Appunti lezioni

Appunti lezioni WardleLanguage (first lesson)

Talking about language in English

• Reading a book
• Giving a presentation
• Watching a dubbed film (film doppiato)
• Writing a birthday card
• Planning a dissertation (tesi di laurea)
• Sending a text message
• Interpreting an advert
• Chatting on the internet
• Learning a song
• Telling a joke

Text types

• Recipe
• Horoscope
• Scientific report
• Poem

Medium

• Spoken
• Written
• Text message
• Tweet
• Email
• Letter

Register

• Formal
• Informal
• Colloquial

Style

• Individual
• Academic
• Literary

Ways of analysing language

Descriptive grammar: the systematic study and description of a language. Descriptive grammar refers to the structure of a language as it is actually used by speakers and writers.

Prescriptive grammar: a set of rules and examples dealing with the syntax and word structures of a language, usually intended as an aid to the learning of that language. Prescriptive grammar refers to the structure of a language as certain people think it should be used.

Both kinds of grammar are concerned with rules, but in different ways. Specialists in descriptive grammar (called linguists) study the rules or patterns that underlie our use of words, phrases, clauses, and sentences. On the other hand, prescriptive grammarians (such as most editors and teachers) lay out rules about what they believe to be the "correct" or "incorrect" use of language.

Points of view

Diachronic point-of-view: Elements are viewed in succession, chronologically.

Synchronic point-of-view: Elements are viewed at one given point in time.

Topics

• Morphology
• Vocabulary/lexis
• Collocation (e.g., white and black television)
• Punctuation
• Grammar
• Syntax
• Phonetics
• Semantics (meaningful content)
• Pragmatics (context and meaning; the meaning changes according to the context)
• Proxemics

Examples of punctuation and sentences

A woman without her man is nothing.

Capital letter full stop opposite

Sentence: frase Phrase: espressione

A woman: without her, man is nothing.

Colon comma

A panda walks into a café. He orders a sandwich… Eats shoots and leaves = mangia germogli e foglie. Eats, shoots and leaves = mangia, spara e se ne va.

Punctuation mark

Full stop/period: it marks the end of a sentence.

e.g. = Abbreviations: from Latin exempli gratia for example.

i.e. = from Latin id est that is

Decimals: 3.57% (per cent) [three-point-five-seven-per-cent] always use a full stop.

Prices: £2.99 pounds

Time: 4.30 am

The use of capital letters

• To begin a sentence
• Proper nouns and first person singular
• Countries and nationality (e.g., England/English)
• Cities
• Days of the week
• Months of the year
• Titles: The Times, Pride and Prejudice, The Lord of the Rings

The use of hyphen

Hyphen: trattino; to hyphenate = trattinare

To join words: Sunglasses, blue-eyed boy, American football player (calciatore americano), America-football player (giocatore di calcio americano)

Dash: trattino che divide

Units of language (second lesson)

• Word
• Phrase
• Sentence: capital letter to full stop
• Paragraph
• Essay, chapter, article, book

Hh= a letter of the alphabet + upper and lower case

Hi= italics

H= hospital (internationally recognised) the initial letter stands for the whole word.

H= hotel the context determines our interpretation; we rely on our world knowledge.

H= hot water (on tap=rubinetto; faucet= American) immediate context: bathroom taps wider context: English-speaking environment

Units of language

Letter Word = in between level there are letters or syllables that make up (compose) words

Morphology: construction of words.

One dog three dogs = plural of nouns

They walk every day he walks every day = 3^rd person singular present simple

Quadrifoglio = four-leaf clover; it’s not in the plural (quando si aggettiva non si accorda)

Unlucky; untidy; unhappy

Lucky tidy happy

Vocabulary

Historical influences: vocabulary/lexis

Anglo-Saxon root (before there were the Celts).

Latinate root through Norman French (battle of Hastings, 1066) 1^st invasion!

