South Pacific Englishes, New Englishes, Indian English, Malaysian English, Singapore

Question 1

Fiji English

Answer 1

• 1874: Fiji becomes a British colony
• Status of English: → during colonial times neutral lingua franca,
  → after independence in 1970 remained an official language and still prevails in most official
  spheres
• Nearly all Fiji Islanders speak English as a second language,

Question 2

Fiji English - Phonological & Morphosyntactic Features

Answer 2

• Metathesis of clusters like (sk) as in ask → aks
• Insertion of epenthetic vowel (film, milk → filim, milik)
• Copula/ linking verb deletion
• Gender connection with pronouns, no congruence in terms of biological sex

Question 3

New Englishes

Answer 3

• also: non-native Englishes, Outer Circle Englishes, World Englishes

New Englishes, varieties need to have:
- extended range of use in sociolinguistic context of a nation
- style and register have undergone nativization + nativized English literature has developed

Question 4

New Englishes - Deviation

Answer 4

(intentional) breaking of language rules, “wrong” use of language, negative connotation

Question 5

New Englishes - Innovation

Answer 5

divergence from standard which signals new invention/development in a variety, positive, progressive connotation

Question 6

Indian English - Attitudes towards English

Answer 6

• English as country-internal lingua franca amongst linguistically diverse population (although proficiency levels greatly differ)
• important in professional settings; however: many speakers report that they have no strong cultural bounds to the lge → usually they identify more strongly with their mother langue/ another lge within their multilingual repertoires
• lge use is domain-dependent

Question 7

Indian English - Phonological and Lexical Features

Answer 7

• Dental fricatives replaced by dental or alveolar stops
• Trilled /r/ for approximant or silent /r/
• all syllables have approximately the same length
• Stative progressives (She is liking ice-cream)
• Variable article omission and insertion (I need to get license)
• Invariant question tag (She is new here, isn’t it?)

Question 8

English in Singapore

Answer 8

• one of the offic. languages
  two widely recognized varieties of English in Singapore:
• Standard Singapore English: formal context
• Colloquial Singapore English:(Singlish), informal context, influenced by multiple local lges

→ Diglossia situation: 2 varieties used within one community, functional distribution

The Speak Good English Movement
- introduced in 1999 by Prime Minister & government
- aims: improve standard of English in Singapore to remain competitive in global markets
- discourages use of Singlish: insufficient & wrong

Question 9

English in Singapore - Features

Answer 9

• monophthongs are realized
  as diphthongs
• omission of auxiliary be:
  The library crowded today