic performance and the development of pragmatic competence, as it is discussed from various angles in the currently available studies. Hence, more attention is now paid to the developmental pragmatics as a science able to help unveil the hidden cognitive and learning processes occurring in the L2 learners knowledge base during the English language studies.

The most significant findings in the field pertain to the studies of apology, request, and gratitude expression evolution by L2 learners.

However, only students with high proficiency levels have so far been subject to research; different age groups and specific speech acts have to be researched to achieve a much more profound understanding of the evolutionary processes in self-expression and variability of speech acts of L2 learners in the process of language acquisition.

The present study is the continuation of Changs (2010) work on identifying the apology expressions found in the responses of Chinese students.

While the focus of the present study is on the same study design and instruments, it offers a clear step forward in enriching the idea of developmental pragmatics because it intends to provide data on other age groups, enabling the further comparison and generalization of results in communion with the results of Chang (2010).

Literature Review

The present study takes the interlanguage pragmatics findings and interlanguage competencies as the theoretical framework for the research.

The works on which the theoretical and practical inferences are based are the one of Cheng (2005) that represents a cross-sectional study of interlanguage pragmatic development of gratitude speech acts, the study of Blum-Kulka and Olshtain (1986) dedicated to the theoretical and applied domains of pragmatic failure, and the work of Cohen (2004) explicitly explaining the subject of developmental pragmatics and pragmatic ability of L2 learners.

Such researchers as Bataller (2010) who investigated the immersion technique as a contributing factor to the development of interlanguage competence, and Trosborg (1987) discovering the importance of sociolinguistic competence in the formatting of communicative appropriateness awareness have also contributed to the theoretical basis of the present research.

The book of Trosborg (1995) on interlanguage competence offered much theoretical material for consideration in the framework of the present research. The scholar decomposed the notion of the communicative competence and outlined the main components contributing to the formation of interlanguage proficiency for L2 learners.

These essential components include the linguistic competence (the mastery of the target language code), the socio-linguistic competence (informing the L2 learner about the socio-cultural rules of the native-speaking society), the socio-pragmatic competence (enabling the L2 learner to assess the appropriateness of contextual meanings), and the strategic competence (helping the speaker to bridge the gaps in language knowledge and fluency by other communicative strategies) (Trosborg, 1995).

Some other findings of Trosborg (1995) are of great value for the whole field of developmental pragmatics research; the author outlines the psycholinguistic competences that enhance the L2 learners interlanguage proficiency acquisition, including the knowledge and skills component.

Methods

Participants. As the purpose of the present work was not to create a new body of knowledge on the pragmatic development of L2 learners, but to extend the existing body of research on the issue, a group of L2 respondents was chosen for the collection of qualitative and quantitative data for the study.

The present group of 12 students represents a new age category as compared to the study of Chang (2010), thus enabling the comparison of results obtained in the present study with those of the original studys author. There are various levels of proficiency within the group resulting from various backgrounds of respondents (China, Taiwan etc.) and hours per week previously allocated to the English language studies.

The proficiency of the respondents is from intermediate to advanced (according to the researchers estimate), and they represent older ages than the respondents used by Chang (2010) do. The respondent sample is based on Taiwanese and Chinese immigrants to the USA, mostly female (n=11), with only one male.

The respondents have been living and studying English in the USA for a different number of years (from 1 to 22 years), and started studying English at school in their native settings at the age of 10-17 years old. Only one woman reported studying English on her own, at home, from 32 years old; she is 46 years old, which implies that she has been studying English for about 14 years until the moment of the study.

To assess the proficiency levels evident in respondents participating in the present study, one can see the self-reported proficiency levels indicated by them in the questionnaires, systematized according to the respondents and categories of competencies. The figures in the present table should be decoded the following way: 1  Very poor; 2  Poor; 3  Fair; 4  Functional; 5  Good; 6  Very good; 7  Native-like.

Table 1. Proficiency Levels of Respondents.

Instrument Design. Since the present study replicates the study of Chang (2010), the instrument design of discourse completion tasks has been borrowed from the original study. The construction of tasks included consideration of participants understanding of scenarios and their ability to respond to them adequately.

The scenarios were altered slightly, eliminating the figure of the teacher and substituting it by an abstract high-status partner, either an elderly person or some other respectable acquaintance. However, the four scenarios were generally retained and included bumping into people, losing a borrowed book, being late or rude to someone.

Each scenario was used two times, with one variant including the peer relationship of a student to another student, and the second variant containing the student  high-status person relationship. Description of context is provided to each scenario, with the opportunity to give the answers to open-ended role-play questions. The unified set of scenarios applied in the present work may be seen in Table 2.

Table 2. Scenarios for the discourse completion task questionnaire.

Data Collection. The method of data collection was chosen similarly to the one of Chang (2010)  it is the discourse completion task questionnaire (DCT). The DCT is still seen as the most effective tool for the students to produce an L2 apology reflecting their linguistic proficiency, and for teachers to investigate the pragmatic competency in L2 apology.

The DCT also involves written replies, which adds material for consideration in the process of data analysis, driving some competence conclusions from the given replies and grammar, spelling and other mistakes students may make.

The first stage of the DCT questionnaire fulfillment included the completion of the form with biographical data pertaining to the study; the students were to indicate the country of their birth, the period of studying English both at home and in the USA, and finally they had to state by which means they thought the prime portion of language acquisition occurred in their life.

