1B - Bill Bryson - Example Paragraphs

Remember this case study?

Discuss the idea that a person’s language may be affected by their dialect. In your answer you should discuss concepts and issues and issues relevant to language study. You should use your own supporting examples as well as from Text A, below.

Text A is from a travel book called Notes from a Small Island by Bill Bryson, written in 1995

The author has just arrived in Barnstaple, Devon.  The author is American.

I went into the bus station and found two women sitting in an office beyond an open door, talking together in that quaint 'Oi be drinkin zoider' accent of this part of the world.

   I asked them about buses to Minehead, about 30 miles to the east along the coast.  They looked at me as if I'd asked for connections to Tierra del Fuego.

   'Oh, you won't be gittin to Moinhead this toim of year, you won't be,' said one.

   'No buses to Moinhead arter firrrst of Octobaaarrr,' chimed in the second one.

   'What about Lynton and Lynmouth?'

   They snorted at my naivety.  This was England.  This was 1994.

   'Porlock?'

   Snort.

   'Dunster?'

   Snort.

   The best they could suggest was that I take a bus to Bideford and see if I could catch another bus on from there.  'They may be runnin the Scarrrlet Loin out of Bideforrrrrd, they may be, oi they may, they may - but can't be sartin.'

   'Will there be more people like you there?' I wanted to say but didn't.  The only other option they could suggest was a bus to Westward Ho! But there didn't seem much point since I couldn't go anywhere else from there and anyway I couldn't face spending the night in an ejaculation, as it were.  I thanked them and departed.

Well here are some VERY DETAILED example paragraphs to show you how to go about answering it....

Ok...

Here is the sort of PGs you could write...



'Bryson appears to find the Devon accent both endearing and irritating within the extract. Firstly, he describes their way of talking using the low-frequency adjective 'quaint' implying that he values its traditional element. However, he then goes on to describe it as an 'Oi be drinkin zoider' accent. Firstly, the non standards spelling of the first person pronoun 'oi' denotes a lack of intelligence, whereas the elided 'g' on the present participle verb 'drinking' implies sloppiness. Jean Aitchison may identify this attitude through the 'Damp Spoon' metaphor, where people believe non-standard variations happen due to laziness. Additionally, the fact he associates their accent with the common noun 'zoider' (cider) implies that Bryson holds quite extreme prescriptivist views, and associates non-standard English with unsavoury social pactices such as excessive drinking. John Honey would argue that it is important to teach young people to rid themselves of these sort of accents for this very reason, otherwise we are 'doing them a disservice'.





Notice how I'm still using lots of terms. I've managed to squeeze in a couple of theories here, but one per paragraph should be more than enough. Also, I've managed to get quite a lot of analysis out of just one quote. You may need more quotes if your analysis is not so in-depth.



here's another PG...



In response to Bryson, we can see that the locals diverge away from Bryson's more standard use of English, possibly as they take pride in their regional individuality. We can see this through the extremely exaggerated prnunications of the proper nouns Minehead and October in the phrase, 'No buses to Moinhead arter firrrst of Octobaaarrr,' It appears the locals sense they have a sense of instrumental power as they know the bus routes but are making their advice difficult for an outsider to understand. In particular, the ommitted 'f' from the adverb 'after' seems to be used deliberately to confuse the American. Later, they use the proper noun phrase 'Scarrrlet Loin' which is not only pronounce in a regional way, but also requires local and pragmatic understanding for it to make sense. Bryson's response is to dehumanise them by describing their speech using the nun 'snort'. Dennis Freeborn would describe Bryson's attitude as 'The Ugliness View' as he seems to have allowed his prejudices about the Devon accent to influence his view of them as pig-like animals.

Again, lots of terms. More quotes used this time, and theory included at the end.