Culturally speaking

Introduction

This textbook begins from the idea that communication is inseparable from culture. The importance of cultural elements in interpersonal communication can’t be overestimated: when we chat, argue, plan a date or even say hi to each other we are interacting in culturally specific ways. Most of us tend to take these kinds of interactions for granted within our native language and culture. We do not usually think of them in cultural terms because they are such a basic part of our daily lives.

Yet different ways of looking at things associated with our different social identities may result in all kinds of misunderstanding, even conflict inside the same linguoculture. This misunderstanding can be caused not only by what you say but by how you say it – and this is where phonetics steps in.

The American anthropologist and linguist Michael Agar, Professor Emeritus at the University of Maryland, labels the process of interpersonal communication as culture blending, giving a number of examples of the abovementioned misunderstanding from his personal experience.

“One Friday afternoon…I went to a faculty reception. I met a colleague whom

I‘d corresponded and talked on the phone with but never met in person. She had helped me out a lot by sending me some bibliographies and course outlines from her field. When I finally met her, I thanked her and said something like ‘The least I can do is buy you a drink.’ She snapped to attention and said, rather sharply, ‘I can pay for my own drink.’ I explained that I’d have made the same offer to any colleague who’d helped me out, male or female or any other variation on the theme. I guess you could say that she just didn’t understand. But in this case, we both did. She had read my invitation as a come-on, converting her to pick-up; I’d meant it as thanks.”( M.Agar. Culture Blends, p.14)

Differences happen within languages and across them. When we are exposed to a different language as part of a different culture, we begin to realize that communication is not something natural that we just “know how to do”, we are constantly reminded that people around the world have different values and customs which find specific verbal and non-verbal expression. In this way we become aware that the ways we interact with other people are linked to larger cultural expectations, that communication should be viewed in terms of shared cultural knowledge that is to be learned and practised, in a word we begin to see communication as culturally constituted.

The textbook is based on a comparative approach (where possible) which means that we are going to consider the communicative and cultural practices of English-speaking nations in relation to those common in Russia. This approach, we hope, might stimulate interest in and encourage respect for both Russian and English cultures, for learning a second language and coming to terms with a foreign culture means learning more about your own language and culture.

UNIT 1. DEVELOPING INTERCULTURAL SKILLS

Accents (1): Varieties of English

Exercises

1. Listening. You will hear speakers from Britain (Speaker 1), the USA (Speaker 2), Canada (Speaker 3), Australia (Speaker 4) and South Africa (Speaker 5) talking about what they enjoy doing in their spare time. Distinguish between the accents you will hear and trace the differences in the pronunciation of vowels and consonants, in the word stress and intonation.

audiofile: Exercise 1.1.mp3 (English Pronunciation in Use)

Canadian English

Description

Canada has a population of 29 million people, but a sizeable minority of these are French speakers while many recent immigrants don’t have English as their mother tongue. Nevertheless, this still leaves perhaps as many as 18 million English native speakers. The overwhelming influence on Canadian pronunciation is USA English, but Scottish and Irish influences are also claimed. In fact, Canadian English, although recognisably a distinct variety, is much closer to General American than are many regional varieties of the USA itself. Within Canada, there is considerable variation on the Atlantic seaboard, notably the ‘Newfie’ speech of Newfoundland.

Like most American English, Canadian accent is h-pronouncing, rhotic and has t-voicing, bath words have the trap vowel. /l/ is dark in all positions. Front vowels, kit, dress and trap are all rather open. The thought and lot vowels are merged and sound like British NRP palm. Perhaps the most recognisable feature of Canadian is the central starting- point of the diphthongs mouth and price before fortis consonants (house, out, right, like).

Australian English

Description

Australia, with a present-day population of over 20 million and growing, appears set to become one of the chief standard forms of English of the future. Until recently, most of its population came from the British Isles, with a majority from southern England, and this is reflected in the nature of Australian speech today. Australian is a relatively young variety of English, and there are as yet no distinct regional accents in Australia; all over this vast country, people sound surprisingly similar.

Australian English is non-rhotic. Broad accents have some h-dropping, but this is much less common than in England. Systemically, the Australian vowel inventory is identical to that of NRP. Lexical variation is found in some bath words, where the trap vowel rather than palm is found in words like dance. There is considerable realisational variation, dress and trap vowels are close. Wide glide realisations are found in face and goat . The palm vowel is very fronted [a:] while nurse is close and fronted, sometimes with rounding.

South African English

Description

Some people may still be surprised to hear that mother-tongue English speakers are very much in the minority in South Africa, numbering no more than about three and a half million speakers. The English of South Africa has been very much influenced by the other major South African language of European origin, Afrikaans (with perhaps as many as five million speakers). It has been said that South African English ranges all the way from broad accents strongly influenced by Afrikaans to upper-class speech which sounds very similar to British traditional RP (Crystal 1997: 40). In the new South Africa many black south Africans who speak African languages, such as Zulu, Xhosa and Sotho, now speak English as a second language.

There is no h-dropping (but broad South African accents have voiced /h/) and the accent is non-rhotic. The distribution of clear vs. dark I is as in NRP and many other varieties. /t/I is strongly affricated, perhaps a slight over-compensation for the lack of aspiration in much South African English.

dress and trap are close. In certain words, the kit vowel is central resembling [ə], strut is relatively front, lot is open and unrounded. The happY vowel is said with a close short fleece vowel. The palm vowel is very back, price and mouth have relat­ively narrow glides, square is very close. The palm vowel is used in bath words (can't).

