64-559: Taormina Film Fest ( TFF ) is an annual Italian film festival that takes place at Taormina , Sicily , Italy in July. It was established in 1955 in Messina , and in 1957 became Rassegna Cinematografica Internazionale di Messina e Taormina , until it moved permanently to Taormina in 1971. It had a succession of names before adopting its current name. The festival stages the annual Nastro d'Argento (Silver Ribbon) film awards. The festival
128-559: A century as Received Pronunciation (RP). However, due to language evolution and changing social trends, some linguists argue that RP is losing prestige or has been replaced by another accent, one that the linguist Geoff Lindsey for instance calls Standard Southern British English. Others suggest that more regionally-oriented standard accents are emerging in England. Even in Scotland and Northern Ireland, RP exerts little influence in
192-525: A festival dedicated to its late artistic director. British English British English (abbreviations: BrE , en-GB , and BE ) is the set of varieties of the English language native to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland . More narrowly, it can refer specifically to the English language in England , or, more broadly, to the collective dialects of English throughout
256-508: A greater movement, normally [əʊ], [əʉ] or [əɨ]. Dropping a morphological grammatical number , in collective nouns , is stronger in British English than North American English. This is to treat them as plural when once grammatically singular, a perceived natural number prevails, especially when applying to institutional nouns and groups of people. The noun 'police', for example, undergoes this treatment: Police are investigating
320-406: A lesser class or social status and often discounted or considered of a low intelligence. Another contribution to the standardisation of British English was the introduction of the printing press to England in the mid-15th century. In doing so, William Caxton enabled a common language and spelling to be dispersed among the entirety of England at a much faster rate. Samuel Johnson's A Dictionary of
384-659: A process called T-glottalisation . National media, being based in London, have seen the glottal stop spreading more widely than it once was in word endings, not being heard as "no [ʔ] " and bottle of water being heard as "bo [ʔ] le of wa [ʔ] er". It is still stigmatised when used at the beginning and central positions, such as later , while often has all but regained /t/ . Other consonants subject to this usage in Cockney English are p , as in pa [ʔ] er and k as in ba [ʔ] er. In most areas of England and Wales, outside
448-484: A range of blurring and ambiguity". Variations exist in formal (both written and spoken) English in the United Kingdom. For example, the adjective wee is almost exclusively used in parts of Scotland, north-east England, Northern Ireland, Ireland, and occasionally Yorkshire , whereas the adjective little is predominant elsewhere. Nevertheless, there is a meaningful degree of uniformity in written English within
512-520: A regional accent or dialect. However, about 2% of Britons speak with an accent called Received Pronunciation (also called "the King's English", "Oxford English" and " BBC English" ), that is essentially region-less. It derives from a mixture of the Midlands and Southern dialects spoken in London in the early modern period. It is frequently used as a model for teaching English to foreign learners. In
576-655: A temple are also visible, converted into the church of San Pancrazio, but the edifice is of small size. Other sights include the 12th-14th century Palazzo Corvaja , the cathedral ( Duomo di Taormina ) dating from the thirteenth century, a 1635 Baroque fountain, the Palazzo Duchi di Santo Stefano in Gothic style of the fourteenth century, the Church of San Domenico , the Anglican Church of Saint George , and
640-430: A welcoming haven for gay men and artists. The present town of Taormina occupies the ancient site, on a hill that forms the last projecting point of the mountain ridge that extends along the coast from Cape Pelorus to this point. The site of the old town is about 250 metres (820 ft) above the sea, while a very steep and almost isolated rock, crowned by a Norman castle, rises about 150 metres (490 ft) higher. This
704-537: Is a comune (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Messina , on the east coast of the island of Sicily , Italy . Taormina has been a tourist destination since the 19th century. Its beaches on the Ionian Sea , including that of Isola Bella , are accessible via an aerial tramway built in 1992, and via highways from Messina in the north and Catania in the south. On 26–27 May 2017 Taormina hosted