This two roots exist side by side. (Questo è perché molto spesso ci sono parole doppie)

Cow/beef (meat) ANGLO

Pig/pork (meat) FRENCH

Wish/ desire

House/domicile

History

• Old English (500-1100)
• Middle English (1100-1500) Wycliffe, 1384= prima traduzione della Bibbia in inglese
• Early modern English (1500-1800)
• Late-modern English (1800 to the present) pronunciation, grammar and spelling stay more or less the same

Vocabulary: Great changes in

Reasons: industrial revolution; technological age

Neologism mostly from Latin and Greek roots: telescope/telephone/telegraph.

Some words formed from English roots: horse power (motore cavalli); airplane; typewriter; railway

Existing words take on new meanings or grammatical function (semantic shift, functional shift). E.g., printer= oggi è stampante, prima tipografo; shuttle (autobus avanti e indietro).

Mouse, window, menu, twitter; mice/ mouses (computer)

Friend (to friend is now a verb) / unfriend, text

Lone words (third lesson)

British Empire and Global trade

Indian: shampoo, pyjamas, bungalow; sometimes some same words have different meanings in languages: bungalow

Arabic: algebra, giraffe, monsoon

Finnish: sauna

Japanese: soy, geisha, karate

Italian: piano, pizza, confetti, coriandoli, panini (ciabatta bread), paninis, latte (latte macchiato)

French: the language English borrowed the most: fiancé(e), rendez-vous, bon appetit, café, montage.

Varieties of English

American English

• Vocabulary (fall, sidewalk)
• Spelling: colo(u)r, dialog(ue)
• Grammar: gotten
• Pronunciation

Distinct forms of English

• Australia (more similar to English than America)
• New Zealand
• India sub-continent
• South Africa

Global English

English used as lingua franca. “British English” is just one dialect of the language. Received pronunciation (RP) = standard, south of England, the accent does not depend only on geographical regions but also on social status.

OXFORD ENGLISH, BBC ENGLISH different names of RP, QUEEN’S ENGLISH, ESTATUARY ENGLISH (it’s becoming widespread)

Cockney: associated to the East; lower classes (cockney rhyming slang)

To talk= to rabbit and pork; thief= tea leaf; road= frog-toad; I don’t Adam & Eve it= I don’t believe it

Collocation

Collocation are words that frequently appear together. Recognising these collocations helps to understand a text better and improve reading speed. Using them in writing or speaking would make it sound more natural.

[adjective + noun]

• The fast train
• Fast food
• A quick shower
• A quick meal
• Big toe

• The quick train
• Quick food
• A fast shower
• A fast meal
• Large toe

Set phrases

• Workers are losing their jobs while the fat cats who run the company are getting richer.
• Achilles heel = weak spot
• Prepare yourself for a lot of red tape when buying a house in Italy. = burocrazia

Idiomatic phrases

A group of words whose meaning is different to the literal meaning of the individual words of which it is composed. An example of figurative language cannot usually be translated.

Idioms of colours

• To paint the town red= to go out and enjoy yourself in the evening, often drinking a lot of alcohol and dancing.
• Once in a blue moon= is used colloquial to mean a “rare event” (ogni morto di Papa).
• The green-eyed monster= the feeling of being jealous.
• The black sheep of the family= someone who is thought to be a bad person by the rest of their family.
• As white as sheet= (impallidire) extremely pale, as if frightened.
• To show your true colour= to show who you really are/look like.

Idioms with parts of the body

• It cost me an arm and a leg= (un occhio della testa) an excessively high price.
• Born with a silver spoon in your mouth= (nato con la camicia) born into wealth and privilege.
• Please keep an eye out for my phone= (guarda, cerca)
• I passed the exam by skin of my teeth= (per un pelo) just barely, very narrowly
• Cut off your nose to spite your face= (far dispetto)
• In one ear and out the other= heard but not remembered.

Proverbs

• It’s the last straw that breaks the camel’s back= (la goccia che fa traboccare il vaso). The final annoyance or setback, which even though minor makes one lose patience.
• To have your cake and eat it= (botte piena e la moglie ubriaca) to have in one's possession something and use it.