2/6/2016 Type of Work: Language Materials Development Duration: 06-Jul-2015 to 14-Aug-2015 Compensation: Paid Attractive compensation Internship Location: Princeton, New Jersey, USA Minimum Education Level: No Minimum ELL summer interns will produce materials for use on large-scale, high-stakes standardized tests of English language proficiency. Each intern will work on one of the following: - TOEFL iBT® Test: The TOEFL iBT test is taken by nonnative speakers of English who are planning to apply to a college or university in an English-speaking country. - TOEIC® Tests: The TOEIC tests are taken principally by people who need to communicate with both native and nonnative speakers of English in the context of the global workplace. - TOEFL® Primary™ Tests: The TOEFL Primary tests are taken by nonnative English language learners ages 8+ who are studying English as part of their school curriculum. They measure the English communication skills that provide a foundation for students’ future success. Duties and Responsibilities: The test development work is intellectually challenging and rewarding. The work may include: - writing items that test knowledge of grammar, vocabulary, and reading comprehension; - creating conversations and talks that test listening comprehension; - developing scenarios and prompts that allow candidates to demonstrate their writing, speaking or teaching skills; - analyzing curriculum and matching the curriculum with prescribed test specifications. Requirements: Interns must have a very high degree of fluency in English but do not need to be native speakers, nor do they need to be U.S. citizens. Non-U.S. citizens must have appropriate work visas. All interns must have excellent writing skills. The work requires verbal precision and sensitivity to nuance, analytic skill, attention to detail, and receptiveness to instruction. Interns must be able to work well individually and collaboratively, carefully consider constructive feedback, and manage their time effectively to meet targets. How to Apply: Each of the test sections hiring for the summer is associated with a specific work sample. You will need to complete and submit a separate work sample for each test section for which you would like to be considered. Directions for completing and submitting your work sample(s), along with a cover letter and résumé, are available on the ELL Summer Institute Web site at: Applications are due Sunday, March 29, Applicants are selected mainly on the basis of their performance on the work samples. Work samples will be evaluated in April, and you will be notified of your status by April 29. Application Deadline: 29-Mar-2015

2/6/2016 Vowel Shift in English

2/6/2016 Trisyllabic shortening Historically long vowels and diphthongs became lax when followed by two syllables ser[e:]ne > ser[ ɛ ]nity Later [e:] > [i] ser[e:]ne > ser[i]ne

2/6/2016 Trisyllabic shortening This process results in these alternations

2/6/2016 Trisyllabic shortening Meter / metrical Obscene / obscenity Nation / national Cone / conical Bible / biblical Discrete / discretion Code / codify Pronounce / pronunciation

2/6/2016 Trisyllabic shortening This is in part responsible for many written vowels having two common pronunciations “a” [e ɪ, æ] “e” [i, ɛ ] “i” [a ɪ, I ] “o” [o ʊ, ɑ ] “u” [u ʊ, ʌ ]

2/6/2016 Trisyllabic shortening Generativists assume each pair of vowels is the same in UR Sane and sanity both have abstract [se:n] as the root and derive the vowels in s[e ɪ ]ne and s[æ]nity by rule

2/6/2016 Trisyllabic shortening Experimentalist like Wang and Derwing show that people connect these spelling rule vowel pairs and can apply them to new words “She is a prestice lady who has a lot of presticity”

2/6/2016 Trisyllabic shortening Experimentalist like Wang and Derwing show that people connect these spelling rule vowel pairs and can apply them to new words “She is a prestice lady who has a lot of presticity” Connection between vowels doesn't mean they come from single vowel in UR

2/6/2016 Surface Analogy 1 The phonetic form of one word will influence the pronunciation of a related word Interv[i]ne and interv[ ɛ ]ntion Both [i] and [ ɛ ] could be used in the nonce word intervenatory This is a spelling rule alternation comp[ ɛ ]l and comp[ ʌ ]lsion could be used in the nonce word comp*lative

2/6/2016 Surface Analogy 2 Don't use a pronunciation that doesn't appear in a related word surv[a ɪ ]ve has no related words like surv[ ɪ ]v- So the nonce word survivatory should be surv[a ɪ ]vatory

2/6/2016 Research Question How do the spelling rules and surface analogy influence the pronunciation of nonce words?

