Introdungcing English language part 23 pot

118 EXPLORATION: INVESTIGATING ENGLISH LANGUAGE PERFORMING ACCENTS Accent keywords A word list refers to a collection of specially selected lexical items that are used as a toolkit by phoneticians to test for variation in individuals’ pronunciation. They are commonly given to speakers in the constructed context of a data collection interview, where individuals will be asked to read a word list out loud whilst being audio-recorded (see B12). The word list technique was developed by the highly influential phonetician John Wells in the early 1980s. Word lists have been used by a number of sociophoneticians, including Paul Foulkes and Gerry Docherty for their volume Urban Voices, an exam- ination of accent variation in urban areas of the British Isles just before the turn of the twenty-first century. The extract which appears in D1 as our Extension unit on phonetics and phonology is taken from this collection. Foulkes and Docherty’s word list is given below to test for the articulation of vowel sounds. As we highlighted in A1, the best way to learn about phonetics is to articulate the speech sounds for yourself. q Read the word list that appears below out loud to yourself whilst looking in a mirror to monitor the shape and positioning of your mouth, lips and tongue. q Try to work out which vowel sounds are being tested for phonetic variation by each individual word. q Distribute the word list to a small group of friends or classmates and, if possible, record them reading this out loud (first refer to B12 for a consideration on ethics in relation to recording language data). Ideally you should give the list to a group of people who are from different geographical locations. q Listen for any examples that are different from your own and other students’ pro- nunciations. Try to account for any recognisable differences in vowel sounds by drawing upon the knowledge you have gained in A1 and B1. q The list of IPA vowel symbols given in B1 is accompanied by an individual word to illustrate its sound. You should now line up each of one of these keywords with the most appropriate symbol in the B1 vowel list. When you have finished you should have examples of two different words to represent each vowel symbol. kit cloth goose north dress nurse price force trap fleece choice cure lot C1 Activity 1.1 J PERFORMING ACCENTS 119 face mouth happy strut palm near letter foot thought square horses bath goat start comma Foulkes and Docherty (1999: 7) Performing accent in poetry In the following two poems, the authors have used a technique known as eye dialect in order to represent phonetic variation. As only a very small proportion of members of society are trained to understand and write in phonetic notation, it is common practice for deviant spelling and punctuation marks to be used to represent different accent features in literary texts as well as other text types, such as advertisements. Through the technique of eye dialect, the first poem, written by an anonymous author, represents accent variation of a regional English variety from an area of the British West Midlands, commonly known as the ‘Black Country’, so named for its polluted, blackened skies from heavy industry which dominated the area during the Industrial Revolution. Folklore has it that the poem below would often be orally ‘per- formed’ by local drinkers in organised entertainment evenings at public houses within the Black Country area. The second poem is a famous Scottish verse by Robert Burns entitled Ode to a Haggis. As with the anonymous Black Country poet, Burns also uses the technique of eye dialect to represent features of Scottish English pronunciation. q Read both of the poems out loud either on your own or in a small group. q Can you and members of your group understand them? Which parts are the most difficult to understand? Why do you think this is the case? Attempt to find the meanings of any words that you cannot understand. To give some contextual- isation, for the Black Country poem, its title, ‘The Nit Nurse’ refers to nurses who travel around primary schools (elementary level) in the UK and inspect children’s hair for head lice, also called ‘nits’. ‘Sulio’ (line 4, stanza 3) was the name of medi- cation (a lotion) given to treat an infestation of head lice. (For contextualisation of the Burns’ poem, see the commentary provided by Smith 1996). q You should then attempt to pinpoint the specific Black Country and Scottish accent features that the poets