Appunti - Inglese B

Inglese BCourse Programme

Origins of English

• Historical development
• Old, early and modern English
• "Standard" English
• Other Englishes

Elements of Grammar and Syntax

• Prescriptive and descriptive grammar
• Verb forms and times
• Phrasal verbs
• Modality
• Word order
• Aspect, mood, voice
• Punctuation

Elements of Lexis

• Development of vocabulary
• Linguistic devices
• Register
• Spelling

Elements of Phonology

• Difficult sounds
• Stress timing
• Received pronunciation

Domain Language (Terminology)

• Terminology of professional communication
• Web language
• Digital communication

Localisation

• Definitions
• Examples
• Issues and problems

Transcreation

• Definitions
• Examples
• Issues and problems

Origin of English

The most important factor in the development of English has been the arrival of successive waves of settlers and invaders speaking different languages. The history of place names in Britain is closely connected to the presence of various languages at various points in time.

Timeline

• Original inhabitants of Britain (Britons) → Celtic-speaking tribes.
• Roman invasion: Julius Caesar (54-55 BC), Claudius AD 43.
• Germanic tribes (AD 449) → Angles, Saxons, Jutes, Frisians.
• Vikings: Destruction of Lindisfarne Monastery (793).
• Normans: Battle of Hastings (1066).

Placenames

• Celtic → Cities: London, Glasgow, Cardiff. Regions: Kent. Rivers: Thames.
• Anglo-Saxon → Cities: Stratford, Portsmouth. Regions: Sussex, East Anglia.
• Latin → Cities: Lancaster, Stratford, Portsmouth.

Development of English as a Spoken Language

First written texts in Old English:

• Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (890 on).
• Bede’s Ecclesiastical History of the English People (Latin original 731; OE 890-930).
• Beowulf (975-1010).

Process of Standardisation

1. Selection: 'Standard' mostly defined by power, status, public position, class
   • London – political, economic, social power
   • Oxford/Cambridge – intellectual influence
2. Acceptance:
   • Spread of model by movement of people (merchants, scholars, etc.).
   • Development of Middle English.
   • Use in literature (Chaucer, Canterbury Tales, 1400).
   • National identity.
3. Elaboration:
   • Expansion and differentiation of vocabulary (Anglo-Saxon vs Latin/French)
   • London - Printing press (Caxton 1476).
4. Codification:
   • Dictionary of the English Language, Johnson (1755).
   • OED - Oxford English Dictionary (1928).
   • Critical Pronouncing Dictionary, Walker (1791).
   • English Grammar, Lindley Murray (1795).

Standard English

Standard English is that variety of English which is usually used in print, and which is normally taught in schools and to non-native speakers learning the language. It’s also the variety which is normally spoken by educated people and used in news broadcasts and other similar situations.

The difference between standard and non-standard, it should be noted, has nothing in principle to do with differences between formal and colloquial language, or with concepts such as “bad language”.

Standard English has colloquial and formal variants, and standard English speakers swear as much as others.

Word Origins

• Anglo-Saxon:
  • Basic vocabulary.
  • Short, monosyllabic words.
  • Verbs describing basic processes (often irregular).
  • Comparatives with 'er'.
  • Raw materials (food nouns refer to the animal), simple processes.
  • Stylistically neutral.
• French:
  • More complex vocabulary.
  • Longer, multisyllabic words.
  • Verbs describing sophisticated processes (often regular).
  • Comparatives with 'more'.
  • Food nouns refer to the meat.
  • Language of political, military, economic authority and culture.
• Latin/Greek:
  • Specialised vocabulary (semantic fields): religion, law, medicine, arts, science.
  • Perception of greater difficulty in pronunciation, spelling and understanding.
  • Often used deliberately to impress socially, maintain distance, establish groups/elites, etc.
  • Some deliberate re-spelling in English to reflect Latin roots: e.g. fact, transport, excite.
  • False friends emerge through different development of words: actually, eventually, premises, sensible…
• New Words:
  • Other languages:
    • Italian (pizza, zucchini, alfresco)
    • Indian (bungalow, guru, pashmina, thug)
    • Japanese (tsunami)
    • Spanish (siesta)
  • New areas of activity:
    • Computing and online activities
    • Finance and economics
    • Sports, music, social culture
  • Vocabulary becomes ‘old-fashioned’, antiquated:
    • Asylum – Hospital
    • Consumption – Tuberculosis
    • Wireless – Radio
    • Frock – Dress
  • Neologisms
    • Selfie, Emoji, Vape, Friend/Unfriend
    • Brexit
    • Post-truth (OED 2016 Word of the Year)

Word Frequency

• 64% of Shorter OED words from French/Latin/Greek.
• 26% from Anglo-Saxon.
• 4000 most frequent word = 51% Germanic, 48% French/Latin, hardly any Greek.
• 12 most frequent verbs in Longman's Corpus: say, get, go, know, think, see, make, come, take, want, give, mean
• Similar pairs will often have non-semantic differences: e.g. go in/enter; get up/rise; look into/investigate; book/r.