2/6/2016 Research Question How do the spelling rules and surface analogy influence the pronunciation of nonce words?

2/6/2016 Test Items Test items were nonce words and neologisms Derived forms made with -ify, -ical, -atory, -tion, etc. Nonce word “He couldn't stand her den[e ɪ ]gue attitide. If it were for her den__gity he would ask her out.” Neologism “She loves c[ ɑ ]ffee so much that if she could she'd c___ffify everything so it tasted like coffee” People chose between possible pronunciations c[ ɑ ]ffifyno change from coffee c[æ]ffify vowel from related word caffeine c[ ʌ ]ffifyvowel unrelated—distractor answer

2/6/2016 Results Items that tested spelling rule Denague > den__aguity den[e ɪ ]guityno change den[æ]guityspelling rule change den[ ʌ ]guitydistractor vowel

2/6/2016 Results Items that tested spelling rule Denague > den__aguity den[e ɪ ]guityno change53 den[æ]guityspelling rule change346 den[ ʌ ]guitydistractor vowel93

2/6/2016 Results Items that tested surface analogy Coffee > c__ffify c[ ɑ ]ffifyno change from coffee c[æ]ffify vowel from related word caffeine c[ ʌ ]ffifyvowel unrelated—distractor answer

2/6/2016 Results Items that tested surface analogy Coffee > c__ffify c[ ɑ ]ffifyno change from coffee113 c[æ]ffify vowel from related word caffeine186 c[ ʌ ]ffifyvowel unrelated—distractor answer70

2/6/2016 Results Items that tested spelling rule and surface analogy Intervene > interv__natory interv[i]natoryno change interv[ ɛ ]natorypredicted by spelling rule and surface analogy (interv[ ɛ ]ntion) interv[æ]natorydistractor

2/6/2016 Results Items that tested spelling rule and surface analogy Intervene > interv__natory interv[i]natoryno change48 interv[ ɛ ]natorypredicted by spelling rule and surface analogy (interv[ ɛ ]ntion)404 interv[æ]natorydistractor40

2/6/2016 Results Items that tested spelling rule and surface analogy surv[a ɪ ]ve > surv__vative (allrelated words have same vowel) surv[a ɪ ]vative no change predicted by surface analogy surv[I]vatorypredicted by spelling rule surv[ ɛ ]vativedistractor

2/6/2016 Results Items that tested spelling rule and surface analogy surv[a ɪ ]ve > surv__vative (allrelated words have same vowel) surv[a ɪ ]vative no change predicted by surface analogy207 surv[I]vatorypredicted by spelling rule241 surv[ ɛ ]vativedistractor44

2/6/2016 Results Items that tested spelling rule and surface analogy abst[e ɪ ]n > abst__natory(related word abst[ ɛ ]ntion) abst[e ɪ ]natoryno change abst[ ɛ ]natorypredicted by surface analogy abst[æ]natorypredicted by vowel shift

2/6/2016 Results Items that tested spelling rule and surface analogy abst[e ɪ ]n > abst__natory(related word abst[ ɛ ]ntion) abst[e ɪ ]natoryno change45 abst[ ɛ ]natorypredicted by surface analogy187 abst[æ]natorypredicted by vowel shift137

2/6/2016 Conclusions Spelling rule alternations are applied by people to new words Other vowel alternations (non-spelling rule) from morphemic relatives can be applied also (caffeine / coffee, propel / propulsion)

2/6/2016 Conclusions Spelling rule alternations are applied by people to new words Other vowel alternations (non-spelling rule) from morphemic relatives can be applied also (caffeine / coffee, propel / propulsion) Unique UR and rules for spelling alternations have been proposed (trisyllabic shortening) Do we need a unique UR and rules for words like caffeine / coffee, propel / propulsion? Why not just throw out unique UR?