More recording of these accents:

audiofile: 53_Canadian.mp3

Tapescript

Anne: the set-up of the university is very different than what I found here - I mean there's - all the buildings are in one location - and there's probably - well at least fifty different buildings - all - centred right there - I mean and then there's the residences - so - first-year students usually stay in residences - and then once you've met a couple of friends in second year and - up until fourth year you usually live in a house - with a couple of your friends right around - the - all the buildings of - of campus - we like to call it the student ghetto - so I mean we still only have a five-minute walk to class or so - so it's very different - than here - because here you find you only have to bike from building to building - and from your house to - and everything is so much more spread out here. It's the most beautiful place - like in Canada that I've really ever been to - it is so pretty - it's along the Ottawa river - and so I mean - the whole town is on the river - so there's beaches everywhere - and it's a very outdoorsy outdoorsy - kind of - nature town - and - I mean if you enjoy skiing - like cross-country skiing is very big there - and just all kinds of water sports like - canoeing - or fishing - even biking - just anything outdoors - you know you'll find it in my town - it's very active - outdoorsy town - yeah

audiofile: 54_Australian.mp3

Tapescript

Helen: university is a lot different from school - do you want to know about that - it's a little bit just - the holidays - because - university - now have holidays in semesters - whereas the schools still have them in terms - and schools are really trying to get their holidays in semesters - because that's what you work in - and it seems strange having term holidays when you're working in semesters - but at university we have - three - well it all depends on when your exams finish - there's you have two weeks of holidays - but - most exams - you have three weeks of exams - and then - say two weeks of holidays - but - not many people have exams - towards the end of those three weeks - most people will be finished with their exams within the first - what - at least two weeks - so you'll have probably at least three weeks' holiday - and you can go home as soon as you've finished your exams - and so - well I - I had over - I had three and a half weeks' holiday - this year - that was in the middle and - you really need the break - and we also have mid-semester holidays - which - this year - in the semester that I had the first semester before I came over here - it wasn't - it wasn't in the middle of semester it was - I suppose they shouldn't be really called mid-semester because it was just a week off - and the week was two weeks before we started swot-vac.

audiofile: 56_South African.mp3

Tapescript

Nicole: it depends - English schools in South Africa are far more formal - especially the school I went to - which is the Pretoria High School for Girls - an only girls' school - an Anglican school at that - so it was quite formal - and - I didn't really enjoy my time there - the Afrikaans school was much more fun - not as posh and la-di-da as the - as the - English school - but - the people were much warmer they loved the idea of having an English person wanting to learn their language - that was a whole new idea to them - since they were usually the ones having to adapt - and there was there was lots of fun . . . Bobotie is very - OK it's actually a mince dish - with raisins and cloves in it - and - some special kinds of leaves - what are they called again - I can't remember what the leaves are called - funny name - bit of an exotic name - and it's - it's eaten with rice - which you - that yel­low kind of rice also with raisins - and you basically bake it in the oven - so it's a very spicy meat dish - South Africans eat a lot of meat by the way - a lot of meat they're real carnivores - and they also like eating potatoes and rice together - so a typical South African dinner - would be meat potatoes rice and a vegetable - some­thing else that's - is eaten in South Africa very often - especially among the black people - is what they call putupap or mealiepap - it's basically - crushed - crushed corn - and that's really ground into a into a sort of a powder - and then cooked up and then you get this type of white porridgy substance - and that's very filling - although not very nutritious - so - many poorer black people eat that - very often but - are malnourished because of it - so - those things are eaten quite often and what the black people also love eating - is - you know the intestines and brains and eyes and those things - those really are delicacies among the amongst the black people so Interviewer: but you don't eat them

Nicole: no - I couldn't - I couldn't really

2. Here is a text read aloud first by a) a British English speaker; b) an American English speaker; c) an Australian English speaker. Listen as many times as you need and note differences in pronunciation that you observe.

1. British English audiofile: Arthur the Rat_British.mp3

2. American English audiofile: Arthur the Rat_American(1).mp3

audiofile: Arthur the Rat_American(2).mp3

audiofile: Arthur the Rat_American(2).mp3

3. Australian English audiofile: Arthur the Rat_Australian.mp3

2. Arthur the Rat

Once there was a young rat named Arthur, who could never make up his mind. Whenever his friends asked him if he would like to go out with them, he would only answer, "I don't know." He wouldn't say "yes" or "no" either. He would always shirk making a choice. His aunt Helen said to him, "Now look here. No one is going to care for you if you carry on like this. You have no more mind than a blade of grass." One rainy day, the rats heard a great noise in the loft. The pine rafters were all rotten, so that the barn was rather unsafe. At last the joists gave way and fell to the ground. The walls shook and all the rats' hair stood on end with fear and horror. "This won't do," said the captain. "I'll send out scouts to search for a new home." Within five hours the ten scouts came back and said, "We found a stone house where there is room and board for us all. There is a kindly horse named Nelly, a cow, a calf, and a garden with an elm tree." The rats crawled out of their little houses and stood on the floor in a long line. Just then the old one saw Arthur. "Stop," he ordered coarsely. "You are coming, of course?" "I'm not certain," said Arthur, undaunted. "The roof may not come down yet." "Well," said the angry old rat, "we can't wait for you to join us. Right about face. March!" Arthur stood and watched them hurry away. "I think I'll go tomorrow," he calmly said to himself, but then again "I don't know; it's so nice and snug here." That night there was a big crash. In the morning some men—with some boys and girls—rode up and looked at the barn. One of them moved a board and he saw a young rat, quite dead, half in and half out of his hole. Thus the shirker got his due.

British and American compared

(ВНИМАНИЕ: ТРАНСКРИПЦИИ НЕОБХОДИМО ИСПРАВИТЬ)

In this and the following sections we are going to discuss some of the important varieties of English spoken worldwide. We shall begin with a comparison of the two major models of English - British NRP and General American. Although we shall be concentrating here on the differences between these two varieties, in fact they are most notable for their great similarity. It may be worth emphasising again (see Section Al) that educated British and American speakers communicate with ease, and rarely experi­ence any problems in understanding each other’s pronunciation.

Consonants

The consonant system of General American is in essentials the same as that of British accents and can be represented with the same phonemic symbols. Note, however, the following differences.

1. GA is rhotic, e.g. worker /'w3rkər/; /r/ often functions as a syllabic consonant (see Section A2), e.g. /'w3rkr/. (Distributional variation.)

2. GA It/ is voiced in medial position. For the vast majority of Americans, in anything other than careful speech, the contrast /t - d/ is neutralised in this context, so that It/ and Id/ in writer and rider may be identical. This is termed t-voicing and is indicated in transcription by the addition of a voicing diacritic V, ^e-g- pretty /'priti/, better /'betr/, battle /'baetl/, thirty /'03rti/. Note that we are dealing here with an allophone of It/ and not a phoneme. Nevertheless, because of its high frequency in American English, we have decided not to use square brackets whenever this sound occurs. (Distributional variation.) Medial Inti is regularly reduced to /n/, e.g. winter /'winr/. Word-final It/ often lacks any audible release.

