Linguistic Gaps

Why does English have no phrase like “Bone appetit?” Has it ever occurred to you that there is no simple way of expressing your hope that someone will enjoy what he is about to eat? If you are entertaining, and say to your guest as you put his dinner before him “I hope you like it”, then he will probably think one of two things: either that there is an element of doubt about the meal, or that there is an element of doubt about him! — that the food is perhaps unusual, and he will not be enough of a gastronomic sophisticate to appreciate it. You can be certain of one thing - he will not interpret “I hope you like it” in the same way that the Frenchman interprets “Bon appetite” - as a wish that focuses itself on the eater, and not on what is to be eaten. Those opposed to English cooking will no doubt explain the lack by pointing to the quality of food in this country; it’s so bad, they will say, that no one ever really believes that it could be enjoyed. Hence, no need for a phrase that enjoys enjoyment! But surely not even English food can be as bad as all that.

Even when taking our leave it seems we English are victims of some strange deficiencies in our valedictory vocabulary. The standard term “Gооdbуе” is both too formal and too final. It may be just the job for ushering someone out of your life altogether; but most leave- takings- for better or worse - are temporary affairs. Perhaps in an attempt to escape implications of finality, many people now say “Bye-bye” instead; others try to make this particularly nauseating bit of babytalk more acceptable by shortening it to “Bye”. And in place of those many leave- takings which so easily accommodate the idea of another meeting – “Au revoire”, “Auf wiedersehen”, “Arrivederci”, and so on, we have, alas, only such sad colloquialisms as “So long” and “l’ll be seeing you”.

These examples by no means exhaust the areas in which the English language doesn't exactly help social contact. They have been called “linguistic gaps” and tend to turn up in some way or another in most languages. But according to Mr. Daniel Kane - a lecturer at the University of Chester - there seem to be more of them in English than in other languages - at least other Western European languages. At the moment Mr. Kane is seeking funds to finance a small research project into the problem. He wants first of all to question a large number of people about their feelings on the matter. “After all, I must be certain that the man in the street is aware of these gaps in the same way that I think I am, - says Mr. Kane. And then he proposes to compare English with several other languages in this respect, and “look for possible sociological reasons” for the differences he finds.

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II. Skills development

2.1. You are going to listen to the samples of interview. Delimit the messages into intonation groups, utterances and semantic blocks.

2.2. Listen to the samples to observe the use of pauses. Concentrate on the types of pauses and frequency of the occurrence. Remember to focus on the hesitation phenomenon that breaks the regularity of an intonation group. Why is the hesitation phenomenon so frequent in this sort of delivery? What do you think conditions this kind of speech delimitation? Try to remember the style-forming factors. Use the set of symbols to mark different breaks in phonation.

2.3. Listen to the samples to try and focus on the pitch patterns observing the change in the pre-nuclear part. Consider the types of head (descending, ascending, level; stepping, sliding climbing; one-peak, double-peak and mixed).

Sample A

… at the age of nineteen

… of what’s coming ahead

… at the prospect of the time

… I felt I had the support of my husband to be

… I think like any marriage

… that we were a very good team

… I wasn’t daunted

… as for becoming Queen its …

… and people make a lot of money out of you

… erm … on reflection

Sample B

… thank you very much

… er … I really do appreciate

… a bit tiresome, er … well you know what British trains are like

… well I went to Strodes school

… which is just a school just outside London

… and I got three A levels

… er … from school

… and I got my BA

… from Essex University

… if I’d worked all day and all night in the library

2.4. Revise the pitch patterns of ‘delivering a lecture’, making a political speech, ‘making business presentation’, ‘advertising’ and ‘drama’.

Consider the specifics of the pre-nuclear pitch change and comment on the frequency of head occurrence.