The subtle juncture cues in traditional English can be difficult for speakers of new English varieties to perceive. This preliminary study looks at the perception of word juncture characteristics in three varieties of English, British English (BE), Hong Kong English (HKE) and Singapore English (SE), amongst British and Hong Kong listeners in order to widen our understanding of English juncture characteristics in general. We find that, even though reaction time data indicates that listeners perform quickest in the variety they are most familiar with, not only are juncture differences in BE difficult for Hong Kong listeners to perceive, they are also the most difficult for British listeners. Juncture characteristics in HKE are the easiest to distinguish among the three varieties.
['Peggy Mok', 'Jane Setter', 'Ee Ling Low']
THE PERCEPTION OF WORD JUNCTURE CHARACTERISTICS IN THREE VARIETIES OF ENGLISH