A Phonological Study of Icelandic Pronunciation of English: Plosives and Aspiration

Abstract

This study concerns the documentation of the Icelandic pronunciation of English focusing on plosives in Icelandic English and phonetic and phonological properties that apply. Twelve Icelanders were recorded re-telling the story of Perrault’s ‘Little Red Riding Hood’ and these recordings then analysed and words that I found relevant to my research picked out and transcribed. Furthermore, I recorded native speakers of both RP English and General American to use as comparison. All in all there are 14 recordings, the analyses and transcriptions of which can be found tables in the appendices of this essay. In my discussion of plosives in Icelandic English I use examples from these recordings to demonstrate my points. In the final chapters I bring my findings together and give a short overview of Icelandic English from what I have gathered through this research. I should emphasise that this study only touches on the tip of the iceberg. To achieve the complete documentation of Icelandic English a more comprehensive study must be undertaken but it is my hope that my study will perhaps provide the incentive for further work.