QUESTIONNAIRES FOR THE VERBAL INTERVIEW a. How will you pronounce the word finance as a noun and as a verb?

b. Will you prefer the pronunciation of finance with [a] or [i:]? c. Why do you think people say ['fa nans] and not [fi:'nans]? d. How will you pronounce schedule? e. In which level are you? f. Which courses do you offer? g. What do you think about the person who says [fi:'nans] instead of [fanans] or [fa nans] instead of [fi:nans]? (Attach the questionnaire as an appendix!) The interview was done in English in exception of the responses to questions (c) and (d) where the respondents were encouraged to respond in a Ghanaian language they are conversant with. The verbal interviews were recorded with a recorder and later transcribed (with a pen delete!) on a separate sheet on which all the social and linguistic variables were tabulated and checked. These lasted for about ten minutes each after which the audio recordings were transferred onto a personal computer and played with a louder speaker for corroboration. Each respondent was engaged in a casual conversation with the interviewer for at least two minutes (to introduce the rationale and import of the study) before the real interview questions were administered. Respondents were encouraged to continue with whatever they were doing before the interviewer got to the scene. From the onset respondents were made aware of the

recording procedures. Most student respondents were interviewed on their return from lectures and others in the TV room when they were relaxed to share views. Questions (a) (d) were asked to elicit the phonological variants under investigation based on the interviewers discretion while the rest of the questions were asked to seek information about the social network that the members have with one another. All the interviews were conducted by the researcher. Information about age, gender and level were taken into consideration.