Aim:

To discover some of the features of Jamaican creole English.

Method:

Transcriptions are made of the speech of two children who had recently emigrated from Jamaica to the West Midlands of England. The children were recorded in their primary school in the early 1970s. The transcripts are studied to see how far the children's language had retained its creole features, and how far it had adopted the local dialect or standard English in its vocabulary and grammar.

Aim:

To discover some of the features of pidgin English.

Method:

Bislama is the pidgin English that is the national language of Vanuatu (formerly the New Hebrides, in the Pacific). Authentic written and recorded examples are discussed to illustrate the differences between the vocabulary and grammar of a pidgin and present-day English.

Aim:

To introduce students to the basic characteristics of the consonant sounds of English.

Method:

Experiments in the pronunciation of simple English vocabulary are used to draw attention to what is involved in the pronunciation of individual consonants and to show how some consonants are more alike than others because of the pronunciation features they share in common.

Aim:

To introduce students to the description of vowel sounds by reference to tongue position and lip setting.

Method:

Experiments in the pronunciation of a range of vowel sounds are used to demonstrate the idea of a 'vowel space' and how to describe it.