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Storia della Lingua Inglese – AA 2012/13 Dott.ssa Maria Ivana Lorenzetti Storia della Lingua g Inglese g Lecture 3 Module 2 DOTT.SSA MARIA IVANA LORENZETTI The Social Stratification in New York City Pioneering study in sociolinguistics by William Labov (1966) on the incidence of post-vocalic post vocalic and final /r/ in New York City While the majority of Americans follow a rhotic pronunciation, people from New York and New England tend to show a distinctive non-rhotic accent D i th During the P Post-depression td i years, such h nonrhotic variety lost some of its prestige and rhotic midwest accent emerged as standard 2 Lecture 03 23/04/2013 1 Storia della Lingua Inglese – AA 2012/13 Dott.ssa Maria Ivana Lorenzetti The Hypothesis The assumption is that sub-groups in New York City which are ranked along a scale of social stratification, will be ranked in the same order also by their differential usage of the /r/ phoneme The finding was that rhotic use of /r/ reflected social class and aspiration, and was more widespread in younger speakers The Study: Method The study was carried out by the elicitation of possible poss b e //r// p pronunciations o u c at o s in bot both spo spontaneous ta eous a and d careful speech 3 stores catering for distinct social groups: Lecture 03 23/04/2013 Walked around 3 NYC department stores, asking the location of departments he knew were on the fourth floor By pretending not to hear, he got each informant to pronounce the two words twice, once spontaneously, and once carefully Saks (upper), Macy’s (middle), S. Klein (lower) Informants were shop workers at different grades, giving a further possible stratification 2 Storia della Lingua Inglese – AA 2012/13 Dott.ssa Maria Ivana Lorenzetti The Results Use of /r/ corresponded to higher class of store Furthermore use of /r/ increases in careful Furthermore, speech Similar finding with rank of employee (management, sales, shelf-stackers) Contrary to expectations, the employees at Saks (higher classe department store) pronounced y showed less the /r/ more,, those at Macy’s frequent pronunciation of the /r/, while around 75% of those in S.Klein employees did not pronounce the /r/ at all Explanation Lecture 03 23/04/2013 The explanation proposed had to do with a different perception of perceived prestige The variety of AE spoken in New York City had always favoured a tendency to see the UK reference and its pronunciation as the prestige standard Labov hypothesised that the shift of influence of New England’s prestige to an increased midwestern prestige pattern was increasingly felt, especially among young people, with the necessity to conform and adapt oneself to the new standard Overt vs covert overt prestige: seeking prestige by assimilating to the standard covert prestige: choosing to differ from the standard 3 Storia della Lingua Inglese – AA 2012/13 Dott.ssa Maria Ivana Lorenzetti American English and British English Although the majority of linguistic forms are common and shared netween BrE and AmE, AmE there are still some major points of divergence The aspect of the language pervaded by variation are the following: Spelling Pronunciation in terms of accent Pronunciation, accent, affixes and stress Grammar Vocabulary Spelling AMERICAN – “-or” BRITISH – “-our” Color Colour H Honor H Honour Favorite favourite AMERICAN – “-ze” BRITISH – “-se” Analyze Analyse Criticize Criticise Memorize Memorise AMERICAN – “-ll” BRITISH – “-l” Enrollment Enrolment Fulfill Fulfil Skillful skilful Lecture 03 23/04/2013 4 Storia della Lingua Inglese – AA 2012/13 Dott.ssa Maria Ivana Lorenzetti Spelling (2) AMERICAN – “-er” Center Meter Theater AMERICAN – “-og” Analog Catalog Dialog AMERICAN – “-ll” -ll Enrollment Fulfill Skillful BRITISH – “-re” Centre Metre Theatre BRITISH – “-ogue” Analogue Catalogue Dialogue BRITISH – “-l” -l Enrolment Fulfil Skilful Spelling (3) AMERICAN – “-e” Encyclopedia Maneuver Medieval BRITISH – “-ae” or “-oe” Encyclopaedia Manoeuvre Mediaeval AMERICAN – “-dg” g “-gu” g “-g” Aging Argument Judgment BRITISH – “-dge” “ge” “-gue” ge -gue Ageing Arguement Judgement Lecture 03 23/04/2013 5 Storia della Lingua Inglese – AA 2012/13 Dott.ssa Maria Ivana Lorenzetti Spelling (4) Base words that end in L normally double the L in British English when a suffix is added. BASE WORD AMERICAN BRITISH Counsel Counseling Counselling Equal Equaled Equalled Model Modeling Modelling Quarrel Quarreling Quarrelling Signal Signaled Signalled Travel g Traveling Travelling g The letter can double in American as well, but ONLY IF the stress is on the second syllable of the base word. BASE WORD AMERICAN BRITISH Excel Excelling Excelling Propel Propelling Propelling Pronunciation Lecture 03 23/04/2013 American English has fewer vowel distinctions before intervocalic “R” sounds.This means that,, in American English g merry, marry, and Mary often sound the same, mirror rhymes with nearer, and furry rhymes with hurry British English has three open back vowels while American English has only two (or even one): ) Most American English speakers use the same vowel for “short O” as for “broad A” – father and bother often rhyme. 