The Participants’ Background

Question:

Discuss about the Art of Conversation in English.

The language English is the only language in the whole world that is considered to be the most prestigious and authoritative among all the global languages. Millions of people in the world aspire to learn English to enrich their higher education opportunities, to become professionally acclaimed and to travel profusely. The dominance of the once great British Empire can be cited as a major factor in the pervasive popularization of English. It was once famously said that the sun never sets in the British Empire, which was very much true during the previous centuries (Algeo & Butcher, 2013). Gradually, with time, the influence of the British Empire started to falter and ultimately it had to relinquish power to all its former colonies. The British lost everything sans the popularity of English. English never lost the power and charisma and with over time, it strengthened its position more firmly and assertively (Crystal, 2015). The language English possesses certain peculiarities such as it is the only language to not to have a recognized supervisory academy, the inventors of English that is the English elitist did not know to speak English for over a century, the interesting differences between the British version of English and the American version of English and many others. All the above factors make the study of English language more appealing and interesting (Pennycook, 2017). All over the world, English is the primary foreign language taught in schools, colleges and universities, alike. This report outlines the fact to construct a report depicting the differences in the spoken version of English of two speakers.

This mini research project is about a recorded dialogue conversation between the famous Bollywood actress Priyanka Chopra and the equally famous television entertainer and producer Jimmy Kimmel.

 Priyanka Chopra is popularly regarded as a consistent performer in the Bollywood movie genre. She has also been bestowed with the prestigious crown of the Miss World in the year 2000, held at the venue of Millennium Dome in the city of London in Great Britain (Roberts, 2014).  According to the producers, she has the record to deliver numerous super hit blockbusters, on an annual basis. Priyanka Chopra has also extended her brilliant filmography to movies made in Hollywood. She has been working diligently on the foreign soils, especially in the United States of America, to make her cinematic presence stronger and vivid. Priyanka Chopra is also on the way of earning accolades in her singing career in the genre of English pop music. Indeed, it can be said that Priyanka Chopra is a lady of remarkable caliber who possesses the ability to entertain us stupendously in the many coming years (Bennington, 2013).

Gender Analysis of the Participants

At present in the 21^st century in the American sector of entertainment, Jimmy Kimmel is pervasively considered to be the most bankable television entertainer. His superb creation- Jimmy Kimmel Live is reported to be the most viewed television gossip show in America. The famous Jimmy Kimmel show has won many illustrious awards including the celebrated Oscar and the Primetime Emmy trophy (Double, 2013). The career graph of Jimmy Kimmel has extended over vast forms of media comprising film, radio and television. Jimmy Kimmel has also taken the endeavor to act in movies to display his superb acting skills. Jimmy Kimmel frequently cites the two esteemed media moguls Howard Stern and David Letterman as his most profound influences in light entertainment (Krasner, 2013).

The context of the recorded conversation between Priyanka Chopra and David Letterman is about the experiences of the former in her journey from Bollywood to Hollywood in particular and from an oriental society to an occidental society in general. In the video, Jimmy Kimmel asks Priyanka Chopra to shed light on her life, profession and any interesting encounters she has faced in America (Varia, 2012). Subsequently, Priyanka Chopra verbally expresses to Jimmy Kimmel about her experiences in America, such as the amateurish perceptions of Americans about India, her brief migration to America from her homeland at the tender age of twelve under the supervision of her maternal aunt. She also informs the audience about her struggle in adapting to the American high school life and her fervent idolization of the awarded rappers-Tupac Shakur and Dennis Rodman (Jackson II & Richardson, 2014). During the phase of her school life, she adored the unique style of attire and expression of Tupac Shakur and Dennis Rodman. In addition to this, she also entertains the audience and the host with her new role in the upcoming American crime show-Quantico (Pafford & Matusitz, 2017). She tells about her character’ role and the story line of Quantico and she also states that how she remarkably manages her transition between the two cultures by travelling frequently to India on weekends. Here, Jimmy Kimmel is the host and Priyanka Chopra is the guest. Priyanka Chopra is an Indian born non-native speaker of English. On the other hand, Jimmy Kimmel is an American born native speaker of English. Jimmy Kimmel and Priyanka Chopra differ in their upbringing style, socio-cultural norms as well as in their communication mode and style (Biber & Conrad 2014). Hence, it can be said that this recorded conversation is a brilliant analytic piece that would offer interesting variations in the articulation of language.

