Pattern of the Pronunciation Variation - Coursework Example

1 Part English Borrowings French - English “humiliation” from the Old French humiliation (wikipedia.org) Latin - English “equestrian” from the Latin equus (wikipedia.org) Greek - English “dermis, epidermis and hypodermic” from the Greek derma (wikipedia.org) Native American Languages - English “elk” from the Shawnee waapiti (wikipedia.org) Spanish - English “avocado” from the Spanish aguacate (wikipedia.org) German - English “care” from the German karo (wikipedia.org) Scandinavian - English “lug” from the Swedish lugga, or Norwegian lugge (wikipedia.org) Italian - English “bronze” from the Italian bronzo (wikipedia.org) South Asian Languages - English “school” from the Bengali iskul (wikipedia.org) Yiddish - English “bagel” from the Yiddish beygl (wikipedia.org) Dutch - English “mannequin” from the Dutch manneken (wikipedia.org) Arabic - English “candy” from the Arabic qandi (wikipedia.org) Chinese - English “chi” from the Mandarin Chinese qi (wikipedia.org) Japanese - English “go” from the Japanese igo (wikipedia.org) Russian - English “mir” from the Russian mir (wikipedia.org) 1 Part 2: Pussycat Dolls’ “Stickwitu” (yahoo.com) 1. What is the pattern of the pronunciation variation? The pattern of the variation is in the chorus line. The first two times the group uses the phrase “stick witch you”, whereas in the third usage in the chorus it is “with you”. 2. What is the effect of such deliberate dialect code switching on you personally? I would not have noticed it if it had not been pointed out to me, and since it has been, I find it irritating and annoying. 3. Do you think that other people listening to the song will react differently to it than you? Yes, I do think that others will react differently. As with most popular song lyrics, unless a word or phrase used garners an emotional reaction, it goes unnoticed. 4. Do you think this song is aimed for a male or female audience? I think that this song is aimed more towards a female audience, since people have a strong tendency to notice chorus lines that “speak” to them. In turn, this initiates an emotional reaction, which then starts the person’s thought processes about someone in their life. 5. Why does she vary her pronunciation? She varies her pronunciation because of the rhythm of the song itself. In the first two instances of using “stick witch you”, the beat of the music is slightly faster than in the third instance, which is also the ending of the chorus line. 3 Part 3: Matching current words to their historical roots 1. Kingdom correlates to F. Anglo Saxon cyne, meaning “royal” 2. Toast (as in “to your health”) correlates to H. Scottish toss as in “toss a drink” 3. Wedlock correlates to E. Anglo Saxon wed, meaning “pledge or engagement” and lac, meaning “offering or gift“. 4. Fancy (as in imagination) correlates to G. French pensee, meaning “thought” 5. Cutlet correlates to A. Latin costa, meaning “rib” 6. Cockatoo correlates to B. Hindustani kakatua, a word imitative of its cry 7. Country Dance correlates to D. French contre meaning “opposite” 8. Cold Slaw (or Cole Slaw) correlates to C. Dutch kool meaning “cabbage” and sla meaning “salad”. 4 Part 4: Misanalyses 1. Sick-as-hell anemia is “sickle cell anemia” 2. Old-timer’s disease is “Alzheimer’s disease” 3. Smiling Mighty Jesus is “spinal meningitis” 4. For all intensive purposes is “for all intents and purposes” 5. A blessing in the skies is “a blessing in disguise” 6. Spitting image is “splitting image” 5 Part 5: “Chat with A.L.I.C.E.” (pandorabots.com) 1. Are A.L.I.C.E.’s responses semantically appropriate? The semantics of A.L.I.C.E.’s responses are determined by the use of language, and how they are worded to her. Oftentimes, they are not appropriate, i.e. she asked how I was doing, and I responded with “I am lovely”. Her response was if that “made me feel superior”. 2. Are they pragmatically appropriate? Her answers are very succinct, although they often are non-sensical. I asked her about the superiority response she gave me, and her answer was “Where were you lovely me said superior?” 3. Can you discover a way to trick her? What did you say? I asked her where she was, and she responded with, “I am in Dr. Richard S. Wallace’s computer in Oakland, California. Where are you?” I responded to her with “Timbuktu” as a trick. She has no idea where that is, and wanted to know about my life there. I then asked if she had ever heard of it, and her response was, “I know very little about it. What kind of it do you like?” 6 Part 6: Political promotions I remember the promotion of “freedom fries” and “freedom toast”. The reason that these terms were promoted at the time is because France refused to back the United States in the latter’s war efforts in the Gulf. President Bush wanted the help of the U. N. in this war effort, and France stood up and said no, voting against it. This in turn resulted in anti-French sentiment among the U. S. people. I do not often hear those terms being used now, in my opinion because of the idiocy of the terms in the first place. French fries are not even a French food to begin with, but the government still insisted that the restaurants and cafes run by the House of Representatives rename their “French” items “freedom”. This is similar to the anti-German sentiment of WWI, thus the use of the terms “liberty cabbage”, “liberty dogs”, “liberty steaks”, and “liberty measles”. If politicians wanted these terms to stay in the English language, I think that they should have used a different methodology in their promotion. Asking Americans to hate a certain country because of a few people, is an attitude that most Americans simply cannot tolerate. Perhaps in the heat of the moment, they seemed viable, but if the government wanted these terms to stay, the should have appealed to Americans’ empathy to make the move stay. 7 Part 7: Linguistic diversity 1. Should we regard linguistic diversity as a threat and attempt to restrict its use, adopting various coercive measures to assimilate immigrants? If so, why? I in no way believe that linguistic diversity is threatening. This diversity is an integral part of our culture and heritage. Very few people in the United States today have their origins rooted in the Native American community, so any coercive measures I would consider unethical. 2. Should we regard linguistic diversity primarily as a source of problems, continuing to respond with a variety of uncoordinated tactics to cope with language barriers? If so, why? Although I do agree that linguistic diversity can be a source of problems, I do not feel that it is a primary issue. When immigrants come to America unable to speak English, it does make it more difficult to assist them, particularly in times of need. However, even though there are many uncoordinated tactics being used in America, I think that we are improving in our ability to accept people and communicate with them more clearly. 3. Should we regard linguistic diversity as an asset, encouraging linguistic minorities to conserve their skills and providing them ample opportunities to learn English, while safeguarding their language rights? If so, why? I am in complete agreement that we should regard linguistic diversity as an asset. Even though people are immigrating to the United States from other countries, I still 8 believe that they should be encouraged to practice their language, to pass on that cultural heritage. In so doing, also providing those with opportunities to learn English are imperative to a successful societal strand. We as Americans fight for our rights to conserve our language, culture and heritage; we should afford others the same. 9 Works cited: Pussycat Dolls, “stickwitu”, Web. 01 March 2011. Roots of Language, Web. 01 March 2011. Wallace, Richard S., “A.L.I.C.E., Artificial Intelligence Foundation“, Web. 01 March 2011. Read More