Language & Culture: ESOL

5LN005

Lecture 2 Aims:


Review what is culture? & the relationship between language & culture. Provide general overview of diachronic (historical) view of what is Britain?. Reflect on geography of British Isles.

What is culture?


The word culture encompasses all the elements that influence and form how a society thinks, behaves and what it enjoys.

The Brits!
Write down three words that come into your head when you think of the British

What is Britain?
Diachronic (historical) view

Synchronic (social) view

Sociocultural context

Germanic Invasions (5th Century)

(BBC, 2010)

Anglo-Saxon Culture
On dark winter days, people gathered in the hall around a log fire. They listened to stories and poems, and sang. They ate roast meats, bread and fruit. They drank ale or mead, a strong drink made from honey. People often drank too much, so feasts were often noisy and sometimes ended in fights!

(BBC, 2010)

Norman Invasions (1066-1485): Class Structure

Henry VIII (1491-1547)



Mnemonic aid: divorced; beheaded; died; divorced; beheaded; survived. 1534: English Reformation (Henry VIII breaks away from the Roman Church)

The Monarchy vs. Parliament



17th & 18th centuries: shift in power from Monarch to Houses of Parliament. Civil War (1642-1649) Tories vs. Whigs

The Empire & The World Wars

British Colonies: 21st Century

What is Britain?

North/South Divide

North/South Divide


Read the newspaper article (North-south divide slides down map ) taken from The Times on 15th August 2010. Does the article offer any hints regarding the historical reasons to account for the north-south divide (diachronic view)? What social factors does it discuss (synchronic view)? Economic benefit (house prices, incomes) Life expectancy Educational benefits


Northerners view of London



Jason Manford

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzNDM2ekSio

Accents & Attitudes



Accents: how speakers sound. Listen to these sound recordings and, refer to the Attitudes & Accents in English worksheet. By simply listening to their voices rate the speakers out of ten against the listed character traits/personal qualities.
Clips taken from the British Library, 2010

Results


Findings of a BBC radio survey of British listeners attitudes towards different regional accents: RP: top of the social scale and labelled as most honest. Also, perceived more favourably in terms of competence (ambition, intelligence, self-confidence, determination, and industriousness). Liverpool (Scouse): bottom of social scale. Cockney: least attractive in terms of character. Regional accents: perceived more favourably in terms of personal integrity and social attractiveness (seriousness, talkativeness, good-naturedness and sense of humour).
(Information taken from Graddol, Leith & Swann, 1996: 287)

  

Broader accents


Glasgow: http://www.friendsofscotland.gov.uk/ scotlandnow/issue-02/arts/scottishaccent.html Liverpool (Scouse): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4 vxN9vP3mg

Dialects of Great Britain



Dialects: the words or phrases speakers use (incl. grammar & vocabulary) Measured against Standard English the language of formality, academia & professionalism. I dont want none (multiple negation)

Answers
happy chuffed bostin Made up bread roll barm stottie scuffler bob bread cake female lass biddie chitty alcoholic drink bevvy gill booze toilet petty netty closit

Useful Websites for Further Study



BBC voice recordings from around the country: http://www.bbc.co.uk/voices/ British Library voice recordings & discussion: http://www.bl.uk/learning/langlit/sounds /index.html Detailed analysis of dialects: http://www.teachit.co.uk/armoore/lang/rp. htm#3

References
 

Leake, J & Dowling, K. (2010) North-south divide slides down map. The Times 15th August, pg. 6. ODriscoll, James (1995) Britain: The Country and Its People. Oxford: OUP The BBC (2010) Anglo-Saxons: Stories and Pasttimes, bbc.co.uk [Online] Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/primaryhistory/anglo_saxons /stories_and_pastimes/ Accessed on 21.09.2010

References
Voice Recordings:  The British Library (2010) Archival Sound Recordings. [Online] Available at: http://sounds.bl.uk/Default.aspx Accessed on 30.09.2010-09-30  The British Library (2010) Learning: Sounds Familiar? [Online] Available at: http://www.bl.uk/learning/langlit/sounds/ Accessed on 30.09.2010-09-30  Friends of Scotland (2010) ScotlandNow Archive [Online] Available at: http://www.friendsofscotland.gov.uk/scotlandnow/issue02/arts/scottish-accent.html Accessed on 01.10.2010