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Common Pronunciation Mistakes among Spanish Speakers of English with the Focus on Vowels
Pýcha, Jaroslav ; Červinková Poesová, Kristýna (advisor) ; Bojarová, Marie (referee)
This thesis is focused on vowels and describes them as to their articulatory, auditory, and acoustic properties. The following chapter presents a phonological description of two specific languages - English and Spanish. The aforementioned languages are then compared in their vocalic systems, phonotactical patterns and orthographical representation of vowels. Based on the knowledge gained from the comparison of English and Spanish, several hypotheses regarding Spanish pronunciation of English were formed. The validity of these hypotheses was investigated through the use of an experiment. 15 recording of native Spanish speakers reading an original English text are perceptually analysed in the empirical part. The aim is to prove that the wide variety of English vowels causes pronunciation difficulties to Spanish speakers, who are used to differentiating only 5 pure vowels. The socio-cultural background and the language competencies of the respondents are considered when interpreting the amassed data. The results of the experiment, which confirm the majority of the hypotheses, are presented in the final part of the thesis.
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Utilization of the Us versus Them Dichotomy in 2020 Campaign Speeches of Joe Biden and Donald Trump
Pýcha, Jaroslav ; Pípalová, Renata (advisor) ; Lancová, Klára (referee)
This thesis aims to analyze the camping speeches of the two major candidates running for President of the Unites States in the 2020 general election and to inspect the ways in which both the candidates utilize the Us versus Them dichotomy. In doing so, the thesis provides a critique of the texts produced by the candidates and seeks to unveil their ideological motivation. As categorizing entities has a profound effect on the audience and their perception of reality, the goal is not only to unveil what entities the candidates discuss, but also to determine how they classify these entities. In addition, the strategies used by both the candidates to achieve entity evaluation are compared in order to contrast their rhetorical styles. The theoretical part of the thesis overviews concepts related to the construction of group identities and other ways of reproducing ideology in discourse. Furthermore, Hasan's approach to text analysis, which is employed in the analytical part, is introduced. A brief biography of both the candidates and a description of the US presidential election system are included as well. The analytical part is composed of Critical Discourse Analyses of selected topical segments from campaign speeches of Donald Trump and Joe Biden. Special focus is dedicated to the strategies the...
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The Contract between "Us" and "Them" on the Aeronet.cz Website
Pýcha, Jaroslav ; Podzimek, Jan (advisor) ; Nečas, Vlastimil (referee)
This thesis focuses on the Aeronet.cz website and the division of society into 'Us' and 'Them' in the context of the website. The thesis is divided into two parts - a theoretical one and a research one. The theoretical part aims to describe the background of the researched website and certain phenomena which are believed to be connected to the website. This part also includes a review of theoretical concepts pertaining to the connection of language and ideology. Furthermore, certain strategies utilized in group identity construction and division of society into differently evaluated segments are described. The research is conducted in the form of a semiotic analysis but incorporates certain elements of critical discourse analysis as well. The analysis has two main goals. The first goal is to describe the composition of 'Us' and 'Them' groups in the context of the portal, the second goal is to investigate which strategies of identity construction are employed to achieve such division. To support the findings, the thesis offers a detailed overview of individual entities and their evaluation. A description of strategies from all levels of the research, which were used to evaluate a certain entity, is also included. The discussion consists of synthesis of all the findings with respect to both...
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Common Pronunciation Mistakes among Spanish Speakers of English with the Focus on Vowels
Pýcha, Jaroslav ; Červinková Poesová, Kristýna (advisor) ; Bojarová, Marie (referee)
This thesis is focused on vowels and describes them as to their articulatory, auditory, and acoustic properties. The following chapter presents a phonological description of two specific languages - English and Spanish. The aforementioned languages are then compared in their vocalic systems, phonotactical patterns and orthographical representation of vowels. Based on the knowledge gained from the comparison of English and Spanish, several hypotheses regarding Spanish pronunciation of English were formed. The validity of these hypotheses was investigated through the use of an experiment. 15 recording of native Spanish speakers reading an original English text are perceptually analysed in the empirical part. The aim is to prove that the wide variety of English vowels causes pronunciation difficulties to Spanish speakers, who are used to differentiating only 5 pure vowels. The socio-cultural background and the language competencies of the respondents are considered when interpreting the amassed data. The results of the experiment, which confirm the majority of the hypotheses, are presented in the final part of the thesis.
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