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Е. В. Захарова язык и культура великобритании в условиях европейской интеграции предисловие данное учебное пособие

Вид материалаУчебное пособие
Unit x. pidgin and creole – newcomers in the british isles
Ii. vocabulary focus
Iv. speaking personally
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UNIT X. PIDGIN AND CREOLE – NEWCOMERS IN THE BRITISH ISLES




I.READING COMPREHENSION


A. Pre-reading Task. Answer the following questions:


1) Do you know anything about pidgin and Creole English? What people speak them?

2) Do you think pidgin and Creole originated in Britain or overseas?


B. Now read and translate the text. You can make use of the following words and word-combinations:


Make-up – состав

Prejudice – предрассудки, предубеждение

Subtle – скрытый

Prevent – мешать, препятствовать

Presumptuous – самонадеянный

Replica – копия

Require – требовать

Command of the language – владение языком

Complexity – сложность

Recruit – набирать, вербовать

Recover – выправляться, восстанавливаться

Unemployment – безработица

Slave – раб

Creole – (лингв.) креолизированный язык

pidgin – гибридный язык (с искажением морфологического и фонетического облика слов)

tribe – племя

draw on smth – опираться на ч-л

derive – (лингв.) производить (слово и т.п.)

genre – жанр

narrative – повествовательный

lack – отсутствие


Since the early 1960s the ethnic make-up of most British cities has changed enormously. High levels of immigration from Commonwealth countries which are not primarily ethnically European have produced a ‘multicultural Britain’. As positive as multicultural sounds on paper, the reality has been different. Prejudice and discrimination, subtle and open, have prevented the full assimilation of many of these ‘New Commonwealth citizens’. While it is presumptuous to assume that these immigrants and their children want to become replicas of the English people around them, economic integration requires a command of General English.

This language is one of the most interesting examples of the complexity of modern British ethnicity. People from the West Indies – most Jamaica, but also Trinidad, Guyana, Barbados, the Windward and Leeward Islands – were actively recruited for the British labour market in the years after the war when business was beginning to recover and unemployment was low. When these people came to Britain they brought with them their cultural traditions, the most obvious and important one being their language. But what was this language?

Standard English is the official language of Jamaica and many of the other West Indian islands. But most West Indians speak a version of ‘Jamaican Creole’, a language developed from the slave culture of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Members of many West African tribes were brought over to the West Indies, and they spoke different languages, so to communicate among themselves they developed a form of language known as ‘pidgin’. Pidgin drew on the language of the slave-masters- English – but reworked it using the linguistic forms of the numerous West African languages. And this language is basically the same one that has become known as Jamaican Creole (a ‘creole’ is a ‘pidgin’ dialect that has become a standard language for a particular community).

Many people would not consider Jamaican Creole to be a distinct language in itself, but merely an exotic form of standard English .This is certainly true at one level, yet, according to linguists and anthropologists, it is possible for West Indian people to derive 90 per cent of their vocabulary from English and still speak a language that is not English. This is because language involves much more than words. Language involves complex physical and mental strategies, verbal styles and techniques, narrative genres and traditions, tones of voice, speech rhythms and a hundred other things, some of them immensely subtle.

The diversity of language and identity is available to a British person of West Indian ethnicity. At that, Jamaican Creole, if not an actual separate language, certainly operates as a separate language for those members of the West Indian community who speak it to signal their lack of identity with dominant British culture. If Jamaican Creole is at one end of the spectrum, and Standard English is at the other, then a person born in Britain of West Indian parents has potential access to all the variations and nuances of language in between. How the individual from an ethnic community speaks will depend upon different backgrounds, different generations, different levels of assimilation.


C. Make up 10 questions covering the contents of the text.


II. VOCABULARY FOCUS


A. Translate the following words and word-combinations into Russian:


Enormously; to assume; to be actively recruited; a particular community; a distinct language; to involve smth; verbal styles; speech rhythms; different backgrounds; to signal smth.


Reproduce the situations in the text in which they are given.


