grammatical constraints and motivations for - University of the ...

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147. Clarence: Back with us at eighteen from three o clock. Lee Downs, your man, is back. He’s, uh, feeling
better today. Under the weather yesterday. Uh, he had a good rest so he’s back from three to
six on the Down Low. Bonjour monsieur. Bonjour madame. Uh, we are in Paris, aren’t we?
148. Suster: Uh, oui, uh, parlez vous English? ()
149. Clarence: Non, non, non.
150. Suster: () Un café
151. Clarence: Huh?
152. Suster: Un café () = =
153. Clarence: = = si vous plait
154. Suster: Ooh, ja, un café si vous plait () jambon, uh, = =
155. Clarence: = = Champagne or jambon
156. Suster: Non, jambon () [laughter]
157. Clarence: [laughter] More or less what the conversations sounded like between South Africans and
French. [laughter] Uh, the French, they like their language. They do not speak English. Well,
in Paris, quite a few of them do these days, uh, but of course a long standing, uh, uh, lets call
it, I think it’s an egotistical battle with the British. So they’re passionate about their language
and their culture, um, and constantly, uh, evaluating it and asserting it, uh, against the Anglo-
Saxons.
158. Suster: Ja {Yes}, but, but what I find Clarence, okay they, they, they do have a problem with you
know communicating in, in a language of, of your own language, like English for example, but
they, they try, really try and communicate with you although they say, “I speak () little” Um,
they really try and that is the funny part. Ja {Yes}, the way they try and the way you try to
speak their language. Uh, what, I mean, one of the people on the tour sort of made a negative
response. Uh, “Ja, ek kan niks maak’ie (maak nie) because, um, hulle wil’ie (wil nie) onse
language praat ’ie (praat nie).” {“Yes, I can’t do anything because, um, they don’t want to
speak our language”} So I said, “You are in France. You have to make the effort to speak
French.” Ja {Yes}, that is important.
159. Clarence: Another person on the trip said, “You know, they’ll make so much more money if they can
speak English.”
160 Suster: Huh.
161. Clarence: I think the same applies to us. We’ll make so much more money if we could speak French and
if the principle is that, uh, everybody should speak, uh, the most dominant language, then the
implication is that all of us need to learn to speak Mandarin because that is the most spoken
language in the world. Just to set the matter straight.
162. Suster: Ja, but just to set the matter straight, toe vat Clarence mos nou die group die Maandag toe
ons nou in in Paris is {Yes, but just to set the matter straight, so Clarence took the group the
Monday that we were in Paris}. Toe vat Clarence, ek was nou nie saam gewees ’ie (gewees
nie) because ek het decide my beauty sleep is very important, verstaan jy, because it affects
my skin if I don’t sleep a lot and toe gat (gaan) slap ek die middag {So Clarence took, I now
wasn’t with because I decided my beauty sleep is very important, you understand, because it
affects my skin if I don’t sleep a lot and so I went to go sleep that afternoon}. Toe vat
Clarence nou die res van ’ie (van die) group op ‘n tour… en hulle’t (hulle het) nou nie gecheck
nou die map vir hoe ver goeters uitmekaar uit is ’ie (is nie), verstaan jy {So now
Clarence took the rest of the group on a tour and they now didn’t check the map as to how far
apart things are}. Hoe, hoe’t (hoe het) jy vir hulle laat loop van Kaap tot {How, how’d you
let them walk from Town to} Sommerset West. [laughter]
163. Clarence: [laughter] There’s one thing, there’s a couple of things = =
164. Suster: = = they walked
165. Clarence: = = there’s a couple of things you have to do in Paris. You have to see Le Louvre Museum.
You don’t necessarily have to go in if you don’t want to, but you have to see the pyramids
outside and that’s where our walk started. At the lower end of the Champs Élysées right up to
the top end ‘cos you’ve gotta walk the Champs Élysées.
166. Suster: So, so first Le Louvre and then, then the Notre-Dame, uh, or the, or the other way round and