global english Flashcards
what are Kachru’s concentric circles?
started with the British Empire and Queen Victoria , inner circle (USA, Britain, Canada and the West) set the standard for outer and expanding circles. Inner would use English as a first language, outer as a second language and expanding as a lingua franca as it is the language of business and aviation
What is Robert Phillipson’s 1992 theory on the spread of English?
spread of English disadvantages others, causing them to die out (bully on the playground), uniformity, one smack of English, other languages disintegrate as English bullies all
What is David Crystal’s theory on the spread of English?
a language is dying every two weeks, half the world’s languages will no longer be spoken in another century, English has to share the blame - uniformity, the idea of one world English with variants
How many English variants does Crystal say have emerged?
60-70 new Englishes have emerged since the 1960’s in countries across the globe
what is Crystal’s theory on bidialectalism?
bidialectalism (a combination of disintegration and uniformity) will persist and develop with people adapting their language to meet the context. This has real merit as our language is fluid and can quickly shift between standard and non standard to accommodate to different ages, cultures and traditions in context
what is a prescriptivist’s attitude to global English?
growth and acceptance of global English weakens the authority of British Standard English, as if they are scared of change. This has limited merit as if other people borrow it, our English will not change, English does not belong to anyone, we have no right to gate keep language
what is Jennifer Jenkins’ theory on English as a lingua franca? (2006)
5 characteristics of the lingua franca, use it as functional and there is no desire to blend in, they will adapt and accommodate to the communicative context, we shouldn’t be threatened by ELF
what is Nicholas Ostler’s theory? (1995)
set up the endangered language foundation to save, document and promote endangered tongues. Blamed spread of metropolitan languages and the younger generations using social media, minority regional languages becoming difficult to accommodate as a third language e.g. Scottish Gaelic has less than 50,000 speakers, only written in Gaelic Bible and speakers distancing themselves from the language, Latin stopped being taught in schools in the 1960’s
What is William Labov’s AAVE study? (1972)
studied preadolescent boys in New York, found boys more engaged in school used less AAVE but were on the peripheral of the group, those less engaged in school used more AAVE, were leaders of the group and were considered more street. Becomes about education and future life, AAVE will disappear if they try harder in school. Examples of AAVE including ‘the can’ meaning jail, ‘crib’ meaning home, and ‘homies’ meaning friends were created for identity and secrecy but some vernacular has entered the wider lexicon. Some boys were clever enough to downwardly converge (Giles) in the streets to feel valued/save positive face (Goffman)
What is Bill Bryson’s theory on the future of English? (1990)
English will grow indistinguishable between strands. Young people are using a more standard accent due to the need to moderate regional accents
what is Schneider’s dynamic model?
outlines the five major stages of the evolution of World Englishes, taking into account two major parties of agents - settlers and indigenous.
what are the five stages in Schneider’s dynamic model?
foundation, exonormative stabilisation, nativism, endonormative stabilisation and differentiation
what is foundation? (SDM)
English brought to area
what is exonormative stabilisation? (SDM)
elite converge
what is nativization? (SDM)
filtered, diluted, ties weakened
what is endonormative stabilisation? (SDM)
new normal
what is differentiation? (SDM)
dialect identity, counter cultures (e.g. AAVE)
what three phases did Loreto Todd identify in the development of Tok Pisin?
1) Casual contact between English speakers and local people developed a pidgin
2) Pidgin English was used between local people, over time a pidgin may begin to be used more extensively and may become the first language of new generations of speakers, when this happens the language becomes a creole
3) as the interracial context is increased, the vocabulary expanded according to the dominant language
what is meant by global English?
world wide, around the world. Doesn’t mean it is the same everywhere due to culture and history, so many regional variants as well as global ones
how has America Bastardised (simplified) the English Language?
use ‘z’ instead of ‘s’, remove the ‘u’ (‘color’ instead of ‘colour’), Microsoft word is set in American English and used by millions across the globe, Americanisation through technology e.g. Netflix, American TV, Disney and social media.
why is language always changing?
not static because the world is moving faster than ever, social media is changing language all the time - ‘influencer generation’ trendsetters with language, everyone wants to be in the loop, controlling and moving with language
what are the most spoken world languages?
1) Mandarin 2) Spanish 3) English 4) Hindi
what is the language of international business?
English, but there are still so many versions - beyond countable
what is the international language of space?
Russian
what countries are in the inner circle?
