Language and rhythm

By Simon

Language and rhythm are inextricably linked, according to a blog post I found the other day. The post is about reading scripts for theatrical performances, but much of it applies just as much to every day speech.

The main point is that language has inherent rhythms which are crucial because they are where the meaning is found. When you read a text in your mother tongue, you naturally break it up into meaningful chunks and adjust your rhythm as appropriate. If you apply unnatural rhythm to a text, it will be difficult to follow and you may not understand what you’re saying, neither will others.

When learning a foreign language, one of the things you need to acquire is that language’s natural rhythms. If you use the rhythm of your native language when speaking the foreign one, people might find you difficult or impossible to understand, unless they’re used to hearing non-natives speaking their language. Acquiring native-like rhythms takes a lot of listening and mimicery, and even then, you’ll might end up sounding slightly foreign, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

Do you have any suggestions on how to acquire the rhythms of a foreign language?

Reinventing yourself

By Simon

Imagine going from working in insurance in Liverpool, to becoming a pop star in China. That’s just what Barry Cox did, according to an article on the BBC News website.

He was bored with his insurance job and wanted to try something different. After a visit to his local Chinese chip shop, he decided to have a go at learning Chinese. So he made friends with the guys in the chip shop, and began to learn Cantonese from them, and also at the Wah Sing Chinese Community Centre in Liverpool. Then he went to work in a Chinese supermarket and a restaurant to work on his language skills.

One of the guys gave him a pile of Cantonese music CDs. Barry found the tunes quite catchy and learnt to sing some of songs, even though he had no musical background and didn’t listen to music much before that.

Before long he was singing regularly at karakoe nights around Chinatown, and eventually moved to Hong Kong to pursue a singing career under the name of Gok Pak-wing. After building up his reputation over a number of years, he was offered a residency at the biggest casino in Macau.

So there you have a slightly unusual reason to learn a language – to become a pop star!

Word of the day – constable

By Simon

In the Roman and Byzantine Empires of the 5th and 6th centuries AD, the comes stabuli (count of the stable) was the person in charge of the stables at the imperial court.

The Franks borrowed the title but changed the position slightly to the head of the royal stud. During the 12th century in France, the comes stabuli became an important commander in the army and the title became conestable in Old French.

Eventually the word was borrowed into English as constable and referred to “an officer of the peace” – this meaning was first recorded in 1596. During the 19th century, a regular police force was established in England and the police officers were given the title constable under a chief constable.

Today constable is the lowest rank in the British police, followed by sargeant, while Chief Constable is the highest rank.

More details of the exciting adventures of this word

Digwyddiadau yr wythnos

By Simon

Nos Lun yr wythnos hon, canais yn yr orsaf danddaearol Hammersmith gyda’r grŵp canu o’r Canolfan Iwerddon Hammersmith. Codon, a’r grŵp hŷn pwy canodd gynt yn y dydd, dri chant o bunnoedd ar gyfer Ysbyty Sant Bartholomew. Canon pum caneuon tairgwaith bob un – pedwar yn Saesneg, ac un, Silent Night, yn Saesneg, Gwyddeleg a Phwyleg. Yna, aethon i dafarn lleol am ddiod neu ddau. Aeth y pobol eraill i dŷ bwyta Thai am bryd o fwyd, ond es i adref achos o’n i ddim eisiau cyrraedd yn Brighton yn rhy hwyr.

Nos Fawrth es i’n ôl i’r Canolfan Iwerddon am y dosbarth canu diwethaf y tymor hwn. Cyfrifon yr arian a chanon ychydig o ganeuon. Er mod i’n mwynhau’r dosbarth yn fawr, dw i’n meddwl na fydda i’n mynd yn ôl y tymor nesaf achos dw i’n gwario gormod o arian ac yn treulio gormod o amser wrth fynd i Lundain bob wythnos. Dw i’n bwriadu ymuno â dau gôr lleol – côr cymunedol gyda enw Vox, a’r Côr Meibion Cymraeg Brighton.

Dydd Gwener roedd cinio Nadolig ar gyfer y staff a’r myfyrwyr am rhad ac am ddim yn ffreutur. Es i i’r swyddfa yn arbennig am y cinio.

Nuacht na seachtaine

Oíche Luan an seachtain seo, chan mé sa stáisiún faoi thalamh Hammersmith le grúpa amhránaíocht an Lárionad na hÉireann Hammersmith. Bhailigh muid, agus grúpa eile a bhí ag canadh níos moille, trí chéad punt ar son an Ospidéal Naomh Bartholomew. Chan muid cúig amhráin trí uair gach ceann – ceathair as Béarla, agus aon, Oíche Chiúin, as Béarla, Gaeilge agus Polainnis. I ndiaidh sin, d’ól muid cúpla deoch i dteach tábhairne áitiúla. Chuaigh na daoine eile chuig bialann Théalannach, ach d’fhill mé ar ais go Brighton, toisc níor mhaith liom ag dhul abhaile go rómhall.

