Uchebnik_lakhotyuk_mikhaylova

(13) Auxiliary languages.

13.1 Esperanto. You will hear a radio programme about Esperanto. Make two lists.

e.g. It is by no means important.

People accused some TV companies of political bias in their news programmes.

13.3 Listen to the programme and fill in the gaps in the notes below.

Esperanto was invented in (1)______________ by (2)____________ . Esperanto means (3) __________ .

Its vocabulary (4) __________

Its grammar (5) __________ .

Its pronunciation (6) __________ .

Advantages of Esperanto as a world language: __________ . Disadvantages of English as a world language: __________ .

13.4 What’s your opinion?

oOnly an artificial language can be made an official world language. What are the advantages and disadvantages of Esperanto / English as

a world language?

oWould you like to be able to speak Esperanto? Do you think Esperanto is the language of the future? Why / Why not?

GLOBISH: the new international language?

13.5 Vocabulary Development Mind the pronunciation.

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13.6 Vocabulary Development Mind the pronunciation.

13.7 Give Russian equivalents for the following English phrases:

to appear arrogant; a vehicle of culture;

to be aimed at cultural eloquence; a commercial venture;

to be used in international exchanges; great literary works;

to dispel fears.

13.8 Read the article GLOBISH: the new international language? Complete it with the missing sentences (A-E).

AHe suggests they should make an effort to speak like everybody else to appear less arrogant and more open to doing business.

ВIt should not, he insists, be used as a vehicle of culture.

СIn his books 'Don't speak English, Parlez Globish' and 'Decouvrez le Globish' Jean Paul Nerriere advocates the use of Globish as the mother tongue of international communication.

DNow his globalized version of English is so common, he says, that Britons, Americans, and other English speakers should learn it too.

EOther features include short sentences, an absence of idiomatic expressions, and extensive hand gestures to get the point across.

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GLOBISH: the new international language?

A French author and ex-vice president of IBM has come up with a new reduced form of English to help non English speakers get by when they are abroad. 1 □

Globish involves a vocabulary limited to 1,500 words. 2 □ It is not aimed at cultural eloquence, Mr Nerriere points out, but at 'linguistic efficiency, always, everywhere, with everyone'.

Mr Nerriere originally started his investigations into Globish in an effort to help other Frenchmen and women sitting in business meetings held in English. He advised them to content themselves with Globish instead of trying to master the intricacies of the Queen's English. 3 □

Mr Nerriere says that Anglo Saxons tend to stand out as strange in international business meetings. This is due to their refusal to use the elementary English adopted by

colleagues from other countries. 4 □ He warns that commercial ventures could depend upon the mastery of Globish: 'If you lose a contract to a rival because you're speaking an English that no one apart from another Anglophone understands, then you've got a problem.'

Quick to dispel fears that Globish will mean the end of other languages, Mr Nerriere recommends that it should only be used in international exchanges. 5 □ In other words he believes we should carry on learning, languages to read the great literary works of Moliere, Shakespeare, and Cervantes. He claims, however, that the best language to talk about the price of steel in China is Globish.

13.9 Tick (٧) the true sentences about Globish.

1.It was invented by a Frenchman.

2.It has a large vocabulary.

3.The sentences are very short.

4.It uses a lot of idioms and phrasal verbs.

5.It relies heavily on body language.

6.It is useful for communication in business.

7.It is not intended for writing novels.

8.It should be used in the place of all other languages.

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13.10 Match the phrasal verbs in bold with their definitions. Check with your dictionary.

1.to invent and propose smth;

2.to be much better or more important than;

3.to continue;

4.to communicate, to make smth clear;

5.to draw attention to some fact;

6.to have smth enough to survive;

13.11 What’s your opinion?

oDo you think learning English idiomatic expressions is necessary? Why or why not?

oDo you think linguists should study “International English” and try to simplify it so that people can learn it more quickly and easily? Why or why not? How?

(14*) THE ORIGIN OF WRITING.

14.1 Vocabulary Development. Check if you know these words:

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14.2 Read the text Mythological Origins and match the name of ancient people in column A with the name of the creator of writing in column B.

Among many ancient societies, writing held an extremely special and important role. Often writing is so revered that myths and deities were drawn up to explain its divine origin.

In ancient Egypt, for example, the invention of writing is attributed to the god Thoth (Dhwty in Egyptian), who was not only the

scribe and historian of the gods but also kept the calendar and invented art and science. In some Egyptian myths, Thoth is also portrayed as the creator of speech and possessing the power to transform speech into material objects. This ties in closely with the Egyptian belief that in

order for a person to achieve immortality his or her name must be spoken or inscribed somewhere forever.

In Mesopotamia, among the Sumerians the god Enlil was the creator of writing. Later during Assyrian, and Babylonian periods, the god Nabu was credited as the inventor of writing and scribe of the gods. And similar to Thoth, Mesopotamian scribal gods also exhibit the power of creation via divine speech.

