Читать книгу Anglo-American Cultural Studies - Jody Skinner - Страница 36

UK languages spokenJust as for the US, here too we could get away with an easy one word answer: “all.” But there are a few other interesting comparisons and contrasts to make. While only the languages of the American IndiansAmerican Indians could be looked at as indigenous languages in the US and most of them have become extinct, there are a few comparable indigenous languages still spoken in Britain, and they are still very much alive in defining identityidentity. We just mentioned the CelticCeltic FringeCeltic Fringe as a sometimes critical term for some parts of Great BritainGreat Britain. But there is evidence for a revival of Celtic identity, cultureculture, and music including increased awareness of the Celtic languages. The increase of political powerpower in WalesWales and especially in ScotlandScotland ( 5) has been mirrored in more people learning WelshWelsh, an official language in Wales, or to a lesser extent Scottish GaelicScottish Gaelic or even CornishCornish, the ancient language spoken in CornwallCornwall, or ManxManx, another Celtic language spoken on the Isle of ManIsle of Man.

[34]Of course we could mention the very many mother tongues of the immigrantsimmigrants to Britain, ( 7) we could also mention the mother tongues of the emigrants from Britain and we could find remnants of English regional accents of the 18^th century in one of the most popular places to emigrate to a few hundred years ago -namely the New WorldNew World. And it’s the New World that we want to turn our attention to now.

But for those who’d like review tasks before continuing.

Exercises

1 Find, download, and print out an outline map of the US and sketch in all the physical features, cities, and other aspects mentioned in this chapter.

2 Find, download, and print out an outline map of the UK and sketch in all the physical features, cities, and other aspects mentioned in this chapter.