Apr 4, 2013 ... Analysis of New Opportunities. ...... schools. This criterion corresponds with pre-
intermediate level, which teachers also ..... Slovník britské a americké angličtiny.
... nejdříve český překlad slovíčka a/nebo britský,anglický výraz k ...
MASARYK UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF EDUCATION Department of English Language and Literature
Master’s Thesis
American English in Teaching English and in Awareness of Learners at Czech Schools
April 2013, Brno
Bc. Petra Maděřičová
Prohlášení Prohlašuji, že jsem závěrečnou diplomovou práci vypracovala samostatně, s využitím pouze citovaných literárních pramenů, dalších informací a zdrojů v souladu s Disciplinárním řádem pro studenty Pedagogické fakulty Masarykovy univerzity a se zákonem č. 121/2000 Sb., o právu autorském, o právech souvisejících s právem autorským a o změně některých zákonů (autorský zákon), ve znění pozdějších předpisů. …………………………………….. Bc. Petra Maděřičová
Acknowledgement: I would like to thank my supervisor Mgr. Radek Vogel, Ph.D. for willingness and patience and the teachers at grammar schools for their help during my research. Poděkování: Na tomto místě bych chtěla poděkovat vedoucímu diplomové práce Mgr. Radku Vogelovi, Ph.D. za ochotu a trpělivost. Dále pak učitelům gymnázií za pomoc při výzkumu.
Table of contents 1
Introduction ....................................................................................................................6
2
Theoretical part...............................................................................................................8 2.1
Introduction ..............................................................................................................8
2.2
The Standard English .............................................................................................10
2.3
Americanism and americanisation ..........................................................................11
2.4
Grammar ................................................................................................................13
2.4.1
Verbs...............................................................................................................13
2.4.1.1
Preterite and past participle ......................................................................13
2.4.1.2
The verb to get .........................................................................................14
2.4.1.3
The verb to have.......................................................................................14
2.4.1.4
Compound verbs ......................................................................................15
2.4.2
Determiners .....................................................................................................16
2.4.3
Adjective vs. adverbs ......................................................................................17
2.4.4
Prepositions .....................................................................................................17
2.4.5
Mandative constructions ..................................................................................19
2.4.6
Spelling ...........................................................................................................19
2.5
Phonetics, phonology and pronunciation .................................................................23
2.5.1 2.6
Standards of pronunciation ..............................................................................25
Vocabulary .............................................................................................................27
2.6.1
Collocations ....................................................................................................30
2.6.2
Phatic language ...............................................................................................30
2.6.3
Changes of vocabulary in literature .................................................................31
2.7
Varieties in England ...............................................................................................32
2.7.1
Cockney ..........................................................................................................32
2.7.2
The North of England ......................................................................................33
2.7.3
The West Country of England .........................................................................34
2.8
Varieties in the United States ..................................................................................35
2.8.1
African American English ...............................................................................35
2.8.2
Varieties in the North and Northeast ................................................................36
2.8.3
Varieties in the South ......................................................................................37
2.8.4
Varieties in the West .......................................................................................38
2.9
English of course books and textbooks ...................................................................39
2.9.1 3
Practical part .................................................................................................................41 3.1
Introduction ............................................................................................................41
3.2
Teaching American English ....................................................................................42
3.3
Pupils’ awareness of vocabulary .............................................................................47
3.3.1
Introduction .....................................................................................................47
3.3.2
Part I and II .....................................................................................................47
3.3.3
Part III .............................................................................................................53
3.4
4
Cultural content in course books ......................................................................39
Analysis of course books ........................................................................................59
3.4.1
Analysis of New Opportunities ........................................................................59
3.4.2
Analysis of Project 3 .......................................................................................61
3.4.3
Comments on the course books .......................................................................62
Conclusion ....................................................................................................................64
Annotation............................................................................................................................66 Anotace ................................................................................................................................67 Print sources .........................................................................................................................68 Web sources .........................................................................................................................69 Appendix A ..........................................................................................................................71 Appendix B ..........................................................................................................................72
1 Introduction At the Czech schools pupils generally learn and are taught British English, however, they come across American English on daily basis. There are much more American films being shot than British ones, the music industry focuses mostly on American artists, the advertisements and magazines use American expressions etc. This is the reason which made me write the thesis. The thesis examines to what extent American English is included in the syllabus of EFL in the Czech Republic, as well as how much learners of English are aware of elements of American English. It deals with an issue whether teachers teach and explain differences between standard British and American English, and whether pupils understand them. Czech learners learn British English at Czech schools, which is the reason that brought me to an idea of investigating to what extent teachers explain the differences, whether they combine British and American English, and if the learners know the American terms. The thesis consists of two parts, theoretical and practical. In the theoretical part I focus on three main categories, which are differences in pronunciation, vocabulary and partly grammar and orthography (spelling). I also highlight several varieties which occur in England and the United States, and focus mainly on the dialects and pronunciation, but in some cases also on the lexical differences. The last chapter is aimed to comment on content of course books. The practical part focuses on occurrence of American English at lower level of grammar schools. The thesis studies and examines teachers and learners at different grammar schools in the Czech Republic. I visit 4 different grammar schools and question about 10 teachers. There are three main aspects that I want to learn during my visit there. Firstly, I distribute questionnaires to teachers and they are asked, what their attitude to teaching or explaining American English is, whether their travels abroad influenced their English and teaching etc. Secondly, the questionnaire includes a question on textbooks used at the particular grammar school which are later analysed. I want to find out whether there are mentioned, explained or highlighted some differences of American terms and pronunciation, but I also want to focus on cultural content. The last little part of my thesis is focused on learners and their awareness of American elements. I design a short lexical test based on basic terms that differ in British and American English and want to find out whether learners know the American expressions or not. 6
The aim of the thesis is to prove my hypothesis that Czech learners are somewhat aware, or not at all, of American elements and in case they know them, they mix them with standard British English. They sometimes do not know they use an American term because this is an influence of media only. I would like to also prove that teachers do not highlight American English at all or they explain the elements only as a curiosity. The thesis can bring new insight for English teachers who may realize that American English is all around us and Czech learners should be familiar with the differences when it comes to understanding and receiving information. Czech learners may not use American English when speaking; however, they should be aware of American elements in today’s world that is influenced by American traditions, habits and especially culture.
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2 Theoretical part 2.1 Introduction After American Declaration of Independence (in 1789), Noah Webster believed that American and British English will become two different languages. The reason why he believed that was that other Germanic dialects evolved into other modern languages, such as Dutch, Danish, German and etc. More than two hundred years later, this statement has not been confirmed and it probably will not happen in the future because there are no signs that American and British English (AmE and BrE) would drift apart. Therefore, AmE and BrE are still considered to be the same language, however with marked differences. (Rohdenburg, Schlüter, 1) Svartvik and Leech comment on division of the United States and Britain: “Someone – and nobody seems to be sure if was George Bernard Shaw, Winston Churchill or Oscar Wilde – described the United States and Britain as ‘two nations divided by common language’.” (152) This is a very famous saying because it is both witty and paradoxical, and because it has a hint of truth. Every Briton who travels to the United States, and also every American who travels to Britain, very often returns home with stories such as being astonished by strange usages or being laughed at for their own strange ones. This is caused because of the differences between American and British English. (152) Most teachers of English as a foreign language around the world are aware of the differences in American and British English; this caused relatively little difficulty, thus BrE was accepted as the form of the language to be taught at schools. According to Smolinski, this has changed over the past years. One of the reasons may be considered involvement of the United States in the international scene or movement of large numbers of Americans in foreign countries. More and more people are hearing American English and find it essential to communicate with Americans. There are two views at the matter of British English being taught at schools. (191) Smolinski believes: “Some teachers have recommended a shift from British to American English; others, feeling that the form of the language as it occurs in the country of its origin is somehow more correct or more eloquent, have resisted changes.” (191) As he quotes, there is no easy solution to these two statements; however, it is certainly an issue of a geographic factor, which must be taken in consideration. For instance, in Mexico, the people will come into contact rather with Americans than British native speakers.
8
Therefore it is reasonable to teach American variety of English in Mexico. On the other hand, in some European countries such as Sweden, one would teach British English. (191) It should be also considered how much these two varieties have in common, especially at the syntactic level and their inflectional system. It does not depend on where the English is spoken, the rules are given, subject precedes verb etc. If differences characteristic of national varieties or standards occur, it is rather a matter of social or class differences than regional or geographic ones. One would find the main differences in pronunciation and use of vocabulary. The framework of the standard language is basically the same both in the United States and Britain, however, as Smolinski explains, teachers in the United Kingdom would not teach according to grammar written in the United States. As it has been already mentioned, differences appear mainly at the level of pronunciation and vocabulary, but rarely at grammatical level. (192)
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2.2 The Standard English It is essential to highlight that Standard English finds its home in the written language and it began in written medium of late medieval England. It has been exported to other countries, the United States and later to the world. (Svartvik and Leech, 193) Svartvik and Leech suggest that Standard English in newspapers is homogenous, but that does not mean that it is not variable. They expose and explain what the word standard actually mean. Nowadays, in modern life, the word standard is used in such phrases like the standard equipment, the standard format, which would mean that the word standard in connection with English does not offer any options and permits no variation. This is however not the truth. Standard English offers many choices both in vocabulary and grammar e.g. synonyms or the Queen’s arrival = the arrival of the Queen. (193) As it has been already mentioned, Standard English is used in writing and refers to syntax of spoken and written English. It has nothing to do with pronunciation and dialects. There are of course some differences between Standard American and British English, which will be discussed later. As one of the advantages of Standard English, it can be considered the fact that it is relatively stable and can be used throughout the English-speaking world. One of the characteristics of Standard English is that it avoids and resists change. Creators of dictionaries systematically codified the language and people look in these books to discover what is right and what is not. As for grammar, much emphasis was given to define the correct forms. (TPI)
10
2.3 Americanism and americanisation Svartvik and Leech comment on continuing translating drift by which American English habits are imported to the Great Britain and into other English-speaking countries. The lists of differences between AmE and BrE vocabulary occasionally published were affected by chronic obsolescence, which means that they have begun to become obsolete as soon as they have been assembled. Journalist and iconoclast H. L. Mencken, who was one of the most famous writers on this subject, published a book The American Language. He published the list of American-British differences included words such as bakery, bank, account, raincoat, living-room and many others, however theses expressions are nowadays absolutely standard expressions used in relevant meaning in the UK. (157) The reason for this phenomenon is that the Britons have been so busy with borrowing linguistic forms from the Americans, which led to the fact, that the terms which were originally felt to be an Americanism have become at home in Britain. This happened continuously in the nineteenth and especially in the twentieth century, but after its adoption this concept was not considered to be a foreign import anymore. (157) The word Americanism originated in the United States and was defined as a ‘use of phrases or terms, or construction of sentences… different from the use of the same expressions or phrases, or the construction of similar sentences in Great Britain’. (158) The first user of this term and also an author of the definition is John Witherspoon. He was a Scot and also a critic of Americanisms. John Pickering, an American, published the first Dictionary of Americanisms in 1816. He described Americanisms as provincialisms that Americans should eliminate from their usage, in order to adapt to the English standard of the old mother country. This was a usual attitude of the Americans in this period of time, nevertheless from the middle of the nineteenth century things began to change. British started to borrow more and more from Americans and Americans began to grow braver in asserting and justifying their right to bring innovations into the English language. (158) Among commentators in Great Britain, Americanism was almost considered to be a ‘barbarism’, which means a hostile attitude that has persisted to the present, although with decreasing influence. This means that the term Americanism did not lose its negative meaning. There is however an irony to this. Once Americanism has become successfully adapted in British usage, it became British and the negative attitude disappeared. The early examples are e.g. lengthy and blizzard, in the nineteenth century the arguments temper over e.g. advocate. On the other hand, some new usages of British origin were denounced as 11
Americanisms by mistake. These are words such as talented or scientist. In the twentieth century numerous popular words and phrases have been established in Britain from American English for instance jerk, bawl out, bonehead etc. As far as usages concerned, some of them also cross the Atlantic e.g. movie, guys (’people’), I guess (‘my opinion is’) and also cool (‘relaxed, super’). These last four examples are typical of Americanisms, but they are becoming more and more frequent in the British English. The continuous and instant movement of communication across the Atlantic, and also as elsewhere in the world, leads to fact that all the new usages from United States can become almost immediately adapted. (158159) Svartvik and Leech quote: “The notion of Americanism itself is a moving target, and it is no longer practical to try to list Americanisms as in glossary.” (159) They are highlighting that the concept of Americanism probably has had already its day and now it is the time to give a way to the concept of Americanization. The term Americanization is defined as the ongoing and often unnoticed influence of the New World on the Old. Nevertheless, this tendency does not apply to Great Britain only, conversely also to other countries. There may be also exceptions to this trend, thus some borrowings from British in American English, such as a term shop, which is used for a small store. This is however a point in history. The concept of Americanization seems to be global and not only the phenomenon across the Atlantic. (159)
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2.4 Grammar Svartvik and Leech explain that in the standard language, there are only insignificant differences in grammar between American and British language. Most of the time Americans and Britons have the same grammars, they have the same inventory of forms and also the same rules, however the use of the rules differs within the dialects. (167)
2.4.1 Verbs 2.4.1.1 Preterite and past participle The inflection of the preterite and past participle forms of verbs is considered to be one of the most distinguished features illustrating the differences between American and British English at morphological level. (Rohdenburg, Schlüter, 60) While BrE tends to form preterites and participles with the irregular –t forms, in AmE it is much more common to use unchanged regular form –ed. As Rohdenburg and Schlüter mention, both forms of inflection generally appear to co-exist in BrE. (63) Below one can find some examples of these differences in inflection according to John Algeo. (12-13) burn/burnt (BrE)
burn/burned (AmE)
As Algeo cites, according to the research, this verb tends to be used more frequently in its regular form with the suffix –ed, however, the tendency is significantly stronger in American English. (13) dream/dreamt (BrE)
dream/dreamed (AmE)
The verb to dream is very similar to the verb to burn. According to table designed by Rohdenburg and Schlüter p.62, the regular form dreamed is used more than 50% of the time in BrE, nevertheless, in AmE the regular form occurs over 85% of the time, which is again more frequent than in BrE. (14) learn/learnt (BrE)
learn/learned (AmE)
The research indicates that the form learnt would rather exist in British English and almost never in American English. Although there is a tendency in BrE to both forms, learnt and learned. (16) smell/smelt (BrE)
smell/smelled (AmE) 13
In this case, the form smelled is used more frequently in American texts and speech as it is with the verb to learn, whereas in BrE both forms are acceptable and used at the same frequency. (17)
2.4.1.2 The verb to get get/got/got/ (BrE)
get/got/gotten or got (AmE)
The past participle gotten is more typical of American English than British English and is sometimes dialectal and occasionally used interchangeably with got according to the meaning and sense. (14) Algeo indicates examples and explains the difference in the use of both these participles. It is important to mention that the form gotten is more common in conversation than in written speech: (14) e.g Haven’t you gotten your key? = Don’t you have your key?
