English variations Flashcards
1
Q
Canadian English (inner circle)
A
- French and English
- British and American English influence heavy
- borrows from french
2
Q
Features of Canadian English: Phonology
A
distinctive vowel pronunciation: about becomes aboot
3
Q
Features of Canadian English: Lexis
A
- American vocab: candy, cellphone
- lexis specific to Canadian English: runners, grade one
4
Q
Features of Canadian English: grammar
A
- Use of tag “eh” instead of American “huh”
- Common second person pronoun: “yiz” or “youze”
5
Q
Indian English (outer core)
A
- British influence from the 18th century
- British gradually assumed control of gov, law, and education
- division between those who thought English was a key to western knowledge and those who wanted to preserve local language
6
Q
Indian English features: Phonology
A
- syllable-timed (instead of stress-timed)
- timed language like British Language
- little difference between /v/ and /w/
7
Q
Indian English features: Lexis
A
- Indian terms borrowed by English: bungalow, pajamas
- some not used in English varieties: acha (stop), bas (bus)
8
Q
Indian English features: Grammar
A
- tag question “no”
- progressive tense “she is knowing the answer”
9
Q
Singlish
A
- mixture of English with dialects from China and Malay
- very informal
- Standard English key for business
- code-switching must happen
- identity markers “la” “meh”
- constantly evolving and natural phenomenon
10
Q
Government concerns with singlish
A
- want to make sure standard English is maintained
- Speak Good English campaigns have evolved from trying to stamp out Singlish to accepting that properly spoken English and Singlish can peacefully co-exist