3. A minority use an extra phoneme /ay/ for words spelt with wh, e.g. whale, wail /' Aveil, weil/ (systemic variation.). In England, /ay/ died out many hundreds of years ago and its use is often considered an affectation.

4. Most Americans (not all) have /j/-dropping following the dental and alveolar con­sonants /0 t d s z n 1/, e.g. studio /'studiou/, nude /nud/, duke Idukl. The modern NRP alternative /tj d$/ (see Section B2) is regarded as substandard in America. In NRP some words have a less common alternative form without 1)1. In American, this is the normal form. (Lexical variation, with noteworthy patterning.)

GA (normal form) NRP (normal form)

enthusiastic /in0uzi'əestik/ /inOjuizi'əestik/

assume fə' sum/ /ə'sjuim/

presume /prə'zum / /prə'zjuim/

5. Some American speakers have dark I in all contexts, e.g. level [lev!]. To British ears the initial [I] can sometimes sound similar to /w/, so that life sounds rather like wife (Realisational variation.)

Vowels

Compared with the consonants, there is less similarity between the vowel systems

of GA and NRP. Nevertheless for the most part we can employ the same symbols.

For GA varieties, the ‘length mark’ for free vowels has been omitted since American

varieties do not show the close correlation of length with free vowels found in British

NRP. Other important differences are listed below.

1. Since GA (like most American varieties) is rhotic, there are differences in words spelt with r, where in GA the counterparts of NRP /a: e: o: 3: ə iə uə/ take the form of a vowel followed by /r/: see Table Cl.2. (Systemic variation.) Note that the vowels have a special quality known as r-colouring (p. 140).

2. The goat vowel is typically more back and rounded; it is represented here by /ou/, e.g. solo /'soulou/. Americans (especially of the younger generation) seem to be acquiring a more central unrounded beginning [ə] similar to its counterpart in NRP. (Realisational variation.)

3. In GA (and other American varieties), the trap vowel is closer and lengthened, often sounding rather like [ex], similar in quality to square in NRP. (Realisational variation.) Furthermore, trap is used in all bath words except father (see Section B3), instead of NRP palm /a:/, e.g. hath /bseG/, laugh /kef/, chance /t/aens/, ask /aesk/. (Lexical variation.)

4. In American English many foreign names and loanwords spelt with a are said with lot /a/ rather than trap /ae/, e.g. pasta /'pastə/, Mafia /'mafiə/, macho /'mat/ou/, Picasso /pi'kasou/. (Lexical variation.)

5. Many Americans (in areas other than the East Coast) make no difference between words such as merry, marry and Mary - pronouncing all three as /'meri/. (Distributional variation.)

6. The strut vowel is generally closer (realisational variation) - more like /ə/ than in NRP. Before /r/, in words where NRP has /a/, American uses /ə/, e.g. hurry /'həri/, courage /'k3rid3/. (Distributional variation.)

7. For most present-day GA speakers, lot and palm are the same (i.e. [a]). For certain GA speakers (mostly East Coast), the NRP lot words are split into two different sets depending on the following consonant. (Lexical variation, but with strong patterning.)

1. Before /g g s f 0/, the thought vowel h/ (similar to NRP hi/) tends to be used, e.g. log /bg/, song /sop/, lost /bst/, coffee /'kofi/, moth /mo0/.

2. Elsewhere, palm /a/ (similar to NRP /a:/) is employed, e.g. top /tap/, job /d3ab/, shock If ak/.

This type of patterning is particularly common in the New York conurba­tion and other eastern areas, but is also found to a degree elsewhere especially in high-frequency items such as dog, wrong, cost, off, etc.

6. Many GA speakers (particularly of the younger generation) do not have a con­trast between lot and thought, so cot and caught are pronounced identically. This is a trend which seems to be developing rapidly in the United States and is already established in Canada. (Systemic variation.)

7. Many words ending in -He have /əl/ or /)/ in GA compared with /ail/ in NRP, e.g. fertile /'fərtl/, missile /'misl/. For most words, alternative pronunciations with /ail/ also exist. (Lexical variation.)

10 A number of GA speakers (particularly of the older generation) still maintain the north - forth contrast discussed above. (Lexical variation.)

Stress and stress-related features

There are some significant differences between British and American in (1) allocation of stress, (2) the pronunciation of unstressed syllables.

(1) Words ending in -ary and -ory take a secondary stress on that syllable, and the vowel is neither reduced to /ə/ nor elided.

GA NRP

military /'milə.teri/ /'militəri/ or /'militri/

arbitrary /'airbə.treri/ /'aibitrəri/ or /'aibitri/

mandatory /'maendə.tori/ /'məendətəri/or/'maendətri/

(2) Words borrowed from French are generally stressed on the first syllable in British English but they often have final-syllable stress in American.

	GA	NRP
ballet	/bəe'lei/	/'bəelei/
Bernard (first name)	/br'nard/	/'b3:nəd/
blase	/bla'zei/	/'blaizei/
brochure	/broo'Jur/	/'brəujə/
buffet	/bə'fei/	/'bafei/
baton	/be'tan/	/'baeton/
garage	/gə'ra3/	/'gəera:3/
perfume	/pr'fjum/	/'p3:fju:m/
Tribune (newspaper)	/tri'bjun/	/'tribjuin/

Differences in setting, intonation and rhythm

Setting

One of the most noticeable differences between GA and NRP setting is that American vowels are influenced by r-colouring, affecting adjacent consonants as well as vowels. For example, in partner, not only the vowels are affected but also the /1/ and the Ini. The body of the tongue is bunched up to a pre-velar position and the root of the tongue is drawn back in the pharynx. As compared with NRP, American English also appears more coloured by semi-continuous nasalisation running throughout speech. Many Americans, particularly of educated varieties, have noticeable creaky voice (see Section A4).

Intonation

Much of what has been said about British intonation applies to GA intonation with this important difference: American intonation tends to have fewer of the rapid pitch changes characteristic of NRP, and rises and falls are more spread out over the whole tune. A very typical pattern, for instance, is this sort of rising tune for questions:

Did Meg get my message?

Perhaps because of these differences, American English is sometimes claimed to strike a British ear as ‘monotonous’. On the other hand British English intonation is said to sound ‘exaggerated’ or ‘affected’ to Americans.