USA, UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand
what countries are in the outer circle?
countries colonised by the inner circle, e.g. India, Jamaica and The Philippines (English as second language)
what countries are in the expanding circles?
the newly developed countries, e.g. China, Japan and Nepal (English as a lingua franca)
what is meant by English as a first language?
the language you have spoken your whole life
what is meant by English as a second language?
dual speaker, on a massive scale
what is meant by English as a lingua franca?
two non native speakers using English as a common language
How has the internet made the world a bigger place with language?
social media, same websites globally, info spread at a real pace, language (incl. dialect/regional borrowings) passed and transmitted, country to country contact, citizen journalism (everyone is given a platform), global markets, global communication resulting in global English
How is citizen journalism problematic?
your voice could be a bad one, spreading misinformation, hard to moderate
what does “our English” have connotations of?
connotations of Empire that WE created it, when English itself is a myth, it is all a myth, almost racist/superiority issue, we claim ownership of something that isn’t ours
what are the two futures if English?
disintegration or uniformity
what is meant by disintegration?
breaks down, people believe that English will become unrecognisable, so many variants that “our English” will become unrecognisable
what is meant by uniformity?
collective, unifying language that makes us speak the same, this might be ideal but the fact that there is no uniformity from city to city in the UK means that this cannot be possible e.g. between Sunderland and Newcastle there is real variant, you could drive 20 miles and not understand what people are saying
How has the internet made the world a smaller place?
we are much more exposed to other languages, cultures and traditions, transformed language and led to some uniformity - we have a desire to copy language trends, the younger generations aren’t in the same bubble the older generations were. “super” example - Americanism that has entered our lexicon and bastardised it (social media)
what would a descriptivist attitude on the lingua franca be?
global communication made easier, unity across the globe, increase borrowings for British English, commercial/political access for less powerful/developing countries
what would a prescriptivist attitude on the lingua franca be?
adulteration of British English, Global English becoming unrecognisable to inner circle speakers, loss of smaller native languages in favour of ELF, smaller languages could disappear - Latin is an example of a language that could die out, the language of law
what is Giles’ accommodation theory?
convergence and divergence to fit in or distance ourselves with language to build rapports, convergence is to move language closer to the context, divergence is to move language away from away from the context, this can be up or down
what is meant by rhetoric?
manner of speech
what is synthetic personalisation?
builds a false sense of rapport with the audience e.g. ‘thank you, enjoy your meal’ ‘have a nice day’ (Americanism that has entered the lexicon), through phatic (pointless) talk to build rapports, empty talk is important in occupation
what are Lakoff’s three politeness principles?
1) Give options 2) don’t impose 3) make the receiver feel good
What is Goffman’s face theory?
positive face threatening act = feel undervalued, negative face threatening act = imposed upon, face threatening acts make us not feel good, we all want a positive face to feel valued
what are Grice’s maxims?
maxim of quality = be truthful, maxim of quantity = don’t talk for too long or too little, maxim of relation = be relevant, maxim of manner = be clear
what is prescriptivism?
a more traditional attitude, scared of language change, believe there are rules and mistakes result from when these rules are broken. Normative. Rules are not restricted to grammar, can be spelling and formatting e.g. ‘like’ should not be used as a subordinating conjunction. Can be above or below standard English - it is bad to speak below. Their rules are old fashioned e.g. ‘to whom were you talking’
what is descriptivism?
aren’t necessarily in favour of language change, they just recognise it is happening. Descriptivism describes the language without any judgement, more realistic attitude, doesn’t tell you how to speak and allows for context (how you use language when and where you are) look at how native speakers of a language use it
what is a grammar nazi?
prescriptivism, correcting people’s grammar, prescriptivist’s would believe language is disintegrating and getting worse
how is standardisation of the English Language a myth?
yes, there might be an attempt to standardise (e.g. the dictionary) but it does not mean that people actually follow it in context, moreover, language and contexts change so fast it is out of date anyway, because of social media and the internet language changes at an uncontrollable rate, people’s attitudes to language change in every context. The language itself may be standardised but in fact, it is passed on by spoken language meaning it becomes diluted
how is the English language a myth?
it is a construction build over thousands of years from invasion from other countries, therefore it is impossible to trace English back to its source because there are so many, it is dissolved over time through the class system but grammar Nazis are often class conscious
why would a prescriptivist have a negative attitude to varieties of English?
it is disintegration, miss out conjunctions, determiners, incorrect tense and invert the syntax e.g. Malaysian English “My mother, he live in kampong”
what is AAVE?
version of American Vernacular (colloquial language), synonymous of the bastardisation of language by African Americans, appropriation of American English into a secret language so nobody knows
why do speech communities create their own language identities?
to create a sense of solidarity within their community, particularly necessary in marginalised groups (i.e. LGBT+ Polari in the 60s) and ethnic minorities who diverge from standard English to create a sense of identity and feel valued, builds solidarity with peers, rapports and community spirit. e.g. teen speak in 90s to separate from parents, stopped using it when parents caught on
what case studies/ theories show how speech communities create language identities?
