global english Flashcards
what is global english?
the idea of english as a worldwide language
why is english known as a lingua franca?
as english is the bridging language in interactions where not everyone’s first language is english (the most commonly spoken language by international speakers)
what is international english?
the idea that english is a language that is spoken world wide and is used in international contexts of all kinds
out of the world’s 7.6 billion inhabitants, how many speak english?
1.8 billion, 25% of the earth’s population (about 360 million speak english as their first language)
how did english become such a dominant language?
power; in this case, the power of the british empire and then, the cultural, economic and political power of the usa
what is a language contact situation?
whereby two different languages come into contact with one another and exchange features
what is a pidgin?
a new language that is developed where speakers of different languages need to communicate but don’t share a common language
what is a creole?
the creation of a new language variety by language contact and new speakers growing using it, new generations beginning to use pidgins as their first language
where are pidgins evolved from?
main source language, it takes most of the vocabulary but is less grammatically developed
where do creoles come from?
-they grow out of pidgins; they become more established and used by a second generation
-these are native speakers who are born into and grow up speaking the creole language
what is tok pisin?
a language variety that is widely used by the government, primary schools and public services in papua new guinea
what are some facts on tok pisin?
-it is a creole language
-it is an official language that is the most widely spoken in the country (4 million)
- tok pisin is the lingua franca of papua new guinea
what are the developments of tok pisin?
-it has been developed over the past 150 years as a combination of native languages and colonial tongues
-many people now speak tok pisin as a first language; particularly the children of parents/grandparents who originally spoke different vernaculars
what is mcarthur’s circle of world english?
-shows how english has diverse forms
-the model states that ‘world standard english’ is separated into 8 main regions
-he has however realised that not all variations of english fit perfectly into these 8 areas
what did kachru develop?
the alternative model of english known as ‘three concentric circles of english’
