University of Rome III - Faculty of Arts and Letters - Department of Linguistics - Patrick Boylan - October-December 2001

I programmi dei moduli offerti nel 2001-02 non sono più materia d'esame dopo febbraio 2005
non verranno più conservati dopo tale data i compiti svolti dagli studenti né i relativi voti assegni.
 

Course Syllabus (goals, topics, required readings)
Programma del corso (finalità, temi, testi da portare all'esame)

Il corso completa consiste nei seguenti quattro moduli. Secondo il tipo di formazione desiderato e quindi il curriculum scelto, lo studente può seguirne solo alcuni e in un ordine diverso da quello indicato qui.

a) le varietà

La lingua inglese verrà studiata come manifestazione, in molteplici contesti geografici e sociali, di una particolare volontà storica di essere.

b) ricerca sul campo

Il modulo cercherà di dare, attraverso la ricerca sul campo, una visione etnolinguistica dei vari inglesi nel mondo.

c) i valori e l'interiorizzazione

Verrano studiati, attraverso la soggettività dei singoli parlanti, i rapporti tra i diversi modi di esprimersi in inglese e i diversi modi di essere. Lo studente acquisterà poi la capacità di vedere e di dire le cose alla maniera del proprio interlocutore anglofona.

N.B.  Nell'ordine degli studi, viene detto che il corso Modi di essere e modi di esprimersi in Inglese s'articola in quattro unità ("a", "b", "c", e "d").  Quest'anno, tuttavia, per problemi organizzativi, verranno offerti i soli moduli "a", "b", "c".

Testi:

BOYLAN P., "Relativizing the Concept of Communication". In: M. Parry & D. Killick (a cura di), Crossing Boundaries, Glasgow, Academic Press, 2001, disponible anche in Internet: http://host.uniroma3.it/docenti/boylan/text/boylan09.htm ‹--Premere sull'indirizzo.

BYRAM M. & FLEMING M., Language Learning in an Intercultural Perspective, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1998.

AA.VV., Siti per l'esercitazione interattiva in inglese, http://host.uniroma3.it/docenti/boylan/call/call-ing.htm ‹--Premere sull'indirizzo.
http://host.uniroma3.it/docenti/boylan/terni/terni-si.htm ‹--Premere sull'indirizzo.
(Interrogazione su 5 siti, a scelta dello studente)
 

Per ragguagli sugli orari delle lezioni, sui crediti riconosciuti e sulle categorie di studenti a cui questi corsi sono destinati, premere qui-›.

Enrolment Form.

Please download the Enrolment Form, fill it out, and e-mail it to me.  You can get a copy of the form and instructions for filling it out by clicking here-›..

(Informativa sulla privacy)

The information on the form will be treated with respect for your privacy.  The information will help me estimate what level I should aim for in my teaching.  It will also permit me to reform groups according to such criteria as: geographical proximity of habitation, knowledge of English, curriculum chosen, etc.

Are you on the class list?  Click here to see the students enrolled to date-›..
(For the list of Study Groups, see below)

Optional reading: U.S. Accents  Click here-› .
From: www.ling.upenn.edu/phono_atlas/NationalMap/NatMap1.html

What does "optional reading" mean?
It means that this publication gives you background information

• that you will not be responsible for (on the exam) but

• that you can use to get a higher mark during the exam.

For example U.S. Accents gives you background information on American (and Southern American) pronunciation.  This will help you to understand and (if you so desire) imitate the pronunciation of the characters in the film Nashville.

On the exam, however, you will not be asked to imitate Southern American pronunciation or to transcribe it (unless you are taking Module C on Thursdays).  So the technical information in this publication will not be necessary to pass the exam.  On the other hand, some exam questions will be about the different varieties of English in the world; in answering them, you may be able to use some of the technical (phonological) information from this publication.  If you do, you will get a higher mark.
 

Modulo B

Ethnolinguistic research groups  (no enrolment application will be accepted after January 31st!): click  here to see group members-› .

Phonetic and CA transcription exam as a preparation for the Ethnolinguistic research project (only for students taking Module B): the exam (or "esonero") is scheduled for November 12th.  It consists of writing two transcriptions:
1. a phonetic transcription of a segment of a BBC weather report;
2. a CA transcription ("Conversational Analysis") of a segment of the original Big Brother show (BBC, 1970 - working class speakers from Reading)
Both audio segments are on cassettes available for individual study in the language lab.  The lab technician will also furnish one cassette to each group leader for group study (recommended) to be done at home or in an empty classroom, not in the lab.  For the conventions of phonetic and CA transcriptions, see the booklet "Documentation" distributed in class to each group.

Exam results:  click  here-› .

Ethnolinguistic research project (only for students taking Module B).  Due date: before Easter vacation (otherwise it will not be corrected).  The group leader can consign the paper to the teacher during office hours.  For office hours and absences, press here-› .

