Sun, Sea, Sex and the Unspoilt Countryside + Units 1 & 2 di Lingua Inglese I UNIMI, Sintesi del corso di Lingua Inglese

Scarica Sun, Sea, Sex and the Unspoilt Countryside + Units 1 & 2 di Lingua Inglese I UNIMI e più Sintesi del corso in PDF di Lingua Inglese solo su Docsity! UNIT 1 – PHONETICS AND PHONOLOGY Listening and understanding The success of a listening activity is determined by the difference between your horizons of expectation and what you really get in the spoken interaction. Since you cannot change or (heavily) influence the latter, you will have to work on the former. A voyage around the English language Human language is a fascinating subject. Human language – be it English or any other tongue – is as complex in its own way as any of the biochemical and anatomical functions of the human body. Frameworks and levels A framework is a structure which holds something together. The frameworks of a language enable the understanding of how a language is structured and what rules operate to produce that structure. The frameworks of language are:  lexis: the words of the language;  grammar: the way words are combined into sentences;  discourse: the way sentences are combined into texts;  phonetics and phonology: the sounds and sound patterns of the language;  semantics: the way meaning is constructed by language and context. Speech and writing Language can be spoken or written. Speech is the primary mode of communication. All humans learn to speak as part of their natural biological development. Learning to speak is not something we choose to do: it is an instinctive process. However, we have to make a conscious effort if we are to acquire the ability to write our language, and not all language users develop the same facility for doing this. In our society, writing is highly valued for a variety of reasons including its permanence and the way it embodies our social and cultural codes, such as our laws and our literature. However, other cultures do not depend so heavily on the written language as we do, and there are many people in the world who have not learnt to write. To a large extent it is irrelevant whether we are talking about the language in its spoken or written form (think of sign language!). Lexis and grammar deal mostly with written texts; discourse deals with both written and oral texts; phonetics/phonology deal with oral texts. Which English? English can take many different forms: English in America, in Britain, in British regions, etc… When analysing the lexical and grammatical frameworks of English, it is helpful to use just one variety. This variety typifies or characterises the language. The variety used in this course is Standard British English (SBE). The accent used is Received Pronunciation (RP). We only deal with contemporary English – English as it is spoken at the start of the new millennium (contemporary ≠ modern). We take a descriptive rather than a prescriptive approach. Two key issues: the social value of Received Pronunciation and the fact that it is often very difficult to figure out how to pronounce a word by looking at the way it is written. From phonology to functional linguistics Phonetics → Phonology → Listening = /ı/ and /i:/ → / ı / vs /i:/ → ship vs sheep Phonetics ← Phonology ← Listening = /ı/ and /i:/ ← / ı / vs /i:/ ← ship vs sheep From spelling to pronunciation Spelling problems are caused by the indirect (or ‘abnormal’) relationship between letter and sound, or grapheme and phoneme. Our approach: language awareness, focusing on problems, facing problems through examples, comparative / contrastive approach (English/Italian, English/x). One phoneme > more than one grapheme English spelling does not accurately represent English sounds. One single sound (phoneme) is represented by more than one letter (grapheme). For example: - /i:/ beat, seed, piece, serene, machine; - /ei/ bait, day, veil, obey; - /∫/ shoe, sugar, issue, mansion. One grapheme > more than one phoneme One single letter may represent more than one sound. For example: - Grapheme <a> for: phoneme /æ/ of man; phoneme /α:/ of car, glass; phoneme /ei/ of name. - Grapheme <ch> for: phoneme /t∫/ of cheese, church, cheap; phoneme /∫/ of chalet, champagne, Chicago, chic; phoneme /k/ of character, chemistry, chaos. Silent letters Some letters may represent no sound at all. These are ‘silent’ letters. For example: - silent B: comb, doubt, lamb, subtle; - silent C: abscess, conscious, muscle, science; - silent D: bridge, edge, handsome, Wednesday; - silent E: breathe, hate, like, name; - silent G: bright, design, light, night; - silent H: anchor, character, hour, when; - silent K: knee, knife, knight, know; - silent L: half, salmon, talk, would; - silent M: mnemonic; - silent N: autumn, column, hymn, solemn; - silent P: pneumonia, pseudo, psychology, receipt; - silent T: apostle, castle, listen, often; - silent U: biscuit, circuit, guess, silhouette; - silent W: awry, playwright, sword, wrong. Before going on… There are many “Englishes”, but when analysing the phonological, lexical, grammatical or semantic frameworks of English, linguists find it helpful to use just one variety in order to find out what typifies or characterises the language. The variety generally selected and used is Standard British English. The symbols used in the IPA alphabet Although the phonetic script used to represent sounds looks complicated, many of the characters used are those found in the regular English alphabet. 15 letters of the English alphabet are used in a very similar way in the phonetic alphabet. The following are all consonants: /b/ as in ‘bag’, /d/ as in ‘dog’, /f/ as in ‘fat’, /g/ as in ‘good’, /h/ as in ‘hat’, /l/ as in ‘late’, /m/ as in ‘man’, /n/ as in ‘note’, /p/ as in ‘pot’, /r/ as in ‘rope’, /s/ as in ‘sock’, /t/ as in ‘tear’, /v/ as in ‘vowel’, /w/ as in ‘worm’, /z/ as in ‘zoo’. More symbols Two more letters found in the English alphabet are used in the phonetic script, but they are used in different ways: the symbol /k/ is used to represent the /k/ as in Kate, as well as for many 'c' sounds like cat or care; the symbol /j/ is used in a completely different way to the 'j' in Jam or John. It is used to represent many of the sounds that we associate with the letter ‘y’ (it is a semi-vowel). “Strange” symbols The following seven symbols are quite distinct from any symbol found in the English alphabet. Note that there is no necessary correspondence between sound and spelling!: /ʃ/ as in ship, masher, fish; /ʧ/ as in church, chair, butcher, teach; /ʤ/ as in jeep, agent, large, George; /ʒ/ as in measure, rouge; /ð/ as in this, those, leather, with; /θ/ as in think, mythic, bath, north; /ŋ/ as in singer, hang, long. Articulatory phonetics Articulatory phonetics deals with how we physically produce phonemes (meaningful sounds). The vocal tract The vocal tract is where sounds are produced. We shall concentrate on the larynx (voice box) and everything above it. However, phonation is the result of air passing through the vocal folds and other organs. The flow of air is called airstream: if it flows out of the lungs, it is called egressive airstream; if it flows into the lungs, it is called ingressive airstream. Consonants vs. vowels Consonants involve some kind of narrow, partial or complete closure (stricture), while vowel sounds involve no closure or contact between different parts of the mouth. Consonants The consonant is a speech sound which is produced through a temporary closure (partial or complete) of the vocal tract. There are 24 consonants in the English of RP. Most of the symbols used to represent the sounds are the same as the ones used in the Roman alphabet. Other symbols are drawn from the Greek alphabet (θ) or Anglo-Saxon orthography (Ʒ, ð). We know consonants are different, since if we replace a sound with another, we obtain a different word. Describing consonants A useful way of describing consonant sounds is to look at the way in which they are produced. We distinguish consonant sounds according to three criteria: place of articulation, manner of articulation and presence or absence of voice. Place of articulation A place of articulation is the part of the vocal tract where the closure necessary for a consonant sound is made. The places of articulation used in the consonant phoneme system of RP are: 1. the lips (/b/); 2. the upper teeth (/ð/); 3. the alveolar ridge (/d/); 4. the hard palate (/j/); 5. the soft palate (/g/); 6. the glottis (/h/). Articulators The parts of the mouth involved in making speech sounds are called articulators. We can distinguish two types: passive articulators are those articulators which do not move (upper teeth, alveolar ridge, hard palate), while active articulators are those that do move (the tongue – tip, blade, front and back, and sides). Articulators and sounds Type of sound Articulator involved bilabial /b/, /m/, /p/, /w/ lips labio-dental /f/, /v/ upper front teeth placed against the lower lip (inter-)dental /θ/, /ð/ tongue (tip and sides) between the front teeth and touching the upper teeth alveolar /d/, /l/, /n/, /r/, /s/, /t/, /z/ tongue (tip or blade, and sometimes sides) against the alveolar ridge palato-alveolar /ʃ/, /ʒ/, /tʃ/, /dʒ/ tip or blade of the tongue making contact with the alveolar ridge, while the front of the tongue is raised towards the hard palate palatal /j/ tongue (front and/or sides) against the hard palate velar /g/, /k/, /ŋ/ back of the tongue against the velum (or soft palate) glottal /h/ vocal cords Manner of articulation If we look at the phonemes /b/, /m/, /p/, /w/, they are ALL bilabial sounds; however, they differ in manner of articulation. A sound can be: 1. a plosive; 2. a nasal; 3. a fricative; 4. an affricate; 5. an approximant. Plosives With plosive sounds, the articulators involved block the air, the pressure builds up and when the air is released, there is a small explosion – a plosive sound. Examples: /b/, /p/, /k/, /g/ etc. Nasals With nasal sounds, the articulators are closed (as in plosives). However, some air escapes from the nasal cavity, so the pressure is lower. When the air is released, there is a small burst of air; however, there is less pressure, and the sound resonates in the nasal cavity. Nasals are always voiced. Examples: /m/, /n/. Fricatives With fricative sounds, as with plosives, the nasal cavity is blocked off through the lowering of the velum. In contrast to plosives, the closure isn’t so tight that no air at all can escape. You can pronounce fricatives as long as you have air. Examples: /s/, /f/. Affricates An affricate sound is a combination of a plosive and a fricative. These sounds begin as plosives, but the air is released more gently than in plosives, so that the closure is partially maintained. Examples: /ʧ/, /ʤ/. Approximants Semi-consonants / semi-vowels: - /w, l, r, j/: all voiced; - /w/ bilabial approximant; - /l/ alveolar approximant lateral; - /r/ alveolar approximant central; - /j/ palatal approximant. Voicing If you describe consonants by place and manner of articulation, in some instances you still get TWO sounds per slot: in what way does /s/ differ from /z/? → /s/ is voiceless, /z/ is voiced. Voicing is the vibration of the vocal cords in the articulation of a speech sound. The presence or absence of voice when a phoneme is produced is caused by the state of the vocal cords in the larynx: if the folds are open when the air passes through the larynx, the airstream flows freely and the sound is voiceless, but if the folds are almost closed and the air causes them to vibrate as it passes through, the sound is voiced. The voiced/voiceless quality of a speech sound may create semantic opposition: house /s/ vs to house /z/, to cease /s/ vs to seize /z/.  /b/ → bilabial plosive voiced  /d/ → alveolar plosive voiced  /f/ → labio-dental fricative voiceless  /g/ → velar plosive voiced  /h/ → glottal fricative voiceless  /j/ → palatal approximant voiced  /k/ → velar plosive voiceless  /l/ → alveolar approximant lateral voiced  /m/ → bilabial nasal voiced  /n/ → alveolar nasal voiced - the nasals /m/, /n/ and /ŋ/: /m/ and /n/ occur in all three positions (mat, among, name / nose, ant, can); /ŋ/ occurs in word-final (sing) and word-medial (finger) positions, but NEVER in word- initial; - the approximants /l/, /r/, /w/ and /j/ have a limited distribution in single consonant occurrence, but they are VERY PRODUCTIVE in CLUSTERS (= combinations of consonants). They all occur word- initially: rise, look, wet, you; /l/ and /r/ appear often word-medially: allow, arrow, /w/ occurs more rarely word-medially: award, while /j/ does not occur word-medially; only /l/ occurs in word-final position: cool (cf. RP!). The distribution of vowels In monosyllabic words, the structure can be: VC, CV, CVC (egg, boo, bite)  Long monophthongs occur in all three positions: /i:/ eave, bead, bee | /ɑ:/ art, bard, bar | /ɔ:/ ought, board, bore | /u:/ ooze, food, boo | /ɛ:/ irk, bird, purr.  In short monophthongs: short vowels do not occur in open syllables (CV); the vowel sound /ʊ/ does not occur in VC (closed) monosyllables; /ə/ only occurs in unstressed syllables! Thus, it does not occur in monosyllabic words (although it does occur in monosyllabic words when pronounced in connected speech): of /ɒv/ (strong) /əv/ (weak).  Closing diphthongs (gliding toward /ɪ/ and /ʊ/) occur in all three structures (CVC, VC, CV): /eɪ/ bait, age, bay | /aɪ/ bite, ice, buy | /ɔɪ/ void, oil, boy | /əʊ/ bode, ode, beau | /aʊ/ fowl, owl, bough.  Centring diphthongs occur in CVC and CV structures: /ɪə/ beard, beer (+ ear, VC) | /ɛə/ laird, bear (+ air, VC) | /ʊə/ gourd, poor. The English syllable Note: every syllable must have a vowel ! A single vowel can be a word (oar, ear), but no single consonant can be a word. If a word has two distinct vowels, it is a disyllabic word (o.ther). Syllable structure Phonotactics is the way phonemes group together to form syllables. They do according to a pattern or syllable template. The central element of a syllable is a vowel. Clusters A combination of consonants is called a cluster. The maximum number of consonants in syllable-initial position is three: strange, spring. Initial consonants We mentioned earlier that all consonants, with the exception of /ŋ/, can occur in word-initial position. All these consonants are called initial consonants. The preceding and following consonants are called pre- initial and post-initial consonants. Final consonants As with syllable-initial consonants, we can say that all consonants that can occur in word-final positions are final consonants. Thus, all consonants with the exceptions of the approximants /r*, j, w/ and of the glottal fricative /h/ are final consonants. Word-initial two-consonant clusters Options are systematically limited:  the pre-initial consonant can only be /s/;  /s/ can only be followed by 9 other consonants: the voiceless plosives /p, t, k/ (/sp/, /st/, /sk/), the voiceless labio-dental fricative /f/ (/sf/), a nasal (but not /ŋ/, which doesn’t occur word-initially), so /m, n/ (/sm/, /sn/), or an approximant (but not /r/), so /l, w, j/ (/sl/, /sw/, /sj/);  the plosives and the fricative which can follow /s/ are all, like /s/, voiceless;  the post-initial consonants are all approximants. Word-initial three-consonant clusters They are related to the combinations possible for two consonant clusters:  /spr-/ (as in spring) is only possible as an English cluster because the initial consonant /p/ can be preceded by /s/ and followed by /r/ in two-consonant clusters;  it is difficult to say precisely why possible combinations such as /stw-/ and /slj-/ fail to occur: they may be accidental gaps or due to rare occurrences;  /j/, for instance, in clusters such as /fj-/, /stj-/ and so on, almost always occurs before /u/. Word-final monosyllabic clusters  word-final clusters have a maximum of four consonants;  all the consonants occur alone word-finally with the exception of /h, w, j/;  the approximant /r/ does not occur word-finally in RP (although it does in rhotic accents);  the large group of singly occurring consonants can be said to fill the final consonant position;  consonants which precede them are pre-final, and those which follow are post-final. Word-final two-consonant clusters (pre-final C + final C combinations)  in pre-final position, the consonant will be a nasal, the voiceless alveolar fricative /s/, or the lateral approximant /l/;  only /s/ occurs in the pre-initial consonant position;  the pre-final consonant position can be not only /s/ but also four other consonants: /m, n, ŋ, l/;  the final + post-final combination also has several possibilities;  almost all are the result of adding inflections, with the only exceptions: next /nekst/, thousandth /θaυzəntθ/ and sixth /siksθ/. Word-final two-consonant clusters (final C + post-final C combinations)  asterisks show that examples are the result of adding inflections;  some consonant clusters only exist word-finally because they occur as the result of an inflection being added to a noun or verb;  some consonants – particularly the nasals /m/ and /n/ and the approximant /l/ – are able to combine with both voiced and voiceless consonants. Word-final two-consonant clusters (pre-final C + final C + post-final C combinations)  a three-consonant cluster only occurs if its first two elements and its last two elements occur separately as two-consonant clusters, and the same principle applies to word-final combinations;  most examples derive from adding noun or verb inflections;  there are only a few ‘pure’ examples: glimpse /glimps/ and twelfth /twelfθ/. Four-syllable final clusters Some words in English end in four-syllable clusters, but they are rare: these words are either nouns ending in a three-consonant cluster with the plural inflection /-s/, or verbs which have a /-s/ inflection in the third person singular of the present tense (he sculpts). In other words, there are no four-consonant final clusters in uninflected words in English. Summary  /h/ never occurs at the end of words;  /ŋ/ never occurs at the beginning;  /r/ does not occur in word-final position in RP (but it does in other varieties);  /l, r, w, j/ often occur in clusters;  clusters have typically a maximum of three consonants;  when a fourth consonant is present (final position only), it is the result of inflection;  one example of five consonants: angsts /ˈæŋksts/. The syllable template We need to consider the phenomenon of rhyme. In rhyming pairs, e.g. sad and glad, straight and hate, it is the vowel + any following consonants that provide the rhyme; the word-initial consonant(s) may change. This suggests a link between the length of the vowel and the consonants which follow it. In RP, short monophthongs have to be followed by one or more consonants, but almost all vowels (excepting only /υ/ and /υə/) can occur without a preceding consonant. A more appropriate syllable template  onset: the opening consonant(s), if present;  rhyme: the obligatory vowel followed by any final consonant;  peak: the vowel at the ‘centre’ of the syllable, having the greatest sonority;  coda: any consonants which conclude a syllable. Syllabification Syllabification is the way in which a word is divided into syllables. Sometimes the morphemes in a word will correlate with its syllable structure. Triphthongs Another issue we must tackle before we close off this topic is that of triphthongs. Triphthongs result from the fact that, sometimes, a closing diphthong is followed by a glide towards schwa: fire /faɪǝ/, sour /saʊǝ/. Speakers will differ as to whether a triphthong results in one syllable or two. In sour /saυə/, or fire /faiə/ the number of syllables perceived depends on the prominence given to the middle element of the triphthong. In other cases, esp. words with an inflectional or derivational ending (such as <-er>), the perception is probably of two syllables. stress will fall on the final syllable, but when this occurs it is normal to give a little more prominence to the first syllable: ,disbe'lief, ,counter'act, ,contra'dict, ,auctio'neer. Pitch Pitch is the apparent height of the voice, ranging from low to high (it has to do with the vibration frequency of our vocal cords). Rhythm Rhythm refers to the pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in speech. In spontaneous speech a consistent alternation between stressed and unstressed syllables is highly unlikely. What speakers of English normally do to compensate for the irregularity in occurrence of stressed and unstressed syllables is to space the stressed syllables at approximately equal intervals. This adds something like a regular beat to the utterance. Languages which use this strategy as a means of constructing rhythm are known as stress- timed languages, as opposed to syllable-timed languages, such as French where all syllables have approximately equal duration. English is fundamentally a stress-timed language, although there are some varieties of English (such as Indian English) which have a rather different rhythmic pattern. Intonation Intonation is the way in which pitch rises and falls in speech. The pitch of our voices constantly changes during speech to produce different meanings, mainly the emotional one, but also the grammatical and