Chapter 4 â Extra activity 2
Chapter 4 – Extra activity 2 The following activity can be used as an introductory or closing task, and is designed to complement the content of Chapter 4 in Galloway and Rose’s (2015) book Introducing Global Englishes (Oxon., UK: Routledge).
What is native pronunciation? The table below shows words in English which have merged in various parts of the world so that they form homophonous pairs in the accents indicated. Word pairs are a simple illustration of the differences that exist in pronunciation of ‘native’ accents. bear–bare Mary–merry–marry Mary–marry den–then dune–June tin–thin fierce–face celery–salary free–three talk–torque
/biə/ /meɪri/ /mɛəri/ /dɛn/ /dʒun/ /tɪn/ /fɛːs/ /sɛləɹi:/ /fɹiː/ /tɔːk/
New Zealand General American Philadelphia Irish Southern Australian Irish Southern East Anglia New Zealand British Midlands RP
Discussion questions 1. Which of the word pairs are homophonous in your accent? How about the accents of your classmates? 2. Do any of these come as a surprise to you? Do you know of any other famous examples? 3. What does such variety say about a ‘standard’ accent? Can we say that RP is ‘standard’ or ‘correct’ if it has lost its rhotic /ɹ/? Can we say General American is ‘standard’ if it has lost the distinction between a number of vowel sounds before the intervocalic /ɹ/ (in Mary–merry–marry)? 4. There is considerable evidence that the labiodental fricatives of /v/ and /f/ are replacing the interdental fricatives of /ð/ and /θ/ in younger generations across the UK. What is your opinion of this recent shift? Do you think the UK is a model for how English should be spoken? 5. What are the implications for language education across the globe of variation in native Englishes?
What is native pronunciation? The table below shows words in English which have merged in various parts of the world so that they form homophonous pairs in the accents indicated. Word pairs are a simple illustration of the differences that exist in pronunciation of ‘native’ accents. bear–bare Mary–merry–marry Mary–marry den–then dune–June tin–thin fierce–face celery–salary free–three talk–torque
/biə/ /meɪri/ /mɛəri/ /dɛn/ /dʒun/ /tɪn/ /fɛːs/ /sɛləɹi:/ /fɹiː/ /tɔːk/
New Zealand General American Philadelphia Irish Southern Australian Irish Southern East Anglia New Zealand British Midlands RP
Discussion questions 1. Which of the word pairs are homophonous in your accent? How about the accents of your classmates? 2. Do any of these come as a surprise to you? Do you know of any other famous examples? 3. What does such variety say about a ‘standard’ accent? Can we say that RP is ‘standard’ or ‘correct’ if it has lost its rhotic /ɹ/? Can we say General American is ‘standard’ if it has lost the distinction between a number of vowel sounds before the intervocalic /ɹ/ (in Mary–merry–marry)? 4. There is considerable evidence that the labiodental fricatives of /v/ and /f/ are replacing the interdental fricatives of /ð/ and /θ/ in younger generations across the UK. What is your opinion of this recent shift? Do you think the UK is a model for how English should be spoken? 5. What are the implications for language education across the globe of variation in native Englishes?
