Language Change Flashcards
What are the 3 circles of world English diversity model by Braj Kachru ?
Inner circle - English as first language speakers
Outer circle - English as second language speakers, developing countries, own form of English being developed
Expanding circle - English used to communicate with speakers of other languages for business, politics, education, etc
How many native speakers of mandarin?
800 million
How many native speakers of Spanish?
400 million
How many native speakers of English?
300 million speakers
Why might English be the world language if it has less native speaker?
English speaking countries are super power countries. Spanish countries like South America are less influential and are usually more poor. China has a huge population and therefore there is a lot of speakers of mandarin, however it is not widely used outside of china
How much of a percentage of content on the internet is English?
53%
What Are the key factors in the status of English?
- rise of technology
- English is the language of important international mediums such as business, air traffic control and science.
- migration
- English explorers and travellers migrated around the world and led to our language being used in all sorts of different places
What happened in 1770?
Australia was discovered by the English. Initially, it was used as a place to relieve some of the overcrowding in the country, predominately people who were sent there were convicts who were being punished. They were sent there to creates new settlements which would become self sufficient and not reliant on the British government
Where did the term “Balikbayan box” come from?
In Philippine Englishman the term “Balikbayan” means a Fillipino visiting or returning to the Philippines after a period of living in another country. It borrows the term “box” which creates “Balikbayan box” which is a carton shipped to the Phillipines from a Balikbayan
What is a lingua Franca?
Adopted language people have learnt for different purposes. It refers to the teaching, learning and use of the English language as a common means of communication for speakers of different languages
What are some criticisms of English as a lingua Franca?
- it is a form of linguistic imperialism. In the past English has been used to dominate other countries
- not very structured or organised, if begin to use ELF more frequently then they may use the ELF as their native language but imperfectly
What is a Pidgin?
A simplified version of a language that develops so people from different backgrounds can communicate
What is a creole?
A distinct language created as a hybrid of 2 languages, taught to children as native language
Why did pidgin occur?
The Slave owners spoke English and Portuguese, they took slaves from lots of different African countries and subsequently the skates picked up English and Portuguese from the owners
The Soave owners deliberately put slaves together that would not understand each other so they would not rebel
The slaves were forced to not have a common language with one another which meant they needed to find another way to communicate which subsequently led to them having a different variety of language
How has technology influenced our language?
First mobile introduced in 1973. Character limit so needed to have abbreviations and acronyms to put our ideas across.
New inventions mean we need new terms to call them
Functional theory
