An Analysis of Flight Announcers’ Language
Chapter One
Objectives of the study
The objective of this study is to:
- investigate the pronunciation patterns in the language of flight announcers bearing in mind specific linguistic and sociolinguistic variables;
- identify recurrent phonological patterns in the language of flight announcers;
- highlight specific phonological problems in the announcers’ general use of language
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
Introduction
This chapter reviews relevant literature on which the study is based.
Language and Communication
The concept of language and communication is a continuum in literature. Language has different definitions but is generally seen as a system of vocal sounds through which people communicate (Algeo and Pyles, 2004; Anyanwu, 2002; Brown, 1987; Richard et al., 1985; Wilson, 1986; Yule, 1985). According to Saphir (cited in Yusuf, 2012), language is non-instinctive. It means that, speaking a language is not automatic so it has to be learnt (either formally or informally). On the other hand, animals communicate, though spontaneously; thus language use is only applicable to humans since it has a structured system.
A major characteristic of language is that, it is a means of communication. Communication as defined by McLaughlin (2006:3) is “a rule-based mental system of language codes for expressing and understanding thoughts, feelings and ideas.” It could be verbal or non-verbal. Verbal communication (speech) takes place through the use of language. The process of communication usually involves the sender, receiver, message and the medium. For effective communication to occur, the message must be understood by the receiver followed by a corresponding action. Hence, the process of communication is a cycle (McLaughlin, 2006). Therefore, an interlocutor can only communicate properly when he attains both linguistic and communicative competence in expressing his ideas through the appropriate language in context (Okeke and Chukwu, 2012).
In a multilingual society like Nigeria where there are over 400 indigenous languages; English is used in interpersonal, intrapersonal and international communication as the language of commerce, business and international trade, etc. This proves the assertion of McKay (as cited in Clyne and Sharifian, 2008:98) that English as an international language ‘is used in a global sense for international communication between countries and in a local sense as a language of wider communication within multilingual societies.’ It is therefore not a surprise that English is the communicative language of directives and interaction in Nigerian airports.
Language as Directive
Directives is one of the four major categories of communicative illocutionary acts as stated in Bach (2006:467). He stated that it could be in form of ‘admonishing, advising, asking, begging, dismissing, excusing, forbidding, instructing, ordering, permitting, requesting, requiring, suggesting, urging and warning.’ Akinkurolere and Ariyo (2015) defines directives as “speech acts that embody an effort on the speaker to get the hearer to do something, ‘to direct’ him or her towards some goal (of the speaker’s mostly).” Book et al. (2014) adds that in the directive use of language, attempt is made to control, direct or influence the future actions of people, using words. These directives may however be direct or indirect and can range from a rather polite request to a more forceful command. It is usually the context that informs when and how we express directives as well as how people respond to them. Hammonds (2001) is of the opinion that speakers need to understand the social power relationship of the addressee, so that the degree to which a directive can be imposed may be established in order to maintain the social relationship. In addition, Dougherty (2013) makes a quick distinction between giving directives and directions. He reports that one who gives directives is a dictator; but sees giving directions as being less forceful, fostering creativity, confidence and high engagement of the persons involved. While Reh (2016) calls directives, orders; he calls directions, instructions. On the contrary, Epperhart (2016) views giving directives as one of the virtues of a good leader. He says that good directives can be given by explaining the reason for the action and clarity in instructing how things should be done.
Giving directions and directives play a major role in the aviation industry and in the airports in particular. In the airport, directions are given to travellers; either while on ground, within the airport or on board a flight. Without following these directives, travellers may miss their flight or even board a wrong flight. It is the duty of flight announcers to give overhead directions and directives when instructing passengers on which gate to approach and the flight to board. The air traffic control on the other hand, gives pilots directives telling them the tarmac the airplane should taxi on; when to take off, as well as letting them know the meteorological report. All these are done in order to ensure that they have a safe flight and landing too. The consequence of non-compliance by the pilot could result in a plane crash, thereby causing a disruption in the airline’s operations and that of the airport by extension.
CHAPTER THREE
METHODOLOGY
Introduction
This chapter explains the methodology employed in this study. It includes the theoretical framework on which the study rests and conceptual framework; a description of the study area, selection of sample, demographics of sample and the nature of the research instrument.