Varieties of English

British English → Received Pronunciation (Queen’s English - Oxford English - BBC English).

• RP is an accent, not a dialect, since all RP speakers speak Standard English.
• Avoid non-standard grammatical constructions and localised vocabulary characteristic.
• Regionally non-specific, that is it does not contain any clues about a speaker’s geographic background (but it does reveal a great deal about their social and/or educational background).

Estuary English → English accent associated with the area along the River Thames and its estuary.

General American → Northern - Midland - Southern

Pronunciation of North-Midland area taken as General American (as used on main TV networks).

Lexical Standardisation

• Noah Webster, An American Dictionary of the English Language (1828).
• Merriam-Webster from 1847.

The principal distinction between ‘British’ and ‘American’ English is phonological → the sound of the language, the way that words are pronounced.

However, there are also some recognizable differences in:

1. Grammar → Use of article, Verb forms, Concordance, Use of Prepositions, Subjunctive forms.
2. Lexis → Vocabulary, Spelling, Word Stress.
3. Use of the definite article → (“She is studying at the university” / “She is studying at university”).
4. Verb forms and tenses → (“We have gotten a new car” / “We have bought a new car”).
5. Concordance → (“The audience is very knowledgeable” / “The audience are very knowledgeable”).
6. Prepositions → (“I will write him” / “I will write to him”).
7. Subjunctive → (“I suggest that he go to London” / “I suggest that he goes to London”).
8. Vocabulary → (Apartment/Flat, Can Tin, Garbage/Rubbish, Gas/Petrol, Movie/Film, Mean/Nasty …)
9. Spelling → (Catalog/Catalogue, Program/Programme, Defense/Defence, Color/Colour, …)
10. World Stress → (Address: /ɛ vs. /ˈædres/ - Detail: /ˈdiː teɪ l/ vs. /dɪ l/ )ˈdres/ ˈteɪ

Australian English

Australia first colonized from 1788. Originally, served as a penal colony (prison). Influence on language primarily from Southern England (and Ireland). New terms relevant to new environment (rural and farming, flora and fauna). Dominated indigenous aboriginal language. From 1970s, immigration also from Asia. Main difference to British English in pronunciation → Cultivated - General - Broad. A recognizable variation compared to standard British or American English.

• Cultivated Australian is, and continues to be, the variety which carries overt prestige. It is the one associated with females, private elite schools, gentility and an English heritage.
• Broad Australian carries covert prestige and is associated with males, the uneducated, commonness and republicanism.
• The new dialect is General which retains the national identity associated with Broad but which avoids the nonstandardisms in pronunciation, morphology and syntax associated with uneducated speech wherever English is spoken.

New Zealand

British sovereignty from 1840. New population mainly settlers from England and Australia Indigenous language (Maori) dominated by English. Pronunciation close to Australian English High prestige sometimes associated to British and American English sounds. New vocabulary from new flora, fauna, topography.

New Zealand - Maori: Spoken only by few Maori (themselves only a small percentage (12%) of the total population). Primarily characterized by specific vocabulary referring to indigenous life. However, some small grammatical differences may be heard, Maori-speakers often transfer terms and rules from the Maori address system to their English.

South African

Black African languages. Afrikaans spoken by Dutch settlers. British control from 1806, but continual competition with Afrikaners (English as a lingua franca). Now 11 recognized languages in South Africa.

Varieties of South African English:

• Conservative (very close to RP).
• Respectable (more informal with local characteristics).
• Extreme (low social prestige, closer to the heritage of white, Afrikaans population).
• Afrikaans English.
• Black South African English (often a second language).
• Coloured and Indian/Asiatic English.

Many varieties influenced by indigenous languages: Western, Eastern or Southern. Regional changes in pronunciation. Grammar particularities → Luggages; advices (countable). Vocabulary Reduplication → Quick-quick (very quick).

South Asian English

English as an 'alternative official language' between the national languages of Hindi (North and Central India) and southern non Indo-European languages. English as a 'third official language' between Urdu (Pakistan) and Bengali (Bangladesh and Pakistan).

• Pronunciation → more syllable-timed than stress-timed
• Grammar → I am knowing the answer, I like to pull his legs, I pay attention on that, We discuss about it, You are going, isn't it?, Who you have come for?, You didn't go together? Yes, we didn’t.
• Vocabulary → Pakistan: Miss, Madam, Sir; my head is paining / India: upgradation; cousin-brother/sister

English in India: Recognised high status in science, technology and even in literature, and for job opportunities

Three Language Formula

The Three Language Formula is a compromise between the demands of the various pressure groups and has been hailed as a masterly – if imperfect – solution to a complicated problem. It seeks to accommodate the interests of group identity (mother tongues and regional languages), national pride and unity (Hindi), and administrative efficiency and technological progress (English).