•
Meanings of got and gotten as a past participle:
1. got – static sense senses like “posseses” I’ve got it. = I have it. 2. got – to be required I’ve got to go. = I must go. 3. gotten – dynamic senses like “acquire” I’ve gotten it. = I have received it. 4. gotten – to be permitted I’ve gotten to go. = I have become able to go.
2.4.1.3 The verb to have The verb to have can occur in many forms such as auxiliary, semi auxiliary (have to) and a main verb, nevertheless, the use of this verb is different in the two varieties of language. (Algeo, 31) •
Speakers of British English make a distinction between to have and have got whereas Americans do not:
1. have – habitual or repeated events or states e.g. They have appointments on Mondays, don’t they? - the clause deals with a general situation 14
2. have got – single events or states e.g. They have got an appointment today, haven’t they? - this clause is about a present time situation In both varieties to have is more common than to have got, especially in America. According to the studies, the interrogative form Do you have… is more frequent in AmE, conversely, British English seems to use Do you have and Have you got at the same frequency. The negative form have no occurs more in British, whereas don’t/doesn’t have is the favorite form in America, as Algeo mentions. (32)
2.4.1.4 Compound verbs Compound verbs can be found in every variety of English. They may be typical of individual national varieties, e.g. Scottish English, New Zealand English and also AmE and BrE. (58) Rohdenburg and Schlüter mention that compound verbs are more common in American English than in British English according to the research of four different dictionaries, two for AmE and two for BrE. (46) From and orthographic point of view, it is important to understand and explain two terms when it comes to compound verbs. The compound verbs may be either as one-word, two-words or hyphenated forms. The authors cite as an example of one-word compound the expression to earmark and as a hyphenated form to name-drop. The two-word forms are rather rare, e.g. to ski jump (AmE) and to free climb (BrE). According to the evidence of monolingual dictionaries of AmE and BrE there is a slight tendency in American English towards avoiding hyphenation; conversely, one can observe a preference for hyphenated forms in British English. (40) Below in the table, there are illustrated examples of compounds which differ in hyphenation: (40-41) Table 1. Compounds differing in hyphenation American English
British English
to backpedal
to back-pedal
to handpick
to hand-pick
to shortchange
to short-change
to sugarcoat
to sugar-coat 15
There are few exceptions that occur both in AmE and BrE such as to babysit/to babysit (AmE/BrE). (41)
2.4.2 Determiners Algeo believes that British English may use the in certain expressions of time and with other nominals where American English would have no determiner. (43) all the day long vs. all day long The definite article the is not compulsory in British, however, in American the occurrence of the, in this, case is none. (Algeo, 43) in the night vs. at night The collocation in the night is more common in British English than in American. Americans tend to use at night more frequent and without an article. (43) the once vs. once According to Algeo, the once is about 14 times more frequent in BrE than in American. (43) e.g. Well, just the once. at the weekends vs. on the weekends vs. on weekends In AmE at the weekends is very rare. Americans seem to say on the weekend or on weekends, in BrE on weekends is the most frequent, however on the weekend and at the weekend have the same frequencies of use. (44) all the year vs. all year Both in America and United Kingdom it is preferred to use this collocation without the definite article, nevertheless there is a stronger tendency in American English. (44) at the back of (BrE) vs. in back of (AmE) -
meaning behind (46)
16
in future vs. in the future In future, in the meaning “from now on”, contrasts with in the future, this means either the same thing or “at some time in the future”. The first collocation occurs more often in British than in American texts. (Algeo, 54) on holiday vs. on vacation vs. on a vacation -
As Algeo states, holiday in the meaning of “a period away from work or home for travel or relaxation” is British. Americans would use on vacation in general sense (GS) and on a vacation in a specific sense (SS). (54) GS: We’ll be on vacation in July. (54) SS: We’re taking the family on a vacation to Alaska. (54)
2.4.3 Adjective vs. adverbs Americans are more likely to use adjective forms as adverbs mainly in the spoken language. This habit is considered to be non-standard in Britain. Below is a short list of sample sentences. The examples on the left show a standard use of adverbs like well or slowly, whereas the right-hand examples show matching adjective forms which would be considered non-standard in British English. They are common and relatively acceptable in spoken American English though. (Svartvik and Leech, 168) They pay them pretty well.
vs.
They pay them pretty good.
You’ll have to speak slowly.
vs.
You’ll have to speak slow.
She’s awfully thin.
vs.
She’s awful thin.
I certainly hope it’s temporary.
vs.
I sure hope it’s temporary.
2.4.4 Prepositions In British and American English there are numerous differences when it comes to prepositions in collocations and their frequency. At the back (of) vs. in back (of) -
At the back of is more frequently used in British texts, conversely in back of more in American ones. (Algeo, 161)
17
At college vs. in college -
Again, in this case the preposition at is more frequent in British English, whereas American would use in college more often, which means to be enrolled in a college rather than being psychically presented there. (161)
at the moment vs. right now -
The expression at the moment occurs more frequently in BrE. By contrast, Americans would say right now in most cases. (162)
at risk vs. in danger -
At risk was popularized in America and is used in medical contexts; however it is used in wider contexts in Britain. (162-163)
at school vs. in school -
Similarly to at college, at school is more frequent in BrE in the meaning “enrolled in a school” e.g. Sid is at school. – It is likely to mean he is enrolled in a school, rather than being physically presented there. (163)
at (the) weekend(s) vs. over/on/during weekend(s) -
At is the favorite British preposition in this construction, but over, on and during are favored in American. (163)
by the sea vs. on/next to the sea -
By the sea is nowadays not usual in the United States (165)
in the holidays vs. during/over holidays -
The preposition collocating with holidays in British texts is rather in than during or over, which are more frequent in American ones. (170)
in the sale vs. on sale -
In the meaning “at a reduced price”, British uses in with sale, whereas American does not (172)
18
in the street vs. on the street -
In Britain one could find man in the street, conversely in the United States man would be on the street. The preposition on is three times more frequent than preposition in in the USA. (172)
on behalf of vs. in behalf of -
In behalf of is more frequent in AmE. In current British use on behalf of has replaced in behalf of, however both are still used in AmE. (177)
on a party vs. at/in a party -
One would not find the collocation on a party in American texts at all. (182)
2.4.5 Mandative constructions A mandative construction consists of a verb, noun, or adjective that expresses an order, direction, necessity etc. and is complemented by a subordinated clause, in which verb may be modal, present subjunctive, or indicative. (Algeo, 263) e.g She insists +
that he
+
should leave
+
leave
+
leaves
The modal version should leave is common for British speakers, but little used in AmE, nevertheless it is acceptable. The present subjunctive form leave is the norm for American English and also frequent form in British English, especially in passive constructions. The indicative option leaves is as frequent as should leave in BrE, conversely it is a very rare form in AmE. It means that British speakers uses all three forms, Americans uses primarily the subjunctive form but accepts the modal. The indicative option is characteristically British. (263)
2.4.6 Spelling British and American spellings are mostly identical, nevertheless some words differ. For instance, there is a contrast between British labour and analyse, and American labor and analyze. (Thomas, 254) 19
It can be said that American spelling has more economic and phonetic spelling. This means that unnecessary letters are omitted and expressions are pronounced as they sound. As an example, it can be considered an omission of letter u in words such as color, neighbor or honor. A similar case applies with consonants such as l or m. In British English, these consonants are doubled in words like travelling, jewellery or programme, conversely Americans would write traveling, jewelry and program. This rule, however, does not always apply. (Shoebottom) Mencken created an outline regarding changes made in the Standard English spelling in the United States. He divided them into the groups according to the changes or omission of particular vowels or consonants. The first column illustrates American spelling, the second one British spelling. 1. The omission of u in words ending in –our (other examples than mentioned above) behavior
behaviour
harbor
harbour
humor
humour
labor
labour
There are however exceptions, such as glamour in American English or tenor in British English. (Svartvik and Leech, 154) 2. The reduction of duplicate consonants to single ones counselor
counsellor
traveler
traveller
wagon
waggon
woolen
woollen
3. The omission of a silent e asphalt
asphalte
ax
axe
4. The change of terminal –re into –er center
centre
fiber
fibre
theater
theatre 20
Svartvik and Leech claim that the spelling theatre also occurs in American English, nevertheless only in the meaning when it is said to have ‘snob appeal’. (154) 5. The omission of unaccented foreign terminations catalog
catalogue
toilet
toilette
6. The omission of u when combined with a or u mustache
moustache
7. The change of compound consonants into simple ones
8.
