Natospeak, Communication,
Culture & Cultural Literacy
Kipling’s Stranger
The Stranger within my gate, He may be true or kind,
But he does not talk my talk – I cannot feel his mind.
I see the face and the eyes and the mouth, but not the soul behind.
Rudyard Kipling (1908)
Col. L. Chaloupský, Ph.D.
Charge of the LB
Trooping of Battle Honours
Elements of Cultural Communicative
Competence and Possible Complications
PRODUCTION
COMPREHENSION
Grammatical
Competence
Semantics/
Pragmatics
Polysemy/
Homonymy
Morphology
Sociolinguistic
Competence
CULTURAL
COMPETENCE
Phonology
Functional
Competence
Synonymy/
Antonymy
Syntax
Speech Acts
Lexicon
Interactional
Competence
Cultural Speech Area
Czech
• Rukulíbám, milostivá paní.
German
• Küs´die Hand, gnädige Frau!
English
American English
British English
• I kiss your hand, gracious lady.
Australian English
N.Zealand English
Cultural Speech Areas
Native to Non-Native
THE CHINESE PILOT TO ATC VIDEO
Components of Speech Events
S P E A K I N G
S
SITUATION
Physical, temporal, psychological setting defining the
speech event
P
PARTICIPANTS
Speaker, hearer, addressee, audience
E
ENDS
Purposes, goals and outcomes
A
ACT OF SEQUENCE
Message form and content
K
KEY
Manner of speaking, tone (serious, tentative…)
I
INSTRUMENTALITIES
Spoken or written, use of dialects, register
N
NORMS OF INTERACTION
Turn -taking, interpretation (local conventions of
understanding
G
GENRE
Casual speech, accademic essay, etc.
Different Englishes
Non-native Englishes
Czenglish
Deutschglish/
Gerlish
Italglish/
Italish
Frenglish/
Franglais
Johnsonese
Academese, bureaucratese
Brooklenese
´Si vous êtes un first-time reader de Franglais, welcome! Franglais est
comparativement painless et ne donne pas un hangover. En quantités judicieuses, il
est mindblowing. Ayez fun.´
Different Englishes
Institutionalized
Unglish/
UNese
EUglish
Natoglish
Pentagonese/
MoDese
“Uh, sir, we’re not sure which of these is the latest version –
we’ll de-conflict and have this fixed for the next meeting.”
“We don’t have time to talk about this crap – we’ve got a tight, intense battle
rhythm and we’ve got to get through these slides if we want to stay on track.”
Seaspeak
Airspeak
Natospeak
Seaspeak Examples
This is HMS ‘Dartmouth’
Seaspeak (English for Maritime Communications) is the English of merchant shipping,
a restricted language adopted in 1988 by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) of
the United Nations.
Airspeak Examples
Air Traffic Controller:
Pilot:
"Identing, BA six zero six Alfa."
"BA six zero six Alfa: squawk ident."
(In the above: squawk means "reveal", ident means "identify," and identing
means "identifying.")
Airspeak (Air Traffic Control English, Aviation English) is the English of international civil
aviation, a restricted language established after the Second World War by the International
Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) of the United Nations.
Natospeak
NATO - MILITARY
ARMY
NAVY
AIR FORCE
Special Forces
NCO´s
Officers
Generals
Airspeak
Natospeak
=
Seaspeak
OR
ESP ?
Plus other speaks
?
English for Specific Purposes (ESP) is the English language taught for professional,
vocational, and other specific purposes. ESP addresses learners with a common reason for
learning, such as the English of air traffic control or Operational Mentor and Liaison Team
(OMLT).
Misson Area
Canada
Great Britain
USA
C U L T U R E
Australia
IMPACT
New Zealand
Pronunciation, Dialects, Intonation, Speed of Speech,
Vocabulary, Grammar, Spelling,
30 Different Non
Native English
Speakers
Ireland
India, South Africa, East Africa …
Different Cultures
And when people are entering upon a war they do things the wrong way around.
Action comes first, and it is only when they have already suffered that they begin to
think.
Thucydides, The Peloponnesian War
Culture and its Characteristics
• Culture is a system of shared beliefs, values, customs, behaviors, and artifacts
that the members of society use to cope with their world and with one another.
• Culture is learned, though a process called enculturation.
• Culture is shared by members of a society; there is no “culture of one.”
• Culture is patterned, meaning that people in a society live and think in ways
that form definite, repeating patterns.
• Culture is changeable, meaning it is constantly changing through social
interactions between people and groups.
• Culture is arbitrary, meaning that Soldiers and Marines should make no
assumptions regarding what a society considers right and wrong, good and bad.
• Culture is internalized, in the sense that is habitual, taken-for-granted, and
perceived as “natural” by people within the society.
James Cook
Kipling’s Stranger
The Stranger within my gate,
He may be true or kind,
But he does not talk my talk—
I cannot feel his mind.
I see the face and the eyes and the
mouth,
But not the soul behind.
The men of my own stock,
They may do ill or well,
But they tell the lies I am wonted to,
They are used to the lies I tell;
And we do not need interpreters
When we go to buy or sell.
CONCLUSIONS
• PURPOSE OF STANAG 6001 NEED TO BE UNDERSTOOD PROPERLY
(proficiency type of test not an achievement type of test, not a university type of
exam, etc.)
• STANAG 6001 DESCRIPTORS NEED TO BE RIGOROUSLY ENFORCED
• Culture should be incorporated into language training at all levels
• A lack of Cultural Awareness, Cultural Recognition & Independent Research into
the nuances of operating in English will endanger coalition missions
•
While there are obvious sensitivities involved, the attitude that this cannot be looked
at because it is "political" or "cultural" is not helpful needs to be overcome
•
Any nonchalant attitude to the consequences of failing to address training and
education requirements will reduce and negate the roles of individual members
within the Alliance
THANK YOU FOR YOUR
ATTENTION
Questions Are Welcomed
BIBLIOGRAPHY
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Hymes 1968 – Linguistic problems in defining the concept of ´tribe´
McArthur – The Oxford Companion to the English Language
Hall, Smith, Wicaksono - Mapping Apllied Linguistics
Chaloupský, McKeating – Theories in Practice, Military Language and
Culture, Zlín
Chaloupský - A Sociolinguistic Interpretation of Military Slang and
Vernacular Expressions, Brno
Holmes – An Introduction to Sociolinguistics
http://www.jftc.nato.int/JFTC%20Magazine3/index.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afghanistan
http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/02/pentagonese-a-primer/
http://www.un.org/en/events/englishlanguageday/translators.shtml
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seaspeak
http://punch.photoshelter.com/image/I0000a9.bKUAOPPQ
http://www.timeanddate.com/holidays/australia/anzac-day
http://www.staff.amu.edu.pl/~inveling/pdf/liu_quingxue_inve9.pdf