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#1732779919002768-725: Is also due to London-centric influences. Examples of R-dropping are car and sugar , where the R is not pronounced. British dialects differ on the extent of diphthongisation of long vowels, with southern varieties extensively turning them into diphthongs, and with northern dialects normally preserving many of them. As a comparison, North American varieties could be said to be in-between. Long vowels /iː/ and /uː/ are usually preserved, and in several areas also /oː/ and /eː/, as in go and say (unlike other varieties of English, that change them to [oʊ] and [eɪ] respectively). Some areas go as far as not diphthongising medieval /iː/ and /uː/, that give rise to modern /aɪ/ and /aʊ/; that is, for example, in
832-795: Is included in style guides issued by various publishers including The Times newspaper, the Oxford University Press and the Cambridge University Press . The Oxford University Press guidelines were originally drafted as a single broadsheet page by Horace Henry Hart, and were at the time (1893) the first guide of their type in English; they were gradually expanded and eventually published, first as Hart's Rules , and in 2002 as part of The Oxford Manual of Style . Comparable in authority and stature to The Chicago Manual of Style for published American English ,
896-520: Is now northwest Germany and the northern Netherlands. The resident population at this time was generally speaking Common Brittonic —the insular variety of Continental Celtic , which was influenced by the Roman occupation. This group of languages ( Welsh , Cornish , Cumbric ) cohabited alongside English into the modern period, but due to their remoteness from the Germanic languages , influence on English
960-439: Is one such church. Located on the slope above the town, it commands an impressive view of the coast and Mount Etna to the south, and is accessible on foot via the staired path, Salita Castello. Taormina is approximately a forty-five-minute drive away from Europe's largest active volcano, Mount Etna . Taormina inspired the naming of ' Toormina ', a suburb of Coffs Harbour, New South Wales, Australia . The Cole Porter song "Where
1024-527: Is supposed that the present structure was rebuilt upon the foundations of an older theatre of the Greek period. With a diameter of 109 metres (358 ft) (after an expansion in the 2nd century), this theatre is the second largest of its kind in Sicily (after that of Syracuse); it is frequently used for operatic and theatrical performances and for concerts. The greater part of the original seats have disappeared, but
1088-532: Is the Life That Late I Led" from the musical Kiss Me, Kate references Taormina. A part of the movie The Big Blue (1988) was set and filmed in Taormina, where the main characters take part in the no limits freediving World Championships. The British songwriter Mark Knopfler evokes the town in his song "Lights of Taormina" in his 2015 album Tracker . D.H. Lawrence signed his poem "Snake" with
1152-463: Is the case for English used by European Union institutions. In China, both British English and American English are taught. The UK government actively teaches and promotes English around the world and operates in over 200 countries . English is a West Germanic language that originated from the Anglo-Frisian dialects brought to Britain by Germanic settlers from various parts of what
1216-426: Is the likely site of the ancient Arx or citadel, an inaccessible position mentioned by ancient writers. Portions of the ancient walls may be traced at intervals all round the brow of the hill, the whole of the summit of which was occupied by the ancient city. Numerous fragments of ancient buildings are scattered over its whole surface, including extensive reservoirs of water, sepulchres, tessellated pavements, etc., and
1280-547: The Chambers Dictionary , and the Collins Dictionary record actual usage rather than attempting to prescribe it. In addition, vocabulary and usage change with time; words are freely borrowed from other languages and other varieties of English, and neologisms are frequent. For historical reasons dating back to the rise of London in the ninth century, the form of language spoken in London and
1344-675: The 43rd G7 summit . The history of Taormina dates back to before Ancient Greece established its first colony on Sicily in 734 BCE in Magna Graecia . After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, Taormina continued to rank as one of the more important towns of the island. Taormina followed the history of Sicily in being ruled by successive foreign monarchs. After the Italian unification , Taormina began to attract well-off tourists from northern Europe, and it became known as