Occupation Analysis of the Participants

The process of data collection of the conversation between Priyanka Chopra and Jimmy Kimmel has been done profoundly and in detail. The data, from the conversation between Priyanka Chopra and Jimmy Kimmel has been processed and collected through recording. Recording was extremely required in this case because both the participants in this conversation are no non-descript or everyday people, but celebrated entertainers who mesmerizingly rule over the hearts and minds of millions of people worldwide (Suetake et al., 2013). The art of recording has provided us with the sources of variations in age, social status, gender, occupation, socioeconomic status, style, register, dialects and accents in the conversation style of the two speakers. This has further made the study in the language variations more fascinating and stimulating.

A detailed data analysis and discussion based on the parameters of age, social status, gender, occupation, socio-economic status, style, register, dialects and accents of the two speakers has been provided in this section.

Priyanka Chopra is born on the date of eighteen in the month of July in the year of 1982. The place of her birth is in the vibrant industrial city of Jamshedpur in the eastern state of Jharkhand in the country of India. She had an upper middle class upbringing with both her parents employed with the Indian Army as esteemed medical practitioners. Her social status has been ascribed from birth as privileged and fortunate. She had the pleasure to travel to different locations for her schooling and college education due to her parents’ transferable jobs with the Indian Army (Cosin, Freeman & Hales, 2013). She even had the opportunity to study in America for a brief period of time. Later in her life, when she achieved supreme professional success, she reached to the pinnacles of glory, fame and prosperity. She has even ranked in the elite category of the world’s top 200 dynamic women in the publications of various magazines in the year 2017. Thereby, it can be said that Priyanka Chopra enjoys a luxurious and fortunate social status.

Jimmy Kimmel is born on the date of thirteen in the month of November in the year of 1967. The place of his birth is the lively city of Brooklyn in the eastern state of New York in the country of America. Mr. Kimmel also had an affluent upbringing with two of his siblings. His father was a respected executive of the famous American intercontinental organization- The International Business Machines Corporation (Scuotto, Ferraris & Bresciani, 2016). His mother was a homemaker and had distant Italian noble heritage. Jimmy Kimmel had received his school and college education from the top schools and universities of the country. This factor could be attributed to his top familial connections with the well-known strata of the society and his brilliant merit. It can be said that Jimmy Kimmel also had an advantaged upbringing, which is comparable with the other participant of the conversation-Priyanka Chopra. Mr. Kimmel later found his calling in the comedy world of media and entertainment, which propelled him to envy inducing luxury and opulence. Therefore, it can be said that Jimmy Kimmel enjoys a remarkable social status.

Data Collection and Analysis

From the above analysis, it is lucid that the two entertainers are similar in their social status and style of upbringing albeit a difference of fourteen years in their lifetime or age.

Priyanka Chopra belongs to the female gender. Priyanka Chopra is a glorious example of 21^st century female power, success and independence. Ms. Chopra hails from the developing country of India. India is located in the Southern part of the Asian continent. In the previous times, India was notorious due to the occurrences of various crimes and felonies regarding women empowerment. The Indian society was infamous for subjugating women and confining them to domestic imprisonment sans any societal participation and contribution. In this new era of feminization, India is taking the initiative to educate and strengthen their women so that they can be at par with their fellow male compatriots (Gangoli, 2016). In this aspect it can be said, that as a celebrated woman, Priyanka Chopra has personally made many valuable contributions for bringing attention to the burning issue of women emancipation and enfranchisement in India.

Jimmy Kimmel, the other participant of the recorded conversation in English, belongs to the male gender. Mr. Kimmel is an American by birth; therefore, he symbolizes the American version of strong masculinity and perseverance. Mr. Jimmy Kimmel is multi-talented with explicit interests in sports and music. He has entertained his fans, occasionally in shows, playing the instrument of bass clarinet.

From the above analysis, the fact is clarified that there is a difference in gender between the two participants of the recorded conversation in English.

Priyanka Chopra is a talented actress in the Indian film industry of Bollywood. Her occupation portfolio cites that she has successfully acted in a whopping number of fifty films. All her films are representations of various film genres such as comedy, horror, thriller, action, history, adventure and romance. Recently, she has earned appreciation and good acclaim for her acting performance in the American crime show-Quantico. This has enlarged her fan circle and fan forums, worldwide. Along with being an actress, Ms. Chopra is an established singer, benefactress as well as a film promoter. She enjoys multi facets in her occupation cycle. In terms of socio-economic status, Priyanka Chopra is counted as among the elitist and refined section of the society. Her fortune is estimated to be at nine million, including earnings from national and international sources.

