11 февраля состоялось очередное заседание Фонетического клуба Департамента иностранных языков и межкультурной коммуникации.

Боровицкая Полина поделилась своими впечатлениями от встречи.

Our meeting started with some friendly chit chat, but very soon we started hitting the grind stone of science.

Polina Borovitsky (yours truly) was the first to present on something called “vocal fry”. But what is “vocal fry”? And how are “vocal fry-ers” perceived? Turns out that negative attitude towards women ruins the day yet again. Studies show that women with “creaky voice” (aka “vocal fry”) are often perceived as undesirable employees. But who needs to work when you can have a hot accent, am I right? 

Then we discussed English accents with Vasilisa Neboga и Salikova Olga. So, what is the difference between the north and the south in modern England?

Apparently, some FOOT-STRUT split still divides the country in two halves. The absence of STRUT vowel in the north, one of the many major differences, was confirmed in empirical phonetic studies applying cutting-edge technology like vocal analyzers. Because what can be more intriguing than a bit of physics in your phonetics? Shwa look-a-like? Shwa's evil twin? Yes, please! 

The next presentation by Elmira Melikova enlightened us about Wells’ theory of diphthong shift and Labov’s  principles of linguistic change. Of course, the table of vowels is going to haunt us till the end of days! Apparently, not only monophthongs can move around the table however they want, but so can diphthongs. How fascinating! 

Then Tsoy Angelica talked about Essex Girl Accent. Essex girls are fabulous women who like to be extra in everything from their looks to their pronunciation. The Essex accent is a huge part of English accent diversity melting pot and was recorded as early as the 19th century. But they still like to strut on their "eye-eels" (high heels) to "naaaaloooorrs" (night clubs) and hang out with hot babes. 

After that Zlotopolckaya Ekaterina and Smirnova Arina talked  about "Software for acoustic analysis of speech". They have found what types of software we can use for phonetic studies. The most famous one is Praat, which is a speech analysis tool that will come in handy when we do our research in acoustics. Just what one needs at the end of the day.

(Автор текста: Боровицкая П. В., КЛиМК22-1)