WHAT DOES LANGUAGE BARRIER MEAN? A LINGUISTIC - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

WHAT DOES LANGUAGE BARRIER MEAN? A LINGUISTIC VIEW

Ahmad

Baki

, RN, BSN

Hameed

Zahedi, RN, BSN, PhD in ESLSlide2

Objectives

Shedding light on the concept of

language barrier

from a linguistic point of viewSlide3

Agenda

The structure of the presentation:

Definition of language barrier

Addressing the sources of barrier

Summing up the problems

Providing solutions

Q&A and SurveySlide4

Language Barrier: Definition

Language

barrier

:

communication

difficulties

experienced

by Non-Native Speakers (NNS) of a language like English. It seems to be a one-way phenomenon.Slide5

Miscommunication

However, the effect of language barrier is two-way although NS is in a better position due to having a lot of background info.

→ miscommunicationSlide6

Main Components of Language

Components of

Language

(Sources of Confusion and Barrier)

Phonological

Lexical

SyntacticSlide7

Phonological ComponentSlide8

Missing Sounds

Different sound systems → missing sounds

For example:

Missing English sounds in Arabic:

/p/, /

ch

/, /

ʒ/, /g/

/

p

/



Pete

 beatSlide9

Missing Sounds

Missing English sounds

in Persian:

/

w

/



went 

vent

(

wet



vet

)/th/  math  mat (thought  taught)/i:/  live leave (hit  heat)/u:/

 pull  pool

(full  fool

)/ә

/  occur 

akur (colonel



colonel

)

/



/



lung



long

(

bus



boss

)Slide10

Sounds

[

Ɂ] glottal sound

: hard to hear

Written

/

writ

n

/

/

wri

Ɂ

n/ButtonKittenCottonBittenBritainMountainCurtainSlide11

Sounds

Consonant length:

bus stop

bustop

→ bus top: the top of the bus

Calm man

Ka

man?????Slide12

Homophones

Holy,

wholly

Ad,

add

Allowed,

aloud

Some,

sum

Son, sun

Steal,

steel

Medal, meddle

Metal, mettleFlour, flowerFind, finedAte, eightFor, fourThe context is helpful more to NS vs. NNSSlide13

H

omophones

I have worked ………………..

A. four years

B. for yearsSlide14

Palatalization

Alveolar



palatal

/t/



/t

∫/

go

t

y

ou

nice to meet you (me chew) what you know (watch u no)/d/  /dэ/ Would you? Did you? I need you; Could you /s/  /∫/ Is this yours? (dish yours)

miss you (me shoe) bless you

/z/  /э

/ How’s y

our … close your bookSlide15

Syllable

Structure

Onset peak coda

Persian

:

C V CC

maast

m

a s t

English:

CCC V CCCC

Cat k æ tFree fr i: (feree)Street str i: t (estereet)tempts

t e

mpts (missing)Strengths

str e

ŋθs (missing)Three

θr i

:

(

teree

)Slide16

Reduction & Contraction

Is he?

easy

Will he?

Willy

Would he?

woody

Can he?

canny

Tell her

teller

Call ‘

er

callerSlide17

Liaison

Written

form

Pronunciation

(based on word

boundary

)

(

based on

syllable boundary)

An egg a negEach other ea chotherSlide18

Liaison

Phrase 1

Phrase 2

Gray

tape Great ape

Unaimed

Unnamed

Night train

Night rain

Red dish ReddishSlide19

Co-articulation

Written form

Pronunciation

I

np

ut

i

mp

ut

It is te

n p

ast five. tempastSlide20

Elision

Written form

Pronunciation

Ha

nd

some

ha

ns

ome

ha

nd

bag hambagSlide21

Contrastive

stress

It sounds like

rain

. (it is rain)

It

sounds

like rain. (but it is not)

It looks

nice

. (it is)

It

looks

nice. (but it is not)Slide22

Contrastive stress

1.

I

didn’t say he stole the money. (someone

else

said it)

2. I

didn’t

say he stole the money. (

that’s

not true at all)

3. I didn’t

say

he stole the money. (I only suggested the possibility)(Maybe I hinted it, or wrote it, or gestured it; anyway I may have indicated it but didn’t say it)4. I didn’t say he stole the money. (I think sb else took it)5. I didn’t say he stole the money. (Maybe he just borrowed it))6. I didn’t say he stole the money. (but rather some other money)7. I didn’t say he stole the money. (he may have taken some jewelry

)(We agree that he is a thief, but we think he stole different things) Slide23

Stress

1. How

many kids do you have?