Simultaneously, Jimmy Kimmel is also a talented performer in the American industry of media and entertainment. Mr. Kimmel’s occupation portfolio includes work done in the mediums of film, radio and of course television. Television is the medium, which has taken and spread the name of Jimmy Kimmel to the household of millions of common Americans as well as to the faraway countries. The career span of Jimmy Kimmel has started from the year of 1989 and is still booming profusely, at present. Jimmy Kimmel is an actor, radio host, award show host, comedy performer as well as a visionary commentator of sports in the American national television (Hodge, 2014). Like Ms. Chopra, he is also a magnificent generalist in his occupational cycle. In terms of socio-economic status, Jimmy Kimmel is universally considered to be counted among the crème de la crème section of the society. His fortune is estimated to be at thirty five million dollar, including earnings from his business ventures as well as his acting endeavors.

Conclusion

Priyanka Chopra has applied coherent usage of lexicon and syntax in her conversational style. Ms. Chopra is a non-native speaker of English. However, she does not appear to be so in her conversational style. Ms. Chopra seems to be at ease and goes with the flow in the conversation in a graceful way (Crystal & Davy, 2016).  The manner in which she expresses her views are good to listen and facile to comprehend. Priyanka Chopra had also been strikingly informal in her speaking style. She shows a good sense of humor and appears cordial and humble.

On the other hand, Mr. Kimmel also uses similar style as Ms. Chopra. Mr. Kimmel is a native speaker of English as it is his mother tongue. He is informal in his tone and style and makes the conversation easy going, fun and entertaining. In addition to this, it is clearly evident that Jimmy Kimmel has used intense vocabulary, grammar and structure in his conversational style. In his speaking style, Jimmy Kimmel had been remarkably friendly, gracious and affectionate.

Overall, the style of conversation in the whole six-minute video is descriptively casual as well as intimate. This style of conversation suits the setting because the purpose of the show itself is to entertain the audience with light fun, humor and entertainment (Leech & Svartvik, 2013). 

The usage of dialects and accents in any language makes it easy to identify the origin and the style of upbringing of a speaker. Ms. Priyanka Chopra speaks with a remarkable non-Indian accent of English. The Indians are known to be using their vernacular effect when they speak English (Sailaja, 2012). Any listener can easily sense the native tinted pronunciation in their spoken English style. Among the Indians, there are several variations in English spoken style. However, since, Ms. Chopra had few years of upbringing in the United States and also due to her experiences of work for a couple of years in America, there are no native tinge in her English. She speaks with beautiful, near to American style of English with correct informal grammar, which is very comprehensible, concise and coherent. The listener can understand clearly, as to what she says.

Mr. Jimmy Kimmel, on the other hand speaks English with the perfect usage of American accents and dialects. The American style of English, which Mr. Kimmel speaks, is unique to the New York accent, which is possibly due to his upbringing. Mr. Kimmel’s use of English is complimented with non-rhoticity and unique style of shortening the vowels in sentences at the time of pronunciation of the words. The grammar used by Jimmy Kimmel is correct and informal.

There are big variations between the dialects of the two speakers. The tone of the Indian speaker, Priyanka Chopra does not sound distinct, when she pronounces both v and w. Whereas, on the other hand, the American speaker, Jimmy Kimmel clearly sounds definite when he pronounces either v or w, for instance in words such as work or vow. Another fact which is worth mentionable here is that the differentiation in the pronunciation of “th” and “d”. Jimmy Kimmel pronounces both “th” and “d” differently with lucid emphasis. Contrastingly, Priyanka Chopra mixes up the pronunciation of “th” and ”d”. It is cumbersome to differentiate between, for instance, say, “day” and “brother” in the tone of Priyanka Chopra. The American English can sound incoherent and rolling compared to the singsong style of Indian English (Trudgill & Chambers, 2017).  Therefore, there it can be said that there is a strong dialectal variation between the English of Priyanka Chopra and the English of Jimmy Kimmel.

Conclusion

In the conclusion, it can be stated that the above-recorded conversation has made a brilliant analytical study of language variations in English. The conversation style of Ms. Priyanka Chopra and Mr. Jimmy Kimmel has helped massively to understand the intricacies and complications of English language. Undoubtedly, English is a widely spoken language in the whole world. As a result, the art of English language has developed many variations in the style, register, dialects and accents all over the world. The Asians and the Africans have a distinct mode of speaking English with their unique tone, pronunciation and style. Similarly, the Latin Americans and the Europeans have formed their own version of English over the few decades of English popularization. In addition to this, the native speakers of English have their own style of speaking variations such as the British way differs from the Australian way and the Australian way differs from the Irish way. All these further make the language, English, interesting to study and learn.

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