The second portion of data they needed to provide was their self-assessment on four competencies, including writing proficiency, speaking fluency, listening and reading proficiency as well.

The DCT for the present study was distributed to participants asked to write down that they would respond in English to eight role-play situations. Similarly to Chang (2010), no rejoinder was available for the students. The percentage of replies equals 100%, expect the second respondent who did not indicate her proficiency levels in the studied competencies.

Data Analysis. The theoretical findings on analyzing the speech act of apology were used to generate the coding scheme for analysis; Chang (2010) consulted a professional in the sphere of coding, thus ensuring the unified coding scheme for speech act evaluation, and ensured the reliability rate of 91%.

The discussed coding scheme completely fits the requirements of the present study replicating the one of Change (2010), therefore the same coding scheme will be used; it may be seen in Table 3.

Table 3. The Coding Scheme of Apology Strategies of the present study.

Source: from Chang (2010), p. 413.

Upon coding the data, the researcher intended to conduct similar analysis procedures as those ones applied by Chang (2010)  the frequency of apology strategies usage, and the content of strategies used by respondents. To assist the first data analysis task, all apology strategies were grouped into IFID and Adjunct categories, according to the pattern utilized by Rose (2000).

Frequency of each strategys usage was calculated on the background of the whole number of strategies used by all respondents in all situations. Secondly, the frequency of each strategys occurrence in the responses of each participant was counted to identify the most frequent and widespread apologies.

Finally, the number of apologies used as well as the number of strategies used in general by category was calculated to generate a rating scale of popularity and usage of certain apology strategies by the indicated group of respondents.

To answer the second question, the researcher needed to assess the order of each strategys usage in certain proposed scenarios. In this case, each scenario was researched for the number of various strategies applied by respondents, with the proper summary of the results on the expansion of apology repertoire with the growing proficiency level.

It was necessary to disregard the contextual requirements of the scenario offered for the sake of answering the present research question.

Therefore, ignoring the situational context, the variety of strategies was arrived at by using two means also borrowed from the study of Rose (2000)  first of all, the usage of each certain apology was counted across all eight scenarios, with the proper rating scale generation to see the emergence of each strategy in the whole questionnaire context.

Secondly, the occurrence of each particular strategy was assessed in each separate scenario, to investigate the patterns of occurrences and to produce relevant inferences on apology usage aimed in the present study.

Discussion of Results

Frequency of apology strategies. As it has already been mentioned, the approach generated by Rose (2000) and borrowed by Chang (2010) is also applicable for the present study; the apology strategies were broadly divided into two categories, IFIDs and adjuncts, to calculate and compare their usage in all scenarios disregarding the context.

The analysis of coded qualitative data showed that the number of IFIDs used is really high (66; 28.4%) as compared to any other apology used. However, it is also evident that adjuncts are used by the present group of respondents are also varied, and they are utilized in multiple contexts, with the most popular ones being the intensifier, repair offering, and concern (13.3%, 12% and 10.4% respectively).

This finding supports the conclusion of Chang (2010) that students with higher proficiency levels employ many more adjuncts in their expression of an apology than smaller children and people with lower proficiency levels do. It is hard to say whether the usage of the discussed adjuncts is influenced by the contextual specificity of scenarios, since no tendency of such kind could be observed, as one can see in Table 4.

Table 4 also shows the distribution of each strategy in each given scenario, giving the figures from 6 to 12 strategies applied in each scenario. The figures 6 and 7 prevail in the majority of scenarios, leaving only scenarios 4 and 5 with the largest number of apologies invented by the respondents.

Scenario 6 shows the implementation of 8 various strategies, which implies that it is the third most diverse situation for respondents to make an apology.

Though the results are not the direct breakthrough in the number of apologies investigated by Chang (2010) and showing that high school students gave from 8 to 14 different apologies in each scenario as compared to schoolchildren of the 3^rd grade who stopped at 8 strategies in scenario 8 being the most diverse in responses, it is still clear that the evolution of apology implementation is in place.

The present finding may be derived from the fact that the respondents with higher proficiency levels managed to use from 3 to 5 strategies to respond to each scenario, which implies a certain measure of progress in self-expression.

However, as it has already been mentioned, the IFID type of apology has been detected as the most frequently emerging reaction, which is consistent with the findings of Chang (2010) stating that IFIDs were dominant in all grades researched, and were used indiscriminately often by representatives of each focus group.

The fact that they are common for all groups investigated by Chang (2010 and in the present study presupposes the universality and the first apology coming to mind to all L2 learners (which is also natural for native speakers as well).

However, the correlation of the 1^st IFID I am sorry or Sorry met 63 times in the responses with only 3 occurrences of the 2^nd IFID Please forgive me also draws a parallel with the former research of Chang (2010) indicating it to be rare and practically non-occurring in the written and oral practice.

Table 4. Comparison of the use of apology strategies in eight scenarios.

Proceeding to the discussion of adjuncts, one has to note that they are surely both proficiency and situational, since the inventory of apologies used in the scenarios 7 and 8, as compared to the scenarios 1 and 2, will be completely different for all group members disregarding their proficiency level.

Thus, for example, the most commonly met strategy for the scenario 7 and 8 is concern for the bumped person, with the majority of respondents showing equal concern for the elderly person and the close friend. The present study provides further evidence of this fact because it shows the incidence of concern apologies usage the highest in the 7^th and 8^th scenarios (10 times in each).