6 Storia della Lingua Inglese – AA 2012/13 Dott.ssa Maria Ivana Lorenzetti Pronunciation (2) Other vowel pronunciation differences for /a/, in most words when the grapheme A is followed by N+another consonant, or S, F or TH – like plant, F, plant pass, pass laugh British English = long A American English = short A British English has a distinct length difference between short and long vowels, the long vowels begin diphthongs American English g often loses the distinction between unstressed /ɪ/ and /ə/, as in roses and Rosa’s; In British English, it is maintained because of the non-rhotic nature of the language so as to make words like batted and battered sound distinctly different Pronunciation (3) American English experiences a yod-dropping after all alveolar consonants, i.e. /ju:/ British English speakers always retain /j/ after /n/ Similarly the /j/ is retained or coalesced after /t/ and /d/ Lecture 03 23/04/2013 new in British English is pronounced /njuː/ while in American English, it is often pronounced as /nuː/ due in British English is /dju:/ but in American English i is /du:/ 7 Storia della Lingua Inglese – AA 2012/13 Dott.ssa Maria Ivana Lorenzetti Stress Adverbs ending in -arily, -erily or –orily Nouns ending in -ile British English speakers follow the American practice of shifting the stress to the antepenultimate syllable i.e. militarily is /ˌmɪlɪ'tərɪliː/ not /'mɪlɪtrɪliː/ When words end in an unstressed -ile, British English speakers pronounce them with a full vowel: /aɪl/ while American speakers pronounce them with either a reduced vowel /ɪl/ or a syllabic /l/ ,i.e. in British English, fertile is pronounced as /ˈfɜː.taɪl/, while in American English, it is pronounced like /ˈfɜrtIˌ/. Words like mobile, fragile, sterile, missile, versatile show a similar behaviour in the two linguistic varieties Exceptions are reptile //ˈrep rep.taɪl/, taɪl/ exile //ˈeg·zɑɪl/ eg·zɑɪl/, turnstile /ˈtɜːn.staɪl/, senile /ˈsiː.naɪl/ Nouns ending in -ine When unstressed, this affix can be pronounced as /aɪn/ (like feline), /iːn/ (like morphine), or /ɪn/ (like medicine). Stress in Loanwords In the case of French loanwords, American English has final final-syllable syllable stress while British English has penultimate or antepenultimate stress British English first-syllable stress: BrE'adult/ AmE a'dult, 'ballet/ ball'et, 'baton/ ba'ton ba ton, 'pastel/ pastel/ pas pas‘tel tel British English second-syllable stress: BrEes'cargot/ AmE escar'got, fi'ancee/ fian'cee Lecture 03 23/04/2013 8 Storia della Lingua Inglese – AA 2012/13 Dott.ssa Maria Ivana Lorenzetti Stress in Loanwords (2) There are also other words borrowed from French that feature stress differences American first-syllable; British last-syllable: BrE ad'dress/ AmE 'address; mu'stache / 'mustache, ciga'rette / 'cigarette, maga'zine/ 'magazine American 1st-syllable; British 2nd-syllable: BrE liai'son liai son / 'liaison liaison, Re Re'naissance/ naissance/ 'Renaissance Renaissance American 2nd-syllable; British last-syllable: BrE New Or'leans/ New 'Orleans Stress Differences Most two syllable verbs that end in –ate have first syllable stress in American English and second-syllable stress in British English (i.e. BrE/ AmE cas'trate/ 'castrate, lo'cate / 'locate) Derived adjectives with the ending -atory differ in both dialects; for British English, the stress shifts to –at at whereas American English will stress the same syllable as the corresponding –ate verb Lecture 03 23/04/2013 BrE/AmE regul'atory /'regulatory, celebr'atory 'celebratory, labor'atory/ 'laboratory) 9 Storia della Lingua Inglese – AA 2012/13 Dott.ssa Maria Ivana Lorenzetti Grammar NOUNS VERBS In British English, collective nouns can take either singular or plural verb forms, depending on whether the emphasis is on the body or the members within it. i.e.“A committee was appointed.” “ The committee were unable to agree.” morphology American -- "-ed" British -- "-t" i.e. learned/learnt, dreamed/dreamt British English rarely use gotten, while got is much more common. Past participles often vary: i.e. saw – American: sawed; British: sawn tenses British English employs the present perfect to talk about a recent event , i.e. “I’ve already eaten,” “I’ve just arrived home.” auxiliaries British English often uses shall and shan’t American English uses will and won’t Vocabulary AMERICAN BRITISH Apartment Flat Argument Row Carriage/coach Pram Bathroom Loo Can Tin Cookie Biscuit Diaper Nappy Elevator Lift Eraser Rubber Flashlight Torch Fries Chips Gas Petrol Guy Bloke/chap Lecture 03 23/04/2013 10 Storia della Lingua Inglese – AA 2012/13 Dott.ssa Maria Ivana Lorenzetti Vocabulary (2) AMERICAN BRITISH AMERICAN BRITISH Highway Motorway Truck Lorry Hood (of a car) Bonnet Trunk Boot Jelly Jam Vacation Holiday Kerosene Paraffin Windshield Windscreen Lawyer Solicitor License Plate Number Plate Line Queue Pacifier Dummy Mail Post Parking lot Car park Napkin Serviette Pharmacist Chemist Nothing Nought Sidewalk Pavement Period Full stop Soccer Football Potato chips crisps Trash can Bin More Vocabulary. Lecture 03 23/04/2013 American and British English speakers often use the same words but intend very different meaning with them: WORD AMERICAN BRITISH Biscuit Dinner roll Cookie Brew Beer Tea Bureau Chest of drawers Writing table/desk Casket Coffin Jewelry Box First Floor Ground Floor “Second” Floor To hire To employ To rent 11 Storia della Lingua Inglese – AA 2012/13 Dott.ssa Maria Ivana Lorenzetti Some Links Lecture 03 23/04/2013 Corpus of Contemporary American English http://corpus byu edu/coca/ http://corpus.byu.edu/coca/ British National Corpus http://www.natcorp.ox.ac.uk/ 12