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Communication Dans Un Congrès Année : 2024

Accents in a monocentric culture: the historical transmission of English pronunciation norms in French education

Dylan Michari

Résumé

From as early as the beginning of the 19th century, educational authorities unreservedly endorsed a prescriptive view on pronunciation models, particularly favouring norms associated with upper-class London English. This led to the establishment of a standard British accent as the exclusive pronunciation model deemed worthy of instruction (Michari, 2023). Even when curricula and textbooks began acknowledging other English varieties some two centuries later, a similar inconspicuous adherence to prescriptive logic persisted, openly designating specific pronunciation models as ’correct’ examples of English pronunciation. This paper aims to delve into the historical factors influencing this choice of models in a country with a predominantly monolithic view of languages (Clyne, 1991) and with little to no recognition of variation (the pluricentric languages organisation). Spanning two centuries (from 1829 to the present day), our investigation begins with a comprehensive review of educational materials ranging from primary and secondary national curricula to French learner-oriented phonetics textbooks and examiners’ reports of national competitive examinations for teaching English. This initial exploration leads to analyses of the language representations and ideologies (e.g., Kroskrity, 1999) transmitted alongside pronunciation models which contribute to shaping the very conception of what constitutes ’English’ in France (Glain & Wilson, forthcoming). We argue that these representations and ideologies play a pivotal role in shaping subjective norms within French learners’ individual and collective linguistic imaginaries. This perspective aligns with a model developed by Houdebine (1982) to characterise the relationship of speakers to their language use.
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Dates et versions

hal-04627805 , version 1 (27-06-2024)

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  • HAL Id : hal-04627805 , version 1

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Dylan Michari, Olivier Glain. Accents in a monocentric culture: the historical transmission of English pronunciation norms in French education. 7th Prescriptivism Conference – Transmitting Prescriptivism and Norms, Jun 2024, Aix-en-Provence, France. ⟨hal-04627805⟩
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