A good command of the English language: Phonological variation in the Jamaican acrolect
A good command of the English language: Phonological variation in the Jamaican acrolect
复制标题
精通英语:牙买加 acrolect 的音系变化
DOI:
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发表时间:
2004
期刊:
影响因子:
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通讯作者:
G. A. Irvine
中科院分区:
文献类型:
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作者:
G. A. Irvine
This article is about what counts as good English or the acrolect in Jamaica, who sets the norm for it, and how it can be adequately characterized. The study presented here is at odds with a tradition that has assumed a seemingly country-free standard, in fact nothing more than American or British standard English, when discussing the forms found in the Jamaican linguistic continuum. The study is based on spontaneous speech collected in formal settings from white-collar employees of a Jamaican quasi-governmental agency (identified here as JAMPRO). The title of the paper suggests the rigid selection protocol one must go through to be employed by the agency, for a good command of the English language is one of the stated minimum requirements for employment at the agency. There is every reason to assume, therefore, that these informants are speakers of the Jamaican acrolect, at least in the particular context of language use. In this article I describe some of the phonological variation that occurs in these speakers of Jamaican English and show that the traditional notion of the acrolect has not really been based on actual language use.