9.
check (bank)
cheque
draft (ship’s)
draught
plow
plough
The change of o into a naught
nought
The change of e into i inclose inquire
enclose enquire
10. The change of y into a, ia, or i pajamas pyjamas tire (noun) tyre 11. The change of c into s defense offense vise (a tool) 12. The substitution of k for c skeptic (Mencken)
defence offence vice
sceptic
Svartvik and Leech comment on verbs with suffix –ize in American English, which are often spelled –ise in British English, nevertheless suffix –ize occurs in Britain as well. These 21
are words such as baptize (AmE) – baptise, baptize (BrE), criticize (AmE) – criticise, criticize (BrE), sympathize (AmE) – sympathise, sympathize (BrE) or regularize (AmE) – regularise, regularize (BrE). There are many words that follow this pattern, however there are some verbs that are always spelled –ise in both American and British English e.g. advertise, advise, comprise, devise, exercise, revise or supervise. (155) They also mention some spelling differences that are unique to particular words, for instance tire (around wheels) (AmE) – tyre (BrE), story (in buildings) (AmE) – storey (BrE) or curb (by the side of a road) (AmE) – kerb (BrE). (155)
22
2.5 Phonetics, phonology and pronunciation Algeo explains the difference in intonation: “The most obvious difference between British and American English is in the “tune” of the language.” (2) The expression “tune” covers the intonation that accompanies the sentence, thus it is easy to identify whether a Briton or an American talks. However, when singing, it is harder to identify whether it is a British or American singer. This is caused by overriding of the prose tune by the musical tune. The other existing differences in pronunciation are in stress patterns and in consonants and vowel articulation and distribution. (2) When one considers differences in pronunciation, there are two main characteristics signs of American English which are immediately apparent to non-native speakers or speakers of British English. The first characteristic feature is the American use of the /æ/ phoneme in words such as bath, pass or aunt, whereas British English possesses a retracted vowel of the /a/ type, which is often lengthened. However, it should be highlighted that this difference occurs in most cases when the vowel in question is followed by a voiceless fricative consonant and occasionally by the nasal /n/. On the other hand, if the vowel is followed by a consonant, except those mentioned above, both British and American English employs /æ/ phoneme, like in cat, bad, bag, sand or back. (Smolinski, 192) As for the second principal difference in BrE and AmE, pronunciation of /r/ phoneme should be considered, as in learn, core, fork or brother. In most varieties of American English, the tongue has an upward glide in pronouncing the /r/ vowel, conversely in British English the tongue stays flat. The sound of /r/ phoneme in American English is classified as so called retroflex, in British English the sound results in so called r/-less type of speech. Despite of these differences, both American and British English employs the pronunciation of the initial /r/ with a downward movement of the tongue, like in words real, rat or race. Also, the pronunciation of /r/ phoneme between vowels remains the same both in AmE and BrE, where the position of tongue consists of an upward and a downward movement. This rule applies to words such as carry, forest or mural. (192) When it comes to stress of the words, American English places a distinct secondary stress upon the next to the last syllable, whereas, in BrE the stress is weak. This phenomenon should be considered in the words secretary, dictionary, stationery and territory. When it comes to all these three differences, it should be mentioned that they represent older stages of the language features. These features were originally a part of BrE, however, they were
23
replaced by innovations. Nevertheless, these features have remained in the United States. (193) When discussing differences in AmE and BrE pronunciation, one should not forget the differences in intonation. In the British sentence, the distance from the highest to the lowest tone, is greater. In contrast to American one, the sentence remains a fairly lever tone until right before the termination. The British sentence reaches high tone either at the very beginning of the sentence or right after, and then the tone falls gradually until the final terminal juncture. (193) Table 2. Pronunciation The expression
British pronunciation
American pronunciation
accomplish
/əˈkʌm.plɪʃ/
/əˈkɑːm. lɪʃ/
advantage
/ədˈvɑːn.tɪdʒ/
/əd ˈvæn.t ̬ ɪdʒ/
advertisement
/ədˈvɜː.tɪs.mənt/
/æd.vɝː.taɪz.mənt/
banana
/bəˈnɑː.nə/
/bəˈˈnæn.ə/
barbecue (BBQ)
/ˈbɑː.bɪ.kjuː/
/ˈbɑːr.bɪ.kjuː/
bartender
/ˈbɑːˌten.dər /
/ˈbɑːrˌten.dɚ/
blackboard
/ˈblæk.bɔːd/
/ˈblæk.bɔːrd/
blackcurrant
/ˌblækˈkʌr.ənt/
/ˈblæk.kɝ:nt/
blouse
/blaʊz/
/blaʊs/
coupon
/ˈkuː.pɒn/
/kju.pɑːn/
dance
/dɑːnt s/
/dænt s/
either
/'aɪ.ðər /
/'i:.ðər / or /'i:.ðɚ/
envelope
/ˈen.və.ləʊp/
/ˈɑːn.və.loʊp/
hurricane
/ˈhʌr.ɪ.kən/
/ˈhʌr.ɪ.keɪn/
leisure
/ˈleʒ.ər/
/ˈliː.ʒɚ/
new
/njuː/
/nuː/
progress
/ˈprəʊ.gres/
/ˈprɑːgres/
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The expression
British pronunciation
American pronunciation
salt
/sɒlt/
/sɑːlt/
schedule
/'ʃed.ju:l/
/'sked.ju:l/
tomato
/təˈmɑː.təʊ/
/ tə ˈmeɪ.t ̬oʊ/
vase
/vɑːz/
/veɪs/
vitamin
/ˈvɪt.ə.mɪn/
/ˈvaɪ.t ̬ə.mɪn/
yogurt/yoghurt
/ˈjɒg.ət/
/ˈjoʊ.gɚt/
(Cambridge Dictionaries Online; Smith)
2.5.1 Standards of pronunciation When it comes to the term “standard” pronunciation in the discussion of linguistic questions, the use of it is probably unfortunate. One think of standards as something fixed and immutable, one ask for the “correct” pronunciation, one assume that only one pronunciation can be correct and that all others are incorrect, however there is always certain amount of variation. (Thomas, 253) Within each of the regional areas we may distinguish different various level of speech. They are accepted more self-consciously and with less approximation to conformity. The phonemic pattern may vary from place to place. Since different areas of the English-speaking countries have different patterns, they may be said to have different standards of pronunciation. For example, the pronunciation [lɑst] means last to a Londoner, but lost to a Pittsburgher or [la:f] means laugh in Boston, but life in Mobile. The vast majority of inhabitants living in the particular area recognize their own basic standard; however the stranger who speaks according to a different standard will be at least difficult to understand. (254-255) The basic standards are part of the social context of each linguistic area e.g. the New Yorker recognizes the Bostonian, because the person speaks differently. The Iowans who talk to Alabamans are aware of the manner and content of the other’s speech, however in their own judgment the linguistically “naïve” person speaks English, the other speaks dialect. This may be found either among the uneducated or superficially sophisticated people who have cultivated artificial standards. The real sophisticated person recognizes that it is ordinary to
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speak each according to their own standards. None of these areas have a monopoly on “correctness”. (255)
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2.6 Vocabulary Smolinski comments on vocabulary differences between BrE and AmE: Vocabulary differences between British and American English occur in certain well-defined and predictable situations, namely when they reflect differences in physical objects or features characteristics of the two countries, when they reflect different practices or ways of dealing with things, and when they are the product of institutional differences. (193) There are some examples of these three categories to be mentioned. There are several different plants and animals in England and America. The United States has much greater and different climate and topography than England, thus some of the species or plants may never occur in England and are typical of the USA, e.g. moose or raccoon. The United States has built up its own set of topographical terms, which were taken from the vocabularies of European nations by English-speaking colonials, e.g. savannah (from Spanish) or bayou (from French). To give another example regarding food, no American would ever eat mutton but lamb or he broils a steak; he does not grill it. (194) Another type of differences in terminology appears when new inventions strike both countries at the same time. This was the case with e.g. railroad (AmE) and railway (BrE) or the Englander rides a coach, whereas American takes his seat in a car. As for the institutional differences, the terminology differs in these two countries as well. The main concern of differences is namely education. What is called a public school in England means a private school in the USA. The differences appear also when it comes to the academic hierarchy of instructors, assistant professor, associate professor, and professor, which is typical of the United States. Not only is the English university staff called faculty in the USA, the Americans have no dons. To name a few examples regarding governmental system, the term cabinet is used differently in these two countries. American cabinet members are secretaries of one executive department; conversely their English counterparts are ministers. In Britain a candidate for office is named by his party and stands for election, whereas he is nominated and runs the office in the United States. (194-195) The American vocabulary preserves words and meanings of words that have been already discontinued in England. For instance, the term druggist (AmE) has been replaced by chemist in England. To name another example such as the word guess in the meaning 27
“suppose” or “estimate” is nowadays considered to be Americanism, although it was used by Chaucer in England. (196) The development and growth of American ways and institutions were mostly connected with life on the frontier of European civilization in this new continent, which is illustrated in the language as well in e.g. conversion of nouns into verbs, nouns to adjectives etc. As a consequence of clipping of words, there are now shortened words such as phone instead of telephone or cable instead of cablegram. These examples serve to show that what happens in language does not happen by accident. This applies also for such regional differences both within America as well as the differences between the AmE and BrE. (196) British and American terminology sometimes differ especially in the technical terms which were developed in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. There are terms such as lorry (BrE) and truck (AmE), valve (BrE) and wireless (AmE) or a radio set (BrE) and tube (AmE). (Thomas, 254). In addition to the development, physical objects or differences in practices, British and American terminology differ in their everyday use. To get a well arranged outline of the differences of the everyday vocabulary, the terms are illustrated in the table below. The first column illustrates American form of the word, the second one focuses on British way of expressing the term and the third one is the translation into Czech in order not to misinterpret the understandability and meaning of the word. (Mencken) Table 3. Differences in vocabulary American term
British term
Czech meaning
apartment
flat
byt
ash-can
dust-bin
popelnice
backyard
garden
zahrada
baggage
luggage
zavazadlo
bath-tub
bath
vana
boardwalk (seaside)
promenade
promenáda (na pláži)
can
tin/can
plechovka, konzerva
candy
sweets
cukroví, bonbón
cane
stick
proutek, hole
check
bill
účet
closet
cupboard
skříň 28
American term
British term
Czech meaning
cracker, cookie
biscuit
sušenka, keks
crosswalk
zebra crossing
přechod pro chodce
elevator
lift
výtah
eraser
rubber
guma
fall
autumn
podzim
gasoline (gas)
petrol
benzín
groceries
stores
potraviny (obchod)
line
queue
fronta
mad
angry
naštvaný
mail
letter
dopis
movie
film
film
theater, go to movies
cinema
kino
pants
trousers
kalhoty
pay-day
wage-day
výplatní den
public school
board school
státní škola
railroad
railway
železnice
rooster
cock
kohout
round-trip ticket
return ticket
zpáteční jízdenka
schedule
timetable
rozvrh
shoemaker
bootmaker
švec
sick
ill
nemocný
sidewalk
pavement, footpath
chodník
soccer
football
fotbal
store
shop
obchod
subway
tube, underground
metro
taxes
rates/taxes
daně
terminal
terminus
konečná zastávka
track
line
železniční trať
trash, garbage
rubbish
odpadky
truck
lorry
nákladní auto, kamion
vacation
holiday
prázdniny, dovolená
vest
waistcoat
vesta 29
American term
British term
Czech meaning
warehouse
stores
obchodní dům
(Mencken, Shoebottom) Both in the United States and Britain there are terms that may have different meanings. Just to name a few, dumb in the meaning “mute” (BrE) means rather “stupid” in American English or the word to hire (BrE) would be to rent in American English. American would rather use to hire in the meaning to employ somebody. The term surgery would be also used in a different way, thus in Britain it is considered to be “doctor’s office hours”, conversely in the United States surgery refers to “surgeon operating on a patient”. The expression redundant has also different meanings. In Britain one would be “laid off from a job, in America the term means “superfluous”. There is no connection with jobs at all. (University of Tampere)
2.6.1 Collocations Both in British and American English there are different kinds of collocations which have the same meaning but they differ in form. One of many examples is the collocation to eat soup. In common-core English to eat soup is considered to be a norm, whereas in Britain people may drink soup. The same applies to sit an exam. In Britain one may take or sit an exam, nevertheless the only option in the United States is to take an exam. (Algeo, 220)
2.6.2 Phatic language Phatic language consists of expressions that are used in a social interaction. These expressions are intended to be merely conventional formula of etiquette. For instance, the formula How do you do?, when greeting someone, is not a question about how one does anything or how one is, but it is a formal acknowledgement of an introduction. (Algeo, 308) Most of the phatic expressions are common-core English; nevertheless they vary in the choice of Britons and Americans. For example, when one asks to repeat something because he or she did not understand, British options include (I beg your) pardon?, Sorry?, and What (did you say)?. American speaker would ask Excuse me? or Pardon me? (308) Thank you and Thanks are the principal expressions in common-core English. A favoured British response is Not at all, which is more frequent in British than in American texts, where it would be considered formal. Americans tend to response You’re welcome. 30