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#17327799190021408-534: The British Isles taken as a single umbrella variety, for instance additionally incorporating Scottish English , Welsh English , and Northern Irish English . Tom McArthur in the Oxford Guide to World English acknowledges that British English shares "all the ambiguities and tensions [with] the word 'British' and as a result can be used and interpreted in two ways, more broadly or more narrowly, within
1472-658: The East Midlands became standard English within the Court, and ultimately became the basis for generally accepted use in the law, government, literature and education in Britain. The standardisation of British English is thought to be from both dialect levelling and a thought of social superiority. Speaking in the Standard dialect created class distinctions; those who did not speak the standard English would be considered of
1536-493: The Royal Spanish Academy with Spanish. Standard British English differs notably in certain vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation features from standard American English and certain other standard English varieties around the world. British and American spelling also differ in minor ways. The accent, or pronunciation system, of standard British English, based in southeastern England, has been known for over
1600-490: The Scots language or Scottish Gaelic ). Each group includes a range of dialects, some markedly different from others. The various British dialects also differ in the words that they have borrowed from other languages. Around the middle of the 15th century, there were points where within the 5 major dialects there were almost 500 ways to spell the word though . Following its last major survey of English Dialects (1949–1950),
1664-573: The University of Leeds has started work on a new project. In May 2007 the Arts and Humanities Research Council awarded a grant to Leeds to study British regional dialects. The team are sifting through a large collection of examples of regional slang words and phrases turned up by the "Voices project" run by the BBC , in which they invited the public to send in examples of English still spoken throughout
1728-610: The West Country and other near-by counties of the UK, the consonant R is not pronounced if not followed by a vowel, lengthening the preceding vowel instead. This phenomenon is known as non-rhoticity . In these same areas, a tendency exists to insert an R between a word ending in a vowel and a next word beginning with a vowel. This is called the intrusive R . It could be understood as a merger, in that words that once ended in an R and words that did not are no longer treated differently. This
1792-629: The 21st century. RP, while long established as the standard English accent around the globe due to the spread of the British Empire , is distinct from the standard English pronunciation in some parts of the world; most prominently, RP notably contrasts with standard North American accents. In the 21st century, dictionaries like the Oxford English Dictionary , the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English ,
1856-703: The Ancient Theatre, while the other two locations are used mainly for retrospective screenings of popular classics. The Nastri D'Argento Awards are held on the last evening of the festival. The directors of Taormina Film Fest have been: Separate from the Nastro d'Argento, the festival also awards other prizes: Taormina Taormina ( UK : / ˌ t ɑː ɔːr ˈ m iː n ə / TAH -or- MEE -nə , US : /- n ɑː / -nah , also / t aʊər ˈ -/ , Italian: [ta.orˈmiːna] ; Sicilian : Taurmina )
1920-836: The English Language (1755) was a large step in the English-language spelling reform , where the purification of language focused on standardising both speech and spelling. By the early 20th century, British authors had produced numerous books intended as guides to English grammar and usage, a few of which achieved sufficient acclaim to have remained in print for long periods and to have been reissued in new editions after some decades. These include, most notably of all, Fowler's Modern English Usage and The Complete Plain Words by Sir Ernest Gowers . Detailed guidance on many aspects of writing British English for publication
1984-647: The Festival dell Nazione was dropped. The top three films were awarded gold, silver and bronze Cariddi, and another award, the Maschere di Polifemo (Masks of Polyphemus ) (gold, silver, and bronze) was created for the best interpretations. In 1984 the Nastri d'Argento (Silver Ribbons) were introduced. In 1983 the EPT (Ente Provinciale per il Turismo), which had sponsored the event since the start, stopped its patronage, and
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2048-666: The Germanic schwein ) is the animal in the field bred by the occupied Anglo-Saxons and pork (like the French porc ) is the animal at the table eaten by the occupying Normans. Another example is the Anglo-Saxon cu meaning cow, and the French bœuf meaning beef. Cohabitation with the Scandinavians resulted in a significant grammatical simplification and lexical enrichment of the Anglo-Frisian core of English;
