|
Bryan Jenner
(Vienna) |
The original idea of the Common
Core (Jenner 1989) was based on the belief that the only conceivable
model of pronunciation for the learner
was provided by some sort of native speaker, but that we should only be able to achieve that if we changed our
priorities and refrained from spending
all our time on details of vowels.
This idea was taken up and modified
(e.g. by Jenkins 1996, 2000) on the
basis that most learners did not want or need to interact with native speakers, and the important
thing was that they should be able to
communicate with and understand each other: Jenkins therefore proposed a
reduced common core .
In practice, however, both of these
notions are based on the idea that the
learner can either imitate native-speaker norms or deviate from them, in certain approved ways. It seems
to me that neither Jenkins nor I went
far enough in the direction of finding a true
phonology of International English, in that like most British
phoneticians we have been
pre-occupied with details of
realisation, rather than with systems.
What is now needed is an attempt to
determine a 'real' phonological common
core underlying L2 (and possibly also L1)
realizations, based on data from fluent EIL performers rather than learners. Such a model would be at a very
abstract or 'reference' level, and
would in some respects resemble a model for grammar. Actual pronunciation variants would then be seen simply as alternative exponents of this.
Such an ultimate phonology of
English might contain, for example, a
very small number of vowels (perhaps 6), with no central vowels at all; and few, if any, diphthongs. It would
be rhotic in principle; and length
contrasts would be largely redundant.