informational one. The concept of tone refers to a noticeable change of pitch in a syllable. A syllable which carries a tone is called a tonic syllable, or nucleus. A tonic syllable normally occur in a tone group/tone unit. The semantic or attitudinal function of intonation There are five tones in English. They communicate different emotional states: - the falling tone gives an impression of finality and certainty; - the rising tone is used to make general questions that imply uncertainty or a sense of incompleteness by the speaker; it too is used to encourage someone or to make a polite request; - the fall-rising tone shows limited agreement, response with reservation, uncertainty, or doubt; - the rise-falling tone is used to convey strong feelings of approval, disapproval or surprise; - the level tone express a sense of boredom. The grammatical function of intonation Different intonational patterns can signal different grammatical information: the falling tone in declaratives, imperatives and wh- questions; the rising tone in yes/no questions, unfinished lists. The accentual function of intonation Different intonational patterns can stress different information: it can be used to emphasise certain informations, to clear ambiguities or point out contrasts. Voice quality The voice quality is a type of spoken voice (breathy, creaky, husky, whispered, etc.). Volume The volume is the degree of softness or loudness with which speech is produced (e.g. in a loud voice). Tempo Tempo is speed of speech (usually measured in words per minute). UNIT 2 – VARIETIES OF ENGLISH Language and society Society is a group of people who are drawn together for a certain purpose or purposes, while language is what the members of a particular society speak. When two or more people communicate with each other in speech, we can call the system of communication that they employ a code → a language. Evolution of English Since the fall of the Roman Empire, English has undergone major changes: Germanic tribes (Angles, Saxons, Jutes, Frisians) invaded Britain (IV-V century) → development of Old English; Viking invasions (VIII century) → influence of Old Norse; the Normans invasions in the XII century (1066) → influence of French and Latin. Sociolinguistics Language evolution is influenced by the movement of peoples, in fact it changes depending on the social “group” of speakers. Sociolinguistics is the study of language and linguistic behaviour as influenced by social and cultural factors. Language variation in English We now know that English (like all languages) is not a self-contained monosystem, a unitary whole, but a socio-cultural polysystem or a diasystem, i.e. a “system of systems”, a system which is not unitary and uniform but rather made up of a number of sub-systems, all sharing some core characteristics, but each characterized by some peculiar distinctive features. Dimensions of language variations There are 5 dimensions of variation: - diatopic variation (geographical): differences in pronunciation (water), spelling (labour/labor, centre/center, programme/program), vocabulary (autumn/fall), etc. It also comprehends national varieties → Scottish English, Canadian English, Australian English. - diastratic variation (social): it is the variation of a language according to the social class or the group the speaker belongs to. The speech of an old, non-educated woman, for example, will be different from the speech of a young, educated boy. Prestige is the key factor. Variation depends on social group, social network and education. - diamesic variation (written or spoken): is due to the medium used. It is the variation of a language depending on the medium of communication. For example, the variety used during a phone call will be different from the variety used to write an e-mail. - diachronic variation (chronological, historical): it refers to the variation of a language over time. As a matter of fact, languages are analogous to species, so they are not fixed entities but they evolve through time, as well as alive creatures do. - diaphasic or diatypic variation (contextual-functional): the language variety used is determined by the context and the purpose of the message. Domain-specific languages used in specific domains of civil, professional and institutional life and associated with specific topics and disciplinary fields are known as LSPs (Languages for Specific Purposes), and are defined with reference to the professional, disciplinary or technical field to which they pertain (e.g. the language of the law). The spread of English These patterns of expansion, settlement and colonisation have had an effect on the relationships, similarities and differences between the varieties of English which have grown up in different parts of the world. These differences and similarities are most obvious at the level of pronunciation. Varieties of English around the world differ relatively little in their consonant systems, because most differences can be observed at the level of vowel systems (even here, differences are not enormous). Lexically and grammatically, the split between the “English” and “American” varieties is neater; yet, each variety has its individual lexical and grammatical characteristics. Classification of Englishes The spread of English around the world is often discussed in terms of three distinct groups of users, where English is used respectively as: 1) a native language (ENL); the primary language of the majority population of a country, such as in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, South Africa, Ireland, Nigeria, New Zealand, Belize, Gibraltar and various Caribbean Island; 2) a second language (ESL); an additional language for intranational as well as international communication in communities that are multilingual, such as in India, Pakistan, Singapore, Hong Kong, Philippines, Ghana, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Uganda, Tanzania, Sri Lanka, Papua New Guinea and Micronesia. Most of these Englishes developed as a result of imperial expansion that brought the language to various parts of the world; 3) a foreign language (EFL); used almost exclusively for international communication, such as in Japan, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Scandinavia, Ex Eastern Europe, Russia, Ex USSR, China, Central America, South America and the Arabic-speaking world. British Englishes British Englishes are related to their geographical origin. We can find four variations of it: English English (EngEng), Scottish English (ScotEng), Welsh English (WEng) and Irish English (IrEng), which is separated into Northern Irish English (NIrEng) and Southern Irish English (SIrEng). Southern English - closest variety to the RP standard; - <l> allophones, clear /l/ vs dark /ł/ lull: /lʌł/ → even vocalized /hɪʊ/; - /ʍ/ vs /w/: most EngEng accents have lost the original contrast: witch vs which, Wales vs whales; - <t> → /ʔ/: glottal stop (except at the beginning of a stressed syllable) → ‘glottaling’: between /bɪtwi:n/ bitter /bɪtə/, /bɪʔə/ fit /fɪt/, /fɪʔ/; evening afternoon and evening foostering fuss to cog to cheat yoke gadget, thing English as a Native Language (ENL) The UK and Ireland are not the only places where English is spoken as a native language. The presence of ENL outside Britain is due to historical and geo-political factors. The geographical and demographic expansion of “English” started in the XVI century, as a natural consequence of the political expansion of the British Empire. The Commonwealth of Nations – Southern Hemisphere varieties The working language of the Commonwealth of Nations is English; however, English is not the native language in all the 52 Commonwealth countries, but only in a number of them. The Southern Hemisphere varieties of Australia, New Zealand and South Africa are similar to each other, despite the thousands of miles separating the three countries; however strange to those who speak these varieties, many people from other parts of the English-speaking world often have difficulty in telling one from the other. Australian, New Zealand and South African English The sociolinguistic situation is similar in the three countries: very little regional variation (diatopic) in the English used (≠ English in Britain); a greater deal of social variation (diastratic); “mild” vs. “broad” accents: mild differs slightly from RP (towards the top of the social scale) and tend to be found amongst older speakers (RP still has some prestige in these three countries), while broad differs considerably from RP. Australasian The AusEng and NZEng varieties are also referred to as Australasia (AusNzEng). Australasia is a geographical region of Oceania comprising Australia, New Zealand, the island of New Guinea and neighbouring islands of the Pacific Ocean. Australian English English has been spoken in Australia since 1788 and it is spoken by about 20 million native speakers. Australian English (AusEng) is a non-rhotic variety of English spoken by most native-born Australians. Phonologically, it is one of the most regionally homogeneous language varieties in the world. As with most dialects of English, it is distinguished primarily by its vowel phonology. The Australian English vowels /ɪ/, /e/ and /eː/ are noticeably closer (pronounced with a higher tongue position) than their contemporary Received Pronunciation equivalents. Three main varieties of Australian English are spoken according to linguists: broad (also called strine), is recognisable and familiar to English speakers around the world, it is prevalent nationwide, but is especially common in rural areas; general, is the most common of Australian accents, it is especially prominent in urban Australia and is used as a standard language for Australian films, television programs and advertising; and cultivated, which has in the past been perceived as indicating high social class or education, and it also has some similarities to Received Pronunciation. They are part of a continuum, reflecting variations in accent. They can, but do not always, reflect the social class, education and urban or rural background of the speaker. - AusEng is non-rhotic and has linking /r/ and intrusive /r/; - like south-of-England non-RP accents, AusEng has /i:/ rather than /ɪ/ in very, many, etc.; thus, seedy has the same vowel in both syllables in AusEng, while the vowels in city differ; - AusEng follows RP in having /ɑː/ in laugh, path, grass, etc., but it differs from RP, and is more like non-RP north-of- England accents, in often having /æ/ in dance, sample, plant, branch, etc.; - the /ɑː/ vowel is a very front [a:] in