2112-922: The Oxford Manual is a fairly exhaustive standard for published British English that writers can turn to in the absence of specific guidance from their publishing house. British English is the basis of, and very similar to, Commonwealth English . Commonwealth English is English as spoken and written in the Commonwealth countries , though often with some local variation. This includes English spoken in Australia , Malta , New Zealand , Nigeria , and South Africa . It also includes South Asian English used in South Asia, in English varieties in Southeast Asia , and in parts of Africa. Canadian English
2176-712: The South East, there are significantly different accents; the Cockney accent spoken by some East Londoners is strikingly different from Received Pronunciation (RP). Cockney rhyming slang can be (and was initially intended to be) difficult for outsiders to understand, although the extent of its use is often somewhat exaggerated. Londoners speak with a mixture of accents, depending on ethnicity, neighbourhood, class, age, upbringing, and sundry other factors. Estuary English has been gaining prominence in recent decades: it has some features of RP and some of Cockney. Immigrants to
2240-599: The Taormina BNL Film Fest, sponsored by the Banca Nazionale del Lavoro . However, BNL dropped its €500,000 sponsorship before the 2006 event, much to director Felice Laudadio's disgust at the late decision, taken in January. In 2006 the festival had to run without its international competition, and cancel invitations to the more expensive stars. Laudadio (1999—2006) was responsible for increasing
2304-550: The UK in recent decades have brought many more languages to the country and particularly to London. Surveys started in 1979 by the Inner London Education Authority discovered over 125 languages being spoken domestically by the families of the inner city's schoolchildren. Notably Multicultural London English , a sociolect that emerged in the late 20th century spoken mainly by young, working-class people in multicultural parts of London . Since
2368-576: The United Kingdom , as well as within the countries themselves. The major divisions are normally classified as English English (or English as spoken in England (which is itself broadly grouped into Southern English , West Country , East and West Midlands English and Northern English ), Northern Irish English (in Northern Ireland), Welsh English (not to be confused with the Welsh language ), and Scottish English (not to be confused with
2432-426: The United Kingdom, and this could be described by the term British English . The forms of spoken English, however, vary considerably more than in most other areas of the world where English is spoken and so a uniform concept of British English is more difficult to apply to the spoken language. Globally, countries that are former British colonies or members of the Commonwealth tend to follow British English, as
2496-465: The West Scottish accent. Phonological features characteristic of British English revolve around the pronunciation of the letter R, as well as the dental plosive T and some diphthongs specific to this dialect. Once regarded as a Cockney feature, in a number of forms of spoken British English, /t/ has become commonly realised as a glottal stop [ʔ] when it is in the intervocalic position, in
2560-488: The award of the grant in 2007, Leeds University stated: that they were "very pleased"—and indeed, "well chuffed"—at receiving their generous grant. He could, of course, have been "bostin" if he had come from the Black Country , or if he was a Scouser he would have been well "made up" over so many spondoolicks, because as a Geordie might say, £460,000 is a "canny load of chink". Most people in Britain speak with
2624-622: The country. The BBC Voices project also collected hundreds of news articles about how the British speak English from swearing through to items on language schools. This information will also be collated and analysed by Johnson's team both for content and for where it was reported. "Perhaps the most remarkable finding in the Voices study is that the English language is as diverse as ever, despite our increased mobility and constant exposure to other accents and dialects through TV and radio". When discussing
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2688-605: The festival has usually been held in the Teatro Antico (Ancient Theatre) in Taormina. Also in 1970, the inaugural Gran Premio delle Nazioni was awarded, in that year to Sydney Pollack . On the 10th anniversary of the Festival delle Nazione (Festival of Nations), the Charybdis was awarded to the Australian film Picnic at Hanging Rock (film) , directed by Peter Weir . From 1981, under the director Guglielmo Biraghi,
