Global Spread of English Flashcards
Lingua Franca
A language adopted as a common language between speakers who have different first languages.
World Language
A language that has developed an international role in communication.`
Kachru’s Inner Circle
Countries that are the traditional bases of English, where it is the primary language used in government, schools, and media.
Kachru’s Outer Circle
Countries that have been colonised and exploited by colonial forces, where English is a co-official language. First languages still exist and are used as an L1 and in day-to-day life.
Kachru’s Expanding Circle
Countries not associated with the colonial history of English, but where the language serves as a lingua franca to aid in international communication.
Pidgin
A type of language that emerges between groups who lack a lingua franca. It is a fusion of the dominant and non-dominant languages, and has no native speakers.
Creole
A type of language that develops from a pidgin where children learn it as a first language, and when the language can be used across a range of domains.
World Englishes
Varieties of English that have developed in different communities across the world, changing English to suit their needs.
Dialects
A variety of language that can identify a person’s geographical or social background, featuring distinctive features whilst still being mostly comprehensible to the wider community.
Standard Australian English
The variety of spoken and written English in Australia that is codified and holds prestige in the Australian context.
Standard English
The variety of English created over history that holds prestige within different communities.
Standardisation
The process of a language becoming more consistent in the way it is spoken and written, across all users.
Aboriginal Australian Englishes
An umbrella term for the variety of Englishes spoken by First Nations communities.
Language Shift
The process when members of a community start to actively speak a different language than that of their ancestors.
Language Loss
The process when a language is not actively known or used, often being replaced by a different language.
Language Reclamation
The process when a language rebuilds, learns, and teaches its language, often when there are a small number of native speakers.
Language Maintenance
The process when there is an active effect to keep a language strong, with the aim of transmitting it fully from generation to generation.
Determinism
Relativism
Prescriptivism
The focus on the correctness of a language with an aim to preserve perceived standards or impose ideas of how a language ‘should’ be.
Descriptivism
The focus on actual observed patterns and usage of language that is often more willing to embrace change.
Codification
The process of developing and writing down a ‘norm’ for a language, covering elements of spelling, pronunciation, grammar, and vocabulary.