Rhythm

A second difference concerns rhythm. American English, because of a tendency to lengthen stressed checked vowels (e.g. trap) and an apparently slower rate of delivery, is stereotyped by the British as ‘drawled’. British English, because of the general tend­ency to eliminate weakly stressed vowels, together with an apparently more rapid rate of delivery, seems to strike many Americans as ‘clipped’.

1.3 You will hear more people from different parts of the UK. Listen as many times as you need and write brief notes about what they say. Analyse phonetic features of regional varieties of English that you hear on the recording.

a) audiofile: BBC Voices_scotland-dundee.ram

Mark Thomson Lives: Dundee, Dundee Time lived in area: More than 10 years Occupation: Unemployed

Listen to Mark's poem about his mother tongue, and his pride in the unique Dundee accent.

Transcript

MARK: Eh'll gie you a poem as well and this tells you exactly whit you can dae wi the Dundee dialect an that as well and how it's used an that as well and the reason how it come aboot wis eh wis in Glascae an eh wis at a hamburger van an there was an English guy there. Eh'd said tae him "pass the sauce up, mate!" an he went, "oh, that's a braw Dundee accent you've got there!". I says "it's no' braw, it's braa!" An so that inspired me to go an write a poem an, an eh called it The Mither Tongue. An it goes "Eh wis born an bred in a toon called Dundee, so wis meh mither an father afore me. We've got a habit o talkin dead fest wi oor speech o which i wis blessed. There are some that say it's a wee bit raa, eh dinna think so at aa. Eh think it's braa, it's fine an dandy, it's loose an free when eh talk in broad Dundee. It's just as meh father aye spoke to me fae eh wis wee. It's meh mither tongue, it's a way o life, I think they talk worse ower in Fife. They aa chow the cud an talk like teuchters, the other half, they're aa poofters. Well eh'm fae Dundee an proud tae be. We've got some dodgy sayings, eh'll gie you that. They're no' that bad tae the Dundee ear, it's aa they ootsiders that think it's queer. Well eh'm seek sair wi the Dundee tongue bein brought doon, that's how eh'm here theday to put you straight. Eh love talkin loose an free when eh talk in broad Dundee. It's whaur eh'm fae, it's meh identity, it's fae the hert. Eh share it wi meh mither, mah father, mah brither an aa the fowk eh ken wi nae airs or graces as I go aboot an talk tae Dundee faces". 

b) audiofile: BBC Voices_scotland-edinburgh.ram

James McSharry Born: 9 August 1961 Lives: Edinburgh, Lothian Time lived in area: 1 to 4 years

Listen to: James gets angry over a film he has recently watched which depicts people with cerebral palsy - and in particular, the interpretation by one actor of what someone with a speech impairment sounds like.

Transcript

JAMES: On to that, there's quite an interesting thing in it and it struck me I've I've watched it a number of times I saw it on DVD and it has as many DVDs have extras and you had the grotesque erm example of the director telling me how an able-bodied actor pretending to be ah someone with severe CP had lovely erm expressive eyes, are you telling me you couldn't employed a disabled person with that range of impediment for those.. so you only employed him for his eyes what gets me about the thing is, I was saying to someone... there's a bit in the film, have you seen it? (OTHER VOICE: No, I haven't seen it) JAMES: Oh get it, it's a laugh, it's a hoot, it's a... and for all the wrong reasons. There's a guy who has got ME or MS and er, there's another guy with cerebral palsy, (puts on voice) who speaks a bit like that, sort of stuff, but it's very arrhh, arhh, (OTHER VOICE: So he was taught? cos I've not seen this film, he was) JAMES: No, he wasn't taught. That's his.. what make me..his interpretation of what someone with a speech impediment sounds like. So it gets a bit like Skippy, because you remember skippy, I don't know if you remember Skippy, it used to be on in the 70s. It was a wee boy with his kangaroo and his kangaroo (kiss noises) they go What Skip, what Skip, the house is burning down? There's a terrible bit in the film with this guy with ME is the only person who understandy the guy with severe cerebral palsy so the guy pretending to have a severe speech impediment's going 'arhh arhh...Wednesday', and he's going yep, yep, right I'll be with you, and nobody else understands. (OTHER VOICE: yeah) What's interesting as a disabled person when you watch something like that, having come into contact with actors who have eh erm speech impediments and stuff like that as a disabled person you can pick it up so watching the film I knew that he wasn't, he wasn't, he hadn't been, he wasn't using ah a different voice, a different eh vocalisation because of impediment. He was doing sa some perverse eh eh extrapolation of that and it just that that horrible sort of, what boy the place is burning down? come on oo quip you could have swopped him for a kangaroo and it would have the same sort of ah...

c) audiofile: BBC Voices_scotland-portree.ram

Iona MacDonald Born: 7 October 1961 Lives: Portree, Isle of Skye Time lived in area: More than 10 years

Listen to: Iona remembers her confusion over language when her friends from Falkirk came to visit.

Transcript

IONA: We used te have some friends from the Falkirk area, who used to come up and stay with us every year in the summer time and they had a very, very strong accent, very strong Central Scots accent, and Sandy had been playing outside and came running in, very windy day, came running in an' he said te ma mother, "yer streecher's fa'n doon, yer clays on e' grun", and we all looked at the poor boy blankly and he repeated himself again, "yer streecher's fa'n doon, yer clays on e' grun", and we were still making absolutely nothing of it, we had to say, right slow it down Sandy and "yer streecher's faa'n doon an' yer clays are on the grun'", aw right we've got it now, meant yer clothes pole has fallen down 'n' yer clothes are on the ground..laughter..and he just stomped his foot and looked so put out and said, "yoose are aw too polite"..laughter.

More about the speech in the clip

Extremely broad dialect speakers can occasionally prove unintelligible at first to speakers of other dialects, as Iona's anecdote illustrates here. The features contained within the utterances she cites are examples of broad Scots and demonstrate perfectly the sorts of variation that distinguish dialects within a language. The term dialect refers to a specific variety of a language, which differs systematically from other varieties in terms of pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary, but which is still generally comprehensible to speakers of other dialects within that language.

In the statements your streecher's fallen down and your clothes are on the ground and yous are all too polite, Iona's friend demonstrates a number of aspects of his particular dialect. Streecher, as explained here is a local word for clothes-pole and is thus an example of the vocabulary of the Falkirk area. He also uses a non-standard grammatical construction in using a second person plural pronoun, yous - something that's typical of a number of Scottish dialects and indeed characteristic of speech in places like Merseyside and Tyneside, but not part of Standard English usage.