2752-437: The festival was renamed Taormina FilmFest (under the newly established Taormina Arte). Enrico Ghezzi, director from 1991 to 1998, renamed the show TaoFest, and changed the focus and activities of the festival quite radically, with a focus on arthouse films , discussion, and study. In 1997 he held it in the convention building in Taormina under the name XXVII Festival internazionale del cinema di Taormina. From 2002 it became
2816-470: The first four days of the film were hosted in Messina, and Taormina the last four. In 1969, director/president Giuseppe Campione (1969—1970) aimed to promote films with cultural depth and social relevance, with a subtitle of the festival "Festival for International Film Cooperation". In 1970 the Festival internazionale del cinema di Taormina was created, which opened in Taormina for the first time. Since 1971
2880-458: The idea of two different morphemes, one that causes the double negation, and one that is used for the point or the verb. Standard English in the United Kingdom, as in other English-speaking nations, is widely enforced in schools and by social norms for formal contexts but not by any singular authority; for instance, there is no institution equivalent to the Académie française with French or
2944-523: The last southern Midlands accent to use the broad "a" in words like bath or grass (i.e. barth or grarss ). Conversely crass or plastic use a slender "a". A few miles northwest in Leicestershire the slender "a" becomes more widespread generally. In the town of Corby , five miles (8 km) north, one can find Corbyite which, unlike the Kettering accent, is largely influenced by
3008-518: The later Norman occupation led to the grafting onto that Germanic core of a more elaborate layer of words from the Romance branch of the European languages. This Norman influence entered English largely through the courts and government. Thus, English developed into a "borrowing" language of great flexibility and with a huge vocabulary . Dialects and accents vary amongst the four countries of
3072-457: The mass internal migration to Northamptonshire in the 1940s and given its position between several major accent regions, it has become a source of various accent developments. In Northampton the older accent has been influenced by overspill Londoners. There is an accent known locally as the Kettering accent, which is a transitional accent between the East Midlands and East Anglian . It is
3136-668: The municipal gardens ( Giardini della Villa Comunale ). Just south of Taormina is the Isola Bella , a nature reserve ; and further south, situated beside a bay, is the popular seaside resort of Giardini Naxos . Tours of the Capo Sant'Andrea grottos are also available. The town of Taormina is perched on a cliff overlooking the Ionian Sea. Besides the ancient Greek theatre, it has many old churches, lively bars, fine restaurants and antique shops. The Santuario Madonna della Rocca
3200-473: The ninth and eleventh century with symmetrical cells positioned one on the other. Located outside the city walls that defended the town of Taormina, the necropolis extended toward northeast, between the existing ruins and the Church of St. Pietro. The ancient theatre of Taormina is built for the most part of brick, and is therefore probably of Roman date, though the plan and arrangement are in accordance with those of Greek, rather than Roman, theatres; whence it
3264-858: The programme of Taormina Arte there is the Taormina Film Fest , the heir of the Cinema Festival of Messina and Taormina, dating from 1960, which for about twenty years has hosted the David of Donatello Awards. During the Taormina Film Fest the Silver Ribbons are awarded, a prize created by Italian Film Journalists. Since 2005, in October, Taormina Arte has organized the Giuseppe Sinopoli Festival,
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#17327799190023328-523: The remains of a spacious edifice, commonly called a Naumachia , but the real purpose of which it is difficult to determine. Saracen Castle: Built by the Arabs about 400 meters high on the rock of Monte Tauro, the Castello Saraceno allowed to dominate on Taormina and its beautiful bay, and control the valley of the river Alcantara. Arab Necropolis: The necropolis was probably built between
3392-419: The reputation and profile of the festival internationally. His innovations included doing away with the Cariddi/Charybdis and the Maschere di Polifemo/Masks of Polyphemus and replacing them with awards given by sponsors: the Diamond Awards (from 2000) and the Taormina Arte Awards for Cinematic Excellence (from 2003). The Silver Ribbons were again hosted from 2000. Over the years Taormina Film Fest has hosted over