2. I

have been to Europe.

3. Why

do you work so hard?

A.

I

have

to.

/

ә

/B. I have, too. /U:/ C. I have two./U:/Slide24

Shift of stress

A lot of mispronunciation here:

/

ә

/ shows up.

Ph

o

ne

, ph

o

ne

tic

A

nalyze, analyticCompete, competitionPhotograph, photographyOrigin, originalSlide25

Failing to Discriminate Intonation

I have something for you.

↗What? (rising: asking for repetition)

I have something for you.

↘What? (falling: asking for information)Slide26

Failing to Discriminate Intonation

Direct address (

32-23

) vs. Declarative (

31

)

I know, David. I know David.

We haven’t met, Mary. We haven’t met Mary.

I can’t hear, John I can’t hear John.

The kids can’t see, Miss white. The kids can’t see Miss white.Slide27

Failing to Discriminate Intonation

Type

1: Tag question

You can

do

it,

can’t

you? (

23

) uncertainty

2 2 3 2 2 3

Type 2: Tag statement

You can do it, can’t you? (31) certainty 2 2 3 1 3 1Slide28

Rhythm

Rhythm is created by contracting and relaxing of chest muscles (pulses).

Stress-timing

is strongly related to vowel reduction processes.

Stress-timed pattern

Dogs chase cats.

The dogs

chase cats.

The

dogs chase

the cats.

The dogs

will chase the cats

.Slide29

Rhythm

Syllable-timed pattern

Il

est

arrive a six

heures

.

Il /

est

/ a /

rri

/

ve

/ a / six / heures1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8Stress-timed patternJohn talked to him yesterday.John / talked to him / yesterday 1 2 3DA DA da da DA

da da

English, German, Russian, Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Dutch, Portuguese, and Persian are typical stress-timed languages.Slide30

Rate of speed

Rate of speed: silent killer of communication and main cause of confusion

Many NNS

answers questions with “yes” although they did not understand the

question

because too embarrassed to ask for constant repetitionSlide31

Rate of speed

Special Examples

:

Proper name spelling: person, street, geographical area, …

Giving phone numbersSlide32

Channel of Communication

Channel of communication (on the phone):

Facial info lost.

Quality of voice drops.Slide33

Noise

Contextual noise blocks communication.Slide34

Lexical ComponentSlide35

Synonyms

More difficult synonyms are barriers to communication.

Leave:

Give up

Abandon

Desert

Forsake

RenounceSlide36

Proper names

Person’s names: learning many proper names in a short time. (names of people, streets, food, equipment used in the hospital

Stethoscope

Otoscope

Ophthalmoscope

Sphygmomanometer

Thermometer

tongue depressor

reflex

hammer

Defibrillator

Resuscitation

trays

Commode chairetc.Slide37

Double negative

Double negative: harder to process the meaning

Examples:

It is not inappropriate to say …

Irregularity is not ….Slide38

Linking Words / Transitions

Easier Transitions

More Difficult Transitions

But, However

Having said that,

Notwithstanding

For example

To illustrate

So, Therefore

ConsequentlySlide39

Phrasal verbs

One

of the most difficult aspects for

NNS of English because:

lots

of

them (7000 in Oxford Dictionary)

o

ften difficult

to guess its

meaning

Put

up, put up with,

put off, put out, put throughPut up: Don't worry, we can put you up for the night.Put up with: I can't put up with the noise any more.Slide40

Phrasal verbs

polysemous

(

put down: criticize

, kill, squash

)

separation

Call something off

Call on someone

Number of words involved

She

takes after

her mother.Who can put up with that?Slide41

Idiomatic expressions

Natural for NS

Confusing for NNS

Devil's Advocate

(To present a counter argument)

Beat around the bush

Avoiding the main topic)

A penny for your thoughts(A

way of asking what someone is

thinking)

Back to the drawing

board

(

When an attempt fails and it's time to start all over.)Slide42

Slang

Slang: very informal

,

more

common in speech than writing,

typically

restricted to a particular context or group of

peopleEh?: “don’t you agree?”

Kerfuffle

: 

awkward or stressful situation, commotion.

If you’re ever in a kerfuffle, go talk to Rives or Kelly. They’ll be sure to help you out!

How's

she bootin'er?The Canadian equivalent of ‘how's it going?’Slide43

Internet Slangs

1.

YOLO

2

.

Swag

3

. TBH4. IONO

5

.

GMTA

6

.

