Spoken English and Broken EnglishBy George Bernard Shaw

Submitted by: Hanshal Nautiyal (A2324612004) Devavrat Mathur (A23246120036) Gaurav Sinha (A23246120057)

ANALYSIS

WHY SHOULD I STUDY THIS????

Group Presentation on:

Submitted To:Mr. Parveen Kumar

Brief Introduction to the Author

George Bernard Shaw was an Irish playwright and a co-founder of the London School of Economics. Although his first profitable writing was music and literary criticism, in which capacity he wrote many highly articulate pieces of journalism, his main talent was for drama, and he wrote more than 60 plays. He was also an essayist, novelist and short story writer. Nearly all his writings address prevailing social problems with a vein of comedy which makes their stark themes more palatable.

He is the only person to have been awarded both a Nobel Prize in Literature (1925) and an Academy Award (1938), for his contributions to literature and for his work on the film Pygmalion, respectively. Shaw turned down all other awards and honours, including the offer of a knighthood.

• Notice the use of the word ‘Palatable’ used to describe his writings. Any other flowery word like understandable, lucid, digestible or clear could have been used.

Visible Traits/Behavior Points

a. Socialistb. Cynicc. Generally Liberald. Fabiane. Criticalf. Observantg. Educatedh. Essentially Unorganizedi. Excellent Public Speakerj. Believer of Class Equalityk. Honest

Spoken and Broken EnglishIncorrectly labeled as a prose by countless people across the millennia, Spoken and Broken English is a transcript of a radio talk and was recorded in 1927. The talk was broadcast overManhattan's radio station WNEW. It was a part of series of talks called A Treasury of the Spoken World.

In this recording, the first of four sides made for Linguaphone in 1927, Shaw ponders the difficulties in accurately reproducing an individual human voice given the deficiencies of the playback technology of the time.

• The original discs feature Shaw's signature scratched into the run-out grooves.

The points demonstrated or stressed upon hisrecordings can be divided into four basic ideas.These ideas are:

• Advantages in learning to speak well• No such thing ideally correct English• Confession of Bernard Shaw • Advice to foreign students of English

Advantages in learning to speak well:

Bernard Shaw says that when we travel in theBritish Commonwealth or in America or whenwe meet a native of these countries, we have tospeak English well for enough understanding. Ifwe speak in a provincial or cockney dialect it mayprevents us from obtaining some employmentwhich is open to those only speak what is ‘correctEnglish’.• Cockney English refers to the accent or dialect of English traditionally spoken by working-class Londoners

• G.B. Shaw explains the difference between correct and understandable.

No such thing ideally correct English:No two British subjects speak exactly alike. Eveneducated persons, the Poet Laureate and trainedspeakers do not pronounce of some of the simplestcommonest words in the English language exactlyalike. Members of the committee who are selectedas models of correct speech speak differently. Theydiffer according to the country in which they wereborn.

• Even within a language’s native home, it may be used in different accents and ways.

Confession of Bernard Shaw:Bernard Shaw confesses that he himself does notspeak English in the same way. When he speaks toaudience, he speaks carefully. If he were to speakcarefully to his wife at home, she would think hewas going mad. As a public speaker he has to takecare that every word he says is heard distinctly atfar end of large halls containing thousands ofpeople. At home he speaks to his wife likemumbling. His wife also a little careless and so hesometimes has to say “What?” • Brings in his own personal example in order to connect with the people and drive home his point.

Advice to foreign students of English:Do not try to speak English perfectly because nativespeakers of English won’t understand. In Londonnine hundred and ninety nine out of thousandpeople not only speak bad English but speak eventhat very badly. No foreigner can ever stress thesyllables and make the voice rise and fall inquestions and answer, assertion and denial, inrefusal and consent, in enquiry or information,exactly as a native does. Therefore the first thingthey have to do is to speak with a strong foreignaccent, and speak broken English.

Analysis

Recorded in the backdrop of 1927’s Politicallyunstable yet emerging United Kingdom of Great Britainand Northern Ireland, G.B. Shaw’s masterpiece furtherhighlighted the need for simple yet powerful English. Dueto the influx of migrants from different parts of theempire, even the ‘Mighty’ Politicians(known for their giftof gab) had forgotten the true essence of the languageand were now not understandable to the people. Neitherwere the people understandable to them due to theirmeticulous need to speaking ‘Correct English’.

Significance in today’s timeClassified as borderline boring or a sheer waste of perfectly goodtime by many of the modern day students, Spoken and Broken English’srelevance in today’s time cannot be more emphasized upon. WithGlobalization taking hold of the world and the need of learning multiple globallanguages out of which English stands at the very helm, has led people to seekout the ‘Correct’ form of the language. G.B. Shaw explains to us that althoughit is an insult to the native speaker of English who cannot understand his ownlanguage when it is too well spoken, times have changed and we simple haveto accept the fact that Good English is more important than ‘Correct’ English.India, which carries in it English of different accents and pronunciations, couldvery well benefit by adding this piece to its education curriculum in order tomake people realize the true sense of the word language. India is one of thechief exporters of human resource to the world. Thus, a study of thisrecording can help people overcome their obsession for correct and startfocusing on the good aspect of English.

What can a listener take away from it?• Never try to speak foreign languages too well.• Foreign (non-native) speakers should speak

with a strong foreign accent, and speak broken, that is English without any grammar when in England.

• Emphasize more on the communicating part rather than the correctness of a language.

• Be free in your ideals and views rather can conforming to a rigid pattern

“The golden rule is that there are no golden rules.”

“The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.”

Conclusion

Although outdated in modern times, this piecehas not yet become obsolete. Today’s moderntimes may have impacted our other senses in apositive way but our language skills havedefinitely suffered. A brief study of this piececan surely help us understand the basics of thelanguage and help in efficient communicationprocess.