B. Find the English equivalents in the text:


Этнический состав; высокий уровень иммиграции; полная ассимиляция; рынок рабочей силы; общаться между собой; разнообразие языков; зависеть от чего-либо; разные поколения; низкий уровень безработицы; лингвисты и антропологи.

Make up your own sentences with them.


C. Match the words which collocate with each other:

1. dominant a. masters

2. linguistic b. market

3. narrative c. culture

4. labour d. forms

5. slave e. genre


D. Match the words which are close in their meaning:

1. prejudice a. imitation

2. recover b. implied

3. presumptuous c. bias

4. replica d. arrogant

5. subtle e. revive


E. Match the words having the opposing meaning:

1. subtle a. modest

2. prejudice b. original

3. presumptuous c. direct

4. replica d. deteriorate

5. recover e. tolerance


F. Match the words and their definitions:

1) an unreasonable opinion or feeling, especially the feeling of not liking a particular group of people
a. complexity

2) showing too much confidence and not enough respect
b. recruit

3) a situation in which someone or a lot of people do not have work
c. prejudice

4) to get someone to work in a company or join an organization
d. presumptuous

5) the complicated nature of something
e. unemployment



G. Translate the following sentences into Russian:


1) Jackson apologized saying the song was supposed to illustrate the evils of prejudice.

2) It would be presumptuous of me to decide what she wants.

3) Unemployment rose last month to its highest level for over five years.

4) We won’t be recruiting until next year.

5) Difficulties were caused by the complexity of the legislation.


H. Insert prepositions where necessary (from; to; at; on; for; of; upon):

1. to be recruited __ smth

2. to draw __ smth

3. __ some level

4. according __ smb

5. to derive ___ smth

6. to involve __ smth

7. to be available __ smb

8. a lack __ smth

9. to have access __ smth

10. to depend __ smth


I. Complete the sentences using the words in the box:

involves ethnicity Creole

vocabulary make up complexity

slave derive version


1) Since the early 1960s the ethnic __ of most British cities has changed enormously.

2) The language is one of the most interesting examples of the __ of modern British __.

3) Most West Indians speak a __ of ‘Jamaican __’, a language developed from a __ culture of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

4) It is possible for West Indian people to __ 90 per cent of their __ from English and still speak a language that is not English.

5) Language __ much more than words


J. In what meanings are the following words used in the text:


1) make up

a. substances that people put on their faces in order to look attractive or change their appearance.

b. the people or things that combine to form a single group or whole.

c. the way the words and pictures are arranged on a page before a newspaper is printed.


2) to recover

a. to become fit and healthy again after an illness.

b. to get back something that you lost or that someone stole from you.

c. to get stronger after a difficult period and return to the earlier state.


3) to draw

a. to create a picture by making lines with a pen or pencil

b. to pull something across a space in order to close or open it

c. to take money from a bank account

d. to have the same score in a game

e. to get ideas, information, or knowledge from somewhere


K. Make up phrases and translate them into Russian:
apparent

Complete

Distinct

General

Marked lack

Serious

Sheer

Total


III.INTERPRETATION


A. Paraphrase the following statements and comment on them:


1) The diversity of language and identity is available to a British person of West Indian ethnicity

2) How the individual from an ethnic community speaks will depend upon different backgrounds, different generations, different levels of assimilation.

3) As positive as ‘multicultural’ sounds on paper, the reality has been different.


B. Answer the following questions:


1) What are the most acute problems which immigrants face in the host country? How are they connected with the language?

2) Do you think the ideal ‘multicultural’ society is possible? Do you know any examples of it?

3) Do you think that immigrants more often try to preserve their national identity or become replicas of the indigenous population?

4) How are different generations adjust to the process of assimilation?

5) Which backgrounds encourage the immigrants’ adaptation?


IV. SPEAKING PERSONALLY


Discuss with your partners the following statement: ‘Language involves much more than words’.


What does it mean? Do you agree or disagree with it?


When discussing the problem you may make use of the following expressions:

Generally speaking…

If you ask me…

Talking of…

In addition…
What’s more…

Moreover…

All things considered I must say that