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Reviewing
language and community
By
Debbie Harris, Contributor
I
HAVE been reviewing the course for
the last two or so weeks and will
continue to do this as you prepare
for the examination. This week we
will look at some questions which
appeared on Paper 01 Section 2 May/June
2000 and I will attempt to suggest
possible acceptable responses for
them.
Read
the extract below and answer questions
1-5 that follow.
"We
cannot teach French Creole in schools!
What are we saying to the children?
We're telling them that this is as
important as the official language?
Already some of them come from homes
where they can't speak the official
language. They already speak French
Creole. That's enough! They shouldn't
be learning to write it too!"
1.
What is the speaker's attitude towards
French Creole?
Answer:
It is negative. The speaker does not
believe it is acceptable. He considers
it inferior as he does not believe
it is as important as the official
language.
2.
What association does the speaker
make between language and school?
Answer:
He suggests that Creole has no place
in school and that the language of
school should be an official one.
3.
Name FOUR Caribbean countries that
the speaker could have been referring
to.
Answer:
St. Lucia, Martinique, Guadeloupe
and Dominica
4.
Select TWO of the countries you named
in 3 above and
(a)
explain how their language situations
differ from each other
Answer:
St. Lucia and Guadeloupe have a French
Creole and an English Creole and English
as the official language. Martinique
and Guadeloupe have a French Creole
and French as the official language.
(b)
discuss what difficulties a Creole
speaker in ONE of these countries
would experience when learning the
official language.
Answer:
He would need to recognise that many
Creole speakers perceive the language
that they speak to be a standard form
and that the two languages share some
elements of structure and vocabulary
which may lead to confusion. [You
may mention examples of sound, grammar
and vocabulary difficulties learners
may experience in the selected country.]
5.
List TWO Caribbean Creole languages
OTHER THAN French Creole, and ONE
territory in which EACH is spoken.
Answer:
Dutch Creole or Papiamento in Curacao/Aruba/Bonaire
and St. Maarten. English Creole is
spoken in Jamaica, Trinidad, Grenada
and Barbados etc.
6.
A European university exchange student
has come to your country to spend
a year at the local college/university.
He has been told that "the natives
speak in a strange way" and that
"one cannot even call it a language."
List
FOUR characteristics of the local
dialect which establish it as a language.
Answer:
*
It is verbal/spoken/has a vocabulary
*
It is human, that is it is a form
of communication used only by humans
*
It is dynamic and responds to cultural
change
*
It has systematic/grammatical structures
* It is symbolic
* It is maturational
7.
A Caribbean hotel receptionist has
been accused by a local guest of "speaking
English in one way to tourists and
in different ways to locals."
(a)
State TWO differences that the guest
might have been referring to.
Answer:
Tone, accent, use of dialect and/or
register
(b)
Suggest TWO reasons why the receptionist
might have been "speaking English
in one way to tourists and in different
ways to locals."
Answer:
He might have been accommodating the
different accents, showing familiarity
with local guests and/or he might
have been condescending and disrespectful.
I
hope you recognise that the lessons
we have done on DEFINING LANGUAGE
and CARIBBEAN LANGUAGE SITUATIONS
[that is the Table] would have been
useful in completing these questions.
Also the discussions which you may
have had in your classes regarding
ATTITUDES TO LANGUAGE would have helped.
Next week we will continue our revision
exercises. Until then, walk good!
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