Theoretical Framework
This study adopts Labov’s (1966) theory of Linguistic Variation. The theory claims that, language varies systematically between individuals, and across different socio- geographical distribution, with respect to the social characteristics of the speakers (Gordon, 2014; Bayley, 2013; Jalali, 2013). These social characteristics are variables that have been identified by Labov (1966) as gender, social class, ethnicity and family background etc. Labov argues that differences in pronunciation is not an anomaly but is rather necessary for a language to function well in a speech community. Thus he introduced the concept of linguistic variables (Labov, 1963) which dominated most of his work.
A linguistic variable is defined as ‘a linguistic item which has identifiable variants’ (Wardhaugh, 2013). Examples of linguistic variables are the (ng) with its variants [ŋ] or [n]; (r) with its variants [r] or Ø (zero variant); (h) with its variants [h] or Ø (zero variant) and (t) with its variants [t] or [Ɂ]. Other variables that linguist have also studied are (dh) with its variants [ð] or [d]; (th) with its variants [Ө] or [t] (final (t) and (d) in words; as well as the vowels (e), (o), (a) and (u). The introduction of linguistic variables has made the study of variation become systematic. Cedergren (Cited in Tagliamonte, 2006) asserts that theoretically, the use of linguistic variables has also permitted the use of different types of statistical methods in the study of language variation. In his study Labov, took into account how speakers use language in everyday situation. Thus he advocated empirical and quantitative methods for studying these variations, especially in naturally produced speech. According to him, social variables become apparent only in the light of statistical analysis.
Milroy and Gordon (2003) also identified two methods Labov applies in examining linguistic variation. The first one, they claimed is by examining linguistic forms (i.e. variables) and their distribution; while the other method is by examining speakers of languages and their behaviour with respect to different situations. This study adopted the latter by examining the linguistic variables and their distribution in the language of flight announcers.
CHAPTER FOUR
DATA PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS
Introduction
This chapter is the presentation, interpretation and analysis of the findings from the data collected in this study and it is divided into three sections – one, two and three. In Section one (1), a summary of distributions shall be given. This shall include the distribution of respondents’ sociolinguistic variables, as well as the distribution of the linguistic variables in the word list, phrase list and sentence list. In the next section, respondents’ tests scores shall be presented numerically using simple percentages and mean where necessary. The statistics will further be displayed using tables, bar charts and pie charts where necessary to give a clearer picture of the data being represented. The Section 3 of this chapter is a presentation of the correlation of the test scores to the sociolinguistic variables under study.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY OF FINDINGS, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Introduction
This study examined the language of flight announcers in Murtala Muhammed Airport along three linguistic variables – /ǝ/, /ð/ and /Ө/ – with a view of analysing it in order to establish a correlation between their performance and the sociolinguistic variables of qualification, age, experience, exposure and ethnic origin. Thus, this chapter attempts to make a general summary of this study, state findings and draw conclusions, as well as make recommendations for further study.
General Summary
The duty of flight announcers in informing the travelling public about departure and arrival of flights places them in a pivotal position in the chain of communication in the airport. However owing the miscommunication in language between what is announced and what is heard by travellers, the researcher set out to examine the language of the flight announcers at the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos. The main objective of the study was to determine flight announcers’ realization of three linguistic variables /ǝ/, /ð/ and /Ө/ in their speech using Labov’s theory of Linguistic Variation as the theoretical framework. The theory claims that differences in social characteristics makes people use language differently. Thus sociolinguistic variables such as age, qualification, experience, ethnic origin and exposure were applied as intervening variables. Focus was however limited to the segmental features of their language. Purposive sampling technique was applied and ten (10) respondents were selected from the population to carry out reading exercises (made up of words they used regularly during announcements) which contained the linguistic variables under study. The respondents were mostly graduates aged between 20 to 50years who had worked as flight announcers for about less than a year to 10years and which represented five (5) out of the six (6) geopolitical zones in Nigeria. Descriptive statistics was further employed using simple percentage, pie and bar charts to analyze and show the relationship between respondents’ performance in the reading tests and their sociolinguistic variables.
Findings
The first objective of this study was to investigate the pronunciation patterns of /ǝ/, /ð/ and /Ө/ in the language of flight announcers bearing in mind specific sociolinguistic variables.
An attempt was made to analyze the correlation between performance and sociolinguistic factors – age, educational qualification, years of experience, exposure to native speakers and ethnic origin. Pie charts were also drawn to explore the correlation. In Figure 4.3, educational qualification in no way affected respondent’s performance because those with B.A./B.Sc. (having 72%) seemed to perform better than those with M.A./M.Sc. (with a score of 28%). It was also revealed that the best performers did not study English language or its related course as their first course of study. It may then be concluded that there may be other factors that need to be considered in addition to one’s educational qualification to result in pronunciation success.
