Varieties of English

Question 1

What’s the purpose of having a Standard English

Answer 1

• The conventional form of the language is established ; a convention = used in books, to teach..
• it limits variation
• it can be spoken in any accent and be understood all over the country.

= a unified means of communication.

Question 2

Which variety became standard

Answer 2

the East Midlands variety

Question 3

Why was the East Midlands variety chosen?

Answer 3

• It was a good compromise: the midlands are in the middle geographically and LINGUISTICALLY
• Because of the triangle of prestige

Question 4

Explain the standardisation process

Answer 4

• the language is selected, codified & stabilised. ; It’s a process of variation reduction
• A “prestige” variety of language

Question 5

What was the situation before the standardisation of a variety?

Answer 5

Very different dialects across the country, they could not all understand eachother easily

Question 6

What consequences had the Black Death geographically?

Answer 6

Many Englishmen moved to London, because there were jobs available. They were mostly coming from the Midlands.

Question 7

How was Standard English selected?

Answer 7

• A status acquired gradually.
• It was the dialect of the Royal Court in London as it was the leading dialect. It was an upper social dialect

Question 8

When was the rise of Standard English

Answer 8

end of the 14th Century

Question 9

Dialect levelling

Answer 9

= a convergence of varieties
reduction or elimination of variation between dialects

Question 10

What is the triangle of prestige

Answer 10

Called the golden triangle: the triangle formed by London-Oxford-Cambridge, there can be found prestigious university.
During the 14th century the variety spoke within that area was the East Midlands variety

Question 11

What helped the new norms of a standardised English to spread faster?

Answer 11

• After the Middle English Period: networks more literacy dependent ; scriveners who belonged to several networks (agent of change)
• Royal representatives all around the country helped diffuse London norms through official written documents.
• Chancery English developed

Question 12

Chancery English

Answer 12

emerged in 1430: based on East Midlands variety, it was used in official documents (king’s document), a national standard of spelling and grammar.

==> Prescriptive norms imposed by the weight of authority

Question 13

Prescriptive norms

Answer 13

refers to moral values and societal standards about behaviors
“How people should write and speak”

Question 14

what did William Caxton do?

Answer 14

He is said to have introduced printing in England, he opened his print shop in Westminster, the site of Chancery and the administrative seat of government, to establish the idea that his documents were printed in “official” English.
Caxton exhibited a self-consciousness about the kind of language that should be standard because he had an impact, practices are defined by publishers at that time.

Question 15

Act of Union England-Wales + Scottish Parliament dissolved (Birth of UK)

Answer 15

1707

Question 16

Language security

Answer 16

The way you speak conforms to what you think the norm is

Question 17

Linguistic insecurity

Answer 17

can be defined as the lack of confidence experienced by speakers when they believe that the way they speak does not conform to - and is inferior to - the standard variety.

Question 18

Is there a standard variety of spoken English? (as in the accent)

Answer 18

Phonology is more resistant to standardisation, because of the extremely variable and changing nature of pronunciation.
Yet, there exists a ‘spoken standard’, a standard accent of British English: RP.

Question 19

What are the two main dialects used to teach English as a foreign language?

Answer 19

British Standard English associated with RP
North American English associated with GA

Question 20

RP

Answer 20

Received Pronunciation is the accent regarded as neutral and most prestigious. Not linguistically superior, but it tends to be associated with the better-educated parts of society. Yet, RP no longer has the prestigious social position it once held.

Question 21

GA

Answer 21

General American : the majority accent of American English. The accent is used, for example, by most radio and television presenters, and is not without some internal variation, but it is thought of as chiefly excluding speakers with eastern (New England) or southern backgrounds. It is often referred to as Network English or Network Standard.

Question 22

Lingua Franca

Answer 22

The language used between non-native (english) people when they don’t share a common native language.
Today –> English as a Lingua Franca

Question 23

The LFC by linguist Jennifer Jenkins

Answer 23

The Lingua Franca Core (LFC) is a selection of pronunciation features of the English language recommended as a basis in teaching of English as a lingua franca.

Question 25

What is the Survey of English Dialects (SED)?

