Questions Chapter 4 Flashcards
What is meant by the following items?
- a global language
- a working language
a) a global language
● large numbers of people in a country speak it as a first language
● It is made the official language of a country
● Itis given joint-official or special-regional status and comes to be used as the primary medium of communication (government, law courts, broadcasting, press, educational system)
it is made a priority in a country’s foreign-language teaching policy (no official status, but it is the foreign language which children are most likely to encounter when they arrive in school and the most available to adults in further education)
- lingua franca: a language used for communication between groups of people who speak different languages.
(old)
- –> has emerged strongly since the 1950s because it was needed due to globalisation
b) a working language
Has a application in the first decades of the 21th century. The prospect that a lingua franca might be needed as a practical tool for the whole world emerged strongly only since the 1950. There was a post-war demand for a mechanism enabling nations to talk.
The UN hat 192 members. Thus there was an increasing reliance oon the concept of a working language, as an alternative to expensive and often impracticable multi-way translation facilities with Ehnglish more likely to be mutually accesible
What is meant by the term a user of English?
- How many people use English?
- What criteria would you use to say that someone is a user of English.
- It is not clearly defined. A criteria of native speaker fluency would clearly produce a relatively small figure; on the other hand, including every beginner would produce a large one. Other quotes use the term “user of English” for all people engaged in learning English.
How many people use English?
The British Council estimates that there are one billion people engaged in learning Enghlish.
- it really depends on the criteria. It is said, that one in three of the world’s population is capable of communicating to a useful level in English.
What criteria would you use to say that someone is a user of English?
- fluency
- range of vocabulary
- able to communicate in a simple way (including learners) → low level
- receptive way: consuming through film and videos
- productive way: more complex
- I would use the same criteria as above. Someone can be named as a user of English when he or she is capable of communication to a useful level in English
What intrinsic and extrinsic linguistic factors have contributed to the emergence of English in the world?
Intrinsic factors:
Some people claim that properties of the language, that make it especially attractive or easy to learn.
Latin and French which are more strongly markes by inflection and grammatical gender habe been international languages.
extrinsic:
A language becomes a world language for extrinsic factors only.
Power in this connection has a variety of applications in political, technological, economic and cultural contecs.
Political is seen in form of colonialism that brought English arount the world.
Technologigal power: presented in the sense that the industrial Revolution was a very English-language event.
Cultural power is manifested through the spheres of American influence.
Domains whithin English has become pre-eminent
a) politics
b) economics
c) the press
d) advertising
e) broadcasting
f) the film industry
g) popular music
h) international travel and safety
i) education
j) communications (social media / internet)
What is the role of globalisation in the emergence of English?
Key to the concept of globalisation is how new technologies such as communication and transport technologies are offering different ways for people to relate to another. It is now easier to interact with someone from the opposite of the flob and to send information, money and goods. The world is shrinking and becoming more interconnected.
Society is no longer so “local” but instead people are likely to move across or connect with different cultures and communities on a far more regular basis.
On one hand increased mobility in society and the aspects of modern life operat on a global scale lead to the need of a common means of communication which transcend national boundries. Enghlish has emerged as the language which readily fulfils this role.
The result of globalisation may be new varieties.
There are two different pulls at work here; one which creates the need for a common language which can be used across national and cultural boundraries and another which results in greater diversity in the language.
(old)
- social, economic and political process.
- expansion of world markets –> In a world market, people have to communicate with each other
- It is compared to economic and cultural imperialism.
- –> For people across the globe to be able to interact , they need some system of communication. It is in this context that the issue of an international or global language emerges.
- globalisation can be regarded as positive (access to the world market) or negative (traditional cultures disappear, inequality)
- –> The world is shrinking
- The globalised world needs a common language but language contact results in new varieties of English developing.
- Why is the diversity of English around the world increasing?
(Who influences these changes in the language?)
IT is possible for a linguistic fashion to be started by non-native learners. As the number of non-native speakers gain national and international prestige, usage which were previusly criticides as foreign can become part of the standard educated speech.
These new Englishes are increasingly being used with prestige on the international scene.
(old)
- the number of mother tongue speakers is falling as a proportion of world English users.
- Everybody can contribute to the change of English because it is spoken worldwide. At some time, the local words begin to be used at the prestigious levels of society: politicians, religious leaders, socialites. musicians and others. Using local words is then no longer to be seen as slovenly (schlampig) or ignorant, within a country, it is respectable, maybe even cool. The next step is from national to international levels. Important people travel abroad and spread the new words.
- globalisation, internet (access to movies, TV shows and movies; influenced by it)
- “when people of new groups come together there will be an adaptation of the language and variety rises”
- travelling (which goes hand in hand with globalisation)
- diversity and own variety of English gives people a sense of identity, “democtatic function” → e.g. Singlish
- accepting diversity
- nowadays far more people speak English without having it as their mother tongue so it is a logical consequence that they mix their English with aspects of their original language.
- What is meant by the term New Englishes?
Using the example of Singlish, what is involved in determining wheter these have any status?
When a new variety is used with prestige on the international scene.
In case of Singapore we encounter varieties which bring elements of different languages together which use informal features that would not be used in standard Britith or American English.
Attitudes towards these varieties are still generally negative; like Prime Minister of Singapore who speech a plea to cut down on their use of Singlish (a hybrid of English, Chinese and Malay) and to maintain the use of standard English, if the country’s aim for international role were to e realised.
