Theory: World English Theorists, Experiments and Studies Flashcards
General: American
American English contains a number of features which are different to British English:
- Lexical - ‘fall’ instead of ‘Autumn’, ‘candy’ instead of ‘sweets’.
- Grammatical - ‘-t’ can be added instead of ‘-ed’ for past tense verbs. For example, ‘learnt’ instead of ‘learned’.
- Phonological - rhotic accent.
- Orthographical - <er> digraph instead of <re>, simplification of spelling, like 'color' instead of 'colour'.</re></er>
Webster: American: ‘Blue Back Speller’
Wrote the ‘Blue Back Speller’ which was influential in codifying the American spelling system. His aim was to make the American English’s orthography simpler and easier than British English so that there was greater grapheme-phoneme correspondence.
Engel: American: Americanisms
Hates Americanisms and claims that they are ruining British English.
Pyles and Ango: American: No Difference
There is essentially no difference between American and British English - the differences are meaningless.
Murphy: American: The Difference
The difference between British and American English is still very different and Americanisms enter Britain in the same way that British features enter America.
Algeo: American: Expanding
American English is expanding British English, and this is a good thing.
Kim and Elder: American: Expressions
Many American expressions are culturally dependent.
General: Australian
Australian English contains a large number of features which are different to British English:
- Lexically: ‘digger’ for ‘soldier’
- Phonologically: declarative sentences end like interrogatives (high rising terminal), unstressed vowels turn to schwas.
- Grammatically: collective nouns are treated as singular. For example, ‘the sheep was eating’ instead of ‘the sheep were eating’.
General: African-American Vernacular English
African-American Vernacular English contains a number of features which are different to British English:
- Lexically: ‘Yo’ is used as a greeting, ‘homie’ to refer to a friend.
- Phonologically: ‘th’ sounds pronounced as /d/, g-dropping.
- Grammatically: the copular verb does not exist. For example, ‘the dog barking’ instead of ‘the dog is barking’. frequent use of ‘ain’t’.
Kandiah: General: English’s Spread
English’s spread is a direct result of colonisation.
Crystal: General: Colonisation
Colonisation is not the only reason for spread - the power associated with the countries who speak English furthers its spread.
Modiano: General: Varieties
All varieties of English share a common set of factors at their hearts and then each variety has small individual changes.
McArthur: General: Model
His model suggests that you can group different varieties of English together and this model does not give focus to any particular variety, showing them all as equal.
Graddol: General: Popularity
English may lose its popularity as other languages become more dominant like Mandarin or Spanish.
Ostler: General: Technology
Technology will cause English to lose its prominence as translation software will be utilised.
Beneke: General: Interactions
80% of all interactions in English are between non-native speakers.
Crystal: General: Different Places
Different Places adopt and adopt English to suit their needs.
Kachru: General: ‘Circles of English’ Model
Inner - English is the main language and it has a strong grounding. For example, UK, USA and Australia. L1. 380 million speakers.
Outer - English is present in this place because of colonisation. For example, India and Singapore. L2. 150-300 million speakers.
Expanding - English is used there but has not been placed there through invasion or colonisation. For example, China and Japan. English as a lingua franca. Up to 1 billion speakers.
The issue with this model is that it is somewhat elitist and that those varieties in the centre of the circle are better than other varieties.
This model was devised before the rise of the internet and does not allow for the diversity of Englishes within the circles.
Schneider: General: Dynamic Model
1/ Foundation - English is brought to a new territory leading to an emerging bi-lingualism e.g. colonial expansion.
2/ Exonormative Stabilisation - An elite bi-lingualism spreads. The politically dominant country (e.g. Britain in the colonies) establishes linguistic behaviour.
3/ Nativisation - Bi-lingual speakers create a new variety of English as inter-ethnic contact increases. Others adopt pidgin/creole forms.
4/ Endonormative Stabilisation - After political independence (often to encourage feeling of nationhood) new linguistics normalities are established and codified accepted by society and used in written texts.
5/ Differentiation - Different ethnic, social, regional groups may develop the language, leading to internal diversity (e.g. dialects).
Problem with Kachru’s ‘Circle of English’ Model and Schneide’s Dynamic Model
They do not take into account varying proficiency of speakers, their abilities to read and to write in their language or their intelligibility. For example, Cheryl Cole (an L1 speaker) was rejected by U.S X Factor on the grounds that, because of her accent, she was unintelligible.
Jennifer Jenkins (2006) - Key Characteristics of ELF
- ELF: communication tool for different language speakers.
- Complements EFL, not focused on blending with natives.
- Features local English variations, context-dependent.
- Uses accommodation, code-switching.
- Proficient ELF usage may be codified, shows local influence.
Key Typical features of ELF
◦ Drops -s (third-person).
◦ Mixes “who”/“which.”
◦ Skips/misuses articles.
◦ Uses “isn’t it?”/“no?” tags.
◦ Adds extra prepositions.
◦ Overuses “do,” “have,” etc.
◦ Overly explicit (e.g., “black colour”).