comparison to most other varieties of English; - similarly to, though less than, south-of-England non-RP accents, AusEng has /ə/ rather than /ɪ/ in unstressed syllables: horses, wanted, but also in naked, David, honest, village, etc.; - also in the unstressed syllables in words such as begin /bə’gɪn/ and laxity /’læksəti:/. This is known as the Weak Vowel Merger: where rabbit and abbot rhyme; - intervocalic /t/ as in city, better, may become the voiced flap [d̯], as in NAmEng, but less frequently (compare the glottal stop /ʔ/); - AusEng often has an /l/ that is darker than in RP, e.g. leaf [łɜɪf]; - assume may be pronounced /əʃúːm/ rather than /əsúːm/; - presume may have /ʒ/ rather than /z/; - Australia, auction, salt, which may have /ɒ/ or /ɔː/ in RP, only have /ɒ/ in AusEng; - days of the week tend to be pronounced with final /eɪ/ rather than RP /ɪ/: Monday /mʌndeɪ/; - initial /tj/, /dj/, as in tune and during, may be pronounced /tʃ/ and /dʒ/; - the sequence /lj/ often becomes /j/, as in brilliant; - memo is pronounced /mi:mou/, not /mɛmou/; - the use of have in expressing possession, as in I have a new car, is more usual in EngEng than in AusEng, where got, as in I've got a new car, is preferred; - in EngEng, it is quite usual for collective nouns to take plural verbs, but not in AusEng: The government have/has made a mistake, The team are/is playing very badly; - in colloquial AusEng, the feminine pronoun she can be used to refer to inanimate nouns and in impersonal constructions: She'll be right ( = Everything will be all right), She's a stinker today ( = The weather is excessively hot today); - AusEng, like USEng, may have, for example, Have you ever gone to London?, where EngEng would often prefer Have you ever been to London?; - thanks is often used rather than please in requests: Can I have a cup of tea, thanks?; - colloquial abbreviations are more frequent than in EngEng: beaut for beautiful, uni for university; - abbreviated nouns ending in /i:/ are more common in AusEng than in EngEng: truckie for truck driver, tinnie for tin (esp. used to denote a can of beer); - abbreviated nouns ending in /ou/ are also more common, and many forms are unknown in EngEng: arvo for afternoon, muso for musician; - abbreviated personal names ending in /zə/ or /z/ are common: Bazza for Barry, Shaz for Sharon; - there are less differences between AusEng and EngEng than between AmEng and EngEng. Plus, AusEng has many borrowings from Australian aboriginal languages. bludger loafer, sponger picture theatre cinema crook ill, angry radiator (electric) fire dag eccentric person sedan saloon car drongo fool singlet vest footpath pavement spell rest, break frock dress station stock farm get fetch stove cooker goodday hello stroller push-chair gumboots wellington boots to barrack for to support hard yakka hard work to bot to cadge, to borrow lolly sweet to chunder to vomit one-storey house bungalow to front up to arrive paddock field to rubbish to pour scorn on park parking space to shoot through to leave New Zealand English New Zealand English (NZEng) is the English as spoken in New Zealand. It has been spoken in New Zealand since the early XIX century and it is spoken by about 4 million native speakers out of a population of 4.7 million people. Phonetically and phonologically is very similar to AusEng. The NZEng vowel /ɪ/ as in bid is a central vowel in the region of [ə]. The contrast between AusEng bid [bid] and NZEng [bəd] is very clear, and the most noticeable indication of whether a speaker is an Australian or a New Zealander. - NZEng resembles AusEng in avoiding shall, should; in lacking totally the construction I'll give it him; and, in the written language, in preferring singular verb agreement, as The team is playing badly; - many NZEng speakers also take shall-avoidance one stage further than AusEng speakers, in the ScotEng manner, and use constructions such as Will I close the window? rather than EngEng Shall I close the window? or NAmEng Should I close the window?; - corresponding to EngEng at the weekend and NAmEng on the weekend many NZEng speakers have in the weekend; - as in AusEng, thanks can be used where other varieties of English normally have please: Can I have a cup of tea, thanks?; - as in AusEng, certain abbreviated forms not found in EngEng or NAmEng are common in colloquial speech: beaut for beautiful, beauty, ute for utility vehicle, pick-up truck; - as in AusEng, although the words involved are not in all cases the same, colloquial abbreviations ending in -/ou/ are common: arvo for afternoon, smoko for break, rest period; - as in AusEng, although the words involved are not in all cases the same, colloquial abbreviations ending in -/i:/ are common: boatie for boating enthusiast, postie for postman, delivery worker (also found in ScotEng). bach (from bachelor) cabin, cottage aroha love crib cabin, cottage (South) haka posture dance domain recreation area iwi tribe hoon yob kaumatua elder identity character mana power, honour Kiwi New Zealander pa village lairy loud (of colours) pakeha white person to farewell to say goodbye to powhiri welcome to flat to live in a shared flat rangatira chief to front to turn up, to appear rangatiratanga kingdom to jack up to arrange tangata monster to skite to boast tapu sacred to uplift to pick up, to collect umu oven to wag to play truant waka canoe tramping hiking whenua land, country - IndEng uses nominal rather than participial forms of some words when used as adjectives: colour pencils ( = coloured), schedule flight ( = scheduled); - IndEng uses itself and only to emphasize time or place, where EngEng speakers would usually use intonation to provide emphasis: Can I meet with you tomorrow itself?, We arrived today only; - IndEng uses adverbial there for 'dummy' there: I'm sure an explanation is there vs. I'm sure there is an explanation; - the auxiliaries could and would are often used instead of their present forms can and will because IndEng speakers feel the past forms are more tentative and thus more polite: We hope that you could join us, The lecture would begin at 2:00; - the auxiliary may is used to express obligations politely in IndEng: This furniture may be removed tomorrow vs. This furniture is to be removed tomorrow; - the use of the present tense with durational phrases (indicating a period from past to present) where EngEng would require the present perfect (unusual in more educated IndEng): I am here since two o'clock vs. I have been here since two o'clock; - the use of future forms in temporal and conditional clauses where EngEng would require present tense forms: When you will arrive, please visit me vs. When you arrive, please visit me; - there is an absence of sequence-of-tense constraints: When I saw him last week, he told me that he is coming vs. When I saw him last week, he told me that he was coming; - the use of progressive aspect with habitual actions (I am doing it often vs. I do it often), with completed actions (Where are you coming from? vs. Where have you come from?), and with stative verbs (Are you wanting anything? vs. Do you want anything?); - the use of the perfective aspect instead of the simple past (especially with past-time adverbs): I have been there ten years ago, We have already finished it last week; - the absence of subject-verb inversion in direct questions, and the use of such inversion in indirect questions (exactly the opposite of EngEng); - the use of a universal, undifferentiated tag question - isn't it? - regardless of person tense, or main clause auxiliary: You are going home soon, isn't it?; - in IndEng there is substantial lexical borrowing from Indian languages into English; - other vocabulary differences between EngEng and IndEng are due to extension or alteration of meaning of EngEng words, retention of archaic forms or innovations. almirah chest of drawers hotel restaurant, café appreciable appreciated jawan soldier as such consequently, therefore lakh one hundred thousand backside behind, in back of lathi long heavy stick of bamboo bandh total strike in an area playback artiste professional singer singing offstage while performer mimes words onstage biodata curriculum vitæ police firing shooting by police co-brother wife’s sister’s husband ryot farmer colony residential area sahib sir, master cousin-sister female cousin stepney spare wheel, substitute crore ten million stir demonstration, agitation dhobi washerman swadeshi indigenous, native durzi tailor tiffin lunch eve-teasing teasing girls to be out of station to be away from place where one works furlong ⅛ of a mile to gherao to demonstrate against someone by not allowing him to leave the office hartal strike used as political gesture to half-fry to fry (an egg) on one side North American English There is more regional variation in NAmEng pronunciation than in AusNZEng and SAfEng. There is no universally accepted totally regionless standard pronunciation as in EngEng. - NAmEng is rhotic and has /r/ in bird, card, car, etc. (and in the word colonel [kɹnł]); - phonetically, /r/ is pronounced rather differently from RP: greater retroflexion (the tip of the tongue is curled back further) than in RP; - NAmEng differs from RP by having /i/ rather than /ɪ/ in very, etc.; - the three RP vowels /ɒ/, /æ/ and /ɑː/ correspond to only two vowels in NAmEng, /ɑ/ and /æ/; - phonetic difference between RP /ɒ/ and USEng /ɑ/; - different distribution in word sets of the vowels /ɑ/ and /ɔ/ (NAmEng) vs /ɔ/ and /ɔ:/ (RP); - almost all vowels in NAmEng are somewhat different from RP vowels; - the vowel of pot is unrounded [ɑ] in NAmEng, rounded [ɒ] in RP; - the vowel /ɔ/ of paw in USEng tends to be shorter, more open and less rounded than the equivalent vowel /ɔ:/ in RP; - very front realizations of /ou/ such as RP [øu] are not found in most varieties of NAmEng; - the diphthong /ei/ may be closer in NAmEng; - the first element of /ɑu/ tends to be more front in NAmEng than in RP: NAmEng [au], RP [au]; - glottal stops not usually found in NAmEng, except before /n/ button [bəʔņ] or, in New York City and Boston, before /l/: bottle [bɑʔļ]; - final /t/ is often unreleased in NAmEng, especially before a following consonant, as in that man; - the clear vs dark /l/ allophonic variation is not found or not strong: /l/ is fairly dark in all positions; - intervocalic /t/, as in better, in NAmEng is most normally a vocalic flap [ḓ], not unlike the flapped /r/, [ɾ], of ScotEng. In many varieties the result is a neutralization of the distribution between /t/ and /d/ in this position: ladder and latter both have [ḓ]; - this flapped [ḓ] is consistently used in