There are also a number of pronunciations that are very revealing. Listen, for instance, to how Iona quotes the way her friend deletes thesound in the words fallen and all and uses a vowel sound in the two words that differs from most mainstream English dialects. This pronunciation would cover a number of words spelt with , such as walland ball and includes words such as talk and walk. The sound in the words talk and walk is, of course, no longer pronounced by speakers in most English dialects, but this speaker from Falkirk extends the principle to cover other words in the set - a phenomenon that's peculiar to anumber of Scottish dialects and broad dialect speech in the far north-east of England.

Listen also to the vowel sound used here in the word down. This actually reflects a much older pronunciation that was common both to Middle English and Middle High German and is an illustration of the Germanic origins of modern English. This was until fairly recently common in broad dialect speech in much of the northern half of Great Britain, but nowadays it's perhaps restricted to the far north-east of England andparts of Scotland. Likewise listen to the vowel sound her friend uses in the word ground. There are several words in English that end in , whose modern German equivalents end orthographically in : pound - Pfund;hound - Hund; round - rund and so on. Although the vowel sound most speakers in the UK now use for this set of words has changed over the course of time, there are still many speakers in the north-east of England and parts of Scotland where the pronunciation reflects the original Germanic vowel. You can still hear speakers in this part of the country pronouncing round, found, pound and so on such that they rhyme with the first syllable in under, just as here on the word ground. This demonstrates perfectly how conservative forms are often retained in traditional dialect long after the 'prestige' standard language has moved on.

Finally listen to the way Iona imitates her friend's pronunciation of the vowel sound in the word clothes. This pronunciation, too, reflects the Germanic origins of the word and shows very clearly the links to modern German Kleid. In fact clathes was again the favoured regional alternative in dialect speech in much of the northern half of Great Britain until relatively recently, although it's now arguably restricted to use in Scotland alone. It could perhaps be regarded as a word in its own right, although it's clearly related to Standard English clothes and therefore demonstrates how difficult it is to decide whether a certain form is illustrative of variety in terms of dialect vocabulary or pronunciation.

d) audiofile: BBC Voices_ulster-omagh.ram

Declan Forde Born: 14 December 1955 Lives: Omagh, Country Tyrone Time lived in area: More than 10 years Occupation: Teacher

Declan talks about the influence of Irish on the Tyrone accent, and how it reflects the original local place names before they were anglicised.

Transcript

In this area, for instance, I, I eh, a few years go, tried to access information on my wife's grandfather who died when he was 94 and he was born at the tail end of the 19th century in a wee place called Fallaugh which would be about seven mile from here. And as I looked through the 1901 census, eh I saw that the first language of the older generation was predominantly Irish and that has carried through in the voices - when Eugene introduced himself, eh he said without any thought, I'm from Omee and what, he was talkin' in the pure Tyrone accent, Omee, the old Irish, and eh, that is very much a natural part of speech - for example, out where I live, eh, they will talk about Armach instead of Armagh, and they will, they will have that Gaelic or Irish in their voices, unbenownst to them, eh, the town of Mountfield, eh the locals there would call it Mountfull, people laugh and say no it's Mountfield but if you actually look at any historical document or the earliest historical document about that particular place, it is Mountfull, is its proper name. So the people there are actually callin' it, like Eugene did, by its proper name. We have changed it, we have anglicised it. Omagh and Mountfield but it's not that. 

e) audiofile: BBC Voices_yorkshire.ram

Stacey  Born: 1988 Lives: Rawcliffe, North Yorkshire Time lived in area: All my life Occupation: Student

Stacey talks about the influences on her accent, from her "really Yorkshire" grandparents to school friends who "neutralised" it.

Transcript

STACEY: I think when you come up to secon'ry school as well you kind of make it more neutral to like - cos when you're talking to your friends you have a different kind of accent. It's like when I went - I used to like go to my gran - nana and grandpa's - really Yorkshire people - when mum and dad were at work, so I picked up a lot of that from them, and then went to secondary school and like everyone was like "You're really Yorkshire"' and I was like I didn't realise it but then I neutralised it out going through.

6. audiofile: BBC Voices_surrey.ram

Lisa Maiklem Born: 17 May 1973 Lives: Reigate, Surrey Time lived in area: 1 to 4 years Occupation: Plant area manager in garden centre

Lisa talks about 'well spoken' language and how some youngsters may choose to exclude others through the way they speak.

Transcript

INTERVIEWER: Do you think that there's a specific type of accent in Surrey and if so, what would you call it? LISA: there tends to be quite a divide between sort of very well spoken people and very badly spoken people I would say who spend much time in places like where we are specifically (laugh) INTERVIEWER: What would you say was badly spoken? LISA: Just people not finishing their words properly um and grammatically not stringing a sentence together um and using yeah, I suppose very slang words that don't really make sense to norm...you know other people they have a very colloquial sort of cliquey youngsters group that would probably understand those words but um yeah sometimes older generations wouldn't know what they're talking about.

More about the speech in the clip

Lisa talks about how she sees the linguistic situation in her local area, describing a divide between, sort of, very well-spoken people and very badly spoken people. Language not only varies geographically, but that it also has a social dimension. In fact, contrary to popular opinion, everybody speaks with an accent and everyone has a dialect. People from different geographical places clearly speak differently; but even within the same small community, people might speak differently according to factors such as their age, gender, ethnicity and social and educational background.

By very well-spoken people Lisa is probably identifying speakers of the dialect known as Standard English, and the accent known as Received Pronunciation (RP). It’s commonly - but increasingly misleadingly - referred to as BBC English. RP is the proper name of the regionally non-specific accent perhaps most readily associated with speakers from public school backgrounds. It does, however, encompass a wide variety of speakers and should not be confused with the notion of 'posh' speech. Standard English with an RP accent is best considered as the version on which teaching English as a foreign language is based.

