In the Phonetic Competition, the secondary students of the Iunior International Institute were invited to recognize the different English-speaking accents interpreted in the speech given by Samuele Brusca, English language teacher and content creator.
That day there was a special American menu and a high jump competition and Samuele’s message was meant to be a “good luck”, a way to start training attention, adrenaline and healthy competition: overcoming the wall of linguistic understanding, the phonetic competition proposed by Samuele focused attention on the different phonetic nuances of the English language, proposing itself as an exercise for training in listening and recognizing diversity.
Indeed, in all cultures and in all countries of the world, the phonetics of a language go beyond national identity, narrating origins and a sense of belonging to one territory rather than another: in Italian the aspirated “c” it immediately connects to the Tuscan lands, bringing the history of the area back to the Etruscan origins, and can never be confused with the pronunciation of the Cosenza “c” which, instead, takes us back to the Greek, Byzantine and Latin origins. Similarly, also in English through phonetics it is possible to recognize the origin and belonging to specific geographical areas and communities.
Strictly speaking, British English should be considered the original one but in reality “export” English such as North American English has retained many original phonetic rules that have been lost in the UK. The Australian on the other hand, although implanted on the other side of the world, has maintained a connotation closer to British origins, but not without the influences of the indigenous population and immigrants who give life to a truly special English. At the same time, the diffusion of English as a lingua franca worldwide has created many other phonetic nuances compared to the pronunciation that an Italian, a French, a Spanish and an Indian can have.
Being able to understand and decipher the phonetic pronunciation represents a further magnifying glass on the world and a key to understanding people’s stories, their origins and the slang of reference.
Thus, on the occasion of such a special day Sam, from remote island down south shared a small speech, switching 4 phonetic cadences: Tito Al Hawari of III^ Secondary School was the fastest to recognize the exact order in which they were pronounced the 4 accents.
And you, can you recognize them?
