Kedayan

Previous accounts on Brunei English have all revealed that speakers of this variety show tendency to rhotacise instances of postvocalic-r, leading to the general conclusion that Brunei English (BrunE) is rhotic, at least insofar as comparison to the neighbouring English varieties of Singapore and Malaysia is concerned. One of the cited reasons for the prevalence of rhoticity in the English of the Bruneians is the transfer effect from the subjects' first language (L1), the rhotic Brunei Malay. This paper aims to further assess this claim by looking at a segment of the Brunei population known to speak a non-rhotic Malay dialect-the Kedayans. Read speech samples from 10 Kedayan speakers comprising two different age groups were analysed, the results of which were then compared to the subjects' responses in a survey on their lingua-identity percepts. The findings reveal a variety of English that is non-rhotic, and what appears to be an age-grading effect with regard to r-vocalisation. Whereas there are almost zero instances of rhoticity in the speech of the older speakers, the younger speakers, who also have lesser affiliations with the Kedayan dialect, show variability in their r-realisations. In addition to challenging the view that rhoticity is an effect of spelling pronunciation, this paper concludes that rhoticity in BrunE can be explained as an effect of contact from the L1, and that it appears to be an age-associated pattern that manifests with decreasing age.

Previous accounts on Brunei English have all revealed that speakers of this variety show tendency to rhotacise instances of postvocalic-r, leading to the general conclusion that Brunei English (BrunE) is rhotic, at least insofar as comparison to the neighbouring English varieties of Singapore and Malaysia is concerned. One of the cited reasons for the prevalence of rhoticity in the English of the Bruneians is the transfer effect from the subjects' first language (L1), the rhotic Brunei Malay. This paper aims to further assess this claim by looking at a segment of the Brunei population known to speak a non-rhotic Malay dialect – the Kedayans. Read speech samples from 10 Kedayan speakers comprising two different age groups were analysed, the results of which were then compared to the subjects' responses in a survey on their lingua-identity percepts. The findings reveal a variety of English that is non-rhotic, and what appears to be an age-grading effect with regard to r-vocalisation. Whereas there are almost zero instances of rhoticity in the speech of the older speakers, the younger speakers, who also have lesser affiliations with the Kedayan dialect, show variability in their r-realisations. In addition to challenging the view that rhoticity is an effect of spelling pronunciation, this paper concludes that rhoticity in BrunE can be explained as an effect of contact from the L1, and that it appears to be an age-associated pattern that manifests with decreasing age.

Previous accounts on Brunei English have all revealed that speakers of this variety show tendency to rhotacise instances of postvocalic-r, leading to the general conclusion that Brunei English (BrunE) is rhotic, at least insofar as comparison to the neighbouring English varieties of Singapore and Malaysia is concerned. One of the cited reasons for the prevalence of rhoticity in the English of the Bruneians is the transfer effect from the subjects' first language (L1), the rhotic Brunei Malay. This paper aims to further assess this claim by looking at a segment of the Brunei population known to speak a non-rhotic Malay dialect – the Kedayans. Read speech samples from 10 Kedayan speakers comprising two different age groups were analysed, the results of which were then compared to the subjects' responses in a survey on their lingua-identity percepts. The findings reveal a variety of English that is non-rhotic, and what appears to be an age-grading effect with regard to r-vocali...

Previous accounts on Brunei English have all revealed that speakers of this variety show tendency to rhotacise instances of postvocalic-r, leading to the general conclusion that Brunei English (BrunE) is rhotic, at least insofar as comparison to the neighbouring English varieties of Singapore and Malaysia is concerned. One of the cited reasons for the prevalence of rhoticity in the English of the Bruneians is the transfer effect from the subjects’ first language (L1), the rhotic Brunei Malay. This paper aims to further assess this claim by looking at a segment of the Brunei population known to speak a non-rhotic Malay dialect – the Kedayans. Read speech samples from 10 Kedayan speakers comprising two different age groups were analysed, the results of which were then compared to the subjects’ responses in a survey on their lingua-identity percepts. The findings reveal a variety of English that is non-rhotic, and what appears to be an age-grading effect with regard to r-vocalisation. ...