In referring to badly-spoken people Lisa talks about pronunciation, grammar and choice of vocabulary that distinguish some groups of speakers from others. Linguists tend to prefer a distinction between 'standard' and 'non-standard' grammar. 'Standard' grammar refers to a variety that has become widely acknowledged as a prestigious form, mainly due to its use by people in positions of authority and because of its universal acceptance as a written norm. Linguists also distinguish between 'prestigious' and 'stigmatised' forms of pronunciation, such as H-dropping. In fact, any native speaker adjusts his or her speech patterns depending on the situation they find themself in: from relaxed conversation in familiar surroundings to a more formal setting. They may adjust pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary or all three; but the range of any given speaker’s repertoire is defined by who they are.

Some dialects and accents of English have historically been viewed more positively than others and individuals often suffer as a result of irrational prejudice against the way they speak. It's important to stress that, from a purely linguistic point of view, no particular dialect is better at communicating meaning than another. The fact that prestigious or highly regarded forms exist is more a reflection of value judgements based on social, rather than linguistic, criteria. In an increasingly homogeneous society, the vocabulary, structure and sounds that define the speech of a particular region or social group should be (and indeed are for many speakers) a source of pride and an important expression of identity.

6. audiofile: BBC Voices_Cockney slang.ram

John (Pip) Sheringham Born: 18 November 1940 Lives: Coulsdon, Surrey Time lived in area: More than 10 years Occupation: Market trader/salesman

Pip gives a few examples of Cockney slang.

Transcript

PIP: Mine's not a Cockney accent. I can do you some what da'you call it slang INTERVIEWER: Go on PIP: pigs ear - beer, apple fritter - bitter, raise a laugh - scarf, gregory peck - neck, conan doyle - boil, Hampstead Heath - teeth, daisy roots - boots, laugh... gilly pegs - legs, what was it daisy roots - suit, no not suit, daisy roots - boots, Westland flutes - suits. I can't think of any more at the minute.

6. audiofile: Track 41_Cockney.mp3

Cockney (Greater London) © Track 41

Steve: there was one of our blokes - one of his family - like cousins or uncles - or you know - in that range - had had an accident - and been taken to hospital - so he spent - I think most of his weekend without any sleep at all - at this hospital like - until he knew - that the person was going to be OK - anyway - come Monday morning - he decides to go straight to work - and - he comes to work - and say he has had no sleep at all and he's got a job to do in this house to provide - an extension phone - you know - and usually - it's - you run the cable upstairs into a bedroom - it's the usual place to have the phone - and - the bed - was fitted into slots in the floor - so he couldn't sort of - move it over. I mean - he could only get

two legs out of the hole in the floor and he couldn't - he needed two people to actually lift it and move it - so he laid across the bed - to - finish the cabling - and screw the - terminal box on the wall - and - not having had any sleep - he just sort of drifted off - and the thing is - the gentleman who let him in - but said he was going to work - and his wife would be in shortly - and she's come in - and not knowing the telephone man was there - I mean - to see a van outside - but she didn't - you know - sort of put two and two together - she's come in - she's gone upstairs - into the bathroom - and she's - taken her clothes off like - you know - and gone into the bedroom to get her housecoat - she was going to have a bath - and there's a strange man laying on the bed - snoring his head off - needless to say - our bloke spent about six hours in the nick - trying to explain what had happened - yes - spent six hours in the police station

Notes

bloke (colloquial) = man

laying = lying. Many southern British varieties conflate the two verbs lie and lay. the nick (general slang) = police station, prison

Description

The traditional word for the broad accent of London is ‘Cockney’. The origins of the word, which go back at least 700 years, are uncertain; one attractive theory is that it may come from an old tale of the fool who believed in a ‘cocken ey’, a cockerel’s egg. A Cockney is allegedly someone born ‘within the sound of Bow Bells’ - that’s to say where you can hear the bells of St Mary-le-Bow church in the East End of London. That definition would cut the number of Cockneys down to a few thousand, but ‘Cockney’ is generally used to refer to all London, and to the speech of the Greater London area, which has a population of nearly seven million. Outer London, where most people speak with accents similar to London, covers a huge area and takes in 12 million inhabitants. Our speaker, Steve, is a telephone engineer from Lewisham in south-east London.

Cockney is non-rhotic with variable h-dropping. Steve, for instance, pronounces /h/ in hospital on two occasions but drops /hi in hole. Syllable-final stop consonants are strongly globalised. In medial and final position, Steve often replaces medial It/ by glottal stop [?] (e.g. © without any, move it over). Post-vocalic /l/ is very dark, sound­ing rather like [u] (e.g. © usual, terminal, wall). Many speakers replace /0 <3/ by /f v/, e.g. three feathers = [Trəi ’fevəz] (not heard in this sample). /j/-dropping can be heard in © knew.

Londoners use virtually the same vowel system as NRP, but the realisations of the vowels are very different. The strut vowel is front and open [a] (e.g. © come Monday), fleece and goose are extended glides [əi əu] (e.g. © needed, move). The diphthongs face, price and goat (e.g. © straight, like and phone) sound like NRP diphthongs price, choice and mouth. The Cockney mouth vowel (e.g. © house) is fronted and often raised ([a:] or [eə]), sounding rather like NRP square. Front checked vowels dress and trap (e.g. © bed, van, family) tend to be closer. Like NRP, but unlike most other British accents, Cockney has the palm rather than the trap vowel in the bath words (e.g. © bathroom).

