Storia della Lingua Inglese g g Lecture 2
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Storia della Lingua Inglese g g Lecture 2
Storia della Lingua Inglese – AA 2012/13 Dott.ssa Maria Ivana Lorenzetti Storia della Lingua g Inglese g Lecture 2 Module 2 DOTT.SSA MARIA IVANA LORENZETTI American English Approximately 85% of the 275 Americans have English as their native language (Data from the year 2000) Speakers of American English outnumber all native speakers of English outside the USA by 2 to 1 and those of British English by 4 to 1 According g to a survey y by y the American government in 2007, around 55 million people had a native language other than English in the USA 2 Lecture 02 22/04/2013 1 Storia della Lingua Inglese – AA 2012/13 Dott.ssa Maria Ivana Lorenzetti Not just American English 3 Other Languages Spoken in the USA 4 Lecture 02 22/04/2013 2 Storia della Lingua Inglese – AA 2012/13 Dott.ssa Maria Ivana Lorenzetti American English and Official Status American English is not the official language in the USA The English-Only Movement has its roots in 1980s, when 23 states declared English to be their official language In 1996, for the first time, the Congress voted on a bill “The English Language Empowerment Act of 1996“, designating English as the federal government’s t’ sole l llanguage off official ffi i l b business. i The targets of the English-only movement were linguistic minorities, bilingual educators and Indian tribes 5 The English-Only Movement’s Motivations The view that the English language works as a social glue” glue in the United States “social The idea that the melting-pot myth and the fact that the government sponsors bilingual programs makes new immigrants reluctant to learn English Language diversity is dangerous for the whole y language g g nation, because it leads to ethnic hostility, conflict and political separatism 6 Lecture 02 22/04/2013 3 Storia della Lingua Inglese – AA 2012/13 Dott.ssa Maria Ivana Lorenzetti The English-Plus Concept The LULAC (League of United Latin American g that advocates the Citizens)) is the organization “English-Plus Concept” About 175 indigenous languages survive today but only 20 of these are still being learned by children It “celebrates the cultural and linguistic diversification of America and treats this nation's multiethnic lti th i and d multilingual ltili l communities iti as national resources” http://lulac.org/ The English Plus Concept’s Motivations Lecture 02 22/04/2013 Immigrants have much to offer from their g g and cultural backgrounds g diversified languages “Additive bilingualism creates a language competent society“: both limited English proficient individuals and native English speakers will be able to develop fluency in a second language Bilingual students develop a mental agility and fl ibilit flexibility For bilingual students it is easier to study another foreign language 4 Storia della Lingua Inglese – AA 2012/13 Dott.ssa Maria Ivana Lorenzetti The History of American English History y of AE Colonial period (1607-1776) National period (1776-1898) International period (1898-present) Colonization Lecture 02 22/04/2013 Spanish conquistadores, French explorers and English colonists dominated the European interests in North America during the 1500s and 1600s Eventually,English explorers established themselves on the East coast, though the colonies were controlled by Great Britain Dissatisfaction with this situation led to the REVOLUTIONARY WAR and the American Colonies DECLARING their INDEPENDENCE from Great Britain in 1776 5 Storia della Lingua Inglese – AA 2012/13 Dott.ssa Maria Ivana Lorenzetti Colonial Period 1620 is a fundamental year in American history, being the year when the Pilgrim Fathers on a ship named the Mayflower reached the shores of Massachussets and formed the first English permanent colony, after previous attempts and the colony of Jamestown in 1607 The Atlantic Ocean served as an effective barrier to oral communication between the colonists and those who stayed in England, ensuring that their speech would evolve in different directions Changes g in the motherland were slow to reach the colonies Colonists adapted old uses to new purposes and borrowed from other groups : the Amerindians, the Dutch, the French. 11 The 13 Colonies Lecture 02 22/04/2013 6 Storia della Lingua Inglese – AA 2012/13 Dott.ssa Maria Ivana Lorenzetti Colonial Period (2) The earliest settlers in Virginia and New England, confronted by plants and animals that were unfamiliar f ili to them, h either ih b borrowed d the h IIndian di names or invented names of their own Indian Words Raccoon, carnivorous mammal with a mask-like face Chipmunk, a small terrestrial squirrel Opossum, a marsupial Squash, the fruit of Cucurbita Inventions Bullfrog Liveoak Catbird The National Expansion Period Lecture 02 22/04/2013 The expansion of the 13 origin colonies to the south and westward, westward eventually ending to the Pacific coast, saw the growing need of a sense of national identity This was also felt from a linguistic point of view, leading to the evolution and recognition of a separate standard English for the USA the extension of that standard over the whole nation as it expanded westward 7 Storia della Lingua Inglese – AA 2012/13 Dott.ssa Maria Ivana Lorenzetti Noah Webster and Standard American Noah Webster can be viewed as the founding father of Standard American English He wanted to prove that the English spoken in America was distinctively American ”As an independent nation, our honor requires us to have a system of our own, in language as well as government. Great Britain, whose children we are, and whose language we speak, should no longer be our standard; for the taste of her writers is already corrupted, and her language on the decline. But if it were not so, she is at too great a distance to be our model, and to instruct us in the principles of our own tongue” (Dissertation on the English Language 1789) Noah Webster and Standard American (2) Lecture 02 22/04/2013 “A national language is a band of national union. Every engine should be employed to render the people l off this hi country national; i l to callll their h i attachments home to their own country; and to inspire them with the pride of national character” “It is not only important, but in a degree necessary, that the people of this country should have an American Dictionary of the English Language for, although g the body y of the language g g is the same as in England, and. it is desirable to perpetuate that sameness, yet some differences must exist” Noah Webster, An American Dictionary of the English Language (1828) 8 Storia della Lingua Inglese – AA 2012/13 Dott.ssa Maria Ivana Lorenzetti Noah Webster and Standard American (3) Spelling Reform He changed the –ce ce in words like defence, defence offence, offence and pretence to –se ( ex. Defense) removed the second silent "l" in verbs, such as travel and cancel when forming the past tense (ex. Traveled) dropped the "u" from words such as humour and colour (ex. color) dropped the "k" from words such as publick and musick, heritage of the Early Modern English period and later abandoned in BrE too (ex. music; public) The Spelling Reform Changes that were accepted Changes that were rejected Before Webster's Before Webster's Webster Change Webster Change gaol jail ache ake mould mold soup soop travelled traveled sleigh sley honour honor sponge spunge centre center tongue tung humour humor cloak cloke masque mask determine determin publick public women wimmen Lecture 02 22/04/2013 9 Storia della Lingua Inglese – AA 2012/13 Dott.ssa Maria Ivana Lorenzetti International Period From 1865 to 1929, when the immigration laws were changed Almost three quarters of immigrants coming from Southern and Eastern Europe The USA extended its overseas interests: an Open Door policy for China; the Panamanian revolution against Colombia, intervention in Latin American affairs etc. The USA played an increasing role in world politics and economics with a consequent effect on AE usage We might as well talk about an additional Global period extending to the present time Varieties of American English Lecture 02 22/04/2013 Varieties of AE are more determined by region than by any other factors such as ethnicity, gender, age, social class. AE Dialects are treated under four broad geographical headings: the North, the Coastal South, Midland and the West 10 Storia della Lingua Inglese – AA 2012/13 Dott.ssa Maria Ivana Lorenzetti Dialects Boundaries (based on Carver’s Linguistic Atlas of the US 1987) Lecture 02 22/04/2013 11 Storia della Lingua Inglese – AA 2012/13 Dott.ssa Maria Ivana Lorenzetti Northern Dialect The most noticeable difference within the region is that New York and New England areas are non-rhotic while the western portion of the North is rhotic in the production of the /r/ phoneme Merger of vowels in cot and cought [o:] → [Λ] might g be observed in New England g Matter and Madder are often nearhomophones in the North > double tt pronounced as /d/ The Southern Dialects Lecture 02 22/04/2013 This area is characterized by a strong African p y on the islands of influence on AE,, especially South Carolina and Georgia where Gullah (language coming from Angola, Africa) is spoken non-rhotic Diphthongs are turned into monophthongs: hide [hΛd] is a near rhyme of both hod and non-rhotic hard [ai > Λ]; M Monophthongs hth i t di into diphthongs: hth l ft [lauft] loft [l ft] which results is a near rhyme with lout [Λ >au]; Merger of vowels in pin and pen [ i ] > [ e ]; 12 Storia della Lingua Inglese – AA 2012/13 Dott.ssa Maria Ivana Lorenzetti Southern Vocabulary Archaic expressions: Amerindian languages: “ Branch - a brook all-overs - feelings of uneasiness Hull - the shell of a nut Kinfolk - relatives Scat! - Bless you! T Terrapin i - a turtle; t tl The French of Louisiana Armoire - wardrobe, Bayou - a small river Midlands Lecture 02 22/04/2013 Midland accent is rhotic The merger of vowels - tot and taught [O: >Λ] In the Ohio River valley the vowel of itch rhymes with each (in both cases [i:]) [ i >i:] , so that fish and television have the sound of the vowel in “meet” [i:] 13 Storia della Lingua Inglese – AA 2012/13 Dott.ssa Maria Ivana Lorenzetti Western Pronunciation The merger of long and short vowels in "don" and "dawn" is universal [o:] [^]. [^] The vowel in measure, fresh is pronounced as a diphthong [ei], so such words as edge and age are homophones [e] [ei] Vowels in seal and sill are almost identical [i:] [i]. Western Vocabulary Borrowings from Mexican Spanish: adios - goodbye”, bronco - wild, hombre – guy Names of places: Los Angeles, San Francisco, Sacramento, Santa Cruz Other languages have contributed words: Lecture 02 22/04/2013 Parking - a band of grass between sidewalk and curb; chesterfield - a sofa. aloha - farewell (Hawaiian), kung fu (Chinese) nisei - a person of Japanese descent born in the US (Japanese). 14 Storia della Lingua Inglese – AA 2012/13 Dott.ssa Maria Ivana Lorenzetti American Pronunciation Other Influences The usage of American English, regardless of dialect is influenced by other factors as: dialect, Lecture 02 22/04/2013 ethnic background; gender; age; social class; occupation or profession. 15 Storia della Lingua Inglese – AA 2012/13 Dott.ssa Maria Ivana Lorenzetti Ethnic Varieties of American English Black English or Ebonics or Vernacular English; Hispanic English; Indian English, Jewish English, Pennsylvania Dutch English; The Cajun English of Louisiana and some others (mixture of English and French) Links American Community Data Survey on Language Use Commentary to the Survey http://aschmann.net/AmEng/ p g Speech Accent Archive (with audio samples of the language) Lecture 02 22/04/2013 http://www.census.gov/newsroom/releases/archives/a merican_community_survey_acs/cb10-cn58.html American English Dialects http://www.census.gov/hhes/socdemo/language/data/ acs/index.html /i d ht l http://accent.gmu.edu/browse_maps/namerica.php 16
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