The problem which als New Englishes encounter it that the view that there can only be one kind of English, the standard kind and that all other should be eliminated.
The contemporaty view is to maintain the importance of standard Engish while at the same time maintaining the value of local accents and dialects.
(old)
- A variety of English that has emerged through time. (see above question 6)
Using the example of Singlish, what is involved in determining whether these have any status?
- Singlish (a hybrid of English, Chinese and Malay)
- Singlish is told to be less important than standard English if a country aims for a greater international role. It’s paradox because the Prime Minister used Singlish in his speech.
- There is the view, that there can only be one kind of English, the standard kind, and that all other should be eliminated.
- Should Standard English be favoured over local accents and dialects?
The contemporary view is to maintain the importance of standard English while at the same time maintaining the value of local recognition of the fact that language has many functions and that the reason for the existence of standard English (to promote mutual intelligibility (Verständigung) is different from the reason for the existence of local dialects (to promote local identity).
- Which groups have an influence how much local influence is acceptable on English (phonology, grammar, vocabulary and pragmatics)?
The question of just how much local phonology, grammar, vocabulary and pragmatics should be allowed in is difficult and contentious. But there seems no doubt that, gradually, there is a definite ameliorative trend around the English-speaking world, with expressions which were once heavily penalized as local and low-class now achieving a degree of status. How fast this trend develops depends on economic and social factors more than on anything else. If the people who use mixed varieties as markers of their identity become more influential, attitudes will change, and usages will become more acceptable.
- What influences act against the development and evolution of English into completely separate languages?
We live in a global village, where we have immediate access to other languages and varieties of English in ways that have come to be available only recently, and this is having a strong standardising effect.
The pull imposed by the need for identity, which has been making New English increasingly dissimilar from British English, could be balanced by a pull imposed by the need for intelligibility, which will make them increasingly similar.
(Old)
- There is the basic need to communicate worldwide, which will make the New Englishes increasingly similar. The intelligibility criterion has traditionally provided little support for an English language family.
What do African-American Vernacular English (p. 173) and Euro-English (p. 174) share in common?
In which regard are they different?
There are few examples of English generating varieties which are fiven totally differend names. There are some English-derived pidgins but any proposal for language status is surrounded with controversy.
Ebonics is an example of this; it has been called “Black Vernacular English” or “African-American Vernacular English”. But people from the political and ethnic spectrum denounced it.
The two criteria did not optain: the US black community did not have a sinlge mind about the matter, and the people who had the political-economic clout to make the decision respected also had mixed views about it.
In the EU, pragmatic linguistic realities result in English being the most widely used language in these corridors. But there are sociolinguistic accommotation which may result in a variety of Euro-English. It refers to the distinctive vocabulary of the Union.
Accomodation included simplified sentence constructions, the avoidance of idioms and colloquial vocabulary, slower rate of speech and the uses of clearer patterns of articulation.
Differences between Ebonicy and Euroenglish:
In case of Ebonics there has not been a single mind about it and there were mixed views. Where as in the EU it just happend to be the case that such accomodations were made. English just became the lingua franca. As far as I know, there are no strict regulations on wheter Euroenglish must be used but native-speakers tend to accomodate to this form of language.
(old)
- Euro English fulfils the two criteria, AAVE does not.
- The first is, to have a community with a single mind about the matter and the second is to have a community which has enough political-economic clout (Durchsetzungsvermögen) to make its decision respected by outsiders with whom it is in regular contact.
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In what ways do native and non-native English influence you in your job as a teacher of English?
How do you decide what is correct or acceptable English?
We are supposed to teach native English but students should also be taught about different dialects and varieties. Formal teaching favours standard Englishes.
We are norm dependent.
Then, I am non-native and so are all of my learners (in my class right now).
We should teach our students the awareness of the existence of several Englishes so that they can decide which suits them best.
How do you decide what is correct or acceptable English?
It is in the eye of the beholder. As long as people understand each other. We also have to distinuish between what sounds unfamiliar and what is not correct.
However, for grammar I focus on the standard English, as it provides the norms and I don’t want to start a new variety in my classroom.
In what was have the following influences contributed to the rise of English?
a) politics
“Why world English? The growth of the British empire.”
● League of Nations was the first of many modern international alliances to allocate a special place to English and its proceedings (official language along with French)
● English now plays an official or working role in the proceedings of most major international political gatherings.
In what was have the following influences contributed to the rise of English?
b) economics
● Beginning of the 19th century: Britain had become the world’s leading industrial and trading nation
● During that time no country could equal its economic growth
● Britain called the “workshop of the world”; textiles and mining manufactured goods for export
● Over half of the leading scientists and technologists worked in English, people travelled to Britain (later USA) to learn about it had to do so in English
● Early 19th century: rapid growth of international banking system (GER, UK, USA), London and NY becoming the investment capitals of the world
● “Economic imperialism”, fresh dimension to the balance of linguistic power
In what was have the following influences contributed to the rise of English?
c) the press
● English language has been important medium of the press for nearly 400 years
● 19th century: new printing technology, new methods of mass production and transportation
● Censorship and other restrictions continued in Continental Europe during the early decades provision of popular news in languages other than English developed much more slowly
● Mid 19th century: growth of the major news agencies, especially following the invention of the telegraph
● Today 1/3 of the world’s newspapers are published in countries where English has special status and the majority of these will be in English