NAmEng in latter, city, etc. by most speakers, except in very formal styles, where [t] may occur. - there are also non-systematic differences between NAmEng and EngEng involving individual or small groups of words → no regularity → unpredictable (CanEng often uses the EngEng variant); - as in AusEng, many USEng speakers have a strong tendency to reduce /lj/ to /j/: million /mɪjən/; - also, NAmEng: aluminum /əlúmənəm/ vs EngEng aluminium /aèlu:mínjəm/; - either, neither can have either /i:/ or /ai/ in both NAmEng and EngEng, but in educated speech /iðər/ is more common in USEng, /aiðər/ in EngEng; - some words spelled with er have /ər/ in NAmEng corresponding to /ɑ:/~/ɑr/ elsewhere: clerk, NAmEng /klərk/, EngEng /klɑ:k/; - of, what, was have /ʌ/ in NAmEng, /ɒ/ elsewhere: what rhymes with but in NAmEng vs. pot other; - apparatus, data, status can be pronounced with either stressed /æ/ or /ei/ in NAmEng, but only with stressed /ei/ in EngEng; - words like fertile, hostile, juvenile, missile, mobile, sterile have /ɑil/ in EngEng and either /ail/ or /əl/ in NAmEng; docile is /dousail/ in EngEng, /dɑsəl/ in NAmEng; - the prefixes anti- and semi- have a final /ɪ/~/i:/ in EngEng, but also a final /ai/ in NAmEng; - Tunisia is pronounced as /tuníʒə/ in NAmEng vs. /tju:nízi:ə/ in EngEng; - Asia has /ʒ/ in NAmEng, /ʃ/ or /ʒ/ in EngEng; - in NAmEng, some irregular verbs have become regularized and still remaining irregular in EngEng: burn → burned, dwell → dwelled, learn → learned, smell → smelled, spell → spelled, spill → spilled; - in some irregular EngEng verbs, there is a vowel change from /i/ in the present to /ɛ/ in the past and past participle forms. The NAmEng forms retain the present tense vowel in the following cases, as well as voicing the ending: dreamt /drɛmt/ (EngEng) vs. dreamed /drimd/ (NAmEng); - in a few instances, the NAmEng forms are more irregular than the EngEng forms: dive → dove → dived (dived), fit → fit → fitted (fitted), sneak → snuck → snuck (sneaked), get → got → gotten (got); - several of the modals are used with a different frequency or meaning in NAmEng than in EngEng; - shall is replaced by will in NAmEng to denote a future action and by should in first-person questions: I will tell u later vs. I shall tell u later, Should I drink this now? vs. Shall I drink this now?; - NAEng uses would (much less usual in EngEng) to express a characteristic or habitual activity (vs. the simple past or the verb with the modal used to in EngEng): When I was young, I would go there every day vs. When I was young, I used to go/went there every day; - would cannot be used to express a hypothetical state if this is already signalled by the verb or by a conditional clause in EngEng, BUT it can be used in this way in informal speech in many USEng dialects: I wish I would have done it vs. I wish I had done it; - USEng rarely uses the auxiliary ought to in questions or negated forms. Instead, should is used: Should we eat that? vs. Ought we to eat that? (older speakers); - in USEng copular verbs seem, act, look and sound must be followed first by the preposition like; seem can also be followed by the infinitive to be while in EngEng they can be followed directly by an indefinite noun phrase: He seems to be an intelligent man vs. He seems an intelligent man; - the verb want can be followed directly by the adverbs in and out in USEng. In EngEng want must be followed first by an infinitive: I wanted in vs. I wanted to come in; - want can be used in the sense of 'need' in EngEng with an inanimate subject (not possible in NAmEng): The house wants painting; - in both USEng and EngEng clauses representing hypothetical situations are often introduced by if, whereas in EngEng hypothetical clauses can be formed by inverting the subject and verb or first auxiliary : If I had been there, I could have fixed it vs. Had I been there, I could have fixed it; - collective nouns such as team, faculty, family, government, etc. often take plural verb agreement and plural pronoun substitution in EngEng, but nearly always take singular agreement and singular pronoun substitution in USEng: Your team is doing well this year, isn’t it? / aren’t they?; - there are some stress differences, especially in French origin words. NAmEng tends to have stress on the final syllable, while EngEng does not; - a number of compound words have acquired stress on the first element of NAmEng but retain stress on the second element in EngEng: weekend, hotdog, New Year, ice cream; - many polysyllabic words ending in -ory or -ary normally have stress on the first or second syllable in EngEng, with the penultimate syllable being reduced. In NAmEng there is, in addition, secondary stress on the penultimate syllable; - many place names (and family names derived from them) demonstrate more stress and vowel reduction in EngEng than in NAmEng: Birmingham, Cunningham, Norfolk, Norwich, Portsmouth; - in NAmEng vocabulary, there are thousands of words which either: differ in total meaning (same word, different meaning), differ in one particular sense or usage (same word, additional meaning), are totally unknown in the other variety, express the same concept or item, but use different word; Same word, different meaning homely down to earth, domestic ugly (of people) nervy nervous bold, full of nerve, cheeky separation: in the Northern accent area, Black speakers are by and large not participating in the Northern Cities Chain Shift and other changes in White speech. NAmEng – General American General American is widely used by American linguists to describe those American accents which do not have marked regional north-eastern or southern characteristics. However, a number of important regional differences (hardly surprising in view of the vast geographical area it covers). General American includes these regional varieties: the Northern, the Central Eastern, the Western and the Midland. NAmEng – Northern General American The Northern General American is focused on the major northern cities of Minneapolis, Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland and Buffalo, and covers Minnesota, Wisconsin, northern Illinois, northern Indiana, northern Ohio, northern Pennsylvania, north-western New York (State) and west Vermont. The accents of this area are broadly identical to those of the Western area. However, there is one major difference: they are currently undergoing the Northern Cities Chain Shift (NCCS). This relatively recent set of innovations involves the vowels /ɛ/, /æ/ and /ɑ/ in a series of linked movements in vowel space. Northern Cities Chain Shift The features of the Northern Cities Chain Shift (NCCS) are:  /ɑ/ is moving forwards to take up a front vowel position [æ~a] closer to the original position of /æ/ (misinterpretation of John as Jan);  /æ/ is lengthening and moving upwards through [ɛ] to [e:] and even diphthongizing to [eə] or [ɪə] (misinterpretation of Ann as Ian). The degree of raising and diphthongizing varies considerably according to place, word and phonological environment, with the following consonant being the most important determining factor: man may be [mɪən], but mat [mɛət];  /ɛ/, presumably in order to move out of the way of /æ/ as it rises, is retracting and becoming a more central vowel closer in quality to /ʌ/ (best may sound like bust). NAmEng – Central Eastern General American The Central Eastern is the geographical location of what is considered to be General American, and is found in south-eastern New York State, most of New Jersey (away from New York City), eastern Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland. The vowel system previously described is currently being affected by a number of innovations (more obvious in the accents of urban areas and in younger people). - the vowels /ɛ/, /æ/, /ɑ/ involved in Northern Cities Chain Shift; - the vowel /ei/, as in bay: increasingly narrow diphthong, with the first element becoming closer; - the vowel /ai/: the first element of the diphthong is increasingly being raised in the direction of [ə], giving pronunciations such as night time [nət taɪm]; - the vowel /u/, as in boot: increasingly fronted from [u:] in the direction of [u:]; - the vowel /ou/, as in boat: acquiring a fronter first element (not yet as advanced as the [øu] that is found in some forms of EngEng RP). NAmEng – Western General American The Western General American accent comprises the western states of Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada, Idaho, Utah, Arizona, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Arizona, North Dakota and South Dakota (extremely large area and its accents are not uniform). Urban speech can often be distinguished from rural speech (urban varieties are more innovating). The innovations of the Central Eastern apply (they are more typical of younger speakers in urban places: San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle and Denver than they are of older speakers in rural Wyoming or Montana). The Northern Cities Chain Shift is not found in this area. - the vowel phonology is identical to that of the Central Eastern area, with two exceptions; - the vowel /ɔ/, as in caught, is gradually disappearing = it is increasingly becoming merged with the vowel /ɑ/, in cot; pairs of words such as taught and tot, sought and sot are pronounced the same; - the vowel /æ/, as in bad, is merged with /ɛ/ before an /r/ which comes between two syllables, so that marry is identical with merry [mɛɹi], and carry rhymes with cherry; - words such as new, nude, tune, student, duke, due, which in many other accents of English have /nju-/, /tju-/, /dju-/, lack /j/ in these accents, giving pronunciations such as tune /tun/, duke /duk/. NAmEng – Midland General American The Midland General American accent consists of Nebraska, Kansas, western Iowa, most of Missouri, southern Illinois, southern Indiana, southern Ohio and south-western Pennsylvania. Phonology is identical to that of the Western area (except that the accents of south-western Pennsylvania and eastern Ohio have carried the cot-caught merger through to completion). Educated speakers may also retain some features typical of the older rural dialects of the area, notably the behaviour of the vowels /ɪ/, /ɛ/, /æ/, /ʊ/, /ʌ/, /ɑ/, /ɔ/ where they occur before the fricatives /ʃ/ and /ʒ/: fish = fiche, push = douche; special [speiʃəl], mash [mæɪʃ], hush [həɪʃ]; wash [wɔrʃ], rhyming with Porsche. NAmEng – Northeastern Northeastern varieties can be divided into two major subdivisions: Eastern New England and New York City. NAmEng – Eastern New England A very distinct accent, instantly recognizable to