LPD pronunciation preference survey 1998

Introduction

1. This questionnaire concerns words whose pronunciation is debatable, or for which usage is divided. You are asked to record your preference between the two or more possibilities mentioned for each item. Please indicate the pronunciation you prefer. Usually this will also be your own pronunciation.

Inspect the first part of the questionnaire (non-interactive version)

2. This survey is intended to be of British English only. Your answers will be included in a survey of British English speakers' views on pronunciation for a new edition of the Longman Pronunciation Dictionary now in preparation. (This is a follow-up to my 1988 survey, the results of which are reported in the current edition of the dictionary.) The findings may also be reported in the media.

3. The questions are arranged in three sections. In the first section the focus is on consonant sounds, in the second on vowel sounds, and in the third on stress placement. At the end you are also asked to provide certain details about yourself.

4. If there is some item on which you have no opinion, leave a blank. Otherwise, please answer every question. This is a long questionnaire, and may well take you over an hour to complete - thanks for your patience. Your answers will remain anonymous, although you are asked to give your name and address in confidence.

5. The survey questionnaire is available in a number of different formats: as a WWW document, as a printed document, or electronically (as e-mail). You are now reading it as a web document. To participate in the survey, please choose one of the following options:

• respond on-line by using the interactive web version
• download the questionnaire (postscript version, one file, 517 kB , here), or print it out from the web page (non-interactive version, three files, totalling 12-13 pages of A4; start here). After completing it, return it by ordinary post to the following address:

  	Prof. J.C. Wells
  	Dept. of Phonetics and Linguistics
  	University College London
  	Gower Street
  	London WC1E 6BT
  

• convert each of the three sections of the non-interactive version into an e-mail. To do this -- if you are using Windows -- choose Edit | Select All, ctrl-C to Copy to the clipboard; then in your e-mail program ctrl-V to Paste from the clipboard. After completing them, e-mail them to me at j.wells@ucl.ac.uk. Go to the first section....
• e-mail me and ask me to e-mail you a plain-text version (you will lose the text enhancements, i.e. italics and underlining/emboldening). After completing it you can e-mail it back to me
• or e-mail me and ask for a printed version to be sent by ordinary post.

The only versions that enable you to see proper IPA symbols are the downloadable postscript file and the printed version sent by post. The other versions use ASCII substitutes.

Please return the completed questionnaire by 31 October 1998 at the latest.

How to answer

• In the interactive web version, simply click the appropriate "radio button" by your answer at each question.
• If you are sending back the printed version, please place a ring round the letter alongside the answer you choose to each question. Thus

  a	one possibility
  b	another possibility
  ©	the possibility I choose
  

• If you are using e-mail, please mark "###" before the letter alongside your answer. Thus

  a	one possibility
  b	another possibility
  ### c	the possibility I choose
  

Many thanks for your co-operation.