Sub-strategies of admission of the fact and lack of intent were commonly used in the scenarios 1 and 2, which is also consistent with the findings of Chang (2010).

The figures 10 and 11 for acknowledgement and lack of intent apologies respectively show that the respondents from the present respondents group applied the apology revealing their responsibility for the incident practically in every situation, though not every respondent did that.

Intensifier being on the second place after apology and regret shows that the higher proficiency level group often adds intensifiers to the apologies voiced, which is fully consistent with the findings of Chang (2010) stating that the increase of intensifier usage was observed only with higher grades of respondents, being totally unpopular with the 3^rd grade students, and being much more common in the 10^th grade.

Table 5. The comparison of respondents usage of various apology strategies.

The content of the apology strategies. Proceeding to the discussion of the apology content, one needs to note that the regret-apology forms were mostly used in 90% of situations first, then followed by other categories of apologies; they were used in the forms Sorry, I am sorry, I am so sorry, and I am very sorry.

The phrase I apologize was met only twice, which implies the indisputable popularity of sorry and its derivatives in voicing an apology. No misinterpretations were noted in the responses of the discussed sample, with no usage of excuse me phrase in the described scenarios.

The strategy of admission of the fact is used more often in all scenarios by the present group of respondents, which supports the hypothesis of Chang (2010) on the evolutionary usage of apology forms by students with higher proficiency levels.

As a matter of fact, admission of the fact is recognized as a more complex form of an apology, hence its more frequent usage supports the idea of the findings arrived at in the present group being a logical support and continuation of Changs (2010) research.

The lack of intent strategy was also used predominantly in the scenarios 1 and 2, as well as 7 and 8. The overwhelming incidence of that strategys correct usage supports the idea of the developmental patterns of apology as a speech act of L2 learners.

Table 6. Frequency of apologies implemented by respondents in all scenarios.

The innovative apology tool of older groups  emergence of avoidance strategies. The present study revealed an interesting tendency in the responses of the present sample that had not been previously investigated by other researchers. While no rejoinder was available for the usage in the DCT questionnaire generated for the present study, no deviations from the coding scheme were expected.

However, the incidence of avoidance strategies was viewed in several scenarios applied by 3 respondents. One of the respondents reacted the following way to the scenario 4, when the friend of hers heard her complaining about the poor English she had: Sorry, I have to go.

It is a clear avoidance of the need to give apologies. Another situation was observed in the scenario 8: Oh, I am so happy to see you that I bumped you. We have to see each other more often!. It is the strategy of turning the offence into a humorous situation and avoiding saying anything similar to an apology.

Scenario 4 also showed several responses similar to assuming that the friend Judy did not understand any of the complaints because her English was really bad, which means that no fault in the situation was detected by respondents.

Avoidance of complaints is also widely spread in scenarios 5 and 6, where the respondents voiced their hope that nobody had noticed their absence and lateness. 3 respondents stated that in case nobody asked them about lateness, they would just join in and say nothing.

Such absence of the wish to apologize may be presupposed by the age of respondents, experience in life and the unwillingness to pose themselves in a weaker position by searching explanations, justifications, and offering repairs.

However, another most common strategy used in the same scenario was offering to pay the bill, without even mentioning an apology, which notes the practical attitude to lateness, and the wish to compensate the fault with food and drinks, and not an apology for the offense and lack of respect.

Conclusion

The present study represents the continuation of research in the field of L2 learners communicative competency development research on the example of the speech act of apology.

The findings refer to the developmental processes in the apology reflection field of Taiwanese and Chinese L2 learners of moderate to high proficiency levels, and contribute to the findings of Chang (2010) on the expansion and variability of apology strategies applied by various proficiency groups of L2 learners.

The study was based on the written DCT data collected from L2 learners in the classroom, taking a step forward in the interlanguage pragmatic development research. The discussion of results obtained in the course of the present study indicates that students extend and enrich their apology strategies, use more complex strategies more readily in various scenarios with the higher proficiency levels of English knowledge.

However, the research produced seems rather isolated from the common body of research in the developmental pragmatics, as the necessity to introduce the longitudinal and cross-sectional studies in a combination was repeatedly indicated by researchers and practitioners of the field.

Lack of the ability to compare the L2 data with a similar sample of L1 speakers represents the major limitation of the research, thus preventing it from generalizations. Context specificity research is also potentially beneficial for acquiring better understanding of the internal incentives of L2 learners to choose the apology strategies, so it has to be attributed more attention in the future research.

References

Bataller, R. (2010). Making a Request for a Service in Spanish: Pragmatic Development in the Study Abroad Setting. Foreign Language Annals, Vol. 43, Iss. 1, pp. 160175.

Blum-Kulka, S., Olshtain, E. (1986). Too many words: length of utterance and pragmatic failure. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, no. 8, 165180.

Chang, Y.- F. (2010). I no say you say is boring: the development of pragmatic competence in L2 apology. Language Sciences, no. 32, pp. 408424.

Cheng, S.W. (2005). An exploratory cross-sectional study of interlanguage pragmatic development of expressions of gratitude by Chinese learners of English. PhD Diss., University of Iowa. Retrieved from https://ir.uiowa.edu/etd/104/

Cohen, A.D. (2004). The interface between interlanguage pragmatics and assessment. Proceedings of the 3rd Annual JALT Pan-SIG Conference. May 22-23, 2004. Tokyo, Japan: Tokyo Keizai University.

