Global English Flashcards
crystal
countries have adopted english, started adapting it to fit their own uses and everywhere in the world, there is a new variety of english growing
the guardian
english was voted as ‘the worlds most favourite language’ in a poll
the spread of english
over 30 countries where over 1 million speak english
crystal’s best estimate lies around 2 billion speakers and around 400 million native speakers
the british empire
migration to america, nz and australia
expanded into trade relationships with africa and asia
british empire has colonised huge swathes of the world resulting in english being spoken
south african english (SAE)
lexically: robot - traffic light
grammatically: unstandardised plurality e.g furnitures , repetition of words to increase meaning e.g the teddy is big big bear
phonologically: /p/, /t/, and /k/ are stressed in word initial positions e.g rocket
webster
america and britian moved further away post revolution book 'blue back speller' edits to orthography removed 'u' from colourful reversed the 're' diagraph e.g theater eliminated double letters e.g travelled
streven’s world map of english 1980
dominance of english
difference between british english and american english
engel
americansims are bad
‘ugly’
AmE is driving out BE as BE has lost its identity
english is in crisis
pyles and algeo
difference between AmE and BE are trivial
no ‘essential’ difference between them
lynne murphy
american living in britain
nothing wrong with americanisms
not ruining BE
BE and AmE are still very different
american english
lexical borrowings from native americanisms e.g squash and skunk
initially very few changes to preserve original english
english settlers wanted place names which reminded them of home e.g new york
settlers from all over england, no clear majority of accent, less variation in american accents
american neologisms
grew into economic and political power
new words seeped into BE
some estimates 300 - 400 americanisms every single day (engel - more for teens)
categorising speakers
ESOL - english as second/other language
L1- first language
L2 - second language (official lang of country)
EFL- english as foreign language
ELF - english as lingua franca (compromise lang)
graddol
english is losing momentum
‘global elite’ will be multilingual in the future
crystal 1987 reasons for switching from one language to another
express solidarity with a particular social group
might not be able to express themselves in one so switches to another e.g express upset
exclude others from conversations who do not speak the second language
convey attitude to the listener e.g formality
indian english
lexically: use of ‘upgradation’ as a noun
grammatically: use of progressive form of stative verb e.g he is thinking he knows the answer
phonologically: /ɔ/ (or) articulated as /o/ (oo)
african american vernacular english (AAVE)
lexically: ‘homie’, ‘blood’ and ‘fam’ used as terms of endearment
grammatically: multiple negation, ‘aint’ is popular, and the copula is elided e.g smells
phonologically: the /in/ is used instead of /iŋ/
modiano
proficient speakers will look to teach english to those who are less able, others look to learn from proficient speakers
doesnt take into geographical location
learn more english, move to the middle
knowledge spreads out
recognises spheres of influence
challenge: proficient is a subjective term
wider significance: recognises global change
crystal use of lang
differences places adopt and adapt to suit their needs
jenkins 2003
kachru’s model designed having in mind geography and genetics
does not factor in how users identify themselves e.g english at home
jenkins 2005- 5 characteristics of ELF
used by speakers of different languages to communicate
alternate to english as foreign language rather than replacement
may include innovations that might characterise local varieties
linguistic accommodation and code switching is useful for ELF
purposes of codification
mcarthur
group varieties of english based on where they originate from
group commonalities
all of equal value
challenge: is BE not worthy of more fame?