Oíche Mháirt chuaigh mé ar ais chuig an Lárionad na hÉireann ar son an rang déanach na téarma seo. Chuntais muid an airgead agus chan muid cúpla amhráin. Cé go bhain mé an sult as an rang, tá mé ag smaoineamh ní bheidh mé ag dhul ar ais an téarma seo caite, toisc go bhfuil mé ag caitheamh barraíocht airgid agus am ag dhol go Londain achan seachtaine. Tá rún agam ag dhul i cúpla cóir áitiúla – cór pobail le hainm Vox, agus Cór Guth Fireann Breatnaise Brighton.

Dé hAoine bhí dinnéar na Nollag saor le fail ar son foireann agus mic léinn sa bialann san oifig. Chuaig mé go dtí an oifig go háirithe an dinnéar a fháil.

Weekly happenings

On Monday evening, I sang in Hammersmith tube station with the singing group from the Hammersmith Irish Centre. Along with the senior group, who sang earlier in the day, we collected £300 for Saint Barholomew’s Hosptial. We sang five songs three times each – four in English, and one, Silent Night, in English, Irish and Polish. We have a quick drink in a nearby pub afterwards then most of the group went for a meal at a Thai restaurant, but I returned to Brighton, not wanting to get back too late.

On Tuesday evening, I returned to the Irish Centre for the last class of this term. We counted the money and sang a few songs. Although I really enjoy the class, I don’t think I’ll be going back to it next term – I’m spending too much time and money going to London every week. I’m planning to join a couple of local choirs – a community choir called Vox, and Brighton Welsh Male Voice Choir.

On Friday, staff and students were provided with a free Christmas dinner in the canteen and I went into the office especially for that.

Word of the day – lullaby

By Simon

Lullabies, from the Middle English lullen, to lull, + bye, are soothing songs usually sung to babies to lull them to sleep. An alternative name is berceuse, from the French for lullaby or “cradle song”.

According to an article I found today, lullabies are not only a good way to get babies to sleep, but can also help with their language development.

A study at the University of Warwick has found that babies whose parents sing to them regularly tend to develop language and communication skills earlier than babies whose parents don’t sing to them. Lullabies help babies to relax and get them used to hearing vocalisations and verbal sounds. They can also help parents to bond with their babies and to relax.

Unusual characters

By Simon

Believe it or not the Chinese characters shown below are all variants forms of the ‘same’ character.

Variant forms of the complex Chinese character for one

The character in question is 壹 (yī) – the complex form of ‘one’, which is used on banknotes, coins and cheques. Well actually the first one is a version of 一, the simple from of ‘one’.

The first two characters come from this site, which includes a number of other rare and unusual Chinese characters. The only one of them I’ve seen ‘in the wild’ is the Shanxi noodle one (no. 2), which appears in many Chinese restaurants in the UK.

Children’s language games

By Simon

This week’s Word of Mouth, the programme about language on BBC Radio 4, was devoted to the games children play with language. The presenter, Michael Rosen, and the contributors found out some of the rhymes and counting games children are currently using and compared them to ones they remembered from their own childhoods.

One interesting thing about children’s language games is that they are an oral tradition passed on from child to child, constantly evolving and adapting, with little or no adult involvement. Some of the games are very old and possibly preserve fragments of long-forgotten languages. This is an example of a vibrant, living tradition which seems to be as popular as ever, even though some of the people interviewed on the programme fear it’s dying out.

One point discussed on the programme was that it’s mainly girls who play the language games, especially the more complex ones involving rhymes, actions, skipping, etc. It was suggested that boys might not be able to remember them as well as girls.

Did you play any language games when you were a kid? Do you remember any of them?

English as a Lingua (ELF)

By Simon

There are about three times as many people who speak English as a second or foreign language as there are native speakers. Many people use English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) to communicate with others with whom they don’t share a common language. When they do so, the English they use isn’t necessarily the same as the English used by native speakers. ELF tends to have a more restricted vocabulary, a simplified grammar and pronunciation, and fewer idioms than native English.

According to an article in the Financial Times I came across today, via this blog, ELF users tend to find it easier to communicate with one another if no native speakers of English are present. Native speakers who don’t adjust their language for non-natives tend to be difficult to understand. The article mentions a student conference in Amsterdam where everyone spoke English and where the sole British participant was asked to be “less English” so that the others could understand her.

I first heard the term English as a Lingua Franca a few years ago on a radio programme in which the linguist Jean Atchinson discussed the phenomenon. She suggested that native speakers of English should become familiar with ELF in order to communicate effectively with non-native speakers. I sure this isn’t too much of a problem for those who communicate regularly with non-native speakers, but probably can cause difficulties for others.

In another article about ELF, the author mentions research from Sweden and the Netherlands on the widespread use of English as a medium of instruction in higher education. The research found that “Test results were about ten percent lower on average in English taught courses than in courses taught in the mother tongue.”