Rose, K. (2000). An exploratory cross-sectional study of interlanguage pragmatic development. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, no. 22, pp. 2767.

Trosborg, A. (1987). Apology strategies in natives/non-natives. Journal of Pragmatics , no. 1, pp. 147167.

Trosborg, A. (1995). Interlanguage Pragmatics: Requests, Complaints, and Apologies. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter.

Language and speech are some of the most important human characteristics that differentiate people from other living organisms. Unfortunately, there are sometimes developmental abnormalities that cause children to have significant problems in recognizing and using language and speaking.

An article titled The Efficacy of Fast ForWord Language Intervention in School-Age Children with Language Impairment: A Randomized Controlled Trial talks about the research that was produced to aid this problem, and what sort of outcomes came to be. The article describes several possible treatments and then, analyzes their effectiveness and longevity.

There were four conditions set up: 1-Fast ForWord Language (FFW-L), 2-academic enrichment (AE), 3-computer-asssited language intervention (CALI), 4-individual language intervention (ILI). All the methods had the same amount of repetitions and hours.

All had a significant influence on the skills and learning, but FFW-L and CALI were most effective and earned higher scores in the follow up testing (Gillam et al., 2008). The article discusses outcomes, methods used and randomization. Most importantly, how children responded to a specific study is an appropriate start for future research.

The rationale for conducting such a study is rather necessary to evolve the offered treatment and properly diagnose the condition. The interactions that a child experiences are much more influential at a younger age, so the intervention must be offered early. The article fails to mention that children are more observant than adults, and are mostly watching and making conclusions in their learning process.

Thus, adults play a significant role in the way children perceive and use speech and language. The repetition of behaviors and mimicking are observed in many instances. Evidence from an experimental study has shown improvement, but it is not related to other instances in life. How well children write, use their imagination, crafts and regular behavior are not implemented into the study.

It is possible that at some moments children might have a better predisposition or ability to speak, than at others. This might be related to the mood or attitude towards a specific situation or a general physical condition. In order to properly study the effectiveness of the research and improvement methods, many more aspects of the individual characteristics and social life must be taken into consideration.

Control group and conditions were rather reliable. The fact that examiners were blindfolded excluded some form of bias and implication of the results. But nonetheless, the process of generalizing specific rules and schemes from the observed behavior and conditions present in a test setting is questionable. In order to learn, a person must acquire knowledge about a certain concept and thus, develop a response to adequately deal with a situation.

Recognition and cognitive processing of information is learned through participation in various activities, and the more social interaction there is, the better a child will adjust to the environment. As such, the rate of progress for a child in a test setting, home setting or social situation, as well as school, will be different. Randomization was varied according to the schools and assignments to a particular group and test setting.

This is rather effective, as there were children who were placed into an examination directly, and those who were assigned randomly (Gillam et al., 2008). This allowed seeing the difference in the results according to the learning rate and retention. But, the unique nature of children had to be taken into account.

Children will often have more connection with children of their own age, as they are able to relate to common themes. To make the study even more random, there must have been different settings with both adults and children. Some tests could even be conducted by older children or those who have the ability to participate in the study, but are of the same age.

The measures were valid and reliable only to the study and conditions that were present in this particular examination. The repetition of the study and the examination of children within the 6 month period are not as reliable because the circumstances within that amount of time are not taken into consideration.

Some children might have been resting more; there could have been extensive amounts of practice and study, as well as unnoticeable stimuli, such as parents affection, the influence of peers or environmental factors. There is no doubt that the study can be the basis for further research, but careful examination of a number of other factors must be conducted. The reported effect size varied according to each individual study.

Posttest was highest for ILI and FFW-L treatments, whereas after 6 months, AE was highest with 1.34 and lowest for FFW-L with 0.93. Backward masking was the highest for CALI-post test 0.71 and 6 months at 1.14. Token test had FFW-L as most effective. And blending words show very close result with FFW-L being the highest at 0.79 and AE the lowest at -0.11 posttest, and 0.46 in 6 months (Gillam et al., 2008).

The findings were important on both social and personal level. As this is a problem that can be improved, awareness and proper programs must be set in place to permit children to learn and adapt to their issue and the surrounding conditions. This type of research is aimed to understand how the human brain works, and how people can help themselves in becoming more educated and skilled.

Reference

Gillam et al. (2008). The Efficacy of Fast ForWord Language Intervention in School-Age Children with Language Impairment: A Randomized Controlled Trial. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research. 51, 97-119.

This article explores the premise that distinguished speech patterns can help determine the sex orientation of an individual. According to the authors of the article, popular culture disposes some individuals to use certain patterns of speech that might be expressive of their sexual orientation. The authors of this article are Benjamin Munson, a professor at the University of Minnesota and Molly Babel, a PhD candidate at the University of Californias linguistics department.

The article offers a literature review of materials that investigate whether speech patterns can convey sexual orientation. Some of the reviewed studies indicate that some individuals tend to speak in a manner that hints about their sexual orientation to their prospective listeners. Nevertheless, the article notes that the phonetic tendencies that are associated with sexual orientation are not fool proof. In addition, the article asserts that speech patterns alone cannot be determinants of sexual orientation. This article reviews studies that touch on the topics of speech patterns and sexual orientation. The article continues by discussing the implications of the authors literature analysis on various topics such as language analysis, sociolinguistics, and language acquisition.