are drawing attention to by drawing upon the knowledge of phonetics and phonology which you have gained from A1 and B1. q Record these features using phonetic notation from the IPA given in B1. Activity 1.2 J 120 EXPLORATION: INVESTIGATING ENGLISH LANGUAGE q Finally, translate both of these poems into Standard written English and then read them out again in your own accent. What is gained/lost by engaging in this re- writing process? Note how the apostrophes are used to suggest that particular sounds are ‘missing’ from a standard version. The Nit Nuss It was fower o’clock an’ time ter goo ’um But we just sot theer lookin’ glum. On the taycher’s werds we ’ung in ’orrer The nit nuss comes termorrer. Ar run ’um fast yo’ bet Ar did Ter raych the toothcum afowa aer kid. When ’e atter wait ’e was nearly in fits ‘Urry up yo; Ar’ve got nits!’ ‘Ar short’ Ar said ‘Ar was ’ere fust Thuz summat in mar yed an’ it ay just dust. But Ar’ll tell yer worr Ar’ll dew wi yo’ Ar’ll lend yer me bottle o’ Sulio’. Ten ter nine the follerin’ mornin’ A sight confirmed the taycher’s warnin’. Cuss raernd the corner fer all ’er was wuth Pedalled the dreaded skewl nit nuss. ’Er bike ’ad a chainguard an’ lights Ar recall an’ brakes that werked an’ mudguards an’ all. An’ on the frunt a little wire basket In which ’er kept ’er nit catchin’ kit. They called aer names we all lined up Between ’er bowsums aer yeds ’er’d cup. Threw yer ’air ’er’d flick the cum An’ that was it; yo’ was done. Aer kid day ’e ’alf loff an’ gloat When the nit nuss sent me ’um wi a note. Ar felt ser bad Ar wanted ter cry Ar’d ’ad a note an’ day know why. Then aer kid gid me some advice As ter wheer Ar’d catched this yedful o’ lice. ’E’d ’ung abaert till Ar was in bed Then secretly ’e’d toothcummed ’is yed. Ar’d picked ’em up an’ Ar day know wheer Then aer kid loffed said wi a jeer: ‘Thuz summat as yo’ve just gorrer know Ar catched all mine an’ gid ’em yo’.’ Anon (www.pant.co.uk/potluck/humour/nitnuss.htm) PERFORMING ACCENTS 121 Ode to a Haggis Fair fa’ your honest, sonsie face, Great chieftain o’the pudding-race! Aboon them a’yet tak your place, Painch, tripe, or thairm: Weel are ye wordy o’a grace As lang’s my arm. The groaning trencher there ye fill, Your hurdies like a distant hill, Your pin was help to mend a mill In time o’ need, While thro’ your pores the dews distil Like amber bead. His knife see rustic Labour dight, An’ cut you up wi’ ready sleight, Trenching your gushing entrails bright, Like ony ditch; And then, O what a glorious sight, Warm-reekin’, rich! Then, horn for horn, they stretch an’ strive: Deil tak the hindmost! on they drive, Till a’ their weel-swall’d kytes belyve Are bent like drums; Then auld Guidman, maist like to rive, Bethankit! hums. Is there that owre his French ragout Or olio that wad staw a sow, Or fricassee wad make her spew Wi’ perfect sconner, Looks down wi’ sneering, scornfu’ view On sic a dinner? Poor devil! see him owre his trash, As feckles as wither’d rash, His spindle shank, a guid whip-lash; His nieve a nit; Thro’ blody flood or field to dash, O how unfit! But mark the Rustic, haggis-fed, The trembling earth resounds his tread. Clap in his walie nieve a blade, He’ll mak it whissle; An’ legs an’ arms, an’ hands will sned, Like taps o’ trissle. 122 EXPLORATION: INVESTIGATING ENGLISH LANGUAGE Ye Pow’rs, wha mak mankind your care, And dish them out their bill o’ fare, Auld Scotland wants nae skinking ware That jaups in luggies; But, if ye wish her gratefu’ prayer Gie her a haggis! Robert Burns (1786) Phonetician Gerry Knowles (1987) points out that by studying phonetics and phonology much can be learnt about the aesthetics of sound in poetry (and see B11 for a detailed analytical example). Knowledge of phonetics and phonology enables us to examine sound parallelism. Parallelism refers to when two or more linguistic features occur alongside each other for stylistic effect. In specific relation to sound parallelism, this involves phone- mic patterns that are at least syllable size: bigger than a phoneme but smaller than a word, and usually inclusive of a vowel. Rhyme is the most prominent example of sound parallelism, where two syllables have the same closing syllable sequence (but a different opening sequence). Alliteration, similarity between consonant sounds, and assonance, similarity between vowel sounds, are also key examples of sound parallelism. Both of the above poems display syllable rhyme. q Attempt to characterise the rhyme using the phonetic symbols outlined in B1. q