When introducing someone, the typical British response is How do you do?, whereas more usual response of American speakers is Nice to meet you. On meeting someone who one knows, a British greeting is How are you?, the American ones How are you doing?, which is more common than in British texts. (309) Agreeing with a request that someone does something differs also between varieties. Characteristic British responses are Right and Will do with pitch falling on the first syllable and rising on the second. In comparison to British responses, the more frequent option in the United States is Sure with falling pitch. The option Right is mostly considered to be more American, nevertheless it is more frequent in British English. Other possible British responses are Quite or Quite so, with a falling pitch and Rather, with a falling rising pitch. (309) The salutation in a letter is normally followed by either comma or a colon in AmE, in British English it is common to write a comma only. The British complimentary close to a letter is said to be typically Yours faithfully, sincerely, truly or ever, American ones are Cordially, Sincerely and Truly yours. (309)
2.6.3 Changes of vocabulary in literature Svartvik and Leech introduce an example of changes of vocabulary in J. K. Rowling books Harry Potter. These Harry Potter books have been best-sellers on both sides of the Atlantic; nevertheless in order to make these books more intelligible to young American readers some changes of British versions were introduced for the American editions. These are some examples of the changes that were made in the ‘translation’ of British edition: a lot (BrE) – a bunch (AmE), cooker (BrE) – stove (AmE), crumpets (BrE) – English muffins (AmE), fortnight (BrE) – two weeks (AmE), Father Christmas (BrE) – Santa Claus (AmE), trainers (BrE) – sneakers (AmE) or whilst (BrE) – while (AmE). (161-163)
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2.7 Varieties in England Pronunciation differs among the hundreds of million people who speak English as their mother tongue, whereas spelling has been almost standardized. In Great Britain, pronunciation of people is influenced by both regional and social factors. It is characteristic for England that many people are principally aware of accent as class maker, which means that they are sensitive to pronunciation that does not confront with pronunciation in the English speaking world, maybe even in the whole world. None of English accents has official status; nevertheless there are several attitudes to various pronunciations that may be an interest of a particular learner, who study English as a foreign language. (124)
2.7.1 Cockney Svartvik and Leech explain the meaning of the word cockney. It has two meanings which can be defined either as ‘a working class Londoner’ or ‘the variety of English spoken by cockneys. This expression is derived from the word cokeney, which was used as a label for malformed egg and its meaning was ‘cock’s egg’ in the fourteenth century. Later it was applied by country people to people in the cities because of the townsfolk’s ignorance of real life in the country. After that by the early seventieth, this term was applied only to the Londoners. (124) One of the cockney features is aitch-dropping, which is an omission of an initial /h/ e.g. the pronunciation of hammer would be /’æmə/. As the result, the words would sound the same for instance heat and eat or hall and all. Aitch-dropping is typical for working class accents in most England, but in the United States they are not aware of it, which suggests that aitchdropping was adapted after the American colonies were founded. Another feature of cockney is the replacement of th sound, so that for example think sounds ‘fink’ (/f/ is replaced by /θ/) so thirty thousand becomes ‘firty fahsn’, and bother may be pronounced with /v/ instead of /ð/. (129) A glottal stop is found in many British varieties mostly among young people. It also appears in cockney e.g. instead of sound /t/ between vowels in an expression like better, this word would sound beʔer. The glottal stop is also used in other usages like clean it out, mate, in which /t/ is replaced at the end of the word. This usage would sound clean iʔ, ahʔ, miʔe. As another example, it can be considered the sound /l/, which becomes a vowel if it is preceded by a vowel. As a result, the sound at the end of the syllable sounds either /o/ or /u/ e.g. well will be pronounced as /weu/. (129) 32
Cockney is also used on television and radio and is connected to rhyming slang, which means a replacement of words by phrase that rhymes. For instance, the phrase trouble and strife stands for wife, or bees and honey means money. After that the rhyming slang becomes shorter and the rhyme disappears e.g. take a look means in cockney slang take a butcher’s and is related to the rhyme butcher’s hook. (129-130)
2.7.2 The North of England As the north of England, it is considered to be not only the parts of the country in the north but also huge cities such as Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds and New Castle and also the parts of Midlands. In addition, Birmingham is also included in so called ‘northern cities’ in terms of accent. Almost half of England is influenced and speaks with Northern accent. It is simple for Britons to recognise who speaks with northern accent; however the population in the south will recognize the accent more assured. (Svartvik and Leech, 132) One of the characteristic features of northern pronunciation is the sound /ʊ/ instead of /ʌ/ in words like love or bus, so that vowels for instance in put and putt or in stood and stud sound the same. Another example is the pronunciation of /a/ instead of /ɑː/ in words such as aunt, bath or laugh. It means that pronunciation of the expressions ant and aunt are the same. The other sound which is pronounced in a different way in the northern accent is /a/ instead of /æ/ in words like ham, mad or sad. (132) In the cities such as Lancashire or Yorkshire, people tend to use pure long vowels instead of the diphthongs. A typical example of such a tendency is the phrase don’t know which uses the pure vowel /o:/ or a phrase the rain in Spain using the sounds /e:/ or /ɜː/ (132) All these variations of northern accents have its roots in history. They represent an older variety of English. For instance, the third distinction (/a/ and /æ/) emerged in the south in the eighteenth century. A social pressure to adopt a pronunciation which approaches to the social ladder of RP may be evident in this tendency. Some people who do not want to sound that they come from northern part of England, like people from Manchester or Leeds, may adapt kind of compromise. For instance they would pronounce bus something like /bəs/, which is something between the northern /bʊs/ and southern /bʌs/. (132-133) When it comes to northern grammar, it is still possible to hear Shakespeare’s secondperson pronoun thou/thee in the dialect in Yorkshire. In Yorkshire it is also common to reduce the definite article the so that only a single consonant remains, which would be never used in the south. It is replaced by t’ and it may be pronounced either as a glottal stop or a /t/. 33
2.7.3 The West Country of England The West Country reflects the dialect of the south-western counties, which are for example Devon or Somerset, and it can also stand for the counties such as Gloucestershire, which lies on the South Wales border. (Svartvik and Leech, 133) The most distinguished feature of accent of the south-western counties is the tendency to pronounce /r/ sound after a vowel. For example, the pronunciation of the word barn will be /ba:rn/ in comparison to the standard RP /bɑːn/. During the Shakespeare’s era, this kind of /r/ was natural in English, also in London, but it did not survive. However, this tendency had not been lost before it was exported to the United States by colonists, because in America it still persists in some areas. The sound /r/ is so called retroflex (2.5). (133) One of the other features of the West Country includes pronunciation of a voiced consonant /z/ in such words in which the pronunciation of the sound /s/ is standard. That is related to the interpretation of the West Country county of Somerset as Zummerzet. It is kind of pronunciation that is used mostly as a joke. (134) As far as grammar concerned, there are typical features regarding the use of pronouns and verbs e.g. Give it to he, not they – her don’t need it. This is a typical example of a curious reversal of the usual use of pronouns in Standard English. When it comes to verbs, one of the most common features of the Somerset dialect is the use of the verb be rather than its forms such as am or is and the form of the negative ben’t. These examples are being mixed with standard forms. (134)
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2.8 Varieties in the United States 2.8.1 African American English Svartvik and Leech question what actually so called Black English is, whether it is a language, dialect, an accent etc. The linguists prefer to use the term African American Vernacular English (AAVE), it refers to the variety of English which is spoken by African American. As it has been already mentioned, this kind of variety may also refer to the term Black English and also Ebonics, nevertheless these terms are considered to be rather controversial. They explain that the expression Black English may be controversial due to the fact that not all blacks speak AAVE; many of them use standard American English. Svartvik and Leech explain that the term Ebonics is controversial because it is associated with the fact that AAVE is a distinct language. (170) In the United States, an African American dialect is very common in inner cities and this kind of dialect is different from American Standard English. Sometimes it may lead to the point of being misunderstood. For instance, a sentence Dey ain’t like dat may confuse the participants of interaction and can be understood as They aren’t like that, however its actual correct meaning is They didn’t like that. (Svartvik and Leech, 169) One of the other features can be taken into consideration, respectively the use of multiply negation or so called double negation For example, the speaker will say the sentence He didn’t do nothing instead of the sentence, which is considered to be Standard English (He didn’t do anything or He did nothing). This double negation is frequent not only in AAVE, but also in several non-standard English varieties both in the United States and the United Kingdom. (171) The other feature regarding verb is the use of the base form of the verb. Standard English requires a different form, for instance They be driving in comparison to They are driving. We may also consider other example like She like it instead of She likes it. They may even omit the verb be (or its forms) like for instance in the sentence She busy in comparison to She is busy. (171) One of the other features is the replacement of there by it. The sentence It’s no gas in the tank is a typical example of AAVE instead of There’s no gas in the tank. Another instance of a typical feature is the replacement of the past participle gone by the past tense form went. The example is The students had went to the gym instead of The students had gone to the gym. (171)
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The use of different vocabulary is also common for AAVE, which is often related to the black jazz music and the cultural popular music for example bad in the meaning ‘wonderful, attractive’ or mean which means ‘excellent’ e.g. mean game. There are also some words that were adapted from African American dialect and are its origin, but they are used in the Standard American English or throughout the English-speaking world on daily basis. These are words such as chill out meaning ‘relax’, gig in the meaning ‘job’ or ‘cool’, which means ‘excellent’. (171) Svartvik and Leech also mention some examples of idioms that were adapted from AAVE and are used in English all over the world. They are idioms such as Stop bugging me, which means ‘Don’t bother me’, Catch you later in the meaning ‘Good-bye, speak to you later’ or Get real meaning ‘Face reality’. (171) When it comes to pronunciation, AAVE shares some southern features due to the historical background. The typical feature is the omission of r after vowels, and the simplification of the diphthong /aɪ/ in for instance high, which will sound ‘hah’. The diphthong is transformed to /a:/. The AAVE also shares some characteristics by creoles. The features that are shared by creoles contain the omission of consonants at the end of the word like chil’ instead of child and also the replacement of /th/ sound by /t/ or /d/ in a word like that, the variation would be dat. These features may be also found in white varieties of pronunciation that is why it is simple to suggest a direct connection between AAVE to creole. (171-172)
2.8.2 Varieties in the North and Northeast The variety of different accents and dialects are very prevalent from one state to the next in the north-east area of the United States. Such diversity was caused because of its older settlement because communities such as Boston, New York and Philadelphia have been settled earlier than the other similar-sized communities in the western United States. As the consequence, these communities had more time to adapt their own dialect and diverge from the other cities. (Mendoza-Dentom and Kennedy) By the end of the nineteenth century, Northern dialects were further developed by other cultures, which has impacted the American Regional dialects. For instance, the speech of New Englanders is characteristic by the tendency to omit postvocalic r in words such as go pa’k the ca’ and also including r, when it does not belong there, like in that’s a good idear. We may hardly believe that this dialect is the origin of the wide range dialects and accents in the 36
North. There are some lexical examples used in the dialect of New England such as sour-milk cheese, which means ‘cottage chesse’ or tonic meaning ‘carbonated soft drinks’. (UW Milwaukee) Speakers in states like for example Michigan used to be honoured with their natural pronunciation, which is the quintessential General American pronunciation, nevertheless recently in the cities like Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland and Buffalo, there have emerged some changes. These changes are known as the Northern Cities Shift and describe a revolutionary rotation of the English short vowels. These vowels have however persisted stable since the 8th century. There are some examples in which vowels have been moving to new positions of articulation e.g. the vowel /æ/ in the word cat has been changing to a closer vowel /e/ or to a diphthong /ɪə/ so the cat sounded like kee-yat. Another instance is the change of vowel /e/ in the word like bet, which has been moving forward towards /ʌ/ like in the expression cut or the vowel /ʌ/ as in the word cut, which has been moving towards the sound /ɔ/ like in the word caught. These changes are called a chain shift, which means that one vowel moves toward the position of a neighbouring one. (Svartvik and Leech, 240)
2.8.3 Varieties in the South The Southern American English includes various states and their varieties in the United States such as Alabama, Florida, Kentucky, Georgia and many others. These varieties share some characteristics that differ from other varieties in the west and north. (Mendoza-Dentom and Kennedy) There are numerous characteristic phonetic and phonological features of Southern English such pronunciation of /d/ instead of /z/ before a nasal consonant. For instance, in the contractions isn’t and wasn’t the usual pronunciation is /ɪznt/ and /wʌznt/, but in the southern variation it would sound /ɪdnt/ and /wʌdnt/. This tendency can be also evident on some other examples in some southern varieties, such as on word like business that may be pronounced /bɪdnəs/ in some varieties instead of /bɪznəs/. (Mendoza-Dentom and Kennedy) In some southern varieties, the vowel sound /ɪ/ and /ɜ/ merge so that in words such as pin and pen will have the same pronunciation /pɪn/. The vowel /ɪ/ may be also realized as /ɜ/ or /æ/ when it is followed by nasal /ŋ/ in words like sing, which is pronounced like /sɜŋ/ or /sæŋ/ in southern dialect, and think pronouncing like /θɜŋ/ or /θæŋ/. The other example, which is worth mentioning, is monophthongizaton. The diphthong /aɪ/ in words such as right or time