other Americans, is associated with the Eastern New England area. It centres on the city of Boston and includes the states of Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, eastern Vermont, eastern Connecticut and eastern and central Massachusetts. This accent resembles the accents of England more than any other American accent, and there are a number of phonetic similarities with AusNZEng. This resemblance is due to continuing close links between the port of Boston and London in post-settlement times and the resultant importation of originally southern English features into this area of the United States. - the accents of the area are non-rhotic and have both linking and intrusive /r/; - they share with EngEng and the Southern Hemisphere varieties the vowels /ɪə/, /ɛə/, /ʊə/, /ɜː/ of peer, pair, poor, bird; - in regions further away from Boston, /r/ does occur after /ə/ in items such as bird and butter; - in the speech of younger speakers, non-prevocalic /r/ is beginning to be reintroduced as a result of influence from the mainstream American norm; - like AusNZEng, these accents have the additional vowel, phonetically rather front, /a:/, which is used in words such as bard, calm, father, dance and path. This feature too is recessive, especially among younger speakers; - the vowel of pot, horrid, etc. is a rounded vowel /ɒ/ rather than the more usual American unrounded /ɑ/; - the cot-caught merger has been completed in these accents, both sets of words having /ɒ/; - because /ɔ/ is lacking, and because these accents are also non-rhotic, items such as port also have the /ɒ/ vowel, so that sot, sought and sort can all be pronounced the same, not true of any other; - younger speakers in Boston and other urban areas also have the Northern Cities Chain Shift. NAmEng – New York City New York is the largest city in the US. It too has a very distinctive accent, which is also found in the immediately adjoining areas of New York State, Connecticut and New Jersey. This distinctiveness is mainly due to the city's role as a port with close links with England at earlier periods, but also to considerable immigration by speakers of Yiddish, Irish, Irish English, Italian and other European languages . Sociolinguistically, there is more social stratification on the British model in the accents of New York City than anywhere else in North America. Upper social class accents having fewer local features than lower class accents. - NYCEng, like BostonEng, is non-rhotic, and linking and intrusive /r/ are usual; - as a consequence, it shares with RP and the other non-rhotic accents the vowels /ɪə/, /ɛə/, /ʊə/, /ɜː/ of peer, pair, poor, bird; - however, as in Boston, younger speakers are now becoming increasingly rhotic, especially among higher social classes; - like Boston, New York also has an additional vowel corresponding to RP /a:/. In New York, however, it is phonetically /ɑə/. This vowel occurs in words such as bard, as well as in calm, father, as in Boston; but unlike Boston, it does not occur in dance, path, which have /æ/ instead; - the vowel /ɜ:/ has a typical New York pronunciation where it occurs before a consonant in the same word, as in bird, girl: a diphthong of the type [ɜɪ]: [bɜɪrd]. This was formerly a pronunciation used by all New Yorkers, but it is now most usual in lower class speech, and is not so frequent in the speech of younger people. In word-final position, as in her, [ɜ:] occurs; - unlike the Eastern New England accent, words such as pot, horrid have the more usual American unrounded vowel /ɑ/; - unlike the Eastern New England accent, the New York accent does not lack the vowel /ɔ/, and so cot and caught are distinct, and sot /sat/ is distinct from sought and sort /sɔt/; - the /ɔ/ vowel of caught, sought, talk, paw, long, off, port, sort, etc., has a distinctive New York pronunciation: a rather close and often diphthongized vowel of the type [oə] or even [ʊə]; - the /ai/ vowel of buy, night, ride has a back first element, not unlike that of Cockney or AusNZEng, of the type [ɑɪ] or even [ɒɪ]; - pronunciations of /θ/ and /ð/ as dental stops [t] and [d]. In the case of /ð/, this can lead to a merger with /d/, so that then and den are possible homophones. This is not so common in educated speech; - the accents of New York City are also involved in the Northern Cities Chain Shift. NAmEng – Canadian Canadian English (CanEng) is diffused in a wide area and spoken by a little population, but from a phonological point of view, it can be divided into three main types: General, Maritime and Newfoundland. NAmEng – General CanEng dread terrible, excellent something thing dunny money tall long (of hair) duppy ghost to carry to take, to transport facety cheeky to look for to visit foot leg and foot to mash up to destroy, to ruin, to break-up licks beating to stain to taste sour, to be sticky peelhead bald-headed person vex annoyed Channel Islands The Channel Islands of Jersey, Guernsey, Herm, Sark and Alderney were, until the 1800s, Norman French- speaking in spite of the fact that they had been under the English and British crown since 1066. The original local French dialect is now dying out. The English which mostly replaced it has distinctive characteristics which are partly influenced by French, partly by south-west of England dialects. The accent, at least on Guernsey, is basically of a rhotic southwest of England type, though it also has some second-language features such as /θ/ and /ð/ being pronounced as /t/ and /d/. Bermuda Bermuda, one of the first ever places that English arrived in outside Britain, is a British colony about 550 miles from the east coast of the southern USA. The first English speakers to arrive on this originally uninhabited island were some English Puritans who were shipwrecked there in 1609. In 1612, 60 English settlers were sent to colonize the island. African slaves were transported there from 1616. About 60% of the population today are of African origin. There are noticeable differences between the speech of Blacks and Whites: Blacks are more Caribbean in character, Whites more like the English of coastal South Carolina (USA). Bahamas An independent British Commonwealth state of about 700 islands to the south-east of Florida, with a population of 300,500 people. Originally inhabited by Arawak Indians. In 1492-1508, the Spanish enslaved 40,000 natives, and by the time the English arrived the Bahamas were uninhabited. In 1648, Captain William Sayle from London settled in the Bahamas with about 70 dissident Christians who wanted to practise their religion. Other settlers arrived from Bermuda in 1656, and, after the American Revolution from 1782 onwards, many American arrived from the USA with black slaves. This doubled the White population and trebled the Black. The English of these white Bahamians has two main sources: the Bermudan English of the original settlers, and the American English of the Loyalists. Most of the population, however, is of African descent, either from slaves who arrived directly in the Bahamas, others originally coming from the American South or the Caribbean. Black Bahamian English is closer to White English than varieties in the Caribbean. It is much further from white English than the Black Vernacular English of the US. Other Caribbean English (spoken natively) The Turks and Caicos Islands have a population of 14,000 people, and over 90% of them are black. Their speech is very close to the Bahamian English. Miskito Coast (coast off Nicaragua and Honduras) counts 30,000 native Eng speakers; most of them have an African origin, some are Rama Indians. They speak a Caribbean variety with creole features. San Andrés and Providencia (Colombia) has a population of 35,000 people. It was originally settled by English Puritans in 1629 and now speaks Caribbean variety of English. White Englishes in the Lesser Antilles Direct cultural and linguistic descendants of immigrants from the British Isles can be found in: Barbados, Saba, Anguilla, Bay Islands, Cayman Islands (western Caribbean). South Atlantic Ocean The island of the South Atlantic Ocean where English is spoken natively are: St. Helena, Tristan da Cunha and the Falkland Islands. St. Helena St. Helena has a population of 6,000 people. They have mostly British, Asian and African mixed origins, and they all are English speakers. Their language is a creoloid: a variety which has been subject to a certain amount of simplification and mixture, but where a continuous native-speaker tradition has been maintained throughout. Tristan da Cunha Tristan da Cunha has a population of 264 people. Mainly, they speak England dialect origins with signs of pidginization, but not enough to be a creoloid. Falkland Islands Falkland Islands have a population of about 3,000 people. New dialect has developed, similar to AusNZEng, with the only explanation being the moving of sheep shearers from Australia and New Zealand. South Pacific Ocean The islands of South Pacific Ocean where English is spoken natively are: Pitcairn Islands and Norfolk Island. Pitcairn Islands Pitcairn Islands have a population of about 45 people. The inhabitants descended from the mutineers on the HMS Bounty (1789) and their Polynesian Tahitian companions who hid there; the community survived undiscovered until they were found by chance by American whalers in 1808. The population is slowly declining due to emigration to New Zealand. Their language is an English creole with Polynesian features. Norfolk Island Norfolk Island has a population of about 2,200 people. 