University of Rome III - Faculty of Arts and Letters - Department of Linguistics - Patrick Boylan - October-December 2001
Ways
of seeing things and saying things in English
|
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-›.
Nota per chi non riesce a leggere le parti di questa pagina in inglese Chi
è principiante in inglese potrà ricuperare il
proprio "deficit" frequentando
|
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-›..
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.
To see who is enrolled,
click here-›..
To see the groups for
the Ethnolinguistic Interview project (Monday lessons), click here
-› .
To see the groups for the Accommodation of Pronunciation project (Thursday lessons), click here -›.
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.
Optional
assignments
Compiti
per gli "esoneri"
What is each assignment (esonero) worth? There are 14 chapters in Byram & Fleming. Each assignment successfully completed exonerates the student from one or more of the 14 chapters. How many chapters? Which ones? This information will appear on this web site after the assignments are corrected -- a long process, as the students of the first cycle have learned! The assignments (esoneri) consist of the following 4 tasks: N.B.: Lingua e Linguistica students do only esoneri 1 and 2. It is useless to do an assignment if it is not indicated for your curriculum: you will not get credit for it. 1. Phonetic transcription of RP and regional British English
(worth 1-3 chapters) Students who do poorly on their assignments and students who do none of the assignments (because they were absent or because they are part-time students) are not penalized as to their final mark. They will simply have to read (and be examined on) all 14 chapters of Byram & Fleming. Lingua e Linguistica and Europei ed Extraeuropei students, who can do two assignments, could theoretically be exonerated from half the book (7 chapters out of 14). This would mean, however, getting a perfect score for both tasks done. Operatori Interculturali students have the theoretical
possibility of getting perfect scores on all four assignments and
thus not being tested on the book at all (automatic
credit). In the past this has proved to be a rare
case...but "where there's life, there's hope" (la
speranza è l'ultima a morire). |
1.
Module
B (Monday classes)
Exam
on December 17th, 2001
Phonetic and CA
transcription exam as a preparation for the
Ethnolinguistic report project (only for students taking Module B).
The
exam (or "esonero") is scheduled for December 17th.
It consists of writing two transcriptions:
1.
an IPA (International Phonetic Association) transcription
of a BBC weather report;
2.
a CA ("Conversational Analysis") transcription of a segment
of the original Big Brother show (BBC, 1970 - working class
speakers from Reading).
You
can hear both segments on a cassette, labeled Documentation,
which is available for individual study in the
language lab. The teacher will also furnish one
Documentationcassette to
each group leader for group study (in an empty classroom, at the home
of one of the group members). This is the best way to
study. Finally, you can also hear the sounds of RP
English by pressing the buttons below :
.*‹-simple
vowels .
*‹-dipthongs
.
*‹-consonants
(to work, your
computer must have an audio player installed, such as MS Media
Player, Sonique, etc.)
*These files are too big to import directly. They will be downloaded as compressed files, for example, "consonants.exe". Just click on them to extract the audio files and click on the latter.
To learn the phonetic symbols as defined by the IPA (International Phonetic Association), follow the booklet Documentation while listening to the sounds of RP ("Received Pronunciation") English. Then listen to them again while practicing writing them. Then practice writing out the phonetic transcription of the following RP reading of a
Check how you have written the words against the transcriptions found in any dictionary using IPA conventions. For example, the Cobuild dictionary uses IPA while Webster's does not (it uses its own system); so do not consult Webster's..
_____
Then, using the conventions illustrated in the booklet Documentation, practice making a Conversation Analysis (CA) transcription of two excerpts from the original "Big Brother" program produced in 1970 by the BBC:
Check what you have written against the CA transcription found in Documentation.
(Recorded
material from: Dennis Freeborn, Varieties of English,
MacMillan: London, 1993.)
*These files are too big to import directly. They will be downloaded as compressed files, for example, "consonants.exe". Just click on them to extract the audio files and click on the latter.
2.
Module
B (Monday classes)
report
due any time before Easter vacation
Ethnolinguistic research project
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).
Ecco una serie di email in cui RISPONDO A DOMANE che forse hai
anche tu. |
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 carry out
the project you must be part of a group of 6 students (maximum 7,
minimum 5). These are different from the groups formed for the
Cultural Accommodation project (Thusday classes). Click here to see
the proposed groups (no enrolment application will be accepted after
January 31st!) -›.
If you are not on this list, ask the students of one of the groups alreay formed to join theirs.
Once you have a group, elect a group leader and ask her/him to email the names of the members of the group to mod-b @ boylan.it (s/he must give the group number, too; see the numbers by clicking on the orange button above
Then, sometime before Easer vacation, as a group:
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 booklet
Documentation.
3.
Modulo
C (giovedì)
Exam
on December 13th
Cultural accommodation
practices (only for students taking Module C) -- This is
an individual exam, scheduled for the last Thursday of this
cycle, December 13th. Read the web pages here-›
to prepare for it.
4.
Modulo
C (giovedì)
Exam
on December 13th
Cultural accommodation
of accent (RP and American) -- only for students taking
Module C. This is an group task, to be completed and
consigned before Easter vacation (otherwise it will not
be corrected).
Groups can
have between 5 and 10 members. 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.
The grades
(marks) will be assigned individually; the reason for doing the
recordings in groups is that experience shows how much performance
improves when students are coached by other students. The group
leader can consign the cassette to the teacher during office hours.
For office hours and absences, press here-› .
To carry out the project you must:
1. View at least part of the film The Maltese Falcon. 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: Sam Spade, Caspar Gutman, Brigid O'Schaughnessy, Effie (the secretary), Joel Cairo, Wilmer (the Punk), Tom (the police lieutenant), Archer (Sam's partner), etc.
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 Gutman, 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:
Caspar Gutman: "I
must have my little joke now and then. And you passed with
flying colours."
4. Make a group recording of your pronunciation. This means that you must first form a group of 5 to 10 students (not necessarily the same as the group you formed for module B, Mondays). 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: Caspur Gutman.
Accent: He speaks old boy (upper
class) British English, with an RP accent.
Imitation: "Yes
sir, that I did. I must have my little joke now and then.
And I must say you passed with flying colours."
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: Wilmer, the Punk.
Accent: He speaks general
American with an Inland Northern accent typical of the slums and of
criminals in general.
Imitation: "Ya
better watch what ya say. [...] C'mon, dick, there's someone
what wants ya."
(In this case, the student Bianca Neri has chosen utterances from two 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. The cassette must have the recordings
of at least five students, one after another, preferably (but not
necessarily) done the same day.
Scene from The
Maltese Falcon
(John Houston, 1941;
with Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor, Sydney Greenstreet)
Click
here-›
OR here-›
.