6. audiofile: BBC Voices_men-vs-women.ram

The Art of Conversation: Men vs Women It has been suggested that men think logically, whilst women think emotionally. With neither understanding the other, is it any wonder that they have difficulty finding a middle ground? Conversation, like relationships, only works when people want it to and never fails when all parties actively work for success. Gordon from Boston, UK I believe that men are very easily distracted in conversation. One has to be talking about practical subjects for most men to take an interest. There is also the male who is always eyeing up other females (when shopping etc.) so he never concentrates on the one he's with. Men's practical approach usually creeps in when women are having an emotional moment, this makes one feel they don't care.  Sheilah K Watson The annoyance caused by the misunderstandings between men and women in conversation because men try to offer solutions and women often offer sympathy or empathy is familar to me. Perhaps women could empathise with us poor men or offer us some sympathy rather than taking the hump! Oops I have offered a solution, damn! Gordon, Dundee I have noticed all the above on internet message boards as well as in audible conversation. Also, I have heard that women NEED more daily conversation than men, and this need is not comfortably met in the general picture given; so have I been given incorrect information, or is this a double-whammy?  Janet Georgiou. Wiltshire Men seem to think that a woman wants to be told what to do about a problem instead of just sympathising about it.  Janet Theobald from Swindon
"You just don't listen!" Why do men and women miscommunicate? by Philippa Law Studies have shown time and time again that men and women have markedly different strategies for conversing - and can easily misunderstand each other. There are several excellent opportunities for an argument. Are you listening? Women tend to lean forward, nod and make eye contact when they're listening attentively. Men are more likely to lean back and shut their eyes. Since it looks suspiciously like men have chosen this particular moment to have a snooze, it's unsurprising that women think they're being ignored. Men understandably get annoyed when women try to prod them 'awake', since they had shut their eyes in order to be able to listen better. Women say "M-hm," and "Yeah, yeah..." more often than men. Hello? Did you hear a word I said? 'Minimal responses' mean simply "I'm listening", whereas men understand them as "I agree with you." The result is that when men hear "M-hm," they think the woman agrees with them, and it's infuriating when it turns out she doesn't. Naturally, when a woman doesn't hear "M-hm," she thinks the man isn't listening. Women tend to acknowledge the previous speaker's comment in some way before making a contribution, while men tend to launch straight into their own point. In mixed conversation, this can make women feel like they've been completely ignored. Hello? Did you hear a word I said? What did I say?! When women mention a problem, other women respond by sympathising or sharing a similar problem of their own. It's reassuring, and creates a sense of 'solidarity' or closeness between them. Men's reaction to hearing a problem is more usually to offer a solution. Although this is well-meant and logical, unfortunately, this can sound to women like "I'm not interested in you or your trifling problem." The helpful man is suddenly seen as insensitive. In a well-known example from Deborah Tannen (1991), a woman has had a lump removed from her breast, and is upset because the surgery has changed her shape. Her female friend sympathises: "I know. It's like your body has been violated," but her husband suggests: "You can have plastic surgery to cover up the scar tissue and restore the shape of your breast." The woman is comforted by her friend's pessimistic statement of the obvious, but hurt by her 'uncaring' husband. Don't interrupt! When women talk simultaneously, it's usually because one is reinforcing what the other is saying - a kind of 'active listenership'. Men don't often do this - they usually only talk at the same time as someone else if they're trying to interrupt them. So if a man is talking and a woman makes reinforcing comments, the man is likely to think she's not backing up what he's saying, but is trying to interrupt him. Grrr! Men treat conversation as a competition to see who can talk most, whereas women's aim is to facilitate the flow of conversation. Women give chances to speak, while men take them. Neither tactic is inherently right or wrong; however, in mixed groups, the clash of styles can easily cause friction. In mixed groups, women tend to 'facilitate' the conversation directly into the mouths of men. Particularly in formal settings such as meetings, debates and seminars, men talk much more often and at greater length than women. Women are left with the feeling that men have failed to allow them the opportunity to speak, whereas men think that women have failed to grasp the opportunity to speak. Different voices As a wild over-generalisation, you could say that men talk competitively and women talk co-operatively. In cross-gender conversation, women do everything to keep the conversation going - while men do all the shouting. It's no wonder we don't always get on.

1.4. Read the extract English in the new world (D.Crystal)

see English in the new world.pdf

+ listen to short lectures with D.Crystal on youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZI1EjxxXKw&playnext=1&list=PL6303D94B68C71D1D&feature=results_main

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLYk4vKBdUo&list=PL6303D94B68C71D1D

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2XVdDSJHqY

Accents (2): English as an international language

1. Crystal on global Englishes

the future of Englishes(1).pdf

the future of Englishes(2).pdf

David Crystal on global English:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLYk4vKBdUo&list=PL6303D94B68C71D1D

2. You will hear speakers with international accents of English from six different countries. Where do you think they are from? Listen and write the name of the country.

Speaker 1 audiofile: Track02_Danish.mp3

Speaker 2 audiofile: Track07_Spanish.mp3

Speaker 3 audiofile: Track10_Japanese.mp3

Speaker 4 audiofile: Track13_Indian.mp3

Speaker 5 audiofile: Track26_German.mp3

Speaker 6 audiofile: Track19_Chinese.mp3

3. Listen to Bo Grasborg who is Danish but lives in Germany where he works for a multinational retailer of electronic goods ( audiofile: Track02_Danish.mp3 and audiofile: Track03_Danish.mp3 ). Answer the following questions:

1. What does Bo define as ‘the key point about understanding culture’?

2. What causes ‘big misunderstanding in communication’ in his company? Do you diasgree with any of Bo’s opinions? Why?

3. What does Bo describe as the ‘simple solution’ to dealing with the cultural differences?

4. Do you agree with Bo’s solution to working with different cultures? What else do you think is important to work effectively across cultures?

4. Read the description of a company’s culture and complete the sentences with the phrases:

project-driven

we value

generally, we try to take care

we see ourselves as

the focus is on

the leadership style

trusting people

a lot of time is given to

We’re a small consulting company and the culture and (1) is relatively informal in general. (2) flexible, not too over-structured. (3) satisfying customers so we tend

to adapt to what they need. (4) creativity so people have a lot of freedom to innovate

and come up with new ideas. Relationships are really important here and so (5) talking to

customers who visit the company. (6) of people inside the organisation and we have weekly team meetings where people can talk about problems and get support. We’re quite a (7) organisation but there’s a fairly relaxed attitude to time and schedules and decision making: for us, people come first. It’s seldom that people are put under a lot of pressure with strict deadlines. (8) ……………………………to get the job done is better than monitoring them all the time. And we definitely don’t have an email culture. We communicate just by picking up the phone!

1.5. Look at these words and phrases which we can use to describe organisational culture.

1. Match up the opposites. Can you think of any more?

2. Which of these adjectives does Bo use to describe his organisation?

top-down task-oriented

people-oriented individualistic

risk-focused cost-driven

quality-focused action-oriented

team-oriented bottom-up

Stress in English compounds

Compounds in English are of two types: those which have their main stress on the initial element of the compound and those which have the main stress on the final element.

• Initial Element Stress (IES) with main stress on the first part of the compound, e.g. 'apple pip, 'office boy, 'Russian class.

• Final Element Stress (FES) with main stress on the last element of the compound, e.g. apple 'pie, office 'desk, Russian 'salad. Note that many books term this 'double stress’ or ‘equal stress’.

