Language in Use 159-160
This unit is concerned with the way in which attitudes and assumptions which
we have acquired by growing up in a particular place and at a particular level
of society affect our judgement of other people's speech. It explores what
linguistic basis there is for some popular notions of correctness' by looking
at the kind of letters which people write to the newspapers in order to complain
about the way in which other people use language.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] This session requires a small collection of suitable texts available
to all the class. Working in small groups, they should discuss the letters and
then write one of their own. Good sources for such letters are the Radio Times
and the local Press. Here is an actual example:
'The BBC and the Queen's English.'
This subject should be required study for all BBC announcers, radio and television. And someone should write a piece about the astonishing grammatical gaffes committed almost hourly by the announcers. Regional accents, deplorable as very nearly all of them are, are surely a matter of taste. Speech impediments and mistakes in grammar and whimsical totally unacceptable pronunciations are a far more serious matter. Nobody at the BBC seems to have the slightest notion as to what the conditional tense is all about. One is forever hearing "might we have your attention?" or "could I lust mention?" so-and-so. One also hears "can I?" when what is meant is "may I?" and "try and see" or "try and come" when what is meant is "try to see" or "try to come".'
[2] In this session, the letters written in [1] should be circulated
so that each group can compile a list of the things which are criticised. These
may include:
(a) accents, dialects, or 'ugliness' of diction
(b) lack of clarity in diction or meaning
(c) grammatical offences
(d) too much use of phrases like 'frankly', 'generally speaking' or actually'
(e) fillers like 'y'know', 'like' or 'see'
(f) cliches
(g) omnibus words like 'nice'
(h) jargon or slang.
Through class discussion, these complaints should be considered from the following
points of view:
(a) which items are matters of personal taste, not linguistic fact
(b) which items obviously imply social and moral judgements
(c) which items apply to spoken language the criteria of written language
(d) which items do not allow for the fact that there are many levels of formality
in language
(e) which items ignore the fact that what is 'correct' depends upon the total
context in which it is said.
[3] In this session, each group should write a reasoned reply to one of the letters written by another group in [1]. Circulate the results and discuss how valid the reasons are.
The work of this unit is closely related to that contained in D6. The categories of 'errors' listed in [2] and the types of personal judgement listed in [3] of that unit will be helpful for the work of [2] above.