Riassunto Lingua Inglese 1

English conversations and social class

We cannot talk about English conversation codes without talking about class. Everyone, when he talks, reveals his own social class. The two main factors involved are terminology and pronunciation—the words we say and the way we say them. The first thing is which type of letter you favour (brE) in our pronunciation and which type we fail. Lower classes tend to fail to pronounce consonants, while upper classes fail with vowels. The first will say “alf past ten,” the second will say “hpstn.” This way can be done without moving the mouth too much.

There is a distinction between upper class speech and “educated speech.” Often, the BBC is referred to as educated speech but is more upper-middle than upper. For a lot of years, accent mattered too much. Even if it is nowadays more acceptable in many snobby occupations, it is still recognised as a symptom of working class.

Varieties of English

Varieties of English are determined by:

• Identity of the speakers
• Where they live
• Ethnicity
• Social space
• Time
• Gender
• Personality

These studies are called sociolinguistics, which study varieties of a language. There are two types of variable: social variable (gender, geography, age, occupation, class, race, ethnicity) and the linguistic variable (accent, register, style, dialect, a word or a phrase).

Linguistic code

The linguistic code covers different varieties of language:

• Accent
• Dialect
• Register
• Style

In fact, a speaker could choose different codes on different occasions and for different purposes.

Domains and code-switching

Domains: Different uses of different codes are tied to domains. The choice of code is determined by domain. This leads us to code-switching, the phenomenon where a bilingual or multilingual speaker shifts from one language to another in a conversation.

The mother tongue (L1), native language, immigrant speakers could shift from this language (also known as “We Code” when used as a minority language) to another one called L2. For immigrants, L2 is called “They code” because it is the language used in a more formal way.

A compound bilingual is a person who becomes fluent in his second language during his life.

Criteria for measuring the prestige of a language/linguistic code

We measure the prestige of a language/linguistic code based on different criteria:

• Standardisation, variety approved or not by institutions
• Vitality, if there is a community of speakers
• Historicity, if there is longevity
• Autonomy, if it is different from the others
• Reduction, if there is a sub-variety
• Mixture, if the language is pure or mixed with others
• Unofficial norms, if there are good and bad varieties

Standard English

Standard English (SE) is the variety of English that is held to be correct in the sense that it shows no regional or other variations. It’s closely associated with a high degree of education, used in print, writing, and teaching in school. It is also referred to as “Queen’s” English or “King’s” English.

SE refers to grammar, lexicon, and syntax and is closely associated with Received Pronunciation (also referred to as BBC English-Oxford English). The rise of SE is related to the period between 1100 and 1500. Several causes contributed to its rise:

• As a Midland dialect, the English of this region occupied a middle position. It was less conservative than the Southern and less radical than the Northern.
• The East Midlands areas were the largest and most populous.
• In these areas, there were the universities of Oxford and Cambridge.

There was a process of standardization which proceeded in four stages:

• Selection of one dialect above the others, in fact, the centre of power began to concentrate more in London. Gradually, the London dialect became the one referred to by the educated. It existed in two standards, a spoken one and the written Chancery standard.
• Acceptance by the community, in fact, it was adopted by students all over England and especially by Oxford’s and Cambridge’s students.
• Elaboration, as it became the language of the Church and Law.
• Codification through the education system, such as dictionaries (1755), grammars (1795), and pronouncing dictionaries.

Peculiarities of SE

• Irregular present tense (go-goes)
• Lacks multiple negation (I don’t want anything)
• “To be” is irregular in present and past
• Past tense + Past perfect
• Two-way distinction in demonstrative system (This/that)
• Singular form + S

Also, RP is one of the processes of standardization. The accent of southeast England, especially Londonian, arose in the middle of the 19th century with a “cut-glass accent.” This BBC Accent became a minority form.

Euphemisms and Estuary English

Euphemisms are the result of changes in the conscience of society in areas where it feels guilt or is a taboo topic.