Looking at age as a sociolinguistic factor, it may be concluded that with age comes better pronunciation. This is because respondents between age brackets 20 to 30years scored an average of 38%, while those between 31 to 50years scored 62%; thus performing better. However, this performance may also be attributed to the number of years of experience on the job, since the respondents that had the most percentage have each spent between 6 to 10years working as flight announcers. Therefore age has a relationship with performance in pronunciation.
At the level of experience, it was discovered that years of experience on the job had a relationship with the way respondents’ pronounced. This is because those who had the longest years of working experience (6 to 10years) did better than those who had worked for 1 to 5years; and they in turn did better than the respondent who had worked for less than a year.
Concerning being exposed to native speakers, an interesting discovery was made in Figure 4.6. Those who had never had any form of exposure to native speakers of English language formed a larger part of the population but constituted only 35% of the chart while three (3) respondents who had been exposed in one way or the other, occupied 65% of it. Respondents who studied English language and Mass Communication were among those who had not been exposed to native speakers and it is surprising too that they did not so well. This is because; it is assumed that such persons studied courses relating to pronunciation while in school. Thus exposure to native speaker model counts.
On the other hand, the difference between the mean scores of the respondents within the geopolitical locations was small; except in the region where the respondent with the highest score comes from. Thus ethnic origin had no relationship with respondents’ performance in pronunciation.
The next objective was to identify recurrent phonological patterns in the language of flight announcers. In the course of the study, the researcher observed that deletion of weak forms was the recurrent phonological pattern applied by almost all respondents. Words like is (/ɪz/), to (/tu:/), the (/ðɪ:) and a (/eɪ/) still retained their strong forms even when found in environments where they should have been changed to weak forms. This agrees with Akinjobi (cited in Oladimeji, 2014: 239) that Educated Nigerians are very weak when it had to do with central vowel articulation. Some respondents also realized statements and discrete words as indirect questions. Therefore, in areas where the respondents tone was meant to fall, a rise was heard. This indicates doubt and a call for affirmation as to whether what was being pronounced was right or wrong.
Furthermore, it was required of the researcher to highlight specific phonological problems in the announcers’ general use of language. The realization of the three linguistic variables under study proved that mother tongue interference is and still remains the greatest challenge in the way flight announcers as second language users pronounce most sounds that they find difficult. Therefore approximation of phoneme is noticed in their pronunciation such that they use what is already known, especially phonemes of their mother tongue. Words that had /Ө/ like thermometer, sympathy, bathroom, Thursday, Theft, thank you and thirty-three were realized, replacing /Ө/ for /t/ in most cases. Affected by the same trend are also words containing the sound /ð/ which was replaced using /d/. The worst hit variable in the exercise was the schwa /ǝ/. The respondents had more than one variant approximation to replace this sound, depending on the environment in which it is found. Schwa was /a:/ in sympathy; /e/ and /ɪ/ in formalities, /a/ in maintenance, /ɪ/ in personal and /ɒ/ in suspicious.
Deletion and insertion of vowels and consonants was also noticeable as a problem in the study. Syncope occurred when /ǝ/ was deleted in personal (pɒ:snl) and operational (/ɒpǝraʃnal/, making the words appear as clusters. Apocope occurred when two respondents pronounced theft and discovered without their final consonant sounds in rapid speech. In the same vein, anaptyxis could be seen in operational, as a respondent realized it as /ɒpureitʃnal/, thereby inserting ‘u’ where there is none. This simply means that the respondent found the clustering of ‘pr’ difficult to realize. Another respondent, inserted consonant /l/ into further, pronouncing it as /fɒlda/. The researcher also discovered that /Ө/ in bathroom was realized as /s/, making it appear as /ba:srʊm/. This case could be seen as a dialectically influenced personal speech handicap. In an isolated case however, a respondent continually pronounced space in two out of three places where the word peace was used.
