Votes and Vowels: A Changing Accent Shows How Language Parallels Politics

Hey look guys, it's Labov! (that's the same guy who did the New York social class study where he got people to say "fourth floor", and yes, he's still alive haha)

Votes and Vowels: A Changing Accent Shows How Language Parallels Politics

"It may seem surprising, but in this age where geographic mobility and instant communication have increased our exposure to people outside of our neighborhoods or towns, American regional dialects are pulling further apart from each other, rather than moving closer together. And renowned linguist William Labov thinks there’s a connection between political and linguistic segregation."

just thought it would be cool to see some real life application of what we're learning :)


Kimberley

Tutorial 1 (B) - Question 5

Q5. Singlish is referred to as a basilect. What are the implications of categorising Singlish or any other variety of language in such a way?

Tutorial 1 (B) - Question 4

Source: Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singlish (last accessed: 12/03/09)

"Acrolectal Singaporean English “is the "highest-class" form of speech, used by the well-educated in formal situations. Acrolectal Singaporean English is roughly the same as formal British English with the exception of some pronunciation differences that occur due to the influence of Singlish pronunciation. Acrolectal Singaporean English does exhibit, however, a much smaller degree of Singlish pronunciation features than do mesolectal, basilectal, and pidgin variants of Singlish. For example, speakers of acrolectal Singaporean English attempt to restore the phonemes /θ/ and /ð/ (as in thin and then).

Basilectal Singaporean English is the colloquial speech used by almost everyone, educated or not, in informal settings, and is the speech usually referred to as "Singlish". Here can be found all of the unique phonological, lexical, and grammatical features of Singlish. Many of these features can be attributed to Asian languages such as the Chinese languages, Malay, or Indian languages such as Tamil, though some cannot.'

Q4. Examine the Wikipedia definitions of ‘acrolect’ and ‘basilect’. To what extent do you agree with the descriptions of how English is used in Singapore?

Tutorial 1 (B) - Additional question not found in worksheet

What do you think the speaker means when she concludes that ‘We all speak English. But some English is more English than others’? Do you agree with her?

Tutorial 1 (B) - Question 3

Q3. What do you understand by the term ‘Native English Speaker’? Why does Ruby Pan require specification on the variety of English that she, as an English Language Teacher is expected to speak?

Tutorial 1 (B) - Question 2

Q2. Ruby Pan observes that news presenters in Singapore speak in “fake BBC English”, radio DJs speak in “fake American English” and teachers speak with “a stiff upper lip”. What does this suggest about the different roles of ‘Englishes’ in different domains of experience?

Tutorial 1 (B) - Question 1

Q1. The speaker started by referring to the comment made by her American friend - "Wow! Really? But you have no accent!" when he/she found out that the speaker is from Singapore and not California. How does this comment reflect his/her perception of 'accents'?

In my opinion, I think that the speaker's American friend has a perception of 'accents', which actually refers to any other accent except the American accent. Perhaps it is because the American accent is so much a part of his/her life that it becomes a normal way of speech and everyone who does not conform to the American 'accent' is an oddity and therefore has an 'accent'. I think this is also true for most people. For example, in Singapore when we listen to someone talk in English without the Singaporean slang, we perceive that person as outside the norm and having an accent. :P

Please comment! :D

Amy
13AO1E

Tutorial 1 (B) - How language shapes and interacts with society

Hello, :)

This is the video referred to in the tutorial. I found it on youtube, so please watch and comment! :P

Amy
13AO1E

Greetings and salutations!

Dear ELL Class of 2013,

First and foremost, welcome back to yet another school year (after about a month and a half of relative inactivity). I hope you have adjusted well to the college and bonded with your Orientation Groups as well as your respective Civics Groups.

Week 8 is upon us and I think you realise that the fun and games are slowly coming to a standstill and you are back to the daily grind of lectures and tutorials – but that doesn’t necessarily have to be a bad thing : )

Although this blog was set up primarily to provide you a platform to continue your in-class discussions (or even start new ones), you are also free to air your views or concerns with regard to college-based events and activities.

Several guidelines when posting to this blog:

1. Please try as far as possible to use grammatically-correct English. This means no computer jargon (msn or sms – type language or short forms though smiley faces are fine). After all, this is one way in which we can all try to improve our written English. I realise it may not come naturally at first, but give it time and I think you can all rise to the challenge.
2. Please have ownership over what you blog about (i.e. you need to take accountability for your words by signing off with your class and name after each post). This ensures that nobody hides behind the curtain of anonymity and gets away with controversial or salacious entries. This is not to say we must avoid controversy at all costs – on the contrary! Debate or dissent is crucial to a lively discussion.
3. There are many individuals from different classes included as authors of this blog and I chose not to have a separate class blog for each of you as I think although we may be discussing the same issues in class, the points raised may be different. It is therefore important that we leverage on one another’s strengths and weaknesses. Therefore, all parties involved in any online discussion here need to do it in an academic fashion – do not put down your peers unnecessarily (no spamming, flaming, disagreeing for the sake of disagreeing) and when there is an issue you can’t seem to agree on or resolve, I certainly hope it wouldn’t translate to you being uncivil to each other in real life as well.
4. When replying to a thread, please do it in the comments section so that the rest of us can follow the discussion proper. Only start a new post when you are trying to introduce a new idea or pose a new query. I personally feel that this cuts down on the confusion.
5. Please do not ask me to change the blogskin (I love simplicity hence the bare, white, zen-like choice of theme. I also think words/thoughts/opinions should be the focus of this blog, so that’s what we should colour or decorate the blog with). Please also do not ask me to include a tagboard. Those who have come before you have tried and failed – but perhaps you could be more persuasive than them and are feeling lucky : )
   

Ok, I think I have rambled on long enough about the do’s and don’ts. I apologise in advance if you think they are too restrictive. The ball’s in your court now.

Here’s to intelligent, healthy, collegial discussions!

Best regards.