Estuary English (EE) is due to replace the traditionally educated accent of RP. In the second half of the 20th century, it replaced the RP. It was defined as a “mixture of non-regional and local south-eastern English pronunciation and intonation.” It was also described as a dialect existing between Cockney and the Queen, a bridge between RP and Cockney. People from an RP background adopt it because it increases “street credibility,” and people with a local accent adopt it because it sounds more sophisticated. We can hear it on the BBC, by the members of both Houses and businessmen. Tony Blair often switches from RP to EE.

The vocabulary of EE has important features. Cheers is used instead of Thank You, basically is often used, There You Go is preferred over Here You Are, and Americanisms are often adopted by the speakers.

EE Grammar has additional features:

• Confrontational question tags such as “didn’t I?”
• Omissions of -ly in adverbs
• Particular prepositional uses (I got off of the bench, that is a prepositional surplus)
• Use of ain’t which stands for am/is/aren’t and has/have not

Register or Diatype

Register is the variety of language determined by the circumstance and the purpose of the communicative situation. According to Halliday, register is a variety according to use, while dialect is a variety according to the user.

Pinpointing a register

To pinpoint a register, we have to speak about four acts that occur simultaneously:

• Field, the subject matter of the conversation. Specific language for a subject.
• Tenor, the formality of any given piece of language. Formality choices are determined by the relationship between the participants. There are four of these:
  • Frozen: Often contains archaisms (Visitors should make their way at once to the upper floor)
  • Formal: One way participation, no interruptions (Visitors should go up the stairs at once)
  • Consultative: Two-way participation, conversation (Would you mind going upstairs, right away)
  • Casual, in group friend’s communications (Time you all went upstairs now)
  • Intimate, non-public. Words are more important than grammar (Up you go, chaps)
• Mode, written/spoken/e-mailed/texted
• Functional tenor, regarding the functions of language:
  • Emotive, related to the addresser and expresses inner states of mind
  • Conative, related to the addressee to influence others to achieve some goals
  • Informational, related to the content of the message
  • Poetic, related to the form which the message takes
  • Meta-communicative, related to the code used, it’s the language we use to talk about language
  • Phatic, a social rather than a content function, establishes and maintains contact

Distribution of lexical words in different registers

We can notice that:

• Nouns are most common in news reports and academic writing.
• Adjectives are most common in academic prose, rare in conversation.
• Verbs and adverbs are most frequent in conversation and fiction.

Travel guides and language

Travel guides play an important role in providing the cultural background and information for travellers to appreciate the place. They have to be tailored to the needs and interests of readers, and therefore have a practical use. The emotive function is identified as predominant in these; in fact, the tourism language is defined as extreme language for its use of superlatives, hyperbole, and so on, designated to call forth emotions and feelings to the addressee.

There are numerous rhetorical questions and exclamations to involve the reader (conative function) and to realize the phatic function by maintaining contact with the addressee. This language shares a lot of features with the language of advertising because they share two processes: communication and persuasion. Moreover, words are carefully selected to promote positive associations in the minds of the reader.

In texts that aim to provide information about something, it would be fair to find the referential function to be dominant, but this is not always the case because sometimes the portrait is quite conventional, based on cultural clichés.

The vocabulary of travel guides is apparently simple, based on short sentences. Moreover, it tends to be drawn from everyday, colloquial language (to have a dialogue with the reader), to capture the attention of the reader. Since the purpose of guides is to convince readers, negatives tend to be used very infrequently and only to emphasize something. Similarly, adjectives are rare and are followed by adjectives with positive connotations. Past tense is usually avoided, only to stress the long traditions associated with a place or an institution. Most of the time, we can find verb forms that imply a universal timelessness.

Imperative-type constructions are often used to declare that some sort of action is to be undertaken (Expect to pay/Be aware that/Note that), conditionals are used to suggest what people should do when they arrive at some places.