3456-406: The summer in Taormina. The exceptional stage for pop and classical concerts, opera and important performances often recorded by television (for example, the ceremony of the Silver Ribbon Award, the Festivalbar, the Kore) is the Ancient Theatre. Since 1983, the most important performances are realized by Taormina Arte, the cultural institution which organizes music, theatre and dance festivals. Within
3520-433: The theft of work tools worth £500 from a van at the Sprucefield park and ride car park in Lisburn. A football team can be treated likewise: Arsenal have lost just one of 20 home Premier League matches against Manchester City. This tendency can be observed in texts produced already in the 19th century. For example, Jane Austen , a British author, writes in Chapter 4 of Pride and Prejudice , published in 1813: All
3584-403: The traditional accent of Newcastle upon Tyne , 'out' will sound as 'oot', and in parts of Scotland and North-West England, 'my' will be pronounced as 'me'. Long vowels /iː/ and /uː/ are diphthongised to [ɪi] and [ʊu] respectively (or, more technically, [ʏʉ], with a raised tongue), so that ee and oo in feed and food are pronounced with a movement. The diphthong [oʊ] is also pronounced with
3648-403: The wall which surrounded the whole cavea is preserved, and the proscenium with the back wall of the scena and its appendages, of which only traces remain in most ancient theatres, are here preserved in an uncommon state of integrity. From the fragments of architectural decorations still extant it has been determined that these were of the Corinthian order , and richly ornamented. Some portions of
3712-408: The word "Taormina"—perhaps the location of his "petty" encounter. The American lawyer Gerald D. McLellan set his legal thriller The Bully (2014) between the North End of Boston and Taormina, with very specific place details of the bar called Naxos. Season two of The White Lotus , a television comedy-drama, is set in a luxury hotel in Taormina. Many exhibitions and events are organized during
3776-501: The world are good and agreeable in your eyes. However, in Chapter 16, the grammatical number is used. The world is blinded by his fortune and consequence. Some dialects of British English use negative concords, also known as double negatives . Rather than changing a word or using a positive, words like nobody, not, nothing, and never would be used in the same sentence. While this does not occur in Standard English, it does occur in non-standard dialects. The double negation follows
3840-504: The years many stars of international cinema: Elizabeth Taylor , Marlene Dietrich , Sophia Loren , Cary Grant , Robert De Niro , Colin Firth , Marlon Brando , Charlton Heston , Audrey Hepburn , Gregory Peck , Tom Cruise , Melanie Griffith , and Antonio Banderas , among others. As of 2023, the festival runs for nine days, and includes film screenings in three locations (Teatro Antico, Palazzo dei Congressi, and Casa del Cinema) and masterclasses. Premieres and new films are screened in
3904-467: Was notably limited . However, the degree of influence remains debated, and it has recently been argued that its grammatical influence accounts for the substantial innovations noted between English and the other West Germanic languages. Initially, Old English was a diverse group of dialects, reflecting the varied origins of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England. One of these dialects, Late West Saxon , eventually came to dominate. The original Old English
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#17327799190023968-418: Was established in Messina , Sicily, in 1955, and in 1957 grew to include Taormina, at the same time introducing the "Cariddi d'Argento" (Silver Charybdis) awards. It was then named the Rassegna Cinematografica Internazionale di Messina e Taormina From 1957 to 1980 it hosted the David di Donatello film awards, named after Donatello's statue of David , which increased the prestige of the festival. In 1964,
4032-422: Was never a truly mixed language in the strictest sense of the word; mixed languages arise from the cohabitation of speakers of different languages, who develop a hybrid tongue for basic communication). The more idiomatic, concrete and descriptive English is, the more it is from Anglo-Saxon origins. The more intellectual and abstract English is, the more it contains Latin and French influences, e.g. swine (like
4096-418: Was then influenced by two waves of invasion: the first was by speakers of the Scandinavian branch of the Germanic family, who settled in parts of Britain in the eighth and ninth centuries; the second was the Normans in the 11th century, who spoke Old Norman and ultimately developed an English variety of this called Anglo-Norman . These two invasions caused English to become "mixed" to some degree (though it
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