Gary Ives Bradford study (ethnic minorities preserve history and identity, code switching, conscious choice of teens, called freshies), Martha’s Vineyard (residents set themselves apart from tourists), Labov’s New York (three department stores, workers rolled R’s to sound elevated, class consciousness)
why did AAVE come about?
language that you wouldn’t know, to do with drugs
what is meant by smoke in AAVE?
weed
what is meant by blunt in AAVE?
getting high
what is meant by homeboy in AAVE?
a good friend
what is meant by crib in AAVE?
home
what is meant by celly in AAVE?
cell phone
what is meant by the can in AAVE?
jail
what is meant by krunk in AAVE?
exciting
what is meant by scred in AAVE?
scared
what is interesting about AAVE?
crib and homeboy have entered the wider lexicon because of music videos and social media
how does AAVE change the tense?
‘he been married’ instead of ‘he has been married’ changes the meaning; thought to suggest that he is no longer married but he is still married
how does AAVE include deletion of the verb ‘to be’?
‘you crazy’ and ‘where you at’, also examples of American English to Standard English migration
what is AAVE all about?
separation, identity and wanting to be a part of something
how have white people appropriated AAVE?
perhaps using more text speak phonology: dis, dey, dat, nuffin, bruvah due to a more prominant black community in London
what is meant by context of production?
fixed, when it was first made, snapshot of society at the time
what is meant by context of reception?
when readers/viewers see a text not fixed as society constantly changes, taboo and PC (what you’re supposed to say) always change
how have attitudes to AAVE and Ebonics changed?
shifted from poking fun at it but there is still a sense of it being the other, quite controversial, as it can be seen as dumbing down (prescriptivism), diluted English
what was the Oakland proposal on AAVE?
suggested that black students should have textbooks and teachers that incorporate AAVE, not simply a matter of exposure but often as an act of identity, AAVE is counter culture - presents a challenge to societal norms
how many mother tongue English speakers are there?
379 million
how many English speakers are there in total?
1.5 billion
what does it suggest that only 379 million out of 1.5 billion English speakers use it as their mother tongue?
suggests people using it as a second language or a lingua franca - as it goes through the concentric circles it becomes a lingua franca therefore expanding circle must have English
How does language go through a filter through time?
words filter into and out of the lexicon, languages which were once separate are now more linked and standardised, arguably becoming simplified with the idea of uniformity in the future, filtered through the class system, education system, immigration/migration, internet/social media, race/ethnicity/gender, ideology/politics (upper classes control the language. With each filter applied the proper ‘standard’ English becomes less recognisable, to a prescriptivist becomes bastardised and disintegrates/deteriorates, each level it goes down it becomes unrecognisable
what is the Alexa problem?
upwardly converging to a robot, strong accents unrecognisable but neutral RP accents do not need to change, reinforces stereotypes, standardisation and superiority of the south
what is a pidgin?
links to AAVE, combines two or more languages, enables members of different speech communities to communicate, dominant language adapted and simplified
what is a sociolect?
shared group language, for identity, to build rapports
what is an ethnolect?
shared language within an ethnic group (AAVE)
what is a social network?
network of relationships between different social groups, a communication bubble, we are all part of a multitude of social groups which can change minute to minute, we consciously and subconsciously adapt our language
what is overt prestige?
prestige to a larger group
what is the observer’s paradox?
know you are being observed so behave/speak differently
what is a community of practice (Lave and Wengor)?
communities interact with a set of unspoken rules
what is a dialect?
words and grammatical differences in different areas, regional variation
what is a familect?
shared language within a family
what is positive face?
Goffman, the need to feel valued in a group
when do pidgins develop?
when circumstances (colonisation or trade) force different languages together, creating the need for means of communication between groups of people with no language in common
how does a pidgin form?
the dominant language becomes adapted and simplified, English can be recognised
what would a prescriptivist view of pidgin English be?
anti this as it is disintegration/ weakening English
why is the use of pidgin usually confined to a limited range of situations?
only used to communicate with outsiders, no native pidgin speakers
when is a creole believed to arise?
when a pidgin becomes the native and primary language of their children (nativization in Schneider’s dynamic model)
what did Hall study in the 1960’s?
the pidgin/creole life cycle
what is Tok Pisin?
an English based creole spoken in Papua New Guinea, spoken by 4 million people, the first language of 120,000, one of the official languages
What does ‘tok’ mean in Tok Pisin?
speech
what does ‘pisin’ mean in tok pisin?
pidgin
How is tok pisin used to create identity?
contains features of standard English but on the whole unrecognisable to people outside of the closed language community, using deletion reduced vocabulary and phonological sounds, it is low register and used to create identity
what does ‘vot’ mean in tok pisin?
vote/election
what does ‘gras bilong het’ mean in tok pisin?
hair
how does tok pisin use phonetics?
‘wok long rot’ meaning there are roadwork, uses phonetic spelling, elements of standard English but on the whole cannot understand
what does ‘pis’ mean in tok pisin?
fish, peach, feast or peace. All pronounced the same
what does ‘pispis’ mean in tok pisin?
to urinate
what does it mean that the English language is decaying?
breaking down of the English language, disintegration, rotting, becomes bad, prescriptivist view
where does the word ‘bungalow’ originate from?
indian
