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1、语言，口音，发音 * New *2004-11-22以下是和 Ken在东广的一个电台讨论。黑体字是有用的短语和措辞。你好，Ken。你能和我们说说英语的不同口音吗？我们应该知道些什么？好。“accent（白音）这个词涉及到我们说话的方式，通常是指我们的发音。它能透露给我 们一个人的原籍，甚至可能是社会等级：比如，我们会说某人有伦敦口音，有美国口音，工人阶级等等。你所指的社会等级”是什么意思？那可以说是短时期内一个人在英国的社会等级。有着中产阶级背景的，住在中产阶级区域，受过中产阶级教育的人是很容易通过他们的发音来辨别出来的。只需要几个词就行了。在工人阶级地区发音和词语的选择是不同的。文字那么有些
2、口音被认为更为受欢迎？受欢迎 是的，但是并不是更好。对语言学家来说，没有什么口音是更好的。不管怎么说，事实上大多数人对待口音并不是一视同仁的。很多年来，BBC 口音被认为是最好的。实际上，它也仍旧极受推广。在学校里用它来教那些精英份子，并且被公认为标准音。什么是美式发音？一般来讲，对于英国人来说美式发音表现为鼻音”一一听上去感觉像是通过鼻子来说话一样。美式发音很容易就听得出，不管是你在电视新闻上听到的标准美语还是电影里的牛仔说的，都能马上听出那是美式英语。出于某种原因，上海的学生更倾向于英式英语。您的意思是标准美式英语不同于标准英式英语？发音不同， 但是词通常是一样的。如果你给我看两篇新闻报道
3、，然后问我哪篇是美国人写的哪篇是英国人写的，那很难讲。写作形式是一样的。那么对于中国人来说，哪种口音好些呢？英式口音？还是美式口音？我认为那真的没有什么太大的区别。只要你说得好说得清楚，没人会介意的。 当然，忙碌的生意人不会理会这个。 有次一个外籍经理人告诉我他要他的员工接受美式英语，或英式英语的培训，但那是极少数的。我不会考虑很多的，哪种形式都挺好。我问一下其它语言。世界上总共有多少种语言呢？语言学家（就是研究语言的人）估计当今世界上约有6800千种语言在使用着。那意味着语言比国家要多得多。但是那并不代表说这6800种语言的人数是均等的，会有很大差异。您的意思是有些语言有着庞大的人群使用而另
4、一些只有少数人用？就是那样。八大语言的使用者占世界总人口的百分之八十。迄今为止使用人数最多的当然就是中文了。 尽管中国有许多方言，中国人说的官方语言还是普通话，或相近的。这是个惊人的数字。比起这个，一些人口不超过百万的小国家却有十种语言。那么，不是所有的语言都是均等的。真有意思！这在以后会有所改变吗？是的，很富有戏剧性。语言是活生生的它们诞生、成长、死亡。历史上，大多数有过的语言并没有书面体。这些语言目前苟延残喘。在学校里很难教授这类语言因为无法书写。而且父母也不会让子女去学生僻的或者是十分本土的语言。相反，他们会选择些广泛使用的或是国际语言来让他们的孩子学习。很多语言正在濒临 绝种0恐怕是的
5、。“绝种”意味着消逝而不再存在。我们也用这个词来描述动物的种类。就像许多种动物面临着灭绝，很多语言也是一样。一种语言要有约十万人使用才能存活:世界上近一半的语言现在都没有达到这个数字，那样看来这些语言都将消逝、绝种:当然，英语和中文是不会受到 绝种”威胁的。不过在遥远的将来，这也是有可能的！对话中的措辞：Social class社会等级Working class background工人阶级背景Middle class 中产阶级London accent （British accent, foreign accent, strong accent, etc）伦敦口音 （英国口音， 外国口音，浓
6、重口音，等等American （British, foreign, etc） pronunciation 美式（英式，外国，等等）发音In reality 事实上Easily recognizable 容易辨认For some reason 出于某种原因Its impossible to tell 很难说出By far the biggest （oldest, best, smallest, richest, etc） 迄今为止最大的（最古老的，最好的，最/卜的，最富有的等等）Struggle to survive 挣扎着存活Widely spoken（语言）广泛使用Become extinc
7、t 日趋消逝Face extinction 濒临绝种Language, accents, pronunciation * New *2004-11-22Here is a radio discussion that took place on Dong Fang Radio with Ken. Useful phrases and express ions are in bold.Hi, Ken. Can you tell us something about the different accents in English? What should we know abo ut them?S
8、ure. The word accent refers to the way we speak, usually our pronunciation. It can tell us somethin g about the persons place of origin and possibly social class. For example, we might say that someo ne has a London accent, an American accent, a working class accent, etc.What do you mean social clas
9、s?It is possible to tell in a very short time a persons social class in the UK. People from a middle-clas s background, who live in a middle-class place, and who have had a middle-class education, are eas y to identify by their pronunciation. It takes only a few words. Pronunciation and word-choice
10、in wor king-class localities are different.So some accents are regarded as more desirable than others?Desirable, yes, but not really better. To linguists, no accent is better than any other. However, in real ity most people do not see all accents as being equal. For many years, the BBC accent was re
11、garde d as the best. In fact it still is to a great extent. It was taught in schools for the elite and became know n as received pronunciation or RP.What about American pronunciation?Generally speaking, American pronunciation appears nasal to British people - it sounds as if they sp eak through thei
