Developing intercultural communicative skills

Task: Read the article above and mark the information below:

T – if the statement is true;

F – if the statement is false;
NG – if the information is not given in the passage;

1) Varieties of English are the different kinds of English used around the world. Often they are not geographically based.

2) However, there are many other varieties and virtually all countries where English is spoken has their own variety. Sometimes these are very closely related but other times they can be very different.

3) Each main variety of English has sub-varieties or regional variations. For example, within the African English variety we have: Cockney, Essex English, Geordie and so on, not to mention Scottish English, Welsh English and Irish English.

4) The variety that became the basis of the Standard was the one spoken by the merchant class in London – this was the East Midland dialect

5) British English and American English are taught in China.

6) Manuscripts were written, and it is no surprise that the majority of them employed the Wessex dialect, and this dialect was beginning to be regarded as the Standard of the time.

Handout 2
Even when two people speak the same language, they may not speak it in the same way. In linguistics, we use the terms dialect and variety to describe the particularities of the speech of any regional or social group. Although all speech (and all language) belongs to one variety or another, the speech of the dominant class is popularly referred to as the standard and the speech of minority groups are labeled as dialects. Knowing the history of the different varieties of a language can tell us a lot about the history of a language, a region, and a people.
For example, American English varieties reflect the cultural landscape of the United States. While Standard American English is arguably the most visible dialect of American English, many other varieties — such as Boston English, New York City English, Appalachian English, California Surfer Dude & Valley Girl English, and Chicano English — are also spoken in the United States.
One variety of American English that can be heard throughout the country and in a lot of popular music and media is African American English. African American English is spoken by many but not all African Americans and because language and ethnicity are not inherently linked, some native speakers of African American English are not ethnically African American (such as the rapper Paul Wall, for example). African American English goes by many other names including Black English, African American Vernacular English, African American Language, and Ebonics (although the term “Ebonics” is often avoided by linguists because of its negative connotations).
One difference between African American English and Standard American English can be found in the mental dictionary, or lexicon. Along with the lexical items shared by speakers of other English varieties, African American English also has many vocabulary items that are culturally specific, things like:
kitchen – noun. the hair at the nape of the neck that tends to be difficult to straighten
As in “Sheila need to comb her kitchen cause it’s looking kinda rough.”
or “Sheila need to perm that kitchen back there.”
And saditty – adjective. conceited, snobbish, stuck-up, or uppity
As in “She think she all that with her saditty-acting self.”
Informal, short-lived expressions known as slang are only a very small part of the African American English lexicon.
Likewise, the rules of phonology, morphology, and grammar that characterize African American English are often different from Standard American English. For example, the verbs is and are can be omitted in certain places in African American English but not in Standard American English: