Т.В. Артеменко, Е.В. Кривощекова, Е.В. Кравченко, Н.Е. Николаева - Reader in Language and Culture (1098538), страница 6
Текст из файла (страница 6)
Why did Greek become a language ofinternational communication in the Middle East over 2,000 years ago? Notbecause of the intellects of Plato and Aristotle: the answer lies in the swordsand spears wielded by the armies of Alexander the Great. Why did Latinbecome known throughout Europe? Ask the legions of the Roman Empire.Why did Arabic come to be spoken so widely across northern Africa and theMiddle East? Follow the spread of Islam, carried along by the force of theMoorish armies from the eighth century. Why did Spanish, Portuguese, andFrench find their way into the Americas, Africa and the Far East? Study thecolonial policies of the Renaissance kings and queens, and the way thesepolicies were ruthlessly implemented by armies and navies all over the knownworld.
The history of a global language can be traced through the successful230expeditions of its soldier/sailor speakers.But international language dominance is not solely the result of military3might. It may take a militarily powerful nation to establish a language, but ittakes an economically powerful one to maintain and expand it. This has alwaysbeen the case, but it became a particularly critical factor early in the twentiethcentury with economic developments beginning to operate on a global scale,supported by the new communication technologies - telegraph, telephone, radio- and fostering the emergence of massive multinational organizations.
Thegrowth of competitive industry and business brought an explosion ofinternational marketing and advertising. The power of the press reachedunprecedented levels, soon to be surpassed by the broadcasting media, withtheir ability to cross national boundaries with electromagnetic ease.Technology, in the form of movies and records, fuelled new massentertainment industries which had a worldwide impact. The drive to makeprogress in science and technology fostered an international intellectual andresearch environment which gave scholarship and further education a highprofile.Any language at the centre of such an explosion of international activitywould suddenly have found itself with a global status.
And English was in theright place at the right time. By the beginning of the nineteenth century, Britainhad become the world's leading industrial and trading country. By the end ofthe century, the population of the USA (then approaching 100 million) waslarger than that of any of the countries of Western Europe, and its economy wasthe most productive and the fastest growing in the world. British politicalimperialism had sent English around the globe, during the nineteenth century,so that it was a language 'on which the sun never sets'. During the twentiethcentury, this world presence was maintained and promoted, almost singlehandedly, through the economic supremacy of the new American superpower.And the language behind the US dollar was English.431Comprehension questions:1. According to the author, what is the chief reason for a language to beestablished as an international language? What examples does he give?Do they seem convincing to you?2. What is necessary for an international language to be maintained andpromoted?3.
How do you understand the phrase “the language behind the US dollarwas English”?4. Is the language behind the euro also English?THE DIFFICULTY OF –IC AND –ICALEnglish vocabulary is often confusing for foreign learners. One reason1for this is that the language has developed from so many other sourcelanguages - Latin, Greek, Anglo-Saxon, Old French, etc. - and has adoptedduplicate words (sheep, mutton) or even triplicate words (kingly, royal, regal).Usage has lent particular force to such words: sheep is the live, woolly animal;mutton is the same, but dead, animal's flesh.
The problem for the foreignlearner is how to keep track of usage.One area of vocabulary where confusion is widespread is that of the dualadjectives with endings in -ic and -ical. When is a document historic and when2historical? When is a policy economic and when economical?When they first entered the English language, at different times over thecenturies, these dual forms were often synonymous; past writings giveevidence of their interchangeability.
But absolute synonyms are never allowedto exist in languages; usage quickly attributes different semantic forces toapparent synonyms. This is what has usually taken place with the dualadjectives in -ic and -ical. The form in -ical has gradually been adopted as themore common, and that in -ic has either become old-fashioned or has come to332hold some rarefied meaning.
One would refer, for instance, to botanicalspecimens and geographical data; but specialized usage speaks of a botanicgarden and of the National Geographic Magazine.Comprehension questions:1. Why is English vocabulary often confusing for foreign learners?2. Why is it impossible for absolute synonyms to exist in the language?PUNCTUATING SENTENCES WITH THE EYEBROWSEverybody has watched someone talking on the phone, often without1hearing a word they are saying (such as when you see someone in an enclosedphone booth). You see a constant stream of smiles, frowns, raised eyebrows,shakes of the head, nods, hand gestures and often arm swinging. Why, whenthe listener on the other end obviously can't see a thing?The simplest answer is that any of us would have to concentrate hard2NOT to do this.
All these expressions and gestures are such an inseparable partof speaking that it would take a mighty effort to separate them. Somethingwe're hardly ever called on to do, fortunately. When we listen to a phoneconversation or the radio, normally we get most of the clues we need as towhat is being communicated. Even though an endless variety of facialexpressions and gesticulations is accompanying the spoken words unseen.But haven't you ever felt a vague sense of insecurity after a phone3conversation on a delicate subject with someone you didn't know too well? Didyou find yourself wondering whether you really got all that was beingcommunicated between the lines? If so, this would suggest how dependent weall are on watching a person's face and body language for clues that may becrucial to grasping what is really being said.Who hasn't had the experience at one time or another of hearing a433spoken message and at the same time seeing the speaker conveyunambiguously that quite a different thing was intended? People may of courselie, but they may also say something that sounds awful but with a wink of aneye that takes all the sting out, or something that sounds complimentary but isaccompanied by a grimace.Most of the time we spend talking and listening to someone, we're5watching their face - either in person or on TV.
We're in constant close contactnot only with the stream of speech but with the body language accompanyingit. We're almost always completely unaware of how many extra clues we'regetting to meanings and the speaker's feelings about what he's saying, as wellas how much help we're getting in a noisy environment.Most often, visual clues simply serve to underline words. Eyes wideningor lighting up, eyebrows raised at significant points in the sentence, head6tipping, an endless fund of hand gestures, arm motions - they all provide animportant sort of `punctuation' we hardly think consciously about.
We're takingin all these clues unconsciously all the time.Try a little experiment. Ask someone to say this sentence as if they7meant it, and watch carefully the expressions and gestures that go along with it:"Just imagine, it zipped around the corner, hit the fence with the most terrificcrash you ever heard, and went on its way!!"Did you see anything special timed with the words zipped, hit, and8crash? Doesn't it feel natural to raise the eyebrows in disbelief on those lastfive words?The more carefully we study these, the more they look like an elaborate9and exacting language in their own right. Interestingly, they coordinate withthe spoken words in a very close way. So gesture and expression have theirown syntax which exactly matches the syntax of the words.
Even thoughanother language may have a totally different set of gestural habits, still thesegestural `punctuations' tend to be very similar in all societies.Incidentally, we sometimes indulge in a condescending smile at speakers1034of some languages who `talk with their hands' a lot. But we shouldn't let thisfool us into thinking that we need only the well-turned phrases themselves. WeALL show which words in a sentence we intend to be the important ones by allthe means you just observed (did you try it, at least watching yourself in amirror?).Anyone who has had to learn a foreign language - and that goes for most11of us - knows what valuable clues to understanding they can get fromexpression and gesture.
More often than we're aware, these `extralinguistic'clues put us on the right track in understanding what is being communicated.There is probably no heavier reliance put on expression and gesture thanwhen we're in a foreign country where we don't understand the language. Mostof us have had the gratifying experience of communicating straightforwardwishes by nothing more than gesturing and watching expressions. But we findit surprisingly difficult to detach this from vocalization, understood or not.When two people who don't understand a word of each other's language try tocommunicate with each other by gesture and expression only, it's a safe bet thatboth will go ahead and talk out loud anyway.Those with hearing handicaps who must depend heavily on `lip reading'12are doing a great deal more than just watching lips. Since only a smallpercentage of speech sounds makes use of the lips themselves (`b ' or `m ' withlips pressed against each other, `o ' and `w ' with the lips pursed), they are infact making full use of all these clues we have been talking about.So in our everyday talking and listening, we're all masters of the art ofmime without even being conscious of it.Comprehension questions:1.
Why do people use facial expressions and gestures even when theycannot be seen by their interlocutors?2. Is effective communication possible without these extralinguisticelements?13353. What is meant by “punctuation” through vision clues?4. What other elements does the body language include? Whatmessages can they send?Tasks for discussion:1. Are you an active and expert user of the body language? Do youusually use it consciously or unconsciously?2. Do you find speaking on the phone in a foreign language difficult?3. Have you ever tried communicating with someone whose languageyou do not know? How did you do it?"We Call that Symbol ‘@’ ", she said.What do you think she called it?If she was speaking English, she probably said "at".
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