Stress guidelines for compounds

1. Word shape

Compounds written as one word nearly always have IES, but those written as two words, or with a hyphen, can be of either stress type.

2. The Manufactures Rule (FES)

The most useful guides in terms of allocating stress in compounds are the 'Manufactures Rule’ and the 'Location Rule’.

The Manufactures Rule implies that if the compound includes a material used in its manufacture (e.g. an apple pie is a pie made of apples), then FES applies, e.g. apple 'pie, plum 'brandy, paper 'bag, cotton 'socks, diamond 'bracelet. Compare non­manufactured items, which instead take IES, e.g. 'apple-tree, 'paper clip, 'plum stone,¹cotton-reel, 'diamond cutter.

3. Location Rule (FES)

The Location Rule describes the strong tendency for a compound to take FES if location is in some way involved.

1. FES applies if the first element is the name of a country, region or town: e.g. Turkish de'light, Russian rou'lette, Burmese 'cat, Scotch 'mist, Lancashire 'hotpot, Bermuda 'shorts, Brighton 'rock, London 'pride.

2. The vast majority of place-names, geographical features etc. have FES. This category includes:

• regions, towns, suburbs, districts, natural features, e.g. East 'Anglia, New 'York, Castle 'Bromwich, Notting 'Hill, Silicon 'Valley, Land's 'End, Botany 'Bay.

• bridges, tunnels, parks, public buildings and sports clubs, e.g. Hyde 'Park, (the) Severn 'Bridge, Paddington 'Station, Carnegie 'Hall, Manchester U'nited.

• all street names, except street itself, e.g. Church 'Road, Trafalgar 'Square, Thorner 'Place, Churchill 'Way, Fifth 'Avenue. Cf. 'Church Street, Tra'falgar Street, etc.

3. Parts of a building tend to have FES, e.g. back 'door, bedroom 'window, garden 'seat, office 'chair. Exceptions: compounds with -room are IES, e.g. 'living room, 'drawing room (but front 'room).

4. FES applies where positioning of any sort is involved, e.g. left 'wing, Middle 'Ages, upper 'class, bottom 'line. Time location also tends to FES, e.g. morning 'star, afternoon 'tea, January 'sales, April 'showers, summer 'holiday.

Further useful guides related to the above

1. The vast majority of food items have FES, e.g. poached 'egg. Note that these are often covered by either the ‘Manufactures Rule’ or the ‘Location Rule’, e.g. Worcester 'sauce, Welsh 'rabbit, Christmas 'pudding, fish 'soup. Exceptions: some items take IES because they can also be regarded as part of the living plant or animal, e.g. 'chicken liver, 'orange juice, 'vine leaves. Other significant exceptions are: -bread, -cake, -paste, e.g. 'shortbread, 'Christmas cake, 'fish paste.

2. Names of magazines, newspapers, etc. have FES (many involve place or time and are covered by the ‘Location Rule’), e.g. (the) Daily 'Post, (the) Western 'Mail, (the) Straits 'Times, Vanity 'Fair, (the) New 'Statesman.

Other stress patterns

3. IES applies to compounds including the names of academic subjects, skills, etc, e.g. 'technical college, 'French teacher (i.e. a person who teaches French).

4. Nouns formed from verb + particle take IES, e.g. 'make-up, 'come-back, 'look-out, 'backdrop. Exceptions are few, but note: lie-'down, look-'round, set-'to. These patterns have changed in the recent history of the language. See Section C5.

5. Nouns ending in -er or -ing + particle take FES, e.g. hanger-'on, passer-'by, washing-'up.

6. Compounds formed from -ing + noun are of two types:

IES applies where an activity is aided by the object (i.e. a ¹sewing machine helps you f to sew), e.g. 'sewing machine, 'running shoes, 'scrubbing brush, 'washing machine.

FES applies where a compound suggests a characteristic of the object, with no idea of aiding an activity, e.g. leading 'article, running 'water, casting 'vote, sliding 'scale.

6. Do these compounds have main stress on their first part or their second part? Underline the syllable with the main stress. (Hint: Think about whether they are noun + noun compounds or adjective + noun compounds.)

Examples safety valve (noun + noun)

guilty party (adjective + noun)

1. chemical formula 5. coffee shop 9. sofa bed

2. bank account 6. best man 10. magnetic field

3. American football 7. mobile phone 11. tea strainer

4. artificial intelligence 8. flight attendant 12.space station

Now listen to audiofile: A79.mp3 and check your answers. Then say the words aloud.

6. Use the compounds in the box to answer the questions. Think carefully about where main stress is placed and say your answers aloud.

boiling point civil war claim form defining moment dental floss distance learning greenhouse hot potato house-hunting ice rink lipstick loudspeaker orange juice pay phone rubber band search party shop assistant town hall

1. battles between different groups of people living in the same country?

2. a building made of glass used for growing plants?

3. a level area of ice for people to skate on?

4. a way of studying where you mainly study at home?

5. a piece of equipment that sound comes out of?

6. a problem that no-one wants to deal with?

7. a legal document that you use to try to get compensation from an organisation?

8. the activity of looking for a house to live in?

9. a building where the local government usually meets?

10. a public telephone that you have to put money in to use?

11. a point at which a situation clearly starts to change?

12. a drink made from crushed oranges?

13. a coloured substance that women put on their lips?

14. the temperature at which liquid becomes a gas?

15. a group of people who look for someone who is missing?

16. someone who serves customers in a shop?

17. thread used for cleaning between the teeth?

18. a ring of rubber for holding things together?

Now listen to audiofile: A80.mp3 and check your answers.

6. ОТСКАНИРОВАТЬ СТР.41 English Pronunciation in Use

6. In pairs, describe the culture of the organisation you would like to work for using some of the vocabulary from exercises 1.4 and 1.5. Think about these concepts:

Leadership Decision making Information Communication Relationships Time Quality Customers Cooperation

• Say which parts of the culture you like, and which you would like to change and why.

• Then think about other organisations which you know and describe the main differences between their cultures and that of your own organisation. Which of these differences do you think could be a problem if the different organisations did business together? Why?

6. READ THE FOLLOWING PASSAGES FROM K.FOX’ “WATCHING THE ENGLISH” AND SAY WHAT YOU HAVE FOUND OUT ABOUT:

• culture in general;

• English culture and Englishness, as they are defined by the author;

• the rules for distinguishing different cultures.