Terra Incognita

for my loyal readers
I know that you are all in tears because I am no longer going to be posting since I'm back in the States. So I thought you might fill the time you had set aside for blog readings by checking out a couple of papers I wrote during the semester.

why can't the english, learn to speak english?
English is English is English. Or so I thought. Last semester, my roommate gave me a British phrasebook for Christmas. I joked with everyone that I was going to return to the States speaking fluent English. With English being the closest thing to a global language, it was easy to assume that everyone that with whom I spoke in London would understand me, and I them. According to Lonely Planet’s British Phrasebook, English is ‘the first language of around 400 million people and the second of perhaps 400 million more and is the official or semi-official language in more than 60 countries . . . In international scope, no other language comes near it and, in a shrinking and increasingly homogeneous world, English seems destined to be the glue that holds the whole thing together’ (31, 33).

Knowing that so many people speak and understand English, it is just as easy to forget that the English I speak might not be the same English that everyone else speaks. British English always seemed to me an amusing accent, adorable when spoken by Hugh Grant or little Daniel Radcliffe in the movies. A Southern or Boston accent is just as amusing and perfectly understandable. The ‘fluent English’ I expected to learn to imitate was a flamboyant accent, not another language; however, as Alex Seago lectured the first week we were here, London is an international city in which nearly 3,050 different languages are spoken every day. Combine those foreign tongues speaking heavily accented English with the many regional and neighbourhood dialects from around Britain and London and the universal English I thought I knew so well becomes confounded and confusing. It has become apparent to me that British English is more than an amusing accent.

In the musical My Fair Lady, Professor Higgins, a self-proclaimed linguist bemoans the slaughter of the English language by the vernacular of various boroughs and suburbs surrounding London. ‘Why can’t the English / Learn to speak English?’ he sings, claiming that the Americans stopped speaking what he considers ‘true’ English long ago. He analyses Eliza Doolittle’s parlance, noting that she drops her ‘h’s in words like ‘Hartford’ and ‘happens,’ making them sound like ‘’artford’ and ‘’appens.’ In Eliza’s tongue, Professor Higgins’ name sounds like ‘’enry ’iggins.’ A student of dialects, Professor Higgins can tell a man’s home neighbourhood from a short conversation and repeatedly astounds the on-lookers with demonstration after demonstration.

It may sound like a far-fetched trick, but Professor Higgins has a well-founded point. There are 14 indigenous languages in Britain (British Phrasebook 183). In London alone there are three main dialects: Cockney, Estuary English and Received Pronunciation. Cockney originated in London’s East End and is associated with the working-class (187). One of the most noticeable aspects of the Cockney accent is the ‘glottal t’ which makes ‘Britain’ sound like ‘Bri-in.’ This ‘glottal t’ carries through to Estuary English as well. A hybrid tongue, Estuary English is the fastest growing form of British English and is a hybrid, combining many other dialects but mostly Cockney and RP; it is an example of Britain’s constantly evolving language (30). According to the British Phrasebook, other chief features of Estuary English are a rising inflection and the prominence of ‘innit,’ making common statements sound like question (30). Received Pronunciation (RP) is the ‘elevated,’ high-class English spoken by the educated. Considered by the elite to be the ‘best,’ RP is heard in the media, especially on the BBC. Hugh Grant’s film characters speak RP (187). Much to the chagrin of the posh, however, RP usage is declining as Estuary English gains popularity. Tony Blair even uses Estuary English in his speeches.

Outside London, even more dialects add to the diversity of the English language in Great Britain. At work, I walked into a conversation about regional dialects, specifically the pronunciation of ‘no’ in three different areas of England. One of the women was from Hull, in Yorkshire and said that she pronounces it ‘ nouh.’ Her boyfriend, educated at Cambridge, teases her about her pronunciation. His ‘no’ sounds like ‘noh.’ The other woman in the conversation was from south of London; her ‘no’ sounds like ‘noa-wh.’ Within a distance of 600 kilometres, that single syllable wakes many forms; it is an example of the linguistic diversity within Britain.

On top of the several local and many regional dialects and accents, London’s global population complicates the language even further. The thousands of international tongues in the city stumble through the language. Communication is confounded as a foreign American tries to speak with a resident of London from another country, for they speak British English with a foreign accent. The employees at Nando’s, a chain restaurant, are not native English speakers and ordering food is an experience for the American visitor. Specifically, it was difficult for me to understand an employee asking me if I wanted a sideline with my chicken pita. I did not even have a guess for what she said; it sounded like she had marbles in her mouth.

In my own experience at my internship, I have found communication more difficult than I originally expected. Conversations on the phone are especially challenging and I find myself asking callers to repeat themselves several times. When a co-worker asks me to do a job, I repeat their request ask to them imply to ensure that I understand their directions. Not only is pronunciation different, there are different words and phrases that are completely foreign to me. One of the ladies in the office asked me to go get her a ‘jack-eh puhtato.’ I neither understand her pronunciation of ‘jacket’ nor that a ‘jecket potato’ was what I knew as a baked potato. The confusion works both ways. When I told the women that my roommates were going to Edinburough for the weekend, they were confused, thinking that I had said my friends were going to a club called ‘Amber’ for the weekend.

As this is the era of globalisation, it is easy to demand that one speaks in the closest thing to a global tongue. Professor Higgins is not alone in his some-what bigoted notion that there is only one ‘proper’ way to speak English. Others may not voice it, but their frustration voices an inner desire for others to speak in one’s own accent. Language, however, is fluid and changes in the ebb of time and international interaction. As global communication increases, it is true that hundreds of countries and millions of people will likely absorb English as the common tongue. It is not likely, however, that English will ever become a completely homogeneous language. The many differences between American English and British English exemplify this. Fluency in English is conditional to the specific regional dialect. In this sense, my joke about returning to the States with the ability to speak fluent English was not a joke, but a reality. I will return with a broader understanding of another form of the language that I speak. It is not a matter of the English ‘learning to speak English’ but is, instead, a matter of opening the mind to a willingness to listen to the many forms of English.