For March 23rd, choose a speaker of some distinctive variety of English for which you feel an affinity. (NOTE: In the future, you will have to find someone in Rome who speaks that variety and with whom you -- as your English-speaking “double” -- can converse. So do not choose a rare variety, like Tok Pisin!)
The
variety you choose must be a marginal variety of an "inner
circle" English or ANY of the Englishes
from the outer circle (second ring), as
described by Kachru here.
-
First, click here
for the web page “Films in English.” It lists films in
the Lab featuring people who use varieties
of English other than R.P. (British Received Pronunciation)
or G.A. (General American). The settings and the stories of the
films you see will also help you choose the particular
English-speaking community to study.
Remember: You have to
find a person AND a community with whom you feel an affinity.
It is not enough to feel an affinity toward the person for personal
or psychological reasons. You must feel an affinity for that person
because of the culture s/he expresses, that is, the view of the
world and the way of expressing her/himself that s/he shares with
the other people of her/his community (or sub-community).
NOTE:
You can also use films that you may find in the video rental stores
listed on the web page “Films
in English.” Or you can use famous people, like
Bono if you want to study Irish English (specifically, Dubliner
working class English) or Nelson Mandela if you want to study South
African English -- provided that you find audio-video clips of them
speaking and interacting WHILE USING THEIR CULTURALLY-MARKED WAY OF
SAYING THINGS. You can find these clips on many web sites, like
CNN.
Remember, for your report you must choose a
kind of English to study that is NOT like one of the two dominant
"prestige varieties" that we have seen so far: "R.P."
(Received Pronunciation) British English and General American. So if
you choose Bono, you cannot use the interviews in which he puts
aside his Dubliner English and uses a kind of (well, almost) General
American English -- as he did, for example, in the speech he gave at
Harvard University and as he does in most songs (in order to
be more widely understood and accepted).
-
Secondly, use the Internet to document the variety of
English that you have chosen. Examples of resource pages: click>
Englishes
or Englishes
and then click on specific varieties, like Australian
(including “Strine”) or TokPisin
(“Talk Pidgin”, the English of New Guinea). “To
document” means to make a linguistic description that
expresses the specificity of the variety
- phonologically;
-
lexico-syntatically;
- pragmatically, textually, stylistically;
-
culturally.
Again, do not concentrate on the linguistic
idiosyncrasies of your double, concentrate on the way your double
speaks that is in common with most people in her/his community. For
example, in Bono's case, concentrate on his "Hiberno English"
or Irish English, which he shares with most other Dubliners --
especially when drinkin'!
A hint [drittata]:
There are a lot of Bangladeshis and Filipinos in Rome so if you
choose their variety of English you will have an easy time finding
people for your future interview. They are typical speakers of
"outer circle" Englishes -- if educated, of course.
-
Thirdly, use the materials I (very rapidly) showed in class to
describe a community's culture. You will find them in the Recap of
the March 14th Lesson and also here:
(1.)
Italian translation of the most common "cultural
dimensions"
(which are parameters
for measuring cultural differences) >
and
here:
(2.) Explanation
in Italian and in English by Prof. Beamer of other "cultural
dimensions">
.
- Lastly,
write a 2 page report on the English you wish to internalize: 1 page
desctribing the characteristic way of saying things, one page
describing the characteristic way of seeing things.
Specifically:
a. Describe the variety of English you have
chosen. List the sound/video sources you found to document that
variety. Your documentation should permit me (or another student) to
find the sources, so if you indicate an Internet page, TEST what you
write to make sure the link works. If you use a video cassette, give
the address of the store where I (or another student) can rent the
video. If you want, you can include with your report the printouts
of the Internet pages or photocopies of pages from books of
descriptive linguistics, useful for describing the variety of
English you have chosen.
b. Describe the culture evoked by
the variety of English you have chosen. Use Beamer's (or any other)
parameters to situate that culture with respect to your (middle
class Roman) culture and my (middle class Los Angeleno) culture.
Here, too, you can include documentation useful for understanding
the target culture -- for example, printouts of Internet pages or
photocopies from ethnographical studies, magazines, song lyrics,
literary works giving a feel for the culture, etc.
For the form, follow the model given in the TASK 3 box.
AND THAT'S IT.
Give
your paper to your class leader next week, BEFORE MARCH 23rd, so
that he or she has time to give it a mark.
GROUP LEADERS: Use
this form to give your marks (you also mark yourself)>
(Remember:
you can earn 0 1 or 2 points for normal, good or very good marking.
You can also loose 0 1 or 2 points for normal, poor or very poor
marking. )