37
becomes /a:/, so that the pronunciation of these words will be /ra:t/ and /ta:m/. (MendozaDentom and Kennedy)
2.8.4 Varieties in the West The language of the west has barely gone through three or four generations, which is caused due to the historical background. In comparison to the European languages, American English is very young and western varieties are still new born. There are plenty of varieties of people in the western part of the United States such as Native Americans, Mexicans, Chinese or Cowboys, thus these varieties settled either by the ocean or in the rugged areas, which used to be the American Desert. (UW Milwaukee) The state California is the most populous state in the west and is complex culturally and linguistically. All the varieties speak in a distinct style and their accents differ. For example, in the speech of white people in California the vowels in words like hock and hawk are pronounced the same. This applies also to words like cot and caught. The so called back vowels have tendency to move forward in the mouth so that the pronunciation of the vowels in the words dude and spoon will sound similarly like the word you. Moreover, the vowel in but and cut also moves forward so that the pronunciation will sound likely as bet and ket. (PBS) The speech of youth in the state of California is very innovative and always develops. As an example, we can consider the use of a discourse marker to introduce a quote speech e.g. I am like in I am like, where have you been? or She is like. This kind of quote speech substitutes the quotative e.g. I said or she said. (PBS)
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2.9 English of course books and textbooks When it comes to analysing textbooks, one needs to think which varieties of English are contained in the course book. As far as geography concerned, there are two main varieties of English, as it has been already mentioned, British English and American English. They are mutually intelligible and demonstrably the same language even if they differ to a small extent in grammar, vocabulary and rather more in pronunciation. There are surely many different regional varieties of American and British English, and the more they diverge from the standard variety, the less intelligible these varieties may become to outsiders. (Cunningsworth, 52) To sum it up, course books for general use in several different countries take one of the main standards as their model, either standard southern British English – but not the traditional Received Pronunciation (RP), or standard American English. The international English, which refers to the use of English as a lingua franca around the world for e.g language of scientists, is usually based on one of these varieties. Usually, courses produced and used in individual countries where English is taught as a second language will take the local variety as their model, however without any colloquial or non-standard features. It is complex and multidimensional to analyse course books for their language content, because in most situations teacher has to decide on his or her priorities and focus on them. (53) There seem to be very good reasons for teaching of these dialects mentioned above, probably because of the fact that they have the widest intelligibility in the English speaking world. Once there may be a situation when a receptive understanding of a less widely used dialect is needed e.g. students going to study in Glasgow. Stylistic variation, the differences between formal, neutral and informal language, is essential in that it is necessary for stylistic appropriateness. (Cunningsworth, 19)
2.9.1 Cultural content in course books Teachers need to be careful when choosing the course books and textbooks about the selection of cultural content for ELT classrooms. The question about culture in English language teaching materials is a fundamental subject which has been discussed by teachers and professional for years. Some teachers wish to have cultural content in the materials and also some students may gain knowledge about culture of English speaking countries. It helps them to engage authentically with the language of the particular English speaking country. However, it appears that there is no obvious reason to realize this in the language learning 39
process. Native speakers may write the course books, textbooks, make pronouncements and recommendations and so one and so forth, nevertheless their English is that kind of English which is connected to communicative and social needs in their community and does not need to be relevant to the English that is taught as an international language. In addition, their teaching may be relevant in particular context of instructions, which may be however different from those context of instructions that we experience in the world. The materials, course books, textbooks and others are accurate to the extent that they are suitable for learners’ needs not the extent that they have to be appropriate. (Kilickaya) The term culture may be understood in a different way for teachers and professors. As for Kramsch culture is a membership in a community that shares a typical social features and history and a common system of standards for perceiving, believing, evaluating and action. The term culture may be also used to refer to a person’s needs in the meaning whatever the person must have in order to function and live in a particular society. We also need to consider what our target culture in the classroom is and that it does not need to be British culture only, but also other varieties of culture. Thus the learner’s needs should be considered. (Kilickaya) The main aim of the teaching and learning about the particular culture is not to make learners to become like people of the particular culture, but to give information about the culture, what is typical, how people live and why certain things happen in that culture. Teachers should highlight that cultures differs, not to present one’s own culture as better than the other one. (Kilickaya)
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3 Practical part 3.1 Introduction The whole practical part is based on use of American English at Czech grammar schools in English classes. I examined about four different grammar schools from various towns. Since it was difficult to find grammar schools that were willing to participate in the research, the names and location of the schools will remain anonymous. The first grammar school is located in a town, whose population is about six thousand inhabitants. This school is going to be determined as school A. The other two grammar schools that were examined are situated in towns that have about twenty-five thousand inhabitants and will be named school B and C. The last research was implemented in a city that has about one million residents and the grammar school will be called school D. The first part of the practical part focuses on teaching of American English. I designed a questionnaire for teachers in order to find out whether teachers teach and stress differences between British and American English. 11 teachers were asked to complete the questionnaire and comment on their English lessons. The second part of the practical part of the thesis examines, to what extent are learners able to understand American expressions and whether they are able to translate them into British English. They were also asked to translate Czech expressions into English. The amount of pupils that participated in the research was twenty-five learners at each grammar school between the ages of fourteen to fifteen. There were one hundred learners altogether that completed and translated a short language test. The last part is based on analysis of workbooks according to which these teachers teach. The occurrence of American expressions, grammar and pronunciation exercises, and cultural content is analysed.
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3.2 Teaching American English In this part of the research, the teachers from all grammar schools were distributed a questionnaire with questions concerning teaching American and British English. The number of teachers who participated in the research was 11. There are 3 teachers from the grammar school A, B and C and 2 teachers from grammar school D. The first two questions focus on teachers’ professional background, the rest of the questions concentrate on teaching British and American English as such.
Question n. 1 How long have you been teaching English? The table indicates the number of years that teachers have been teaching English for. In each grammar school, the teachers were named as teacher 1, 2 and 3 (teacher 1 and 2 in case of school D) according to their experience in teaching English. Table 4. Teaching experience Teacher
School A
School B
School C
School D
Teacher 1
16 years
24 years
35 years
36 years
Teacher 2
15 years
16 years
18 years
17 years
Teacher 3
12 years
3 years
10 years
not applicable
Question n. 2 Have you ever been to English speaking country? The following tables demonstrate where, how long and how many times were teachers abroad. NO indicates the case that he or she did not travel, work or study abroad in that particular country at all. The abbreviation W stands for work or business trips, H for holiday, family visit or a trip and S replaces studying. Table 5. Stay abroad school A Teacher
Great Britain
the USA
others
Teacher 1
no
no
no
Teacher 2
no
no
Canada - 1 year (W, S)
Teacher 3
5 days (W)
no 42
no
Table 6. Stay abroad school B Teacher
Great Britain
the USA
others
Teacher 1
1 week (3x) (W, H)
no
no
Teacher 2
2 years (W, S)
2 months (W, H)
no
Teacher 3
no
6 months (H)
no
Table 7. Stay abroad school C Teacher
Great Britain
the USA
others
Teacher 1
1 – 4 weeks (2x) (H)
no
Ireland (3 weeks) (H)
Teacher 2
1 week (H)
no
no
Teacher 3
1,5 months (S)
5 months (W)
no
Table 8. Stay abroad school D Teacher
Great Britain
the USA
others
Teacher 1
2 weeks (6x) (H)
2 months (2x) (H)
Wales
(2
months)
(H) Teacher 2
1 week (3x) (H)
no
no
Question n. 3 Do you think the stay abroad influenced your pronunciation or use of vocabulary? 37% of teachers who stayed abroad more than one month think that their pronunciation and vocabulary were influenced by the particular standards, however 9% of teachers who were abroad more than one month does not consider that their stay abroad had an effect on their English. The rest of the questioned teachers think that their English was influenced either only a little or not at all. These are the teachers whose stay abroad was rather shorter. 9% of teachers who has never been abroad however believe that listening to interviews or watching films influenced their English. The figure below illustrates the percentage of teachers based on the length of the period that they stayed abroad and their assumptions whether their pronunciation or use of vocabulary were influenced by the stay.
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Fig. 1. Influence on teachers’ English by length of stay abroad
yes; more than one month 36%
no; more than one month
37%
little bit; less than one month 9%
9%
no; never
9%
no; 1 week or less
Question n. 4 What English do you teach? British, American, combination? Majority of teachers, which is 64% teach mostly only British English rather than American one or combination, even if they were for instance in the USA or Canada for more than 1 month like for example teacher 2 from grammar school A or teacher 3 from grammar school B. The teacher 2 from grammar school B spent abroad more than a month, thus he or she teaches British English, however if the books that they are using require it, he or she teaches American English as well. 27% of questioned teachers claim that they try to teach combination of these two standards. Those are such as teacher 3 from grammar school A or teacher 1 from school B, whose stay abroad was shorter than 1 month, but also the teacher 3 from grammar school C, who has been already both in the USA and Great Britain for longer than one month.
Question n. 5 Do you stress or explain differences between American and British vocabulary? About 46% of teachers explain differences between American and British vocabulary quiet often. These are for instance teacher 3 from grammar school B, who stayed in the USA for longer than 1 month, but also the teacher 3 from grammar school A, who went to Great Britain for less than 1 week. 60% out of these teachers who teach differences did not stay 44
abroad for a longer than 1 month e.g. teacher 1 from school B or school C. These results show that it is not essential whether the teachers spent some time in English speaking country. 27% focus on the differences only sometimes e.g. teacher 1 from school D or teacher 3 from school C. Other 27% of teachers do not teach differences in vocabulary at all and these are also the teachers who teach rather British English or British English only e.g. both teachers 2 from grammar school B and C. Majority of teachers, which is about 55%, are convinced or they hope that learners remember the American vocabulary taught in the classes. For instance, teacher 1 from school A believes that pupils remember only some words or the absence of present perfect in American English, whereas teacher 2 from the same grammar school claims that they mostly know the expressions because of the influence of American films. Both teachers 1 and 2 from grammar school B quote that learners barely remember these differences between AmE and BrE and if they do, they usually forget them very fast. Since teacher 2 from grammar school C focuses on British English only, he or she did not express his or her opinion.
Question n. 6 Do you stress or explain differences between American and British pronunciation? Only 45% of teachers explain differences between pronunciations of these two standards. They are for instance teacher 3 from grammar school A, who has never been to the USA so far, but spent a week in Great Britain or teacher 3 from grammar school B, who spent more than a month in the North America. This fact explains that also teachers who never visited the USA and spent only a short period of time in Great Britain focus on pronunciation of US and British standard. Teacher 1 from grammar school A concentrates only on differences between pronunciation of [d] and [t], for instance when it comes to pronunciation of water. The rest of the teachers, which is 45%, do not stress these differences. Teacher 1 from school D suggests that he or she concentrates during the lessons only on differences in spelling and vocabulary, and not on pronunciation.
Question n. 7 Do you do any exercises regarding American English? Majority of teachers, which is about 82%, do the exercises connected with American English very rarely or only occasionally. 22% out of these, e.g. both teachers 1 from grammar school A and D, admit that they practice exercises only if they are in the textbooks. However, 45
they do not possess any other special course book. 18% of teachers do not do any exercises regarding American English at all.
