How the English Language Changes within the Punjabi Society - Essay Example

Podesva focused on falsetto speech in his research project through the telephone which produced a low-quality sound as compared to Devyani’s clip.

            Devyani Sharma: DVD 1 Clip 7.5

            Focusing on a certain linguistic aspect such as retroflex /t/ as meters of social changes, Devyani expects individuals born in Britain would not use the pronunciation as Indian speakers in the second generation. A slight difference is noticed between the old and the younger generation in addition to male and female speakers. She urges that individuals' lifestyles should be included in the information even if they are narrow-minded or do more of their interactions outside of the community. This will enable them to understand the relatively complex patterning of their language. This is because linguistic variables are important in the use of the language in the culture of Punjabi in association with the retroflex /t/ (Horacek 2010, p. 91).

            The pronunciation of retroflex /t/ in South Asia was a consonant just as in the Punjabi language spoken in Asia. The tip of the tongue curls back and touches the ridges of the tooth behind the teeth. 35percent of the speakers of the first generation according to Devyani used a stereotyped English of Apu who were the Indian immigrants in the Simpsons. 16percent of the second generation used less of this retroflex in their speech. Since language is believed to be changing with time, the gradual process took place due to the family's immigration hence children acquire it through lineage (Lieberson and Kloss 1966a, p. 66; 1967, p.79). This second generation tends to use the retroflex more often as compared to their parents in the recent research for example at beginning of a word as seen in tea and toffee. This is because of phonetic quality that requires the word to be pronounced with energy to give its real pronunciation.

            Podesva Podesva:  Clip 7.6

            He focused on individual speaker style of speaking. He had much interest in falsetto as an aspect of differentiating gay’s speech sounds. He later extended the research to the social group hence associating it with the way they speak. His particular attention is tense on how falsetto varies and contrasts across; social meanings of falsetto and how these specific features of the speaker’s conversation in communication may be pinched from the identity.  In clip 7.6, he closes the interview with an example that illustrates Heath's use of falsetto. Eliza whom he talks to is not clear since background voices interfere with the conversation (Journal of sociolinguistics. 2008, p. 13).

The conversation according to Podesva’s interview runs offset to the audience's expectations of what would be the speech of a heterosexual man since the speech creates Heath’s personality where Podesva has employed the use of the word dear as expression.

Heath: No you want me to do anything, dear?

Eliza: No just to stay and be pretty.

Heath: (Laughter) you know that’s my job.

Eliza:  Yeah

Heath: Oh, cool. I like it!

I am so excited about your little vent thing.

Eliza:  I know.

Isn’t it awesome? It’s such a cute little outfit

Heath: it is.

I like it. (Podesva 2007. vol. 11, no.4, p.504.)          

            The phonetic height created from Podesva’s analysis expresses the resource harness served by falsetto in the persona identity. From the conversation citation, the persona diva is establishing Heath using falsetto together with Eliza who helps in constructing the speaker’s identity. In line 1, asks Eliza if she would like if he to help her prepare food hence addressing her as dear. This creates Heath’s diva towards Eliza thus forcing her to make a contribution to the construction of falsetto. In line 2 of the extract, the persona mentions Heath’s chore to be pretty. The choice of an adjective by Eliza clearly shows the diva flattering someone just like other descriptive adjectives i.e. handsome and cute. Heath embraces gender typicality in line 3. This depicts that he is constructing the diva identity. Heath reacts to a vent aspect allowing air to pass through Eliza’s cloth. The extract shows the expressive subtext that does not depend on the referential meaning since he punctuates his turn with the use of falsetto (Podesva 2007, p. 485). 

            From the conversation, heath is not only expressing enthusiasm but also the theme of his excitement since the phonetic depiction of the excitement is social to assemble the diva identity alone without relying on other sources. The theme of their talk evokes the diva more vividly since appearance and clothing are the main topics of their interest and hence diva takes chance.

           Conclusion

            It is clear that Devyani and Podesva are two personalities with very different personalities regarding language variation and change in society. Devyani focuses on the pronunciation of retroflex while her counterpart Podesva majored in his project research on the falsetto in the study of language variation in society. Language has come a long way as described by Devyani in her discussion and clip. From the first generations that are long gone, it is still possible to trace back the roots of each individual’s language through the articulation of consonants, unlike vowels. The way an individual pronounces a consonant word determines what he or she means and it can distort the intended meaning to mean something else of no interest.