Transcript ENGLISH 121 “An English Speaking World” 09/06/05

ENGLISH 121
“An English Speaking
World”
09/06/05
Topics:
--Number of English speakers
--Perception of Dialect Types
--Spread of English
Distribution of languages in the
world (6,912 living languages )
World and Country Population
(July 2005 est.)
World 6,446,131,400
Top 15 Countries:
1. China 1,306,313,812
2. India 1,080,264,388
3. European Union 456,953,258
4. United States 295,734,134
5. Indonesia 241,973,879
6. Brazil 186,112,794
7. Pakistan 162,419,946
8. Bangladesh 144,319,628
9. Russia 143,420,309
10. Nigeria 128,765,768
11. Japan 127,417,244
12. Mexico 106,202,903
13. Philippines 87,857,473
14. Vietnam 83,535,576
15. Germany 82,431,390
http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/rankorder/2119rank.html
The Ten Most Common Languages in
the World Ethnologue Volume I: Languages of the World
(
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
, 14th ed. (2000).)
Mandarin Chinese 874,000,000
Hindi (India) 366,000,000
English 341,000,000
Spanish 322-358,000,000
Bengali (India and Bangladesh) 207,000,000
Portuguese 176,000,000
Russian 167,000,000
Japanese125,000,000
German (standard) 100,000,000
Korean 78,000,000
Countries in Which English Is
an Official Language (red areas)
Distribution of native English
speakers by region (1997)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_Language
The number of mother-tongue English speakers in the world 326,652,000.
67% of these live in the United States.
Facts of English
(Ethnologue Volume I: Languages of the World, 14th ed. (2000).)
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English is far more world wide in its distribution than all
other spoken languages.
It is an official language in 52 countries.
1/4 to 1/3 of the people in the world understand and speak
English to some degree.
English is the dominant language in electronic
communication. About 75% of the world's mail, telexes,
and cables are in English.
Approximately 60% of the world's radio programs are in
English.
About 90% of all Internet traffic is in English.
Who uses English?
►First
Language Users
►Second language users
►Foreign language users
►Internet users
1.9 billion speakers (including nearly 350
million native speakers)
Who speaks the best English?
The Queen's English Test
1.Which is the correct spelling?
a. Coleur
b. Coulor
c. Color
d. Colour
2.Which is the correct spelling?
a. Realize
b. Realyse
c. Realice
d. Realise
3. The standard abbreviation for 'Mathematics' is...
a. Math
b. Maths
c. Math's
d. Mathes
4. If a person breaks into your house and steals
from you, you have been...
a. Burgled
b. Burgaled
c. Burglarized
d. Burglared
5. The chemical symbol "Al" refers to which element?
a. Astatine
b. Aluminum
c. Arsenic
d. Aluminium
6. A car runs on...
a. Gasoline
b. Oil
c. Petrol
d. Kerosene
Answers
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
b
d
b
a
d
c
Compare
A. “a little bit of bread with a bit of butter on
it”
B. "a li'le bi' of breab wiv a bi' of bu'er on i'
► What
qualities would you associate with A
and B?
What does this tell you?
English Education Act of 1870 and dialect
leveling from above.
Receive Pronunciation (RP) associated with
money, power, and education
BBC News Story
Wednesday, 20 December, 2000
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/1080228.stm
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The researchers compared recordings from the 1950s and
the 1980s with the standard accent of southern Britain, as
spoken by female BBC broadcasters.
Writing in the scientific journal Nature, the team stated
that the Queen's pronunciation of vowel sounds has slowly
shifted over the years "towards one that is characteristic of
speakers who are younger and/or lower in the social
hierarchy".
In the Queen's Christmas broadcasts of the 1950s, for
example, the word "had" almost rhymed with "bed". But 30
years later "had" migrated halfway to the standard
southern English pronunciation, which rhymes with "bad".
A shift in prestigious dialects in
Britain
A change from “below”
What about the U.S.A.?
► What
► Who
► Do
do you consider “Standard English”?
speaks it?
you want to speak it? Always?
► Has
Standard English changed over time?
Dialects in the U.S.A.
Perceptions of Dialects in the U.S.A.
Hand-drawn map of a Michigan respondent’s idea of the dialect areas of the US
Perceptions of dialects (cont’d.)
Mean scores of the rankings for ‘pleasant English’ by Auburn University
(Alabama) students (‘1’ = ‘least pleasant English’; ‘10’ = most pleasant English)
Review: Examples of Dialect
change/perception
1. Concept of “prestige” (overt; covert)
a. Change from “above”
b. Change from “below”
2. Perceptions often based on where you live
3. People associate personality traits based on
speech. Quite often, these perceptions are
wrong.
Or…more seriously…
Thomas Purnell, William Idsardi and John Baugh.
1999.
Perceptual and Phonetic Experiments on American
English Dialect Identification. Journal of Social
Psychology.
http://www.stanford.edu/~jbaugh/baugh.fft
Global English
English in other languages
Japanese
faitingu supiritto (fighting spirit)
guddobai (goodbye)
Ecuador
travoltarse (to be a swinger)
Any other examples?
Other words in English
Algonquian, including Abnaki, Cree, Micmac,
Ojibway, Narragansett, Shawnee:
caucus, chipmunk, hickory, manitou, moccasin,
moose, muskrat, opossum, papoose, pecan,
persimmon, pow-wow, rac(c)oon, skunk, squash,
squaw, succotash, toboggan, tomahawk, wigwam,
woodchuck.
Arabic, through European languages:
admiral, albatross, alchemy, alcohol, alcove,
algebra, almanac, apricot, arsenal, assassin,
aubergine, azimuth, bedouin, cipher,
gazelle, genie, ghoul, giraffe, hazard,
jasmine, lemon, magazine, mohair,
monsoon, saffron, sash, scarlet, sequin,
sherbet, sofa, syrup, talisman, tariff, zero
Thursday
► Homework
#1 Due—Questions?
► First
movie
► Hand out paper response
► Any
questions?