Leia o texto a seguir e responda às questões de 21 a 24 . Simpler spelling may be more relevant than ever The complexity of English ...
Leia o texto a seguir e responda às questões de 21 a 24.
The complexity of English spellings has been bothering people for nearly as long as English has been written down. They argue that inconsistent spellings make English unnecessarily hard to learn. The English Spelling Society, a UK organisation pushing for easier spellings, even argues that there’s a link between difficult spelling and higher crime, with illiteracy pushing people into a life of illegality. While that argument might be a stretch, it’s clear that non-traditional spelling does create a bad impression.
Compared to the UK variants, US spellings are easier for non-native speakers to learn, being shorter and slightly more phonetic. These US spellings are a legacy of dictionary pioneer Noah Webster’s movement for simplified spelling. This movement sought to cleanse English of double and silent letters, as well as other inefficiencies related to orthography (the system of writing and spelling words).
There was a practical as well as a political element to this. Not only would learners find it easier to master simplified spellings, Webster reasoned, but humbler spellings were actually more democratic, and would help differentiate the Americans from their recent colonial masters across the pond.
Webster’s ideas led to the proliferation in the US of “labor” over “labour” and “center” over “centre”, even if not all his ideas have become the “fashon”. For one thing, English is such an irregular language that it’s impossible to iron out all the kinks. No form of English is written out completely phonetically, as anybody with a tough cough (tuf cawf?) will know. Any new spelling rules would need plenty of exceptions. Overall, English’s erratic spellings bear witness to the many words it has absorbed from other languages. Like the wealth of accents among English speakers, this feature both enriches the language and poses a challenge to standardised simplified spellings.
English spellings and dyslexia
One group that might be helped by simpler spellings is people with dyslexia. In linguistic terms, English is opaque, meaning that there’s little correlation and consistency between its spoken and written forms. What you read and what you say can seem very different. Finnish and Spanish, in contrast, are more transparent.
So “kids learn to read English slower than kids who learned transparent languages like Spanish, Italian, Czech, German”, says Liory Fern-Pollak, a cognitive neuroscientist at University College London.
As dyslexia has a neurological basis, an affected person would have dyslexia regardless of whether they were born in Finland or England. But Fern-Pollak explains that it would be easier to diagnose them in England, as they grapple with the idiosyncratic spellings of English.
English in the internet age
Webster’s ideas are perhaps newly relevant, as the language of IT and the internet increasingly influences how English is written. Globally, Google returns more results for US spellings. In computing, “program” is generally accepted over “programme”. Shorter words are more versatile in text messages and social media posts, and search engine optimisation often favours US spellings. The Googlelisation (or “Googlization”) of the internet is one reason that Thai learners, for instance, prefer American spellings.
But the internet is also exposing people to a large variety of spellings. So “people are representing their spoken dialects more through spelling in spaces like Twitter and Instagram”, says Lauren Squires, a linguist at Ohio State University. She believes that “people are becoming more comfortable with spelling variation”, even though there’s a strong and enduring idea that only one spelling can be correct.
QUESTÃO 24
(UEL 2020) Sobre as colocações do texto a respeito da língua inglesa e a era da Internet, considere as afirmativas a seguir.
I. Desde seu surgimento, a Internet tem contribuído para a padronização da ortografia da língua inglesa em todo o mundo.
II. Uma pesquisa feita no Google com palavras em inglês escritas com a ortografia norte-americana retorna mais resultados.
III. O Twitter e o Instagram são espaços onde a variação ortográfica é uma forma de representação de como as pessoas falam.
IV. A preferência dos alunos tailandeses pela ortografia norte-americana ilustra a influência da Internet na aprendizagem do inglês.
Assinale a alternativa correta.
a) Somente as afirmativas I e II são corretas.
b) Somente as afirmativas I e IV são corretas.
c) Somente as afirmativas III e IV são corretas.
d) Somente as afirmativas I, II e III são corretas.
e) Somente as afirmativas II, III e IV são corretas.
QUESTÃO ANTERIOR:
- (UEL 2020) De acordo com o texto, pessoas com dislexia poderiam ser beneficiadas com a simplificação da ortografia da língua inglesa porque
RESOLUÇÃO:
I. Incorreta. O texto afirma que a Internet tem exposto as pessoas a uma variedade ortográfica maior.
II. Correta. Essa afirmação está explícita no texto (Google returns more results for US spellings).
III. Correta. Essa é a opinião da linguista Lauren Squires, da Ohio State University (“people are representing their spoken dialects more through spelling in spaces like Twitter and Instagram”).
IV. Correta. O texto afirma que os alunos tailandeses preferem a ortografia norte-americana devido ao predomínio da Google na Internet. Consequentemente, é a internet que influência a aprendizagem da língua inglesa (The Googlelisation (or “Googlization”) of the internet is one reason that Thai learners, for instance, prefer American spellings).
GABARITO:
e) Somente as afirmativas II, III e IV são corretas.
PRÓXIMA QUESTÃO:
- (UEL 2020) Em relação ao texto James “Super Chikan” Johnson, atribua V (verdadeiro) ou F (falso) às afirmativas a seguir.