The article begins by noting that speech patterns are rarely investigated. Most of the social discussions concerning speech occur in informal arenas such as social media platforms. Most of these discussions try to track the origins of speech variations. According to the article, the research concentrates on portrayals of sexual orientation and conversational pragmatics. The conversational pragmatics that are addressed by the study are limited to auditory and articulatory word utterances and sound characteristics. On the other hand, the studys sexual orientation discussion is limited to bisexuality, homosexuality, and heterosexuality.

Transgender and transsexual sexual orientations are not covered in this study. The article explores gay, lesbian, or bisexual (GLB) orientations. Furthermore, the authors limit their study to lose interpretations of the connection between speech patterns and sexual orientation and not complex theories on the subject.

According to the articles analysis, there are various stereotypes that are associated with regional dialects. However, portrayals of speech among members of the GLB are closely related to the stereotypes propagated by popular media. It is noted that gay characters are often portrayed using female-styled voices. In addition, the study notes that there are two common representations of gay male characters; the frivolous stereotyped characters, and the good-looking, calm, and collected characters.

The most popular characteristic of gay speech is the gay lisp and it is exemplified by a slightly high-pitched S-sound. The speech patterns associated with gay men are classified into two according to one of the reviewed studies, masculinity-rejecting and masculinity-accepting men. The authors also note that other studies have explored various angles of the sexual orientation perceptions such as their relation to authority figures, different genders, and social settings. Nevertheless, the article notes that there are few studies that investigate listeners perceptions of LGB speech patterns. The article also notes that the current research reveals that GLB speech patterns are acquired and consequently socially and culturally accepted by the society.

The articles explores various studies that directly touch on speech patterns and sexual orientation. The authors break down the review into three parts; speech production, perceptions of speech and orientation, and contribution of the reviewed materials to research. This section of the article begins by outlining the concept of speech production. It is noted that talkers can raise and lower the pitches of different sounds for their listeners benefit. Next, the authors explore studies that focus on different genders interpretation of speech production patterns. According to the authors, several studies indicate that women have higher fundamental frequencies and higher resonant frequencies than men¹. Other studies indicate that womens speech is more intelligible than mens especially in constrained listening scenarios. The article then moves on by exploring studies on differences in speech patterns between LGB populations and other populations. The authors provide an example of a study targeting eight men of different sexual orientations where it was found that the men who were gay produced higher-pitched voices.

However, the article points out that few studies examine pitch variations between lesbian and straight women. While one study found differences in pitch variations between lesbian and straight women, another one found no discernable variations. The article also investigates studies that examine the different listening perceptions between men and women when it comes to sexual orientations.

The authors of the article note that research on sexual orientation and speech patterns is in its infancy and requires a lot of follow up research. New research on the subject should focus on how speech patterns relate to sexual orientations across different languages, dialects, and cultures. The results of the study indicate that children may be learning GLB-specific speech patterns early on in life. Furthermore, the article reveals that the study on listeners perceptions on LGB-specific speech is wanting. The article concludes by noting that GLB speech variants are not imitations of the speech patterns of the same sex, but are likely to be learnt culturally².

Bibliography

Munson, Benjamin, and Molly Babel. Loose lips and silver tongues, or, projecting sexual orientation through speech. Language and Linguistics Compass 1, no. 5 (2007): 416-449. Web.

Footnotes

1 Benjamin Munson, and Molly Babel, Loose lips and silver tongues, or, projecting sexual orientation through speech, Language and Linguistics Compass 1, no. 5 (2007): 434.

2 Benjamin Munson, and Molly Babel, Loose lips and silver tongues, or, projecting sexual orientation through speech, Language and Linguistics Compass 1, no. 5 (2007): 447.

Handout

The research conducted by Adamson and Regan (1991) aimed at investigating the acquisition pattern of sociolinguistic norms by individuals using English as their second language (L2). The investigators have carried out their study among non-heterogeneous English speakers. In particular, the research targeted at determining the variation of (ing) in the native and nonnative speech samples (Adamson & Regan, 1991, p. 9). The research details are as follows:

• The Vietnamese and Cambodian native and non-native speakers have been researched.
• All of the participants lived either in Philadelphia or in Washington, DC.
• The G variant (/ng/) in the language phonology has been considered as prestige and the N option (/n/) as non-prestige.
• It was stated that the adoption of the second variant by the speakers should be considered a form of their junction in the speech community.
• The variation of G form has been analysed using the VARBRUL computer program to provide a statistic association.
• Due to the fact that the study was preliminary in character, it was assumed that the adoption of the particular phonological norm was complicated by the difficulty in separation of horizontal variation from the vertical one.
• It was also suggested that the non-native speakers would adopt the prestige version in cases when their native language utilised the same version as well.

The research findings have determined that from the sociolinguistic point of view, women are more inclined to using prestige variants compared to men. Therefore, it became possible to state that the use of L2 standards is targeted by gender (Adamson & Regan, 1991). It was justified by the fact that women from the sample size belonging to the group with English as a second language would use the G variant while men would resort to N form.