Question n. 8 What course book do you use? The teachers use different kind of course books, however only those books according to which the target group of the research is taught were taken into consideration. It means lower level at grammar school. Fig. 2. Use of course books
27%
Project New Opportunities
73%
Question n. 9 Do you teach about differences between US and British culture? Almost all teachers, which includes almost 91%, teach about American and British culture and compare them, for instance holidays or history, as teacher 1 from grammar school A quotes. For example, teachers 2 from school A and B suggest that there are topics about culture in the textbooks and/or course books, which serve them as a help in the lesson. Teacher 3 from school C never teaches about the cultural differences, though he or she spent more than one month both in the United States and Great Britain. He or she teaches according to the course book Project.
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3.3 Pupils’ awareness of vocabulary 3.3.1 Introduction As it has been already mentioned, one hundred learners participated in the survey, 59 female and 41 male. These learners are taught by at least 2 different teachers at every grammar school in order to make the results more objective. They were asked to complete three tasks. The first one was to translate ten American expressions into Czech while their passive knowledge of these words is tested. As soon as they completed the first task, they were asked to find British terms either by translating the Czech words, or by transforming of American terms into British ones. The last exercise was based on Czech words and learners were supposed to translate these expressions into English. The aim is to detect, into which standard they translate the words, into either British or American. The results were also compared with the answers of teachers at the particular grammar school, whether they teach and stress differences between these two standards. The numbers in brackets indicate the number of pupils who completed the translation or transformation of the words. The orthography and spelling of the words written by pupils was not taken into consideration at all.
3.3.2 Part I and II The first part and the second one are linked together. The first paragraph of the comments on the terms is always related to Czech translation and meaning of the particular expressions, the second paragraph is focused on the British terms. CANDY According to Svoboda, the British form sweet is primarily translated as “dezert” or “zákusek” into Czech. The second meaning is “bonbón”, which means candy in American English. (Svoboda, 226) The word candy was mainly translated into Czech as “bonbón” or “sladkost” by 68 learners. Two of them exchanged the word class of the expression and instead of noun they translated this term as an adjective “sladký”. It means that almost 70 % of learners understood the meaning of the American term. The most frequent translation into British English was sweets, which was translated by 53 pupils. The other learners (7) thought that there was no difference in the form of the word that is why they translated American candy and Czech “sladkost” as candy again. Others considered candy to be a cookie (2) or cake (3) in British standard. 47
CAN Svoboda explains that the primary meaning of American can is “konzerva” or “plechovka”. (16) In British English, the synonym of US can is a tin. Americans prefer to use a can-opener rather than British tin-opener. (231) Nevertheless, Hornby quotes that in American English can is commonly used expression for both food and drinks e.g. a can of beans, however in Great Britain can is constantly used for drinks (a can of Coke), but both tin and can may be used for food. (215) This word was the most misleading term because many learners thought that this was a modal verb. It was not evident from the quiz due to no article standing in front of the word. Many pupils, which includes 45%, insisted on Czech meaning “moci” or “umět”. Nevertheless some of the learners translated the word can as either “plechovka” (29) or konzerva (6). The rest of the pupils were not aware of the meaning at all. As already mentioned above, the correct British term is a tin that was translated mostly by the learners (26) who knew the meaning of American noun. It is worth highlighting that some pupils (5) from those who understood the right meaning of the word thought that it had the same form in British English as well (can). Those learners who translated this term as a modal verb were convinced of the accuracy of British form to be able to (3), may (1) or can (7) again. The rest did not mention anything. GAS Gas is the abbreviation of the word gasoline, which is the American expression for petrol in Great Britain. (Peprník, 197) The most frequent Czech translation was either “plyn” by 38 learners or “benzín” by 19 pupils. Other learners translated this word as for instance “gazela” (1) which is English gazelle and there was probably some similarity in the form to the word gas; “tráva”, which means grass in English, may be misleading due to orthography; “tak” (1), which has no connection to it and “ropa” (3) or “olej” (2), which are very close to the American meaning. These curiosities such as gazelle or “tak” were completed by the pupils whose teacher mentioned in the questionnaire that he or she does not teach differences (teacher 2 from grammar school C). In this class, there were also only a few learners (7) out of 25 who knew the Czech meaning of the word gas. Only four learners were aware of the British translation petrol. Three of the questioned pupils knew the expression fuel, which means “palivo” in Czech, however it is not considered to be British form of the word. Majority of learners (8) thought that the British form of this word was the same both in American and British English. Five of these learners are taught by the teacher 2 from grammar school C who does not teach differences in these two standards. 48
The rest either did not know the British form of the word or those (2) who mentioned Czech meaning “olej” wrote oil to be a British expression. Two pupils also transformed the American gas into air, which has no connection to the meaning of the word at all. MOVIE The expression movie can be translated into Czech primarily as “film” and secondary as “kino”, and its’ British form is film. (Peprník, 284) This term seemed to be the easiest word of all. 85% of learners knew the meaning of this word, which is “film”. Some of them translated movie as “video” (1), “příběh” (2) or “děj” (1). These learners are again pupils who are taught by the teacher who does not focus on differences between British and American English (teacher 2 from grammar school C). 55% of pupils transformed the American movie into British film. Three learners thought that there was no difference in the form and they retain the expression movie in BrE. Those who translated movie into Czech as “příběh” wrote story (2) under British English and two other learners thought that cinema is the correct British term. PANTS Peprník believes that the correct British form of the American pants is trousers. In American English the expression trousers sounds rather literary or affectedly. (307) In Great Britain the word pants means “trenýrky” or “spodky”, which are drawers in the United States. (Svoboda, 76) Only 47 learners were aware of Czech meaning of the word pants, which are “kalhoty”, however two of them translated it as “tepláky”, which I considered correct as well. The rest was either not aware of the meaning or the translation was not correct. For instance, some learners thought the word pants meant “boty” – shoes (2), “punčochy” – stockings (2) or “pěstovat” – to grow (1).These learners, who did not understand the meaning, are pupils of teacher 2 from grammar school B who usually does not explain differences in vocabulary. Some of those who understood the Czech meaning of pants were also aware of the British expression trousers (37). Five of them thought that there was no difference between these standards and considered pants to be a British expression as well. Those learners, whose translation into Czech was “boty”, considered shoes to be a British term of the American pants. Three of the questioned learners transformed American pants into British shorts. As it was already mentioned, the word pants in British English means knickers or underpants, thus
49
shorts may be considered correct, however the task was to find a British alternative to the American meaning of the word and not what the word pants mean in Great Britain. SICK According to Peprník, the primary American meaning of the word sick is “nemocný”, which means British ill or unwell. (p. 370) Svoboda highlights that the term sick is related to any disease in American English, however Britons use this word only when it comes to stomach ache or qualm. (98) 47% of questioned learners grasped the Czech meaning of the word, however some pupils (7) misled it with a noun sickness or illness, and translated is as “nemoc”. Other learners (5) mentioned the Czech translation “být špatně, zle”, which is according to Svoboda a British meaning of the adjective sick. The word sick in British English is used only in connection with stomach ache and never in the meaning to be ill. The verb to be sick (BrE) means to throw up (p.219) and it was translated by three students in this way. In my opinion, lot of students are confused of the use and difference between American and British meaning and its use. Two learners confused the orthography of this word and considered sick to be a sock – “ponožka”, which was also their transformation into British English - a sock. Only 20 learners knew the British standard of the term sick, which is ill, as mentioned above. Those (3) who translated this term into British to be sick (“být nevolno”) thought that the correct British standard is to throw up. The rest of them were either not aware of the British form at all or they wrote expressions such as sickness (2), ache (1) or bad (2). SOCCER Peprník explains the difference between football in the USA and Great Britain. Football in the USA is similar to so called “ragby” in Czech and rugby in Britain, although it is not identical. British football is considered to be soccer in the USA. (189) This noun was also one of the easiest expressions to translate and transform to British English. 62% of questioned learners were aware of the Czech meaning, which is “fotbal” or “kopaná”. One pupil thought this noun means “čaroděj”, which means wizard or sorcerer. There is a similarity in orthography that is why the learner may have exchanged the meaning. Two learners translated the word into “karty”, which means cards. 59% of the learners knew the British expression football. The rest was either not aware of the form or they (2) transformed the word into cards which was the case of the learners who did not understand the meaning at all. 50
SUBWAY According to Peprník, British subway means a path that goes under a road (Hornby, 1532), which stands for “podchod” in Czech (Peprník, 407), whereas American underground is mostly used as an adjective which means radical. (431) The expression subway was mainly translated as “metro” into Czech by 40 learners. Some learners (3) confused the meaning with railway (BrE) or railroad (AmE) and translated subway as “železnice”. The others thought that this might be a road - “cesta” (2) or a restaurant (2) and baguette (3), which was misleading due to the fast-food called Subway. During the research, it was also found out that learners translated this word into “závodní dráha” – racetrack (1), “východ – exit (2), “podzemí” – underground (2), “chodník”- pavement (BrE), sidewalk (AmE) (1) or “útěk z vězení” – prison brake (3), which made no sense at all. According to Svoboda, there are two British expressions for the term subway, which are a tube or an underground. (107) 28 learners translated the word into an underground, 5 pupils into a tube. Four of the questioned learners wrote the expression metro and the others either did not know it or wrote terms based on the paragraph above such as pavement (1), exit (1) or train (1). Four pupils were not aware of difference at all and wrote subway and one of the questioned learner mentioned KFC, which was related to the word restaurant from the first paragraph and was probably sort of a joke. This time there were the worst results at the grammar school where teacher (teacher 2 from grammar school D) stresses differences between these standards, but does teach mostly British English rather than combination. TRUCK Truck may be translated into Czech as “nákladní auto” or “dodávka”. The British equivalent to it is lorry or van. (Svoboda, 113) This word was translated by 63 learners into “náklaďák”, “kamion” or “nákladní auto”. Three pupils thought that truck in American English means Czech “traktor” – tractor. The other learners left the space blank because they were not aware of the meaning. The most common transformation into British English was lorry, although only by 21 learners. In my opinion, it is very interesting that pupils know the American expression better than the British one even if it is one of the first words that they learn in English. The other terms that appeared in the British part of the research were either truck (9) or track (5). The learners might have thought that there had been no difference or there is only a slight change in spelling.
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VACATION Svoboda claims that the primary meaning of the word vacation is “dovolená”, the second one is “prázdniny”. (436) 13 learners translated this noun as “dovolená”, 18 pupils as “prázdniny” and 5 of them knew both meanings. Most of the learners did not know the meaning at all and the others translated it as for example “nemoc” (1), “kolo” (1), “lokalita” (1), or even “nepřítomnost” (2), which was probably connected to the word vacancy, although it means an empty space. None of the learners whose teacher does not teach them differences knew the meaning. (teacher 2 from grammar school C) Svoboda also quotes that holiday in American English means a festival only, “svátek” in Czech. (436) In British English there is the expression holiday for American vacation, which was correctly transformed by 25 pupils. One learner who considered vacation to be “nepřítomnost” suggested absence as a British form of vacation, which is definitely incorrect. The other 74 learners did not know the meaning at all. The table below summarizes the learners’ awareness of the American expressions, their Czech meanings and British forms. It indicates the number of pupils who were able to understand the meaning and/or its British standard. Table 9. Learners’ awareness of American terms. American term
Czech correct translation
British correct form
candy
68%
53%
can
35%
26%
gas
19%
4%
movie
85%
55%
pants
47%
37%
sick
47%
20%
soccer
62%
59%
subway
40%
23%
truck
63%
21%
vacation
31%
25%
As it is evident from the table, only 4 American expressions were translated by more than 50% of learners, which are the words candy, movie, soccer and truck. The best results 52
were showed by pupils taught by teachers 3 from the grammar schools A and B. The worst results were however from the pupils whose teachers are teachers 2 from school B and mainly from C. There were also weak results from the teachers who teaches differences, however learners probably do not remember them (teacher 2 from grammar school D).