Prescriptive and Descriptive Grammar

Types of Grammar:

• Primary grammar: ‘intuitive’, ‘unconscious’ knowledge, understanding and application.
• Secondary grammar: ‘conscious’, ‘learned’ expertise approximating to primary grammar.
• Scientific/academic grammar: precise, detailed specification for research/analysis.
• Pedagogic grammar: for learners (and teachers) of language.
• Regional variations: “I have finished already” (BE) - “I finished already” (AE)
• Written grammar: derived from and applied to written representations of language.
• Spoken grammar: derived from and applied to spoken representations of language.
• ‘Historical’ grammar: I dare say he hath erred.
• ‘Contemporary’ grammar: I was like that is well wrong.
• ‘Non-standard’ grammar: “We was robbed, it weren’t no penalty”, “You ain’t right”.
• ‘Text’ language: “Wot U duin 2nite?”

Grammar

Description of the structure and/or of the constituent parts of a system (language) used to formulate a communication that has meaning.

Description of the:

• Constituent parts (building blocks) of the linguistic System.
• Order in which the building blocks are placed (word order).
• Particular modifications that the building blocks may undergo (inflections).

Descriptive Grammar

Describes and illustrates how a language is actually exploited in practice by users (both ‘primary’ and ‘secondary’ grammar). Recognises that grammar changes over time. Recognises that grammar will vary in different contexts (historical, geographical, social, etc.).

Prescriptive Grammar

Linguistic formulation is defined by rules. There is a ‘right’ and a ‘wrong’ form. However, these rules might be inappropriate to the language system to which they are applied.

Aspect, Mood, Voice, Conditions

• Simple → Express a single action, a repeated action, or a permanent state.
  • Present Simple: “We finish the job”.
  • Past Simple: “We finished the job”.
  • Future Simple: “We will finish the job”.
• Perfect → Action from a point in time which has an impact on a subsequent time.
  • Present Perfect: “We have finished the job”.
  • Past Perfect: “We had finished the job”.
  • Future Perfect: “We will have finished the job”.
• Progressive → Continuous background context accompanying a foreground event (future event).
  • Present Continuous: “We are finishing the job”.
  • Past Continuous: “We were finishing the job”.
  • Future Continuous: “We will be finishing the job”.
• Perfect Progressive:
  • Present Perfect Continuous: “We have been finishing the job”.
  • Past Perfect Continuous: “We had been finishing the job”.
  • Future Perfect Continuous: “We will have been finishing the job”.

Indicative

Stating facts, describing situations, expressing ideas (realis) “I recommend that he does this”, “I wish to know this”, “I wished to know that”.

Subjunctive

Expressing an unreality (irrealis), a wish to change, the realisation of a possibility. “I wish I knew that”, “I wish I had known that”.

Imperative

Express orders, requests, invitation, suggestion, recommendation, wish. “Do this”, “Give me a hand, please”, “Do pay attention”, “Let’s have lunch”, “Drive carefully!”.

Active

“They will finish the job tomorrow”, “Somebody acquired the company in a secret deal”.

Passive

Emphasis to the object or express a proposition when the subject is unknown or irrelevant “The job will be finished tomorrow”, “The company was acquired in a secret deal”.

Present/Future Conditions

“If I have the money, I will go on holiday”, “If I have the money, I go on holiday”.

Present/Past Conditions

“If I had the money, I would go on holiday”, “If I had had the money, I would have gone on holiday”.

Function → Hypothetical. Referring either to the present/future or the past. Not true now (present/future) or then (past). Logically possible (present/future) or impossible.

Forms of the Future

English grammar provides a number of ways to indicate the future nature of an occurrence. Some argue that English does not have a future tense—that is, a grammatical form that always indicates futurity—nor does it have a mandatory form for the expression of futurity. However, there are several generally accepted ways to indicate futurity in English, and some of them—particularly those that use will or shall—are frequently described as future tense.

Tense (in English) consists of only two options, as mentioned above: past and present. For lack of a special future tense, the language must resort to a number of different constructions to express future time.

• Simple Present → a scheduled, often repeated event. “The company board meets tomorrow at 3.00 pm”, “Interest is paid at the end of each month”
• Present Continuous → plans and arrangements. “We are introducing new software in the planning department”
• Be to/Be about to → realisation of a previous decision. “The company is about to make a major investment”
• Going to/Planning to/Intending to/Expecting to → a programmed objective that is likely to happen. “We are intending to recruit 100 new staff”, “We are expecting to make a substantial profit”
• Plan to/Expect to/Want to → a projected, less certain future objective. “We want to return to profit by the end of the year”
• Hope to/Mean to/Would like to → a desire for the future. “We hope to reduce costs considerably”, “We mean to fight the hostile takeover bid”
• May, Might → indication of level of probability of a future occurrence. “Prices may increase in the third quarter”
• Can, Could → indication of level of probability of a future occurrence. “We can offer a 5% discount on bulk orders”
• Must → indication of level of probability (obligation).