QUESTÃO DISPONÍVEL EM:
- Prova UEL 2020 (1ª e 2ª Fases) com Gabarito e Resolução
Simpler spelling may be more relevant than ever
The complexity of English spellings has been bothering people for nearly as long as English has been written down. They argue that inconsistent spellings make English unnecessarily hard to learn. The English Spelling Society, a UK organisation pushing for easier spellings, even argues that there’s a link between difficult spelling and higher crime, with illiteracy pushing people into a life of illegality. While that argument might be a stretch, it’s clear that non-traditional spelling does create a bad impression.
Compared to the UK variants, US spellings are easier for non-native speakers to learn, being shorter and slightly more phonetic. These US spellings are a legacy of dictionary pioneer Noah Webster’s movement for simplified spelling. This movement sought to cleanse English of double and silent letters, as well as other inefficiencies related to orthography (the system of writing and spelling words).
There was a practical as well as a political element to this. Not only would learners find it easier to master simplified spellings, Webster reasoned, but humbler spellings were actually more democratic, and would help differentiate the Americans from their recent colonial masters across the pond.
Webster’s ideas led to the proliferation in the US of “labor” over “labour” and “center” over “centre”, even if not all his ideas have become the “fashon”. For one thing, English is such an irregular language that it’s impossible to iron out all the kinks. No form of English is written out completely phonetically, as anybody with a tough cough (tuf cawf?) will know. Any new spelling rules would need plenty of exceptions. Overall, English’s erratic spellings bear witness to the many words it has absorbed from other languages. Like the wealth of accents among English speakers, this feature both enriches the language and poses a challenge to standardised simplified spellings.
English spellings and dyslexia
One group that might be helped by simpler spellings is people with dyslexia. In linguistic terms, English is opaque, meaning that there’s little correlation and consistency between its spoken and written forms. What you read and what you say can seem very different. Finnish and Spanish, in contrast, are more transparent.
So “kids learn to read English slower than kids who learned transparent languages like Spanish, Italian, Czech, German”, says Liory Fern-Pollak, a cognitive neuroscientist at University College London.
As dyslexia has a neurological basis, an affected person would have dyslexia regardless of whether they were born in Finland or England. But Fern-Pollak explains that it would be easier to diagnose them in England, as they grapple with the idiosyncratic spellings of English.
English in the internet age
Webster’s ideas are perhaps newly relevant, as the language of IT and the internet increasingly influences how English is written. Globally, Google returns more results for US spellings. In computing, “program” is generally accepted over “programme”. Shorter words are more versatile in text messages and social media posts, and search engine optimisation often favours US spellings. The Googlelisation (or “Googlization”) of the internet is one reason that Thai learners, for instance, prefer American spellings.
But the internet is also exposing people to a large variety of spellings. So “people are representing their spoken dialects more through spelling in spaces like Twitter and Instagram”, says Lauren Squires, a linguist at Ohio State University. She believes that “people are becoming more comfortable with spelling variation”, even though there’s a strong and enduring idea that only one spelling can be correct.
RO, Christine. Simpler spelling may be more
relevant than ever. BBC Worklife. 13th June 2019.
QUESTÃO 24
(UEL 2020) Sobre as colocações do texto a respeito da língua inglesa e a era da Internet, considere as afirmativas a seguir.
I. Desde seu surgimento, a Internet tem contribuído para a padronização da ortografia da língua inglesa em todo o mundo.
II. Uma pesquisa feita no Google com palavras em inglês escritas com a ortografia norte-americana retorna mais resultados.
III. O Twitter e o Instagram são espaços onde a variação ortográfica é uma forma de representação de como as pessoas falam.
IV. A preferência dos alunos tailandeses pela ortografia norte-americana ilustra a influência da Internet na aprendizagem do inglês.
Assinale a alternativa correta.
a) Somente as afirmativas I e II são corretas.
b) Somente as afirmativas I e IV são corretas.
c) Somente as afirmativas III e IV são corretas.
d) Somente as afirmativas I, II e III são corretas.
e) Somente as afirmativas II, III e IV são corretas.
QUESTÃO ANTERIOR:
- (UEL 2020) De acordo com o texto, pessoas com dislexia poderiam ser beneficiadas com a simplificação da ortografia da língua inglesa porque
RESOLUÇÃO:
I. Incorreta. O texto afirma que a Internet tem exposto as pessoas a uma variedade ortográfica maior.
II. Correta. Essa afirmação está explícita no texto (Google returns more results for US spellings).
III. Correta. Essa é a opinião da linguista Lauren Squires, da Ohio State University (“people are representing their spoken dialects more through spelling in spaces like Twitter and Instagram”).
IV. Correta. O texto afirma que os alunos tailandeses preferem a ortografia norte-americana devido ao predomínio da Google na Internet. Consequentemente, é a internet que influência a aprendizagem da língua inglesa (The Googlelisation (or “Googlization”) of the internet is one reason that Thai learners, for instance, prefer American spellings).
GABARITO:
e) Somente as afirmativas II, III e IV são corretas.
PRÓXIMA QUESTÃO:
- (UEL 2020) Em relação ao texto James “Super Chikan” Johnson, atribua V (verdadeiro) ou F (falso) às afirmativas a seguir.
QUESTÃO DISPONÍVEL EM:
- Prova UEL 2020 (1ª e 2ª Fases) com Gabarito e Resolução
COMENTÁRIOS