Diversity - World English

Question 1

what is ethnicity?

Answer 1

a person’s cultural identity and their views about who their community is

Question 2

what is a pidgin language?

Answer 2

a grammatically simplified language used for communication between people not sharing a common language. they act as a lingua franca.

Question 3

what is a creole?

Answer 3

a variety that has developed from a pidgin language to become a stable language used by speakers as their mother tounge.

Question 4

what is code-mixing?

Answer 4

including the odd word/phrase from one language in another

Question 5

what is code-switching?

Answer 5

switching between languages in a comprehensible and sustained manner.

Question 6

Sebba (1993):

Answer 6

interviewed and recoded British-born teenagers who had Jamaican parents and found that they use a mix of Carribbean creole forms, cockney forms and standard English.
defined this as ‘London Jamaican’

Question 7

what is global english?

Answer 7

the idea that English is a worldwide language

Question 8

what is international English?

Answer 8

the idea that the English language is used in a range of international contexts

Question 9

what is a lingua franca?

Answer 9

a language that is adopted as a common language between speakers whose native languages are different.

Question 10

what are L1 and L2 speakers?

Answer 10

L1 = first language learned by an individual
L2 = second language learned by an individual

Question 11

how has English expanded?

Answer 11

colonial expansion
invasions
global trade

Question 12

what are some more modern reasons for the spread of English?

Answer 12

international communication
media
21st century internet usage

Question 13

McArtuhur (1987):

Answer 13

his model puts ‘world standard English’ in the middle and other types of English around it e.g British and Irish Standard English and East Asian Standardising English.

Question 14

evaluative points of McArthur’s theory

Answer 14

✅model recognises some social dialects
❌doesn’t recognise all social dialects
❌ does world standard english exist?
❌ englishes are constantly changing

Question 15

Kachru (1985):

Answer 15

three circle model:
inner circle (L1) e.g UK/USA (traditional bases of English) - ‘norm providing’
outer circle (L2) e.g India (former colonies) - ‘norm developing’
expanding circle (L3) e.g China/Russia (taught as a foreign language) - ‘norm dependent’

Question 16

evaluative points on Kachru’s theory:

Answer 16

✅helped solve the problem of treating the different types of English as one
❌outer circles are arguable de-legitimised and not part of the ‘real thing’
❌doesn’t show how the types interlink

Question 17

Graddol (1997):

Answer 17

three circles of English overlap (L1,L2,L3)
‘those who speak English alongside other languages will outnumber first-language speakers and increasingly, will decide the global future of language’

Question 18

views on the future of English:

Answer 18

Crystal = the momentum of English growth is so great nothing is likely to stop it as a global lingua franca

Graddol = the growth of English may lose its momentum

McArthur = English is going through such radical change around the world that it is fragmenting into a ‘family of languages’

Question 19

Ostler:

Answer 19

as British and American powers decline, English will no longer be the dominant language in the world
technology will intervene.
he believes it will allow us to translate any language into another with ease