3.3.3 Part III In the second part of the vocabulary research, the learners were supposed to translate the expressions from Czech into English. There was no instruction regarding English standards, such as translation into American or British English. During this exercise, it was essential to discover into which standard learners were going to translate the Czech terms. ZAHRADA garden (BrE) – (back)yard (AmE) Svoboda believes that in British standard the land which belongs to the house is called garden, whereas in the United States of America the synonym is yard. Britons would use yard only in the case of the land where the ground is made of concrete. (168) The word garden is used in American English only when it comes to place (garden), to which special or professional care is given, or to the place where fruits and vegetable are grown. (121) None of the learners translated the word “zahrada” into American standard. 99% of questioned pupils were aware of the British term garden only. The only one learner did not write any expression for some reason, even if this word belongs to the basic vocabulary that learners should know. ZAVAZADLO luggage (BrE) – baggage (AmE) suitcase(s) (BrE) – bag(s) (AmE) in singular or plural In the United States, the use of the expression baggage is more common, conversely Britons would rather say luggage. (Peprník, 63) The other possible expressions may be suitcase in singular or suitcases in plural in British English and bag or bags in American standard. (Svoboda, 6)
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42% of learners translated this term as luggage, which is a typical expression of British standard. Only 4 learners were aware of the American form baggage (taught by teachers 3 from grammar school A and B). 5 pupils translated “zavazadlo” as a British suitcase in singular, whereas 15% of learners considered American bag to be the correct translation. The others either did not know the right solution or they translated the word into incorrect terms, such as garbage – “smetí” (1), packet – “balík” (2), package – “balení” (1), pack (probably from the verb to pack) – “balit, zabalit” (1) and gepack - which is probably German interference (1). SUŠENKA biscuit (BrE) – cookie (AmE) According to Svoboda, the British translation of the Czech word “sušenka” would be biscuit, nevertheless American would ask for cookie. (135) The biscuit in the United States means kind of a cake without any filling. (9) Peprník explains that the expression biscuit in American English is rather harder and less sweet than cookie. (76) A cracker in American standard is also called “sušenka”, “keks” or “krekr” in Czech, which is a synonym to British biscuit as well. (Peprník, 140) 29 pupils were aware of the term biscuit, whereas 41 learners knew the expression cookie, which means that majority of learners translated this term into American standard more frequently than to British one. 5 learners knew both American and British forms and one of the questioned pupils was aware of the word cracker. The rest of the pupils wrote either cake – “koláč” (6) or they did not know any of them. VÝTAH lift (BrE) – elevator (AmE) When it comes to Czech expression “výtah”, only two possible translations into these standards come into consideration, the British one lift and the American one elevator. (Peprník, 171) 24 learners knew the British expression lift, 20 pupils out of 100 translated this term as an elevator. 10% of questioned learners were aware of both American and British forms and these were the learners from grammar school A and B, whose teachers teaches them differences. The rest of the learners either did not write any translation or they mentioned a 54
lifter – “zvedák” (2) or an escalator – “pohyblivé schodiště” (1), which he or she probably exchanged due to the similarity between the escalator and elevator. PODZIM autumn (BrE) – fall (AmE) As for the American and British standards of the Czech term “podzim”, there are two possible translations into English, which are autumn for British English and fall for the American one. (Peprník, 177) Majority of learners, which is 65 out of 100, were aware of the British form. Only 6 learners knew the American expression fall and 4 pupils mentioned both options of American and British standards. The other learners did not translate this term at all even if it belongs to the basic vocabulary at elementary schools. GUMA rubber (BrE) – eraser (AmE) Hornby quotes that rubber in British English is used for removing pencil marks from paper. (1328) In the United States, such a thing is called an eraser. When one asks in the US stationer’s for a rubber they will send him or her to a drugstore. The rubber (AmE) is a slang expression for a condom that is why Americans call the object for erasing texts or pictures eraser. (Svoboda, 34) The most of the questioned learners, which is 75%, translated this term as a rubber. Almost none of them were aware of the American expression; however two pupils indicated both British and American forms. These two learners wrote to almost every expression both standards and they learn English at the school C where their teacher was already in the United States (teacher 3) and sometimes focus on differences. 10 learners mentioned the expression gum, which means rather a sticky substance produced by some type of tree – “pryskyřice” or a type of glue used for sticking light things together – “pryskyřicové lepidlo”. (Hornby, 691) CHODNÍK pavement (BrE) – sidewalk (AmE)
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There are two possible translations of the Czech word “chodník” into British and American English. Britons usually walk on a pavement; conversely Americans rather take a walk on a sidewalk. (Svoboda, 98) In the American English pavement means rather the surface of the road. (Hornby, 1112) The Czech translation of American pavement is “vozovka”, which means road in Great Britain. (Peprník, 309) The research shows that 46 learners know the expression pavement, which was majority of questioned pupils. 10 learners were aware of the American term and two learners mentioned both British and American option. The others described pavement/sidewalk as a way for people (1), path (4) or runway (2).
OBCHOD shop (BrE) – store (AmE)
Svoboda claims that the expression store in the United States means any large or small shop there, conversely in Great Britain; store means only a large shop that sells many different types of goods (Hornby, 1512) and is used only in collocation department store. The equivalent to American store is a shop in Britain. (218) Many learners, which is 72%, translated this expression as a shop. One out of 100 was aware of the American form store and 5 learners wrote both American and British option. These learners are again those who are taught by teacher 3 from school C who spent 6 months in the USA and sometimes teaches differences in vocabulary. The other quite common answer was a market (7) – “trh” that means rather an occasion when people buy and sell goods and it is the open area or building where they meet to do this. (Hornby, 939) That is why this translation is not considered correct. The other pupils left the space blank. ROZVRH timetable (BrE) – schedule (AmE)
Apart from the difference in the pronunciation of schedule in British and American English, it is also essential to highlight that schedule in the United States is and equivalent to British timetable. (Hornby, 1355)
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This expression seems to belong to those more difficult ones, although learners learn it already at the elementary school. Only 30 pupils translated this term into British standard as a timetable. Only 3 learners knew the American form and they were those learners whose teacher has already been both in the United States and Great Britain (teacher 3 from grammar school C). The rest of the pupils translated the Czech word as a date plan (2), study plan (3) and plan (3). The word plan is however defined as something that you intend to achieve (Hornby, 1150), which does not mean the same as the timetable. KINO cinema (BrE) – theatre, go to movies (AmE) According to Peprník, the secondary meaning of the noun movie, in the form to go to movies, has its equivalent cinema in British English. In the United States the term theatre is used as well and it means “kino” or “biograf” in Czech. (284) This noun was one of the easiest to translate; nevertheless it was not translated into American English, apart from 2 learners. 88% of learners knew the British variation and only 2 learners from the grammar school B who are taught by teacher 3 were aware of both possibilities. The teacher probably explained the difference and these learners remembered it. 4 pupils mentioned kino, which may be German interference and one of them suggested biograph, which has nothing in common with cinema in English. The table below summarizes how many learners translated the Czech terms into British English, American English, both standards and other expressions or the space was left blank. The numbers 42 + 5 and 4 + 15 in the third line stand for luggage + suitcase(s) and baggage + bag(s). Table 10. Translation of Czech terms Czech term
British term
American term
Both terms
Others or none
zahrada
99%
0%
0%
1%
zavazadlo
42% + 5%
4% + 15%
0%
32%
sušenka
29%
42%
5%
24%
výtah
24%
20%
10%
46%
podzim
65%
6%
4%
25%
57
Czech term
British term
American term
Both terms
Others or none
guma
75%
0%
2%
23%
chodník
46%
10%
2%
42%
obchod
72%
1%
5%
22%
rozvrh
30%
3%
0%
69%
kino
88%
0%
2%
10%
It is obvious from the table that learners translate Czech expressions primarily into British English in most cases. Very few of them are aware of American equivalents or both options. The only exception where the pupils preferred American term to the British one was the expression cookie. Many learners did not know the translation at all, which is very surprising and alarming, since these words, from my point of view, belong to the primary vocabulary that they should learn at elementary school.
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3.4
Analysis of course books One of the questions that teachers were supposed to answer is related to course book
which they use in the classes. The graph (Fig. 2) illustrates what course books are the most common teaching aid at the particular grammar school. The main focus is targeted to those course books that are suitable for learners at the age of 14 to 15 at the lower level of grammar schools. This criterion corresponds with pre-intermediate level, which teachers also mentioned in the questionnaire. The main focus is given to student’s book because learners learn according to this book. The so called exercise books or workbooks are based on practical tasks related to the student’s book that is why there is no analysis of these student’s books. According to the research, the most frequent course book that majority of teachers use was New Opportunities and then Project. These course books were analysed according to following criteria: - grammar and spelling explained and used in the student’s book - vocabulary in the articles, instructions or vocabulary corners - pronunciation exercises or explanations on differences between BrE and AmE - cultural content contained in the course books
3.4.1 Analysis of New Opportunities This set of course books is published by Longman and consist of student’s book that contains a mini dictionary, language power book, teacher’s book, test CD pack and CDs. It is aimed to be for pre-intermediate learners. New Opportunities contains 16 modules of different topics such as ‘lifestyles’, ‘food’ or ‘money’, plus special section at the beginning ‘Learning to Learn’. Each topic has warm up exercises, key words corners, different kind of listening and speaking exercises, articles, grammar summaries and tasks, pronunciation exercises, and also writing section. At the end of each two modules, learners may revise what they have learnt in the review section and the final part of the student’s book includes ‘Student Activities’, ‘Writing Help’ and ‘Grammar Summary’ sections. As for grammar, there are several exercises related to standard British grammar, however no explanation on some differences between for instance prepositions or different US spelling. New Opportunities contains only words spelled according to British standard such as colour (135), programme (76) or favourite (81). Although Algeo believes that expression in future (75) is rather British term (2.4.2) the tem in the future is more frequent 59
form used in the student’s book, which is considered to be rather American one. The same case would be with the differences between at night and in the night. Algeo claims that expression at night is aimed to be term rather used in the United States than in Britain (2.4.4), however this term is found in the book as well - to work late at night. (80) When it comes to any signs of American vocabulary in the student’s book, there are none. New Opportunities is focused on British vocabulary. Below, there are some examples of British vocabulary used in the student’s book that have different form in American English. in our shop (64) garden (68) spend money on petrol (70) I am standing in the queue (74) I’ll go on a long holiday (75) football commentary (80) As far as pronunciation concerned, there are several exercises and explanations on British pronunciation, nevertheless they are not focused on comparison of British and American one, but they make learners compare pronunciation in Britain and their own country, the Czech Republic in the case of this research. The cultural content in New Opportunities is given in different forms of exercises. This course book also contains a cultural corner where students compare what is typical of their country and what is different to e.g. Great Britain. This can be evident from the article British Lifestyle which is followed by a communication exercise about learner’s own culture. The course book includes articles about famous heroes, writers, actors and all of them are either of British or American nationality, or they even come from other English speaking countries. For instance, there is a quite long article about William Shakespeare, but also about John Steinbeck, who is an American writer, or about Serena and Venus Williams, who grew up in California. The course book is published by British publisher, that is why British culture and places dominate, but the dominancy is not too evident. The authors printed an article about e.g. pictures of London, but there is also an article about Scotland, Auckland or also some basic information about Vancouver. The course book also combines different culture than only English speaking ones. For instance, a typical Chinese wedding is described and learners are supposed to write or talk about traditional British wedding or traditions of their own country, or they are supposed to compare lifestyle in their home country, Great Britain and other English speaking countries such as USA or Canada. 60
3.4.2 Analysis of Project 3 The issue of course books Project 3 is published by Oxford University Press that consists of a student’s book, workbook, teacher’s book and a CD. This student’s book is also designed for pre-intermediate learners and contains 8 topics plus an ‘Introduction’ at the beginning. Project 3 deals with topics such as ‘home and away’, ‘tomorrow’s world’ or ‘problems’. After every second unit, one can find extension sections that are related to the culture and revisions sections where learners may revise what they have learnt. At the end of the student’s book, there is a small part focusing on pronunciation exercises and at the very end one finds list of irregular verbs. Project 3, as well as New Opportunities, contains different kind of articles, grammar tables and explanations with exercises, everyday expressions, listening exercises, writing tasks, speaking and self-evaluation in form of ‘progress diary’. A short ‘project’ builds the part of the section ‘extension’ where the learners are supposed to create for example posters etc. Project 3 also focuses on explaining British grammar only and all the articles and texts are written using British grammar. Algeo mentions difference in use of British at school and American in school (2.2.4). Since the preposition at in the connection with school is more common used in British English, the occurrence of this phrase (6) in the student’s book may serve as an example of British standard, in which the course book is written. As another grammatical occurrence that proves the use of British English, the phrase at the moment (12) can be taken into account. Algeo also quotes that this phrase occurs more frequently in British English rather than in American – right now. (2.2.4) The other typical example of British English used in the book is in that street (50). When it comes to spelling, the course book is based on British spelling as well e. g. jewellery (84) or pyjamas (77). There are no marks of American spelling or grammar. The whole student’s book is full of expressions that mostly occur in British English and there are almost no terms that one considers typical American words. Below is a list of some examples found in the course book. lot of people live in flats (22) What time does the film start? (31) We went to New York for our holidays. (37) coming out of the shop (72) George started to feel ill (24)
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The course book however includes one expression that is considered to be an American term. In the description of the film Nothing Hill, the author used a phrase American movie star (35) instead of American film star (BrE) even if he or she writes the word film in any other articles or exercises. As for the pronunciation, it was already mentioned that there are bunch of exercises at the end of the course book, nevertheless there are only basic explanations how to pronounce the particular word, but no exercises focused on comparing British and American pronunciation. When it comes to cultural content in the Project 3, the course book prefers rather British setting or narrating about British places. For example, there is a short article about a boy who moved from Australia to England and talks about what is different in England e.g. accent, weather etc. One may find also an article about a research regarding British children that are considered to be couch potatoes and the authors of the course book also introduce a typical British family. There is also an article about London and its most famous sightseeing and also reading exercise about famous Britons like for instance William Shakespeare or Lady Diana, nevertheless none of them are American. However, as for the films, the authors write about both famous British and American ones. The only reference about the United States is a short Article that take place in Kansas, but there is nothing mentioned about the culture, and also some basic information about New York City. As far as other varieties where English is a native language concerned, we can find an article for instance about Canada. These examples prove that Project 3 focus mainly on British culture and places, but it also contains a few articles and basic information about other places of English speaking world.