To better prepare yourself for your ethnolinguistic research project, you can read the text Developing an ethnographic method by clicking here-›.  (to see the text on your screen) or here-›.  (to download the text).

To carry out the project you must:

1. Interview a native speaker of English who speaks some variety that is not "Queen's English" (you can interview a typical tourist at the train station or in an Irish pub, for example).

2. Transcribe the most interesting segment of the recording (one minute of speech is the minimum): use CA conventions and, when the subject's pronunciation conveys meaning, use phonetic symbols between slashes, like the word "Italian" below:
  Student:ä Sîr (2.0) sîr (1.0) ä excuse me
                 (5.0) May we ìnterview you  (.)  [for a] cláss project
  Tourist:                                                  [Wha-]                    (2.0) a whát

  S            A clàss project  h  for our [ènglish] class=
  T                                                  [âh       ]        =At an /aitæ:ljÙn/ schòol

3. Identify the subject's cultural group membership: where s/he was born, raised, educated; where s/he now lives and works; what social class s/he belongs to; what kind of people and places s/he frequents; what beliefs and values s/he professes (this last question can be dangerous so use prudence!).

4. Write a report in which you give the CA (and phonetic) transcription, the subject's cultural group membership, and your comments.  Use a word processor to write the report.  Most versions of Word permit you to choose IPA symbols for your character set when doing a phonetic transcription.  If your word processor does not have IPA characters, you can write the phonetic transcriptions by hand.  The paper should be the length of the model papers in the Documentation booklet.
 
 

Modulo C (giovedì)

Cultural accommodation exam (only for students taking Module C):
the exam (or "esonero") is scheduled for the last day of this cycle, November 15th.  Read the web pages here-›   to prepare for it.

Exam results:  click  here-›.

Cultural accommodation project  (only for students taking Module C).    Due date: before Easter vacation (otherwise it will not be corrected).  The group leader can consign the cassette to the teacher during office hours.  For office hours and absences, press here-› .

Your group is NOT necessarily the same as the Ethnographic Reserarch Group (which probably has members who are not Operatori Interculturali and who therefore are not interested in doing this Cultural Accomodation Project).  In order to create a NEW group for the recording, find 5 to 10 students who live near you or whom you know, phone them or e-mail them to meet and make a recording, according to the instructions below.  How can you find 5 to 10 students to form a group?  Look at the names and addresses listed here: -›  ‹-On this page you will also see the groups already formed for the Accommodation of Pronunciation.

To carry out the project you must:

1. View at least part of the film Nashville.  There are 5 copies of the film in the language laboratory.  Each monitor in the Video Room has a double earphone (cuffia) so try to view the film with another student: when you don't understand something, stop the tape and ask your partner for help.

2. Select a character you can identify with.

3. Imitate that person's pronunciation.  If you want to know what characterizes the pronunciation of the person you choose, read the description of U.S. Accents  (Northeastern, Mid-West, Western and Southern) above,   If you choose to imitate Opal, the BBC journalist, read the description of "Received Pronunciation" (or "RP", the upper-class British pronunciation) in the following textbook (available in the language laboratory with an audio cassette):

Peter Roach, English Phonetics and Phonology, Cambridge University Press, 1983.

You are to imitate just a few seconds of speech (from 5 to 20 seconds).  This corresponds to two short utterances taken from a conversation or a brief monologue.  Example of a 5 second sequence:
            Haven Hamilton:  Now you get your hair cut.  You don't belong in Nashville.

4. Make a group recording of your pronunciation.  This means that you must first form a group of 5 to 10 students; tell one of the students to bring a cassette and a cassette recorder: meet in an empty classroom; practice imitating your character; listen to the criticisms of the other students and, if you agree, modify your pronunciation; record the modified version following the format given below:

    Name:  Hello, my name's Nero Bianchi.
    Identification:  I was born in Latina on January 15th, 1980.
     Character:  The character I have chosen to identify with is: Haven Hamilton.
    Accent:  He speaks Southern American English, country style.
    Imitation: "Now I'd like to sing you all the song that got me started in this business, a song that has been real kind to me all through these years: Keep a'goin' "

    Name:  Hello, my name's Bianca Neri.
    Identification:  I was born in Rome on December 4th, 1978.
     Character:  The character I have chosen to identify with is: Opal.
    Accent:  She speaks upper-class British English with an RP accent.
    Imitation: "Do you really think so, Mr. Hamilton?  [...]  Oh, how marvellous to see you here: do come in!  [...]  Good Lord, just look at them!
(In this case, the student Bianca Neri has chosen three separate utterances from three different scenes.  Putting them together has given her at least 5 seconds of speech.)

5. Consign the cassette before Easter.  DO NOT consign a cassette if it has only one recording on it.  Consign a cassette that has the recordings of at least five students, one after another, preferably (but not necessarily) recorded the same day.
 
 
 
 

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