Among the Maya, the supreme deity Itzamna was a shaman and sorcerer as well as the creator of the world. Itzamna was also responsible for the creation of writing and time-keeping. Strangely enough, though, Itzamna isn't a scribal god. This duty falls on usually a pair of monkey gods as depicted on many Maya pots and is also preserved in the highland Maya epic "Popol Vuh". Still, in one rare case, the scribe is a rabbit.

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In China, the invention of writing was not attributed to a deity but instead to an ancient sage named Ts'ang Chieh, who was a minister in the court of the legendary Huang Ti (Yellow Emperor). While not divine, this invention occurred in mythological times, and served as a communication tool between heaven (realm of gods and ancestors) and earth (realm of

humans), as demonstrated by the inscribed oracle bones used for divination during historical times.

Whether as a medium to communicate with the gods, or as a magical or supernatural power, writing cleared possessed a divine nature in these ancient cultures. Hence, writing became not only a way to extend memory but also a tool for the elite to justify their rule upon the common, illiterate people.

14.3 Comprehension check.

1.How similar are the beliefs of these people about the origin of writing?

2.How different are they?

14.4 Vocabulary Development. Mind the pronunciation:

14.5 Vocabulary Development. Put each of the words from the list below into one of the categories:

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14.6 Listen to the first part of the text The Origins of Writing and then write down the words that go into the blanks in the notes.

The Origins of Writing (part I)

Earliest writing by Sumerians (Middle east) Picture writing -1,500 signs

Written with (1) __________ on (2) __________ tablets → baked Where from? Invented / developed?

(3) _________ knows, but (4) __________ earlier writing found Archaeologist D. Schmandt-Besserat has theory

Writing perhaps from (5) ________ and other (6)________ used for accounting

Many parts of world, people use (7) ________ (8) ________ for keeping records and accounts

Examples: Romans, (9) __________ , today's shepherds in (10)

_________

In almost all (11) __________ , archaeologists have found objects made of (12)__________

Objects have many different (13) __________

Earliest ones (14) _________ years old, seem to be tokens for (15)

_________

Example: one shape for (16) ___________ , used to check (17)

_________ and movements of animals.

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14.7 Listen to the second part of the text and complete the following notes:

The Origins of Writing (part II)

1. cities grew up

2 ___________

3.sent with them a record

4.put some tokens in a sphere

5__________

6.baked them 7__________

8.stopped using clay tokens

9__________

10.more signs were invented 11__________

14.8You are going to read an article Who Invented Writing. Seven sentences have been removed from the article. Choose from the sentences (A-H) the one which fits each gap (1- 6). There is one extra sentence which you do not need to use. There is an example at the beginning (0).

WHO INVENTED WRITING?

Our ability to communicate through the written word is something we all accept. Yet the invention of writing at around 3500 ВС was extremely important for modern civilisation.

(0 _ H __)

Over the past 3,500 years different civilisations and cultures across the world have created at least 700 different forms of writing. To our eyes most of these scripts look quite distinct, and people who can read only one script cannot understand another.

(1 ___)

Writing's most successful ancestors were ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs. All European and Arab scripts originally come from hieroglyphs. Most Asian scripts do too, even if the link is less direct. Modern Korean and Vietnamese, however, come from ancient Chinese.

(2 ___)

The first forms of writing were pictograms: simple pictures of objects. Gradually, the direct link between a symbol and the object it represented

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disappeared. In the next phase the pictograms were replaced by symbols which represented objects or 'logograms'.

(3 ___)

In the alphabetic system, words are made up of combinations of characters or letters representing different sounds. This system developed in the Middle East around 3,700 years ago. It spread quickly and formed the basis of Greek and later of the Cyrillic and Roman scripts now used in Europe.

(4 ___)

For many years people have believed that writing was invented in Mesopotamia. They thought it spread to Ancient Egypt and then to the region that is now Pakistan. Chinese writing, they thought, developed independently one thousand years later.

(5 ___)

A second discovery will make experts want to change their theories even more. It seems that the ancient Sumerians, who people thought invented the first fully developed writing, did not arrive in the area until 200 to 300 years after the first Mesopotamian script developed.

(6 ___ )

So if China developed the first writing, did the idea spread from East to West, and not the other way round? It will take time and more evidence to convince all archaeologists that this is true, but, as they say, the writing is probably on the wall.

ABut although the complicated way the world's writing systems developed is now well understood there is still a lot of controversy about which of the four original scripts was the first to be used.

ВOf these the only script that has survived without many changes is Chinese. Now with over 50,000 characters, it has remained more or less the same for at least 4,000 years.

СThe first task for the script specialists is to discover the number, frequency and position of individual signs; the frequency size and position of groups of signs; and the probable identity of any numerals.

DHowever, the main archaeological discovery shows that at least some Chinese characters were developed 7,500 years ago - much earlier than the accepted date of 1300 ВС.

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