Analyse both poems for any evidence of alliteration and assonance. q Consider how the accent features that are represented affect the sound parallelism in both poems. Would all lines in the poems rhyme if they were not written in eye dialect? Disastrous sound-effects Another Scottish poet, William McGonagall, helps to illustrate another key point made by Knowles (1987). Knowles argues that in order for sound parallelism to be effec- tive and for a poem to be positively evaluated, the parallelism must be seen to have arisen accidentally. Rhyme that appears to be forced runs the risk of being subject to negative evaluation. Knowles cites one example of McGonagall’s work, The Sprig of Moss, as an example which suffers from an inappropriate, forced rhyme. Knowles argues that this work is a pretty feeble attempt at poetry, though he emphasises that there is nothing inherently wrong with the rhyming of the phonemic syllables – the rhyme works fine. The issue instead is related to the linkage between the sound and the meaning. To consider these points further and to make your own mind up about William McGonagall’s poetry, an example of another of his works, a ‘disaster’ poem written after a Scottish train crash in 1879, is given below. q Conduct an analysis of sound parallelism in the poem. Firstly identify the phonetic features of the rhyme by reading the poem out loud. q What happens if you read the poem out loud in a Scottish accent? Do you need to read the poem in a Scottish accent for the rhyme to work? q Now consider its overall effectiveness as a piece of poetry. Is it susceptible to Knowles’ criticism of inappropriate, forced rhyme? Do you think that these verses are successful examples of poetry? Why/why not? Activity 1.3 J PERFORMING ACCENTS 123 The Tay Bridge Disaster Beautiful Railway Bridge of the Silv’ry Tay! Alas! I am very sorry to say That ninety lives have been taken away On the last Sabbath day of 1879, Which will be remember’d for a very long time. ’Twas about seven o’clock at night, And the wind it blew with all its might, And the rain came pouring down, And the dark clouds seem’d to frown, And the Demon of the air seem’d to say – ‘I’ll blow down the Bridge of Tay.’ [. . .] It must have been an awful sight, To witness in the dusky moonlight, While the Storm Fiend did laugh, and angry did bray, Along the Railway Bridge of the Silv’ry Tay, Oh! ill-fated Bridge of the Silv’ry Tay, I must now conclude my lay By telling the world fearlessly without the least dismay, That your central girders would not have given way, At least many sensible men do say, Had they been supported on each side with buttresses, At least many sensible men confesses, For the stronger we our houses do build, The less chance we have of being killed. William McGonagall (1879) The bostin monster Coming back to the Black Country in England, another attempt at representing some of the phonetic features of the Black Country accent can be seen in the following extract from a graphic novel. It has been produced by a local group of artists who have named themselves the ‘Bostin Group’. ‘Bostin’ is a regional lexical variant that is used by speakers of the Black Country dialect to indicate that something is ‘great’, or ‘brilliant’ (see C9 for further discussion of ‘bostin’ and other examples of regional dialect at the levels of lexis and grammar). You will need some background information in order to contextualise the graphic novel extract. The characters that you can see in the initial frame have found themselves trapped under a castle. This turns out to be the castle located in Dudley, one of the main towns in the Black Country. The use of eye dialect commences from the third frame, when a peculiar monster with a strange accent and dialect appears. Attempt to translate the monster’s speech through the text producer’s use of eye dialect. Add this to the list of Black Country accent features that you have from your analysis of the above poem. Activity 1.4 J . given in B1. Activity 1.2 J 120 EXPLORATION: INVESTIGATING ENGLISH LANGUAGE q Finally, translate both of these poems into Standard written English and then read them out again in your own accent features of Scottish English pronunciation. q Read both of the poems out loud either on your own or in a small group. q Can you and members of your group understand them? Which parts are the most difficult. 118 EXPLORATION: INVESTIGATING ENGLISH LANGUAGE PERFORMING ACCENTS Accent keywords A word list refers to a collection of specially