66% of the inhabitants are descendants of the Pitcairn mutineers, while the remaining 33% descend from later settlers from Australia and New Zealand. English is spoken by 25% of the population and is similar to the Pitcairn one, but it is less basilectal and less mixed with Tahitian. Africa English is spoken natively in Africa in: Kenya, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Namibia. Many anglophones come from South Africa and Britain, but with the independence, most whites emigrated elsewhere in southern Africa or to Europe. Other languages spoken in Africa are Afrikaans and German. Today’s white population constitute less than 1% of local populations. However, mixed race people (called 'coloureds‘) speak English too, which closely resembles SAfEng. UNIT 3 – ENGLISH FOR TOURISM General English General English is a fuzzy and abstract concept: does it really exist? General English = Essential English: it has the basic elements of the language (vocabulary and grammar rules) and is the common core of the English language. BUT nobody needs General English, because everybody has their own specific needs. ESP: English for Specific/Special Purposes English for Specific/Special Purposes is the English in use within more restricted social or professional areas: legal English, business English, etc. ESP presents four characteristics: it meets specified needs, is related in content to particular disciplines, is centred on appropriate language and is in contrast to general English. LSPs: Languages for Specific/Special Purposes LSPs are the Languages for Specific (or Special) Purposes or domain-specific languages. They are the result of diatypic variation, so a contextual-functional variation of the language: functional language varieties used in specific domains of civil, professional and institutional life and associated with specific topics and disciplinary fields. They are defined with reference to the professional, disciplinary or technical field to which they pertain (the language of the law, of medicine, of economics). They have NO special grammatical or phonological rules, but they have the tendency to give preference to certain morpho-syntactic forms, used with abnormal frequency. The main feature and the most distinctive trait of LSPs is the specialised lexicon/specific vocabulary. LSP research is initially focused on specialised lexicon; then, it moves into the research on textual and rhetorical organisation, which brings an increased awareness of the complex factors involved in the use of LSPs. EAP: English for Academic Purposes Narration is generally characterized by verbs in the past tense. Narrative text types include personal experience, fairy stories, adventure stories, mysteries, science fiction, horror stories, myths and legends. It is the text that has the function of telling a story or a fact. Expository text types Exposition is the text that has the function of analysing/explaining phenomena. It presents either constitutive elements which can be synthesised into a composite concept, or those constituent elements into which concepts can be analysed. Dictionary definitions, entries in reference books, keyword outlines and summaries are common text forms belonging to the expository text type. Argumentative text types Starting from the implicit or explicit statement of a problem, the argumentative text presents a major thesis, often in opposition to another thesis. The text is rich in evaluative language. Comments, interviews, leading articles and letters to the editor are common argumentative text forms. Expository text type is related to the cognitive function of comprehension (i.e. meant to explain something), while argumentative text type is related to the cognitive function of judging in answer to a problem (i.e. expressing opinions). Instructive text types Rules and regulations are common text forms belonging to the instructive type. The text aims to influence the reader’s or listener’s behaviour by advising or instructing him or her. The main characteristic of instruction is the use of commands or recommendations. Besides imperatives, we find the passive voice, and modals like must, will, should, would. Genres of tourism discourse: Overview Tourism discourse is divided into: pre-trip promotional materials (advertising, brochures, travel articles, tourism websites, travel blogs), on-trip informational materials (tourist guidebooks, travel blogs, apps) and post-trip writing, or feedback (travelogues, trip reports, reviews, travel blogs). Advertising Advertising is the paid, non-personal communication of information about products or services by an identified sponsor through the mass media in an effort to influence customer behaviour. Advertising is designed to: create a distinctive image for the product and establish product/service superiority. In simpler words, advertising is meant to persuade the consumer to buy the product/service. There is huge variation in what we call ads: handwritten ads, ads published in international magazines, radio and TV commercials, web ads, etc. Ads pursue different purposes, though their function in society is relatively constant. Advertising is a hypergenre, encompassing various sub-genres. The formal characteristics of advertising are  multimodality: the combined utilisation of different semiotic resources/modes of communication within a single communicative process (textual, visual, aural resources-for radio and TV ads). Working with multimodal texts implies the understanding of the interaction of different modes and their grammars in the creation of meaning;  brevity/conciseness: the language of advertising is constrained by contextual factors, esp. space constraints. The main requirement is to compress content → slogans are instrumental in carrying out the argumentative and persuasive functions of ads. Advertising and tourism We all like to travel in different ways; for this reason, advertisements target different people with different discursive strategies. Professionals in the tourism industry, and in particular those working in marketing and promotion, in destination branding, know very well that there are different types of travellers and they try to appeal to them by different means. Authenticity, strangerhood, play or conflict?  the authenticity perspective is the search for authentic experiences. The tourist is seen as a sort of pilgrim, so the emphasis is laid on traditions, the past and current local life;  the strangerhood perspective focuses on the desire of the contemporary self to experience things/destinations that are different from his/her own reality and to do so in an independent way. This perspective encourages travellers to distance themselves from their cultural and emo ‘centre’;  the play perspective sees tourism as play, a game in which popular pleasures are the key concepts;  the perspective of conflict and appropriation has the focus on the contrast between societies: the model has been mostly applied to tourism in emerging countries. Topics on tourism Promotional material in tourism discourse can be categorised according to the topic; several topics, often interrelated, can be found. The topics of tourism are generally referred to with acronyms indicating commonly associated topics: RRR (Romanticism, Rebirth and Regression), HHH (Happiness, Hedonism and Heliocentrism), FFF (Fun, Fantasy and Fairy-tales), S(S)SS (Sea, (Sun), Sex and Socialisation), and also MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions): a type of tourism in which large groups, with a planned agenda, are brought together. These topics can occur together in a single text, they are not mutually exclusive. Key notions How are these perspectives and topics enacted by linguistic means?  keywords: they often convey primary information and are, therefore, generally short, clear and to the point. Be they verbs, nouns, adjectives, etc., words evoke specific emotions and conjure up specific topics. Evocative verbs + use of the imperative mood to create the “spell effect” (escape, forget, change, discover);  euphoria technique: use of positively-connoted words (extraordinary, great, amount, more);  resorting to the “magic” is a very common device: the magic dimension is also built through specific lexical choices, like names of attractions (Mirabilandia, Canada’s Wonderland);  ego-targeting: this technique has the function of singling out the reader from the crowd, thus making him/her feel unique, or at least privileged. It is characterised by the use of informal language and a conversational style;  syntax: frequent recourse to parataxis and short, juxtaposed sentences (This and more awaits you in Los Cabos. Where life is good. And dreams are realized.);  frequent choice of verbs in the -ing form and use of the imperative mood: Experience your own Renaissance! / Explore Colorado. / Experience the world’s most exciting in-flight entertainment. / Visit Greece. / Discover Sicily’s culinary delights!;  use of rhetorical questions: What could be more rewarding than the vacation of your dreams? / Isn’t Bermuda full of high society?;  the use of figures of speech: rhyme (Travel better. Cheaper. Longer.), alliteration (Relax, revive and revel in the largest tract of wilderness east of the Mississippi.), parallelism (Discover Los Cabos. Rediscover yourself. / Your Time, Our Place (Ireland).), similes and metaphors (Arrived in search of the ultimate break. Departed having found Paradise (Australia).);  all these strategies pursue the fundamental aim of promotional material, satisfying the AIDA condition: capture Attention, maintain Interest, create Desire and get Action. Travel brochures Brochures are marketing booklets. If ads are often the first contact between a location or attraction and prospective tourists, brochures generally come not much later in the “tourist cycle”, when a potential traveller contacts a Tourist Information Office, after having been charmed by an advertisement or some other sort of promotional material. Brochures can vary remarkably in format (paper or electronic, in full colour or black and white, having many pictures or a lot of text), style and purpose: some are meant to inform, others to attract, others to do both. Brochures vs. ads English used in brochures is somewhat similar to English used in ads. Sentences are generally simple, short and to the point (The Sun Hotel promises comfort and friendly, efficient service). They sometimes lack the verb and rely on adjectives and nouns to convey the relevant message (The Sun Hotel: Comfortable and relaxed four-star hotel). Brochures generally contain more informational text compared to ads, because they also serve the purpose of providing “further information” about the attraction or destination at issue. Whereas ads have to fit in a limited space and the text must be restricted to a few effective keywords, brochures can count on more space: the attraction or destination can be promoted more profusely and useful information can be provided in addition, for example, contact details. The “double soul” of brochures Brochures have a “double soul”: on the one hand, they promote attractions; on the other, they inform the reader about details of the attraction they feature. The promotional function of brochures can be more or less prominent: all brochures also promote the product, attraction or destination at issue, at least indirectly. The amount of promotional vs. informative material depends on the brochure’s function. Brochures as “tour shells” Tour shell or shell is a brochure or flyer (a small piece of paper with information on it about a product or event) containing artwork, graphics and/or illustrations with room available (called