LING201 06-English As AWorld Language Worksheeta PDF

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LING 201 – SS 2017

Week 6: English as a world language – text samples & exercises •

Example 1: Irish English

"Ireland 8", International Dialects of English Archive (IDEA). Available online at http:// www.dialectsarchive.com/ireland-8. The excerpt below is from the beginning to 1:03. The speaker is a young woman from Ennis, Co. Clare. She is reading the beginning of "Comma Gets a Cure" (copyright 2000 Douglas N. Honorof, Jill McCullough and Barbara Somerville). Task 1.1: While listening to the recording, read along in the transcription below and pay particular attention to the pronunciation of the words printed in bold. Does this speaker's pronunciation sound different from what you're used to? Try to describe the differences you observe.

Well, here’s a story for you: Sarah Perry was a veterinary nurse who had been working daily at an old zoo in a deserted district of the territory, so she was very happy to start a new job at a superb private practice in North Square near the Duke Street Tower. That area was much nearer for her and more to her liking. Even so, on her first morning, she felt stressed. She ate a bowl of porridge, checked herself in the mirror and washed her face in a 5 hurry. Then she put on a plain yellow dress and a fleece jacket, picked up her kit and headed for work.

10

When she got there, there was a woman with a goose waiting for her. The woman gave Sarah an official letter from the vet. The letter implied that the animal could be suffering from a rare form of foot and mouth disease, which was surprising, because normally you would only expect to see it in a dog or a goat. Sarah was sentimental, so this made her feel sorry for the beautiful bird. […]

to start a new job = starda new job – a (äa) is pronounced differently and strong t much- mooch ate- äht face- fähs plain- plähn kit- strong t / no glottal stop

st letter- lähter , 1 syllable is stressed /strong t vet- fet / strong t only- o is stressed/ oh instead of ow goat- stressed o/ gooht not gowt / strong t made- mäht bird- t instead of d / first syllable stressed

Task 1.2: In the table below, try to match the Irish English sentences (left) to their correct Standard British English equivalents (right). What observations can you make about the grammar of Irish English? (Unless otherwise indicated, the Irish English examples are from Filppula 2008.)

(a) (1)

You're after ruinin' me.

(a) (1)

I have it forgot.

(1)

I think the younger ones are gone idle over it.

(1)

Were you ever in Kenmare?

(1)

They do be shooting there couple of times a week or so. But as it transpired, anyway, we … we had to hand over the box of sandwiches as a… there was three bottles of poteen under the sandwiches […] (Hughes et al. 2012: 146) It's very important, you know, for to have such a man like him. […] and the RIC used to come in, the Special Branch, coming in and checking who you are and had you any guns, or anything like that […] (Hughes et al. 2012: 146) I thought of him there, and I cooking my dinner.

(1)

(1) (1)

(1) (1)

I'm in here about four months.

'And the RIC [Royal Irish Constablulary] used to come in, the Special Branch, coming in and checking who you were and whether you had any guns or anything like that.' 'But as it transpired, anyway, we had to hand over the box of sandwiches as a…there were three bottles of whiskey under the sandwiches.'

(a)

'You've (just) ruined me.'

(a)

'I think the young people have gone idle over it.' 'It's very important to have such a man like him.'

(a)

(a)

'I thought of him there, while I was cooking my dinner.'

(a)

'Have you ever been to Kenmare?'

(a)

'I've been in here for about four months.'

(a)

'I have forgotten it.'

(a)

'They shoot there a couple of times a week or so.'

1c) 2i) 3d) 4g) 5j) 6b) 7e) 8a) 9f) 10h) •

Example 2: Standard Spoken Singapore English

"Singapore: free passage 1" in Kortmann and Schneider (2006); URL http:// www.varieties.mouton-content.com/secure/generalmodules/varieties/areas/singapore/info/ file_3.html; the excerpt below is from 3:26 to the end. The speaker, a young male university student, is telling the story of how he met his girlfriend and why they eventually broke up. Task 2.1: While listening to the recording, read along in the transcription below and pay particular attention to the pronunciation of the words printed in bold. What differences do you notice between this speaker's pronunciation and RP?

ya, so she joined this semiconductor company and then she was sent to Italy for training for about 6 months and I guess that’s where we drift apart because I was then getting busy as well. Then er,mm, ya I was busy with my research, so (cos) maybe I was like, I think, 5 both of us were focus in our own things, ya, though she, she start off not liking her job, but then as time go by, where her company actually give her more opportunity, she actually feels er, more involved and so she start, kind of liking her job, and ya, both of us were very focus in our 10 own work, so I guess over time, things just like you know, we just drift apart. And after my Honours I got into, I carried on with my Masters, and that’s where I got even busier, so I guess we just didn’t have time to meet up and talk about our differences 15 to iron out, out things so things got worse, la, and er, mm, ya so probably the relationship just die away like that

Task 2.2: Reading through the transcription again, what differences do you observe between Singapore English and standard British English with regard to the following areas of grammar: a. verb inflections b. use of prepositions

Task 2.3: While educated Singaporeans generally use standard Singapore English in formal and public contexts, the variety most widely used in informal contexts is Colloquial Singapore English, also known as Singlish, which is radically different from British or American English. The examples below illustrate some of the distinctive features of Singlish. Try to describe the differences from Standard (British or American) English that you observe. (Unless otherwise indicated, all examples are from Wee (2004).

(1) (1) (1) (1)

(1)

•

She buy dress for what? 'Why is she buying a dress?' They eat already. 'They have (already) eaten.' The movie don't know whether good or not. 'I don’t know if the movie is good or not.' (A, B and C are talking about buying sandals; C is proposing to buy ones with buckles, A and B are trying to dissuade him.) C: Then buy buckle type lah! B: Buckle will break because it rusts. A: Salt wat! C: Ah? A: Salt wat! … Your sweat got salt, you see. Salt will make it corrode even faster. you see him talk ah, talk very fast one ah, then all the cheem cheem words come out ah […] 'You see him talk very fast, then all these profound words come out …' (cheem is borrowed from Hokkien, see Jenkins 2015: 143) (example source: "Singapore: free passage 2" in Kortmann and Schneider 2006; the speaker is talking about a character in one of his favorite TV shows)

References

Filppula, Markku (2008) "Irish English: morphology and syntax." In Bernd Kortmann and Clive Upton, eds. Varieties of English. Vol. 1 The British Isles. Berlin/New York: Mouton de Gruyter, pp. 328-359 th Hughes, Arthur, Peter Trudgill and Dominic Watt (2012) English Accents and Dialects. 5 edition. London: Hodder Education rd Jenkins, Jennifer (2015) Global Englishes. A Resource Book for Students. 3 edition. London/New York: Routledge Kortmann, Bernd and Edgar Schneider (2006) Varieties of English. A Multimedia Reference Tool. Berlin/ New York: Mouton de Gruyter. Available online at http://www.varieties.mouton-content.com,

last accessed 2016-03-16. Wee, Lionel (2004) "Singapore English: morphology and syntax." In Bernd Kortmann, Edgar W. Schneider, Kate Burridge, Rajend Mesthrie and Clive Upton, eds. A Handbook of Varieties of English. Vol. 2 Morphology and Syntax. Berlin/New York: Mouton de Gruyter, pp. 1058-1072...