Lexicon of travel guides

The lexicon of travel guides shows a great indebtedness to semantic fields of other specialized languages, such as:

• Hotel Business, when using technicalities to accommodations and hotels (Single, triple, dorm bed)
• Transports, to talk about the means of transport to be used on something (Terminal, underground)
• New Technologies, mainly to talk about websites through which you can book or to describe services offered by hotels and bars (websites, free wireless internet)
• History and Art, to talk about city history, museum (granite column, Doric portico)
• Food and Cooking, to describe the culinary specialties of the place (Filling jacket potatoes, cod and chips, all cooked on the premises)

Also, we can find fixed and idiomatic expressions typical of colloquial and informal registers to persuade the reader to visit the place using a familiar lexicon. Furthermore, in some travel guides, there is a presence of archaisms, especially when it talks about souvenirs shops. Also, there are a lot of shortened forms to fulfill the need for linguistic conciseness:

• Abbreviations (T, ST, RD, pm, noon)
• Clippings, and in particular back-clipping (Techno, Electro, Bus, Car)
• Initialism, which can be acronyms (CAMRA, VAT) and alphabetisms (UV, BM)
• Blends, that are a combination of two words (Brunch, Gastropub, Campsite)

Genderlect

Genderlect refers to the different lexical and grammatical choices made by men and women. Gender could be considered a sociolinguistic variable in speech, and genderlect suggests that masculine and feminine styles of discourse are best viewed as two distinct cultural dialects.

• Women talk more in private conversations.
• Women tend to engage in long and detailed personal discussions about anything (girl talks), whereas men tend to speak about things, activities, and opinions. In mixed groups, men tend to dominate the time and turn-taking, whereas women tend to support and reply. In report talk, men are usually more comfortable than women with public speaking.
• Men interrupt women more than vice versa. Women interrupt to show agreement, to give support. Men interrupt to take control of the discussion or to switch the conversation.
• Women don’t like aggression while men see it as normal conversational order.
• Men see independence, give orders, use imperatives, and have a clear and direct way of speaking. Women see intimacy as a key word.
• Women are less direct and subtler, using conditionals and circumlocutions.

In particular, girl talk is seen as a means for building a sense of belonging to a community, sharing secrets, and keeping one’s friends up-to-date about events in their own life.

• Frequency of particular evaluative and empty adjectives, lovely, sweet, cute
• Tag phrases, well, you know
• Prefacing questions, I wonder
• Super polite forms, won’t you please, would you mind
• More intensifiers, so many
• Indirect commands and requests, Harry isn’t it cold in here? To order to close the window

Girl talk is testimonial talk, a dialogue between two characters expressing their opinions about an issue at the same time, because there are lots of interruptions which indicate interest and enthusiasm.

What is a dialect?

It’s important to not confuse SE with non-standard dialects and formal-informal ways of speaking. In fact, dialects could be spoken in less or more formal styles. SE is not the only correct language, and dialects aren’t wrong. In fact, this language has its origins in the older traditional dialect of southeast England.

All dialects are equally grammatical and correct; they differ only in social significance and function. A dialect is a variety of language defined largely by its users’ regional or socio-economic origins, a variety spoken by a group living in a particular area or belonging to a particular social class.

Dialects refer to given combinations of grammatical, syntactic, and lexical features that occur in speakers of a particular area. For example, world English is the term for all different varieties of English spoken all over the world.

Regional dialect

Regional dialect is a dialect spoken by a group in a particular area or region. The major division within England is between the North and the South and the Midlands. In the vocabulary of dialect, there are lots of jocular words and so on. We can note that for a single thing, there are lots of words that explain this concept; they may also differ in words they use for expressing emotional feelings and states (very becomes gey/gradely/wholly/main tasty).

Many words of SE are used with different meanings (bread is used as cake, spice is sweets). Sometimes the difference in meaning is the result of a preservation of an older meaning in dialect, such as “anatomy” (sk).