bare of copy) for travel agencies to place their own contact information or stamp. Brochures: a highly codified genre Like all the other genres of tourism discourse, brochures are highly codified. They tend to have a regular structure or, at least, certain elements are always included in brochures: they have slogans and images and an informative section. For instance, brochures are characterised by frequent recourse to collocations (esp. adjective + noun): the use of certain words together or a particular combination of words, the combination of words in a language that happens very often and more frequently than would happen by chance and the sequence of lexical items which tend to co-occur more often than would be expected by chance. All words belong to a particular category. Word classes are: nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, pronouns, determiners, numerals, auxiliaries, prepositions, conjunctions, interjections, particles. They can be further distinguished into open and closed classes of words. Open classes comprehend lexical /content words : nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs. Closed classes comprehend grammatical /function words : pronouns, determiners, numerals, auxiliaries, prepositions, conjunctions, interjections, particles. Inflexional and lexical phonology Morphology is usually divided into: inflectional morphology, which deals with the way words are adapted in different grammatical contexts (formation of the plural, tenses), and lexical morphology, which deals with the structure of existing words and the construction of new ones. Morphemes Morphemes are the smallest meaningful units that make up words and serve a grammatical function. There are two types of them: free morphemes and bound morphemes (both expressed in between braces). There are no morpheme-less words ! Free morphemes and bound morphemes Free morphemes are words that can stand alone and have meaning: trip (noun), long (adjective), fly (verb). Bound morphemes cannot stand alone because they have no meaning of their own: - ly, un-, dis-, -ship, - ism. Bound morphemes are also called affixes and can either be prefixes (occurring at the beginning of free morphemes) (unkind, dislike), suffixes (occurring at the end of free morphemes) (kindness, friendship), or infixes (occurring in the middle of free morphemes, although they are not common in the English language). Words can have multiple affixes: un-like-li-hood. Simple, complex and compound words Monomorphemic or simple words consist of only one morpheme that cannot be analysed into smaller units of meaning: air, sea, water, land, city, town. Polymorphemic or complex words consist of two or more morphemes. They can be subdivided into smaller units of meaning. They are constructed from a root morpheme plus at least one bound morpheme: travel(l) + er, tour + ism. Compound words are constructed from two or more free morphemes: sugar-free, gluten-free, travel agent, tourist guide, departure lounge. Word-formation processes  affixation: monorail, foodie, e-tickets, influencer, self-catering, selfie, in-flight, rejuvenation;  compounding: airsick, seasick, environmentally-friendly, frequent flyer, last-minute flight, skydiving;  conversion (or zero derivation) is when a word of one type (usually a noun) is reduced to form a word of another type (usually a verb): blog (noun) – to blog (verb), email (noun) – to email (verb);  backformation: televise from television;  acronyms (pronounced as ordinary words): IATA, SARS, UNESCO;  abbreviations (pronounced as sequences of letters): asap, sms, mp3, pdf, VIP;  clipping: ad, Brit, congrats, expat, info, pic, tix, abs and carbs, limo, detox, sync;  reductions: id/identity, msg/message, psw/password;  blending: babymoon, brunch, campsite, couchsurfing, chocotherapy, flashpacker, infotainment;  eponymy: Mac (pc), jedi (talented well beyond the norm);  onomatopoeia: buzz, hoot, honk, flip-flops;  reduplication: bling-bling (expensive and ostentatious clothes or jewelry), flimflam (nonsense);  lexical borrowings: latte, à la carte, décor, spaghetti bolognaise, sushi, tapas, tortillas, dim sum. Languaging The term languaging refers to the use of foreign words in a text. More specifically, languaging is defined as the use of local language in tourism material. It is a manifestation of language contact. Tourism websites The Internet has dramatically changed tourism-related business. The ever-increasing use of the web is accompanied by the appearance of new textual genres (blogs, FAQs, personal pages, ezines, newsletters, discussion forums, chat rooms, emails…). In general, the content of websites has a higher concentration of keywords and key phrases. Keywords must be very informative and quite short. Conciseness is the key factor. Neologisms (newly coined lexical units) are used a lot. Tourism and sociolinguistics Tourism concerns identities, relations and experiences rather than just places, services, and products. The salience of language in tourism and its significance for sociolinguistic inquiry is done by reviewing such terms as “community”, “identity”, and “language” itself, by examining tensions between commodification and authenticity, and by exploring links between performances of “Self” and “Other”. Tourism destinations Tourism destinations do not simply ‘exist’. They can be described as processes of symbolic transformation through discourse. Postcards, brochures, ads, guidebooks, etc. all play their part in these processes. Why travel blogs? In the Information Age, travel blogging has become a central part of the tourist experience. Travel blogs (a characteristic type of tourism website) provide an opportunity to investigate discourse and society through tourist behaviour. Specific self-presentation strategies, linguistic techniques, and ‘other’ representations can be observed. Travel blogs address quite distinct audiences, from backpackers to high-end tourists. Professional identities Travel bloggers’ profiles (and expertise) differ: individual writers (‘solo travellers’, but also connoisseurs and mothers travelling with kids), couples, or editorial teams with guest writers. All are or have become travel professionals. Many are women, several are young millennials. Travel blogs Some categorisations of blogs look at layout and visual elements. Another kind of classification looks at the author or type of web host: travel blog hosting site, guidebook publishers and travel agencies, tourism organisations, individual bloggers. Travel blogs are “online travel narratives that draw on the discourses of travel, tourism, and blogging itself”. Travel blogs are pre-trip, on-trip and post-trip materials at the same time: they perform a promotional function, they are written by travellers while they are still on the road and consulted by other travellers during their journeys (travel blogs can perform the leading function of guidebooks) and they bear many resemblances to post-trip accounts such as trip reports. They also serve the double function of providing feedback for the tourism industry and acting as secondary agents of persuasion or dissuasion for future tourists. Today the most successful travel blogs are written by “professional tourists” with a promotional and informational intent. They are eager to share their experiences with their peers (other travellers or prospective travellers). Travel blogs “give sound” to a subjective voice and are often witty and rich in humour. The features of tourism discourse include the lack of sender identification: in the case of promotional materials, we often do not know who the writer is. Travel blogs do not share this feature with the promotional genres of tourism discourse: the identity of the blogger is made explicit, clear, as for travel articles and guidebooks (identification of the traveller). With the so-called “testimony technique”, tourists become witnesses for other tourists, as they provide feedback, advice, suggestions on the destination at issue. The identification of the writer and testimony technique hinge on: narration in the first person (singular or plural), verbs conjugated in the past but also the present tense (historic present) and frequent descriptive passages. Linguistic techniques Some good linguistic techniques to use are: the evaluative, ‘feel good’ lexis (inspirational, ultimate, superlatives), the rhetorical questions to engage readers and the advice-giving linguistic realisations, like the deontic constructions (imperative, should, must, need), it is worth seeing… List of suggestions  the format is that of a blog post with a conventionalised headline: Dos and Don’ts, Top X things to;  it is a promotional genre with a recognisable recursive structure and formulaic language features;  advice-giving linguistic realisations;  knowledge asymmetry → expert stance/elitist stance. Travel reviews and trip reports Reviews and trip reports are examples of post-trip writing. They are written and published when the holiday is over: work of recollection of on-trip events and identification of the writer ( = travel blogs). Their purpose is that of sharing travel stories with the other members of a virtual or real community. Reviews and trip reports share a number of features with travel blogs. Thanks to digital technology, we now have immersive trip reports. Reviews Reviews are positive or negative appraisals of a destination, accommodation, restaurant or attraction. They are written with the purpose of sharing good tips with other people interested in the same things, or of sparing them some disappointment. Reviews are: generally shorter than travel blog posts and trip reports; lacking or poor in narration; richer in evaluative elements (such as positive and negative adjectives). The argumentation often results in advice, expressed either in the form of a recommendation/suggestion or in the form of instructions (with the verb in the imperative mood or with deontic modal verbs): Try it! / You must absolutely go there! / You have to see this for yourself!. Reviews can be written in the form of a short, subjective comment on something, or in a dry, synthetic language stating negative and positive aspects of the reviewed item. When negative appraisal is found, it is generally not mitigated, as often happens in guidebooks (The toaster, the kettle–were old and worn out. / All in all, the worst meal we had on this trip). The past tense is often used in descriptive passages such as “There was a large private garden in front of the house with a nice wooden table and chairs. The view was out to a lovely hill […] There were pretty trees