Summary

Adamson and Regan (1991) researched the individuals learning English and the patterns that they employed. To be more precise, it was researched the way people adopt either the pronunciation of /ng/ or /n/ form and why a particular variant was more preferable. The individuals of Cambodian and Vietnamese origin have been studied, and the sample consisted of both native and non-native English speakers.

As it was stated by the theorists, in general, native speakers would opt for a particular pronunciation in accordance with their gender identification. That is to say, women tend to employ the /ng/ pronunciation, which is considered a more privileged form while men mostly adopt the /n/ form. It has been linked to the desire of women to display their status consciousness while, in the majority of cases, men are somewhat indifferent to this distinction (Adamson & Regan, 1991).

In the case of non-native English speakers, a tendency to produce less /n/ was revealed. Nevertheless, a gender division has also been identified. Cambodian and Vietnamese men pronounced the ending as /n/ more frequently, which has been referred to as an unconscious desire to sound similar to male English speakers for whom this language was native. Importantly, the use of /n/ form served as a measure of the individuals integration into the community.

Thus, the researchers have concluded that the acquisition of certain phonologic and linguistic patterns does correlate with the social class and gender of speakers. Those individuals learning English as their second language employ the gendered native speaker variation patterns, and this might occur unconsciously (Adamson & Regan, 1991). The findings suggest that individuals studying a foreign language place emphasis on the gendered employment of certain patterns of the native speakers, which might proceed to various reasons including psychological and normative ones.

Informed Response to Key Theoretical Concepts

The research has successfully addressed the issue of multifactoriality. In particular, the researchers have considered the principle of multiple causes to the adoption of either /ng/ or /n/ pattern and the factors determining it. The results have revealed that the variation in the speech of English L2 speakers was influenced both directly and indirectly by various social and linguistic factors. In addition, the findings validated that this variation was, in fact, systematic (Eckert, 2012). In the course of the study, it was proved that VARBRUL was an efficient tool for such variable analysis.

The area of the study that lacked precision was the role of community membership. It is worthy of noting that some researchers have carried out similar investigations about naturalistic learners; however, the results that they have gathered differ from that of the current report (Schleef, Meyerhoff, & Clark, 2011). Therefore, it can be assumed that apart from studying the variables it was significant to determine the way the sociolinguistic development was influenced by this major category (Geeslin & Long, 2014).

Some of the researchers have identified no correlation between the sociobiographic or stylistic factors and the influence of sex. However, the research by Adamson and Regan (1991) has reported this association. The group of theorists has determined that men tend to adopt male speech patterns employed by the native population rather than sticking to commonly accepted phonetic forms. Vietnamese and Cambodian non-native men would place particular attention on the use of patterns employed by native males. Thus, the VARBUL tool has revealed that gender factor is among the leading ones. Therefore, to either support or invalidate this hypothesis, further statistical studies should be conducted.

Critical Overview

It should be noted that the authors have employed a three-step procedure. Initially, they have reviewed the existing body of knowledge in terms of the naturalistic learners, and then they gathered and compiled their report regarding the research findings. After that, they presented the variation that was exhibited by the representatives of Vietnamese and Cambodian sample groups (Adamson & Regan, 1991). This approach has enabled the investigators to compare the results obtained at that time with the existing theoretical construct and draw conclusions about the factors.

Nonetheless, a certain limitation in the methodology can be concluded to the size of the sample and, therefore, the intensity of variables expressed within the sample group. Notably, 520 representatives from the native speaker group were analysed.

Respectively, only 288 individuals constituted the control group in the case of non-native speakers (Adamson & Regan, 1991). In addition, the conclusion about the gendered employment of phonetic norms has been drawn based on unequal sex distribution (the number of male participants was different from that of females). To be able to verify this hypothesis, the research team will need to rely upon a larger database.

However, most importantly, as stressed by experts, the information obtained from a cross-sectional study should not be used to provide an association with the developmental tendencies (Eckert, 2012). Therefore, it is highly advisable to expand the research findings with the data gathered from a longitudinal study. This approach will ensure that the results have been verified and can be considered relevant and reliable.

The key contribution of this article can be reflected in the fact that it allowed identifying the causal link between linguistic norms and their employment depending on the gender. The significance of the research lies in its revelation of the importance of sex in terms of sociolinguistics (Adamson & Regan, 1991). That is to say, the authors have found the evidence proving that community speech norms depend on particular social factors.

The scholarly nature of the text and its crucial findings have predetermined its inclusion in the educational curriculum. Regarding my individual experience, the reading has thrown light on the perspective that was previously unknown to me. The comprehension of such tendency as gendered native speaker variation patterns and the employment of those by non-native speakers will enable me to carry out my personal research relying on this assumption.

If the article were written today, the research would be carried out differently. As it was mentioned earlier, the study has evidenced the usability of VARBUL tool; however, the researches carried out further evidenced the need to verify and refine the result using other variation analysis tools. Apart from that, despite the fact that the article written by Adamson and Regan (1991) is evidence-based, it can serve as the fundamental body of knowledge solely since it requires further investigation.

It is rather difficult to state whether the same method can be utilized to answer my queries about sociolinguistics since the approach will depend on the variables. Nonetheless, when this study was implemented, it has revealed a new perspective on the significance of gender and sociolinguistic patterns (Geeslin & Long, 2014). More importantly, it has allowed questioning and debating the existing concepts, which is indeed significant for the advancement of scientific knowledge.