SNM7.OWTTE8. TTY9. H2H10. JOOCSlide44

Internet Slangs

1. YOLO -

You Only Live

Once

2

. Swag -

Be

confident3. TBH - To Be Honest 4. IONO -

I Don't

Know

5

. GMTA -

Great Minds Think Alike

6. SNM - Say No More7.OWTTE - Or Words To That Effect8. TTY - Talk To You 9. H2H - Heart To Heart 10. JOOC - Just Out of CuriositySlide45

Abbreviations &

Acronyms

Nursing abbreviations could be a source of confusion, esp. when spokenSlide46

Syntactic ComponentSlide47

Verb TensesSlide48

Tense

Simple past:

I lived in Halifax for 4 years.

Present perfect:

I’ve lived

in Halifax for 4 years

.Slide49

Would

Would

is

an auxiliary

verb. We use

would

mainly to:talk about the pasttalk about the future in the pastexpress the conditional mood

expressing desire

polite

requests and

questions

opinion

or hopewish and regretSlide50

Indirect (or reported) speech

Indirect speech:

expressing the content of

statements without

quoting

it directly

She asked: “

did I

need

an injection

yesterday

?”

She asked

if she had needed an injection the previous day.Slide51
Slide52

Passive voice

We use the passive voice:

The actor is

unknown.

The

actor is

irrelevant.

We want to hide the actor.We are talking about a general

truth.

We are

writing in a scientific

genre.

Active

: You need to give her a pill.Passive: She needs to be given a pill.Passive: A pill needs to be given to her.Slide53

Dependent Clauses

Dependent Clauses

:

a group of words that contains a subject and verb but

is not a complete sentence.

It is not important

why he said that

.Why he said that

is not important.

I did not see Mary at the station

because she arrived at the bus station before noon

.

Because Mary arrived

at the bus station before noon, I did not see her at the station.Slide54

Indirect form-function relationship

Indirect

form-function

relationship

Direct:

Which of us is taller?

You are taller than I am.

Indirect:Get the tools down off the shelf for me.You are taller than I am.

(form: acknowledgement; function: refusing)Slide55

NumbersSlide56

Numbers

A lot of confusion here:

13 or 30

14 or 40

15 or 50

16 or 60

Follow up with 1 and 3 to mean 13, and 3 and 0 to mean 30Slide57

Numbers

1200:

Twelve hundred, or

O

ne thousand, two hundredSlide58

Numbers

Delayed processing and confusion. It is not a matter of math. It is a matter of processing.

Adding, subtracting, multiplying, dividing

27 / 3 = …

65 * 4 = …Slide59

GraphologySlide60

Graphology

Spelling

Hand-writing: Cursive writing

Punctuation

CapitalizationSlide61

Other sources of confusionSlide62

Appropriateness

Appropriateness

: appropriate to the situation

Hey, hi, hello, good morningSlide63

Politeness

Politeness

:

shut the

door!

I was wondering if you could possibly get the door shut for me.Slide64

Summary of Problems along with SolutionsSlide65

Syllable Structure

Rhythm

Homophones

Shift of Stress

Reduction

Intonation

Missing Sounds

Glottal Sound

Consonant Length

Palatalization

Complex Tenses

Would

Indirect Speech

Passive Voice

Dependent Clauses

Indirect Form-Function

Numbers

Spelling

Hand-Writing

Abbreviations

Rate of Speed

Communication Channel

Contextual Noise

Synonyms

Proper Names

Double Negative

Linking Words

Phrasal Verbs

Idioms

Slangs

Acronyms

Contraction

Liaison

Contrastive Stress

Appropriateness

Politeness

Elision

Co-articulationSlide66

Needs of

NNS

Needs of NNS

ESL

Classes

Exposure

TimeSlide67

Contribution of NS

Things NS can do to help

improve communication with NNS

Slowing down

Easing up

Awareness of channel of communication

Paraphrase / Rephrase

Clear

pronunciation

Clear

hand-writing

Consideration for noise

FeedbackSlide68

Thank you for your attentionSlide69

Summary of

Solutions

Slow

down

(spelling, proper names, allow

time to

process)

Ease up (words, structure)Clarity (pronunciation)Awareness of channel of communication (esp. on the phone)

Consideration for

noise

Paraphrase/rephrase (active, passive; indirect, direct; double negative, no negative; phrasal verb, non-phrasal verb)

Feedback

(get feedback to make

sure NNS understands the abbreviation or acronym, etc.)Typing vs., writing / clear hand-writing