Wider significance: all englishes are equal
kachrus 3 circles
appreciate variation - one ‘standard’ does not suit the needs of different nationalities
closer to the centre, more accurate to original english
inner circle- originals> AmE and BE
outer circle- touched by english speakers explicitly e.g imperialism
expanding circle - not touched by anyone
kachrus 3 circles strengths
look at identity of individual versions
track spread of english and why it has spread
spread of empire
kachrus 3 circles - biggest weaknesses
relies on geography rather than language use e.g schools where english is taught
‘grey area’ between circles
doesnt account for bilingual speakers
cant really assess proficiency e.g someone who speaks english extremely competently in india
term ‘inner circle’ can imply superiority - biggest problem
lisa lim
evolution of english in singapore stresses what she calls ‘ecology of language’
mark pagel
when a new language splits from its mother tongue it generally undergoes a burst of rad change in lexis
‘punctional change is occurring with local englishes’
suzette hade elgin
‘i dont see anyway we can know whether the ultimate result of what’s going now will be ponglish dialects but display a rough consensus about its grammar’
david deterding
‘conflation of types of nouns is extremely common in new varieties of english around the world’
barbara seidiholfer
verbal interactions between non native english speakers
dont distinguish between mass nouns e.g information and count nousn e.g book
david graddol
‘the new language which is rapidly ousting (that) of shakespeare as the worlds lingua franca is english itself- english in its new global form’
jean paul nerriere
the reality of english is that its future is on tongues of non native speakers who spoke ‘globish’ japanese and english 1980s and 1990s of basic 1500 words
paul bruthlaux
highly educated speakers addressing international media in tv interviews e.g indian is difficult to understand related to ways it is stressed
jurgen beneke
the vast majority of interactions in english are between non native speakers as much as 80%
mario saraceni
should accept we have lost control of the english language
should now think in terms of english being plural
letting go of standard as the ‘correct’ variety
uses the simile we have much control of english as italians do pizza
crystal - the death of a language 2013
need for biological diversity
adapt in order to survive in different environments
multiple cultures is so vital, development of a role of languages becomes critical
when language transmission breaks down, serious loss of inherited knowledge
jennifer jenkins
mispronunication of non-native english speakers to see which one creates communication problems
kachru
fragmentation happens to all languages
non native englishes are already becoming less intelligible to each other
‘there has always been mutually unintelligible dialects of languages e.g arabic, chinese’
‘no reason to suppose that the future of english will be different’
singlish
hybrid language - english and singaporean
146yrs of british colonial rule over singapore
singaporean government has made long attempts to encourage its population to speak rp
government heavily discourage the use of more colloquial form singlish
singlish has low prestige, classed as slang and being ‘broken’ english
government claims it to be substandard english pidgin or creole
mastery of SE is imperative for raising living standards
‘causes problems when needing to communicate globally’
creole
mother tongue formed from the contact of a european language with a local language
pidgin
simplified language formed from contact of existing language, no one’s native language
singlish features
vocab: some words invented e.g i got cah lah
‘lah’ is an assurance that you have a cat
some words unique e.g merlion - to vomit profusely borrows from malay, hokkien, cantonese, madarin and tamil southern india
grammar: get rid of most prepositions, verb conjunctions, and plural words- mirrors malay which is indigenous to singapore
‘speak good english’ campaign 1999
the then prime minister described singlish as ‘english corrupted by singaporeans’
its aim is to imporve standards of english used in singapore
encouraging pride in speaking english ‘well’ (modelled generally off the british standard)
schneider dynamic model 2007
illustrates how varieties of english become established in an area through colonisation
shows over time, english sheds its’ foreignness to become a native language in the areas its transported to
foundation: first appears in new territory
exonormative stabilisation: begins to be used, modelled outside of standards and norms
nativisation: old and new language becomes more closely linked due to relationships
endonormative stabilisation: being spoken develops into the standards and norms
differentiation: the new variety of english devlops its own regional and social differences
language death
when no one speaks it anymore
linguists studying endangered language suggest 90% of the world’s languages are expected to disappear by 2100
the most looming threat is the rise in global languages
larry trask 1994
may happen when people abandon their language in favour of some other language seen as more prestige or useful
what makes english a killer: literal
tasmania
former british colony
british arrived in 1803
ordered the new native people out of their territory
killed those who resisted ‘sudden language death’
last speakers reportedly died in 1876
what makes english a killer- metaphorical
english is seen as prestigious and powerful
many examples of abandoning their own language in favour of it (language shift)
most widely used language of much internet
language of much international trade
language of international culture e.g hollywood films
ghanian english
FOUNDATION - colonised by britiain until its independence in 1957
EXONORMATIVE STABILSATION - rp was seen as the prestigious way of speaking in ghana while it was under british rule
ENDONORMATIVE STABILISATION - recent years, anti-colonialism movement, effort to remove rp from common usage, viewing it as a symbol of opression and a relic of the past, new standards through popular culture and own identity
DIFFERENTIATION- now many ghanians speak their own form of english with their own unique style e.g omission of consonants at end
having a world language
people feel that by speaking english they lose out
1 billion people learning english as a foreign language will reach a point where more will speak as a second lang
2 foreign for 11 native
english is no longer owned by england but the usa and soon becoming a world language
advantages of world language
easier to communicate at a global scale e.g forums
indicator of education= better employment
easier to access ideas
international lingua franca= news and business
adaptable people can own and make it their own and change to suit their needs
culture- result is interesting varieties
helps academic sharing of knowledge
disadvantages of world language
loss of diversity and culturee
people forced to learn and forced upon to use english in history- form of opression
discourages people to bother learning ‘native’ languages so they die out
those who didnt have access/speak the world language may lose out/feel excluded
natives of the world language become lazy and dont learn other languages