References

Adamson, H. D., & Regan, V. (1991). The acquisition of community speech norms by Asian immigrants learning English as a second language: A preliminary study. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 13(1), 1-22.

Eckert, P. (2012). Three waves of variation study: The emergence of meaning in the study of sociolinguistic variation. Annual Review of Anthropology, 11(41), 87-100.

Geeslin, K., & Long, A. (2014). Sociolinguistics and second language acquisition. London, UK: Routledge.

Schleef, E., Meyerhoff, M., & Clark, L. (2011). Teenagers acquisition of variation: A comparison of locally-born and migrant teens realisation of English (ing) in Edinburgh and London. English World-Wide, 32(2), 206-236.

Introduction

Speech production describes the process of translating thoughts into speech. This process includes the selection of relevant grammatical forms and subsequent articulation of the emerging sounds by the motor system with the aid of vocal parts. In a bid to understand spoken language, it is fundamental to establish what restricts the form of speech and the application of speech. Consequently, that will entail a study of how humans vocal mechanisms produces sounds or of how sounds generate auditory sensations.

However, this process must incorporate the study of perception, memory, and cognition. This paper seeks to examine the process of speech production and perception among children with speech production errors related to cleft palate speech challenges. Cleft palate speech refers to conditions such as altered laryngeal voice quality, disordered nasal airflow, and atypical consonant productions. Children with cleft palate are at risk for speech difficulties most likely those caused by velopharyngeal inadequacy.

The major problem associated with cleft palate is that during speech production, the tongue touches the palate thus interfering with the normal flow of air through the oral cavity. The aim of this paper is to conduct a review of five articles in a bid to establish speech production for children with cleft palate as well as how the findings of the evaluation can help in generating intervention decisions. Instrumental procedures that issue useful information about the function of the velopharyngeal valve will be examined.

Background to the study

In spite of the changes and benefits offered by the medical sector, research indicates that a large number of children with cleft palate indicate speech production problems particularly in articulation and resonance during early childhood. Management of patients with a cleft palate has improved significantly over the past decade. Even though most of the procedures used today are improved surgical techniques that were applied in the past, the outcome is viewed to have improved immensely.

Early intervention through palatal surgery is necessary for better speech production. In an effort to enhance speech production in children with cleft palate, optimal treatment is necessary, especially the intervention measures involving primary palate repair at early stages of development. However, this section seeks to show that early intervention for children with cleft palate is necessary for speech production among the affected population.

Methodology

This study relied on secondary information obtained from various texts and articles selected from large pool materials. The databases used for search the articles include EBSCOhost, JSTOR, PubMed, and NCBI among others. The initial search targeted twenty articles, but only three were chosen based on the richness of evidence regarding the topic. The search focused on identifying articles that offered insights about speech production among children with cleft palate.

The search for relevant sources targeted to establish the different types of cleft palate among preschoolers. The inclusion criteria targeted sources that covered physical (acoustic, aerodynamic, physiological) measures of speech. This search included peer-reviewed articles mainly discussing IT advances in the oil and gas industry. Sources that manifested only phonetic transcription were not selected for this study.

Summary of articles

The first article by Gibbon, Lee, and Yuen (2010) holds that individuals with cleft palate are likely to make many errors when articulating high vowels. This problem occurs after the tongue and the palate come into contact, thus obstructing the normal passage of air through the oral cavity. The authors posit that the complete contact suggests that the tongue is raised to the extent that it presses up against the palate, obstructing airflow through the mouth and increasing the likelihood of nasalized vowels (Gibbon et al., 2010, p. 410).

Some of the proposed intervention measures include oral examination, therapy, and velopharyngeal port imaging. Oral examination entails observation of the hard palate and the soft palate to identify any signs of velar elevation that might provide evidence of velopharyngeal closure. However, completion of speech evaluation is necessary before oral examination is conducted. A repaired cleft lip and palate may cause an anterior cross bite that decreases articulatory space and leads to the creation of distortions. Therapy entails decisions to conduct surgery in a bid to eliminate the maladaptive compensatory errors such as pharyngeal substitutions.

If a child manifests these errors, as s/he undergoes surgical management to rectify velopharyngeal function, it is essential for the speech-language pathologist to coach the child to plug the nose during surgery and then focus on the particular lip and tongue placement for desired phonemes. Velopharyngeal port imaging during speech is essential in determining if a surgical process is inevitable and the most suitable procedure to enhance speech production. Hearing loss is also identified as a possible problem to children with cleft palate. These children have high chances of getting fluid in the middle ear as well as infections.

These infections may lead to partial hearing impairment. Since children learn to speak and comprehend speech via hearing, it is critical that ear health and hearing effects are keenly monitored. The author claims that children born with cleft palate may experience a delay in the start of speech sounds. The author suggests various intervention measures to deal with the issue of cleft palate. These measures include speech therapy, surgery and regular ear and hearing tests. This intervention measures seek to assist a child in learning the proper way of using the lips and tongue appropriately during speech. Alternatively, for those children with mild speech errors, providing language-learning opportunities can help develop good speech.

In the second article, Gibbon (2004) posits, Individuals with cleft palate, even those with adequate velopharyngeal function, are at high risk for disordered lingual articulation (p. 285). The widely used corrective therapy for this condition is electropalatography (EPG) to help the affected individuals overcome the problems associated with articulation. Gibbon (2004) notes that this problem can resolve itself spontaneously in small children, but as time progresses, the problem becomes almost impossible to disappear without the intervention of therapy.