Implications
The outcome of the general performance of the respondents who took the test implies that, most of the flight announcers use a variety of Nigerian English when making announcements. Going by Awonusi’s (1987) submission and comparing it to the performances of the announcers, most of the English spoken is basilectal and mesolectal as only one respondent proved to speak an acrolectal version of the language. This is attributed to the fact that the linguistic variables were realized using variants in Nigerian English as harmonized by Josiah and Babatunde (2011). Thus, the variety may appear to be less intelligible to most non-Nigerians; especially those who are only visiting or passing through. However, not only foreigners will be affected but Nigerians too, especially since most of the announcers make use of a non-Nigerian accent, yet apply it to the Nigerian variants of the RP equivalent. It is therefore, not surprising that travellers encounter challenges in understanding what is being announced in the airport most of the time and this trend may continue if not checked.
Conclusion
In conclusion, having applied Labov’s (1966) theory of linguistic variation, individual sociolinguistic characteristics have been identified to correlate with flight announcers’ correct pronunciation of English words. These sociolinguistic variables include exposure to native speakers as well as age and years of working experience in flight announcing. Thus educational qualification had no effect in pronunciation.
Also revealed is the fact that a person’s pronunciation can be attributed to variational, mother tongue interference, environmental, as well as physiological conditions. This therefore means that, if the same level of training and exposure to native speakers is being given, there is a tendency that respondents would have performed better.
Recommendations
This researcher therefore recommends that:
- In order to drastically reduce the occurences of missing flights in Nigeria and elsewhere in the world, the ICAO should spread the tentacles of its decree to include flight announcers since they also work in the airport;
- owing to the limited scope of this study in exploring the segmentals of flight announcers’ language, further study should be carried out in examining other phonemes as well as the prosodic features in flight announcers’ language.Such studies could also be analyzed using laboratory or experimental testing;
- a study with the aim of examining flight announcers’ accent should be carried out;
- since a phonological analysis was carried out on flight announcers language, a pragmatic, morphological or semantic analysis could also be done;
- government bodies in charge of recruiting and in-service trainings should expose the flight announcers to the tutelage of native speakers from time to time;
- flight announcers should also make personal effort in improving their pronunciation by listening to recorded voices of first language users or radio broadcasts on BBC, CNN, Sky News etc.;
- the study should be repeated in other airports in Nigeria in order to ascertain if the results are nationwide or peculiar to only one airport.
REFERENCES
- Adegbija, E. (2004). ‘The Domestication of English in Nigeria’. In Awonusi, S. & Babalola, E. A (eds.). The Domestication of English in Nigeria: A Festschrift in honour of Abiodun Adetugbo. Lagos: University of Lagos Press., 20 – 44
- Adesina, S. (2010). ‘The suprasegmentals of bilingual Nigerian adult aphasics.’ In SKASE Journal of Theoretical Linguistics, 7(2). Available at http://www.skase.sk/Volumes/JTL16/pdf_doc/03.pdf .
- Adweek Media & Harris Poll (2010). ‘Are consumers more responsive to male or female voices in advertisements.’ Available at www.harrispoll.com
- Afolayan, O. S.; Malik, N. A. & Adedayo, A. F. (2012). ‘Comparative analysis in variability of aircraft passenger movement in Nigeria airports.’ In International Journal of Business, Humanities and Technology,(IJBHT), 2(6): 118-122.
- Agbanu, V. N. & Nwammuo, . (2009). Broadcast Media writing, Programming, Production and Management. Enugu: Rhyce-Kerex Publishers.
- Alderson, J. C. (2009). ‘Air safety, language assessment policy and policy implementation: The case of aviation English.’ In Annual Review of  Applied Linguistics, 29(1): 168-187
- Algeo, J. & Pyles, T. (2004). The Origins and Development of the English Language. USA: Wardsworth Cengage Learning.
- Atolagbe, A. A. (2000). Elementary Phonological Analysis: A course text for Tertiary Schools. Lagos: Jehovah Shammah Printers.
- Aun, I. I. (2013). ‘Airport development and socio-economic development in Nigeria.’ In
- Journal of Research in National Development, 11(1): 196-205
- Awonusi, S. (1987). ‘The identification of standards of written institutionalized non- native Englishes.’ In LARES : 47-61.
- Bobda, A. S. (1994). Aspects of Cameroun English phonology. Bern: European Academic Publishers.
- Bobda, A. S. (1995). ‘The phonologies of Nigerian English and Cameroon English.’ In Bamgbose, A.; Banjo, A. & Thomas, A. (eds.), New Englishes: A West African Perspective. Ibadan: Mosuro Publishers., 248–68
- Bobda, A. S. (2007). ‘Some segmental rules of Nigerian English Phonology.” In English Worldwide, 28(3): 279 -310