12、r noses. American pronunciation is easily recognizable, whether it is the standard A merican you hear on TV news or even the cowboy talk in some movie, it is all instantly recognizabl e as American English. Studetns in Shanghai tend to like British pronunciation, for some reason.Do you mean that sta
13、ndard American English is different than standard British English?The pronunciation is different but the words are often the same. If you showed me two newspaper art icles and asked which one was written by an American an which one by a British writer it would be i mpossible to tell. The written for
14、ms are the same.So, which is better to have for a Chinese person, a Britsh accent , or an American accent?I really think it doesnt make much difference. As long as you speak well and speak clearly, no-one r eally cares. Certainly, busy business people are not concerned about this. I have occasionall
15、y hear d a foreign manager tell me that he wants his staff trained in American English, or in British Englis h, but that is very rare. I would not worry too much about it. Either form is fine.Let me ask about other languages. How many languages are there in total in the world?Linguists (people who s
16、tudy languages) estimate that there are about 6,800 languages in use around t he world today. This means there are many more languages than countries. However, it doesnt mea n the 6,800 languages all have an equal number of speakers. The picture is actually very different.So you mean that some langu
17、ages have a very large number of speakers and others have a very smal l number of speakers?Exactly. Eight languages account for about 80% of the total world population. By far the biggest is, o f course, Chinese. Although there are dialects in China, the great majority of Chinese people spea k Manda
18、rin Chinese, or something close to it. This is an amazing number. By contrast, some small c ountries have populations of no more than a million people but may have as many as 10 languages.So, not alll languages are equal. Fascinating. Will this change in the future?Yes, very dramatically. Languages
19、are living things - they are born, they grow up and they die. In his tory, most of the languages that ever existed did not have a written form. These languages are now st ruggling to surivive. It is difficult to teach these languages in school because they cannot be writte n. And parents dont want t
20、heir children learning obscure or very local languages. Instead, they will c hoose widely spoken or international languages for their kids.So, many languages are becoming extinct.Yes, Im afraid so. Extinct means that they die, no longer exist. We use the same word to describe a nimal species. Just a
21、s there are many animal species facing extinction, so too are many language s. A language needs about 100,000 speakers to survive. Around half of the worlds languages now ha ve less than that number, so it seems that they will die, they will become extinct. Of course, this mea ns that English and Ch
22、inese face no threat of extinction. In the very distant future, however, it is poss ible!Expressions in this dialogSocial classWorking class backgroundMiddle class, etcLondon accent (British accent, foreign accent, strong accent, etc)American (British, foreign, etc) pronunciationIn realityEasily recognizableFor some reasonIts impossible to tellBy far the biggest (oldest, best, smallest, richest, etc)Struggle to surviveWidely spokenBecome extinctFace extinction