SECTION B

MODULE 2- LANGUAGE AND COMMUNITY

With close referencing to the passage, in an ESSAY of no more than 500 words, discuss the
following:

(i) Possible reasons for the writer’s language choices used in the narrative
(ii) Difficulties that non-West Indians may experience in understanding the passage
(iii) How a video presentation could enhance the comedic effect of the extract.

Total 25 marks

Student’s response

This Olive Senior’s extract titled, “Do Angels wear Brassieres,” that appeared in the 1977 Oxford
Caribbean Short Stories describes the conversation between an Archdeacon and a young girl,
Beccka who is preparing for her Confirmation, as well as the series of unfortunate but comical
chain of events that followed once Beccka as what can only be considered as an ‘eye popping,
jaw dropping’ question. This essay will discuss the reasons for the writer’s language choices, the
difficulties that non-West Indians may encounter in understanding the passage and will conclude
with an analysis of how a video presentation will enhance the comedic effect of the passage.
When choosing languages in a specific situation, writers take into consideration various
factors. In this case Olive Senior may have considered the Archdeacon’s status in the community
when she gave him Standard English as his language. This was a great choice as people generally
expect a person in the Archdeacon’s position to speak Standard English almost all the time
rather than Creole, as seen in this example, ‘Surely you must have some questions about doctrine,
hm, religion, that puzzle you’. In the same vein the Archdeacon must have attained tertiary level
education thus again making the choice of Standard English a correct one, as it is the norm for the
higher the level education of a person’s education the high the possibility of that person speaking
the Standard English.
People may expect Creole to be the language choice of young Beccka especially as in this case
the narrator’s voice when describing the other members of the household was definitely Creole.
Unexpectedly though Beccka matched the Archdeacon with Standard English as seen in this
example, ‘‘Sir, what I want to know is this for I can’t find it in the Bible. Please sir, do angels wear
brassieres?’ As a child in conversation with an older person it is customary that she would show

144 | Edlin Rochford
her respect for not only age but also in recognition of the office and position that the Archdeacon
holds in the Christian community as emphasised when she addressed him as ‘Sir’.
Short of sounding cliché, many persons still hold the belief that Creole is the language of
comedy and the fact that there was the noticeable switched from Standard English to Creole when
narrator related the events that followed when Beccka asked this adult and ‘man of the cloth’ a
rather personal and embarrassing question, …do angels wear brassieres?’. Undoubtedly Creole is
the more effective of the two especially as the ensuing chain of events were really comical to the
readers who could understand. Standard English could not have put life and comic relief to these
events, “Auntie Mary stopbraps in the doorway with fright when she hear Beccka’s question. She stop
so sudden that Cherry bounce into her and spill a whole pitcher of cold drink all down Auntie Mary
back. As the coldness hit her Auntie Mary jump and half her tray throwaway on the floor. Milk and
sugar and sandwiches a rain down on Archdeacon.”
Whilst as expected West Indians will have no problem understanding the nuances in this
piece which will all be lost to a non- West Indian speaker. To the West Indian the word ‘braps’
describes the suddenness of at which Auntie Mary stopped upon hearing Beccka’s question to
the Archdeacon., on the other hand a non – West Indian will be totally clueless as this in not a
word that they use or can look up in a regular dictionary. The lack of pluralisation of words is a
common feature in a Creole speaker’s speech and so they will understand the narrator when he
says, ‘Archdeacon jump up with his handkerchief and start mop himself…’ or ‘… food and drink for
ten Archdeacon,’. Finally, because a West Indian speaker can understand tenseless words does not
mean that it’s the same with a non-West Indian speaker. The latter may experience difficulties
in understanding because there is no indication of when the event took place as seen in these
examples, ‘Auntie Mary jump…’ and ‘…when she hear Beccka’s question’
Technology such as a video will indeed enhance the comedic effect of the extract. For
example many features of the characters’ body language can be observed thus enhancing the
communication taking place, the Archdeacon can be seen eagerly sittin up and leaning forward
awaiting Beccka’s ‘serious’ question but once she utters it the camera can show the shock (jaws
drops, eyes pop) on his face and the deflation in his posture. On Beccka the camera will zoom in on
her face that is ‘screwed up’ in supposed concentration but once she asks the question this look can
be changed to supposedly innocent ‘mischief’. Another comical situation that can be highlighted
in the video presentation is the hilariously narrated scene, …she stop braps’, ‘the cold pitcher that
Cherry was carrying fell of Auntie Mary’s back (she must have screamed and squirmed with the
double shock) the food and drink for the Archdeacon ended up not in his stomach but on him and
whilst this in any situation should not have caused relief it did in this case creating comedy. As the
Archdeacon instead of being upset for the mess on his clothes he welcomed the confusion and may
have seen it as ‘God sent’ as the look of ultimate was on his face. Finally, the comic relief can be

CAPE Communication Studies: Practical Exercises for Paper 02 Essays | 145

seen when both Auntie Mary and the Archdeacon who ordinarily would never touch each other
but in this case were busy trying to mop each other up and comically must have been touching in
places that may seem inappropriate.
Conclusively, language choices used in the narrative were done so for several reasons known
to the writer but because audiences vary there is the possibility that understanding and enjoying
the piece may be difficult for the non West Indian section of the audience. In cases like this though
a video presentation can in some way enhance the comedic effect.

146 | Edlin Rochford