3.4.3 Comments on the course books Both course books are published by British publishers, so that they contain mostly British grammar and vocabulary, and include no comparisons of British and American pronunciation. As for vocabulary, only one exception was found and thus the use of the word movie in the article in Project 3. When it comes to grammar, some prepositions and different use of article, which are considered to be rather American, occur in the book New Opportunities. However in my opinion, these are not such fundamental differences since they may occur in British English as well, nevertheless they occur more frequently in American English. (2.4.2, 2.4.4) With reference to spelling, there are no signs of American spelling in either of the books at all
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and as far as pronunciation concerned, neither of the course books contains any pronunciation exercises regarding differences. Both books are aimed to inform primarily about British culture. However, if one compares Project 3 and New Opportunities, Project 3 focuses on British places and culture to wider extent than New Opportunities, conversely New Opportunities combines cultures of the English speaking countries. Nevertheless, British culture and lifestyle still dominate, but not as prevalent as in Project 3.
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4 Conclusion As the conclusion of my thesis, I would like to emphasize that British English and American English are rather similar than different. Even if there are plenty of differences mainly in pronunciation, intonation, accent and vocabulary, there are also a few differences in grammar. Britons and Americans use one and quite the same language and can understand each other as well as interact without any difficulties. The main focus of this thesis was to explore whether teachers teach differences between British and American English or they only stick to the British standard. The essential part of the thesis is also to realize whether the learners at lower level of grammar schools are able to understand American expressions and whether they translate some Czech words into either British or American English. Because the course books are an integral part of the lessons and the main teaching aid, the research was also based on exploring and analysing the student’s books, and an occurrence of American terms, grammar, pronunciation exercises and culture. According to the research, all of the questioned teachers teach British English, but some of them focus on differences as well. It is not decisive, whether the particular teacher was in the United States or Great Britain, because some of them who have already been abroad do not highlight differences or teach combination of BrE and AmE and vice versa. Majority of teachers focus on American English in the lessons at least sometimes, but almost none of them does or prepares any exercises. According to the results, this may be caused because of the lack of exercises focused on American English in the course books. Majority of teachers believe that learners remember some differences mentioned in the lessons, some teachers think that they forget them very fast. The research shows that learners remember only very basic vocabulary related to American English. In the first part of the research regarding learners awareness of US vocabulary, only in four cases out of 10 (table 9) more than 50% of learners were aware of the meaning of American expressions, which I considered very few despite the fact that teachers stress differences at least sometimes. When it comes to second part of the vocabulary research, majority of the learners translated almost every expression into British English apart from the word sušenka. There were some exceptions where learners were quite aware of American terms and translated the Czech word preferably to American standard or both; nevertheless this case was quite rare. During the thesis I also noticed that some learners were not able to find British terms to US forms or even translate some basic words from Czech.
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In my opinion, if teachers highlight the differences, learners will remember at least few of them, since nowadays children are surrounded by American English on the Internet, in the films or soap operas, which is also a source of learning, and they should understand them or at least know that British and American English are different at some point. The research proved that learners who are taught by teachers who focus on American expressions show better results than those whose teacher does not concentrate on the differences. As for the course books analysed in the research, they are published by British publishers and do not contain any marks of American elements except for one exception of the word movie that was found in the student’s book Project 3. As for me, teachers would have to prepare special exercises, which are quite demanding and time consuming as well. That is why I think that they do these exercises only occasionally. The findings and results of the research proved my hypothesis that Czech learners are somewhat aware of American elements, but mostly they do not really know them and that in most cases they primarily translate words from Czech into British English. The research also confirmed that teachers do not do any exercises related to American English and if they do so it is very rarely; however they mostly explain American elements only as a curiosity. Even though part of the questioned teachers mentions that they try to teach combination of these standards, the results prove that learners’ awareness of American English is rather weak. As far as I know, more and more people travel to the United States, since they do not need visa anymore and the American world opened not only to the young Czech generation, that is why I consider quite relevant that at least some teachers teach American expressions at Czech grammar schools and from my point of view learners should passively know at least some of them. When it comes to my career as a future teacher, firstly, I realized that I would like to pay attention to explanations and comments on these two standards. Secondly, I would like to do some exercise and practise American vocabulary in the classes, because I find it essential for understanding American films, websites and Americans as such.
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Annotation Maděřičová, Petra. American English in teaching English and in awareness of learners at Czech schools: Master’s Thesis. Brno: Masaryk University, Faculty of Education, Department of English and Literature, 2013. Supervisor: Mgr. Radek Vogel, Ph.D. The thesis examines to what extent American English is included in the syllabus of EFL in the Czech Republic, as well as how much learners of English are aware of elements of American English. It deals with an issue whether teachers teach and explain differences between standard British and American English, and whether pupils understand them. The thesis consists of two parts, theoretical and practical one. In the theoretical part, I mention why British English is taught at schools and what the main differences between British and American English are. In the practical part, I examine grammar schools with a questionnaire for teachers, who will be asked, whether they think that American elements should be highlighted in the classes, as well as whether they teach the differences. I also analyse textbooks used at the particular grammar school. The part focused on awareness of learners is an analysis of a lexical test with basic British-American expressions which was distributed to learners. The aim of the thesis is to prove my hypothesis that American terms are either not taught at all or explained only as a curiosity, and learners are rather not aware of elements of American English.
Key words: American
English,
British
English,
differences,
pronunciation, Czech grammar schools
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American
vocabulary,
American
Anotace Maděřičová, Petra. Americká angličtina ve výuce angličtiny a její znalost žáků na českých školách: Diplomová práce. Brno: Masarykova universita, Pedagogická fakulta, Katedra anglického jazyka a literatury, 2013. Vedoucí práce: Mgr. Radek Vogel, Ph.D. Tato diplomová práce zkoumá, do jaké míry je americká angličtina zahrnuta v sylabu ve výuce cizího jazyka v České republice, a zda žáci znají různé americké výrazy. Zabývá se problematikou, zda učitelé vyučují a vysvětlují rozdíly mezi britskou a americkou angličtinou a jestli žáci těmto rozdílům rozumí. Tato práce se skládá ze dvou částí, teoretické a praktické. V teoretické části zmíním, proč je britská angličtina vyučována na českých školách a uvedu stěžejní rozdíly mezi britskou a americkou angličtinou. V praktické části se pak zabývám situací na gymnáziích a zkoumám pomocí dotazníku, jestli si učitelé myslí, že je americká angličtina ve výuce důležitá, a zda žáky s americkou angličtinou seznamují.
Dále
prozkoumám učebnice, podle kterých se na těchto školách učí. Co se vědomostí žáků týče, přeloží krátký lexikální test se základními britskými a americkými výrazy. Cílem této práce je dokázat moji hypotézu, že americké výrazy se buď vůbec na českých školách nevyučují, nebo jsou vysvětlovány jen jako zajímavost a žáci je z větší části neznají.
Klíčová slova: americká angličtina, britská angličtina, rozdíly, americká slovíčka, americká výslovnost, česká gymnázia
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Print sources Algeo, John. British or American English? A Handbook of Word and Grammar Patterns. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006. Print. Cunningsworth, Alan. Evaluating and Selecting EFL Teaching Materials. Oxford: Heinemann, 1984. Print. Cunningsworth, Alan. Choosing your Coursebook. Oxford: Macmillan Education, 1995. Print. Harris, Michael, David Mower, and Anna Sikorzyńska. New Opportunities: Education for life. England: Longman, 2006. Print. Hornby, Albert Sydney and Christina Ruse. Oxford Student's Dictionary of Current English. 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1990. Print. Hutchinson, Tom. Project 3: Student’s book. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003. Print. Lewis, J. A. Concise Pronouncing Dictionary of British and American English. London: Oxford University Press, 1972. Print. Mencken, H.L. The American Language: An Inquiry into the Development of English in the United States. New York: Bartleby, 2000. Online Peprník, Jaroslav. Slovník amerikanismů. Praha: Státní pedagogické nakladatelství, 1994. Print. Rohdenburg, Günter, and Julia Schlüter. One Language, Two Grammars? Differences between British and American English. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009. Print. Smolinksi, Frank. Landmarks of American Language & Linguistics: a resources collection for the overseas teacher of English as a foreign language. Washington: U.S. Information Agency, 1985. Print. 68
Svartvik, Jan, and Geoffrey Leech. English: One Tongue, Many Voices. Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006. Print. Svoboda, Jiří. Slovník britské a americké angličtiny. Brno: Barrister & Principal, 1996. Print. Thomas, Charles Kenneth. An Introduction to the Phonetics of American English. 2nd ed. New York: Ronald Press Co., 1958. Print.
Web sources Cambridge Dictionaries Online. Cambridge University Press, 2011. Web. 30 Oct. 2012
Kilickaya, Ferit. Te Internet TESL Journal. Guidelines to Evaluate Cultural Content in Textbooks, 2004. Web. 4. Apr. 2013
Mendoza-Dentom, Norma, and Robert Kennedy. The Language Sample Project. Varieties of English, 2001 Web. 4. Apr. 2013
PBS. Do you speak American?.2005. Web. 3. Apr. 2013
Shoebottom, Paul. Frankfurt International School. British and American English, 2011. Web. 9. Nov 2012
Smith, Jeremy. Peak Internet. American and British Pronunciation Differences, 1969. Web. 30 Oct. 2012 TPI. English Online. Standard English, 1996. Web. 4. Apr. 2013 University of Tampere. Selected Vocabulary Differences between British and American English, The FAST Area Studies Program. 2010. Web. 9 Nov. 2012 69
UW Milwaukee. Language in The U.S., 1998. Web. 3 Apr. 2013
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Appendix A Questionnaire for teachers I am writing a Master’s thesis about American English at Czech schools and would like to ask you few questions that would help me in my research. Please, feel free to elaborate whenever you need to. Thank you! 1) How long have you been teaching English? 2) Have you ever been to English speaking country? If yes, where? For how long? What did you do there? (holiday, work, study etc.) 3) Dou you think the stay abroad influenced your pronunciation or use of vocabulary? 4) What English do you teach? British, American, combination? 5) Do you stress or explain differences between American and British vocabulary? If yes, do learners remember it? 6) Do you stress or explain differences between American and British pronunciation? 7) Do you do any exercises regarding American English? 8) What course book do you use? 9) Do you teach about differences between US and British culture?
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Appendix B Age: Female-male How many years have you been learning English? Please write the Czech translation and/or British expression to the American word (Napiš nejdříve český překlad slovíčka a/nebo britský,anglický výraz k americkým výrazům) Do not use dictionary or any other help, please! American
Czech
British
candy can gas movie pants sick soccer subway truck vacation
Translate into English, please! zahrada zavazadlo sušenka výtah podzim guma chodník obchod rozvrh kino
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