Therefore, the EPG treatment becomes useful in such situations as it has a feedback mechanism that allows one to monitor the tongue-palate contact patterns during speech. These patterns are then studied and employed during therapy to prevent contact. Gibbon (2004) notes that EPG is not just a therapy tool; however, the data can provide objective, quantifiable, and clinically relevant information about lingual articulation that adds to our knowledge about speech difficulties experienced by individuals with cleft palate (p. 286). So far, the use of EPG has allowed researchers to identify eight different patterns of contact between the tongue and the palate in individuals with cleft palate.

The article acknowledges that more research is needed to address missing aspects associated with articulation difficulties in children with cleft palate. For instance, little information is available on the nature of problems experienced when pronouncing consonant clusters.

The third article by Gibbon, Smeaton-Ewins, and Crampin (2005) claims that even with early-cleft repair, some children manifest poor speech defined by abnormal nasal resonance and abnormal nasal airflow. This article examines the signs to determine those that can be rectified via speech therapy, the ones that occur in the course of the childs growth, and the advanced cases where medical intervention is needed. In cases where VPD is identified, measures like nasoendoscopy should be taken to offer information regarding the capability of the velopharyngeal valve for speech generation and further management of this error.

This article shares further information on effects of cleft on voice by suggesting that patients with cleft palate may also manifest dysphonia. Some of the signs of this condition include gruffness and breathing with difficulties coupled with speaking in low tones. This complexity is caused by increased breathing effort. Besides, dysphonia may also mask nasality, and inhibit perceptual evaluation. Even with early intervention, a majority of children exhibit delays in speech development thus it is necessary to ensure continued therapy to correct speech disorder by the age of 5 years.

The process of speech production

Speech production emanates from the brain where the message and the lexico-grammatical structure build. Then a pattern of organized movements that starts with airflow from the breathing system occurs. The airflow is regulated at the laryngeal, articulatory, and resonatory arrangement (Gibbon, 2004, p. 290). The physical production of sounds entails four procedures that include initiation, phonation, nasal mechanisms and articulation.

The initiation mechanism entails the expulsion of the air from the lungs. The phonation process takes over at the larynx that contains the two focal folds. These folds have a gap between them referred to as glottis. In some instances, the glottis can be closed allowing no air to penetrate, it can have a narrow opening that causes the vocal folds to vibrate and make the voiced sounds. The glottis can also be wide open like in the case with normal breathing system. The articulation stage happens in the mouth enabling individuals to distinguish most speech sounds. However, since the palate affects the articulation, the speech sounds are produced depending on the influence of the cleft palate.

Different sounds are generated across the vocal tract. The sounds that come out are dependent on the location and behavior of the intonations. The vowels are generated without any major restriction made by the lip or tongue (Gibbon et al., 2010). The classification of vowels is based on the location and the length of the tongue coupled with how the lips adjust in the process. On the other hand, the consonants are grouped as glottal, velar, retroflex, palatal, dental, and bilabial depending on the location where tongue makes the constriction. Most likely, the pressure consonants are highly affected than the other sounds.

Critique

This paper has reviewed three different articles that manifest consistency in their findings. These articles cover critical areas of speech production among patients with cleft palate such as speech perception and acoustics concerning practical applications as well as theories. However, this review suggests that the claims warrant extended scientific scrutiny. Various theories reckon the presence of a linkage between speech perception and production.

For the motor theorists, the linkage mirrors biological coevolution of the generation and perception systems. However, this manifests a bias for language communities to choose articulations that possess auditory diverse acoustic consequences. However, since most readers are not used to phonetic symbols for speech phonemes, the articles make use of understandable language to communicate.

Recommendations

Speech intervention for patients with cleft palate should commence even before the palate is corrected. In young children, the focus should be on educating the people around the child, especially parents or the people who spend a lot of time with the child, on how to induce the childs capability to learn and apply the different aspects of language. Several studies agree on the usefulness of parents in assisting children at an early stage on how to learn and use language, which averts different errors in communication.

However, it should be noted that errors resulting from structural defects cannot be restored via speech therapy. In case a structural correction has been carried out, the individual should go through several sessions of speech therapy to ensure the proper production of sounds during speech. Since patients with cleft palate have enough muscle, strength oromotor exercises should be excluded.

Conclusion

The production of speech is a complex motor task that is widely recognized as a medium of communication thus inevitable to human beings. Therefore, young children with cleft palate should be exposed to language simulation exercises to improve their speech production. This process should entail frequent sentence repetition tasks to encourage them to develop speech. Although the speech sounds of children with cleft palate will be nasally produced before correction, these sounds should be encouraged over glottal stops. Essentially, speech production among children with cleft palate is possible if appropriate intervention measures are observed.

References

Gibbon, E. (2004). Abnormal patterns of tongue-palate contact in the speech of individuals with cleft palate. Clinical Linguistics & Phonetics, 18(4), 285-311.

Gibbon, E., Lee, A., & Yuen, I. (2010). Tongue-palate contact during selected vowels in normal speech. Cleft Palate  Craniofacial Journal, 47(4), 405-411.

Gibbon, E., Smeaton-Ewins, P., & Crampin, L. (2005). Tongue-palate contact during selected vowel in children with cleft palate. Folia Phoniatr Logop, 57(4), 181-192.