Answer 25

In the 50/60’s under the direction of Harold Orton
Fieldworkers visited more than 300 different towns and villages. They asked working-class men about their words for everyday objects and got them to talk.
The result was hundreds of dialect recordings & phonetic transcriptions. = They made dialect maps. eg. trap/bath split

Question 26

How can we describe and compare accents according to Wells?

Answer 26

the classification of lexical sets. e.g. the lexical set GOOSE refers to all the words that have stressed vowel /u(ː)/ in RP and in GA. Thus, we can explain the prononciation of a dialect by using those lexical sets.

Question 27

What is an exemple of the classification of varieties of English by normative influence?

Answer 27

Kachru and his classification of English varieties in three circles:
- the inner circle = English is primary language, norm providing
- the outer circle = important second language, norm developing (its own norm like Indian English)
- the expanding circle = foreign language, norm-dependent

Question 28

What is the nativization process of English?

Answer 28

= the process of a language variety developing local characteristics.
English is becoming native. In many countries in the outer circle it’s happening for the past decade, we talk about New Englishes.

Question 29

Why is the nativization process of English happening in former colonies of the British Empire?

Answer 29

• many languages spoken in those countries (like India), making English official is neutral (politically).
• “English has been embraced, appropriated, transformed, made “our own” → a strong notion of identity.

Question 30

PCEs

Answer 30

Post Colonial Englishes

Question 31

Why are PCEs happening according to Schneider?

Answer 31

It is an identity-driven process of linguistic convergence. The settlers and the indigenous languages merge progressively into a new dialect

Question 32

What are the 5 steps of the Schneider’s dynamic model?

Answer 32

• Foundation
• Exonormative stabilisation (from outside)
• Nativization
• Endonormative stabilisation (from inside)
• Differentiation

Question 33

Explain stage 1 of the Scheider’s dynamic model.

Answer 33

Foundation :
English is brought to a new territory. The first settlers and their descendance see themselves as full members of the mother country.
Two dialects in contact which leads to Koinézation, Pidginization, Toponymic borrowing and other minor processes.

Question 34

Koinézation

Answer 34

When people speaking different varieties of English speak together, the difference becomes tinier.

Question 35

Pidginization

Answer 35

simplification on the language

Question 36

Toponymic borrowing

Answer 36

borrowing of place’s names.

Question 37

Explain stage 2 of the Schneider’s dynamic model.

Answer 37

Exonormative stabilization
Identity = British plus ⇒ I am British but I am a bit special.
Training of a bilingual IDG people.
Borrowing of common nouns
Creolisation → re-complexify the language

Question 38

Explain stage 3 of the Schneider’s dynamic model.

Answer 38

Nativization
It’s a move towards independence.
rapprochement between two communities : no longer us & them
The complaint tradition ⇒ people disagree on how to use the language.
New elements in terms of phonology, structure, grammar.

Question 39

Explain stage 4 of the Schneider’s dynamic model.

Answer 39

Endonormative stabilisation
Endonormative : based on the way a country’s second language is used by local speakers, rather than the way it is used in the country where it came from originally.

Internals norms, new norms.
The birth of a new nation = A need to be different to feel independent. You need a language of your own.
English in X becomes X English.
Homogeneity, dictionaries, grammar books about those new norms. Then employed in literary work. Independence is the trigger.

Question 40

Explain stage 5 of the Scheider’s dynamic model.

Answer 40

Differenciation
Grow of dialectal differences
The point is to have internal differentiation.
Identity: from national to community

e.g. In Australia there was no regional variation since a couple decades ago, there was only social variation (difference between classes). Australia has now entered the differentiation stage.

Question 41

Why “standard”

Answer 41

because it has undergone standardisation

Question 42

is “standard” written or spoken language

Answer 42

both, but normally understood as written : standard grammar & standard lexicon

Question 43

What was the dialect of Royal Court? (the one that became standard English)

Answer 43

South eastern dialect in origin, but then Midland dialects.

Question 44

When did the Black Death happened

Answer 44

Around 1350

Question 45

Is Standard English a superior dialect?

Answer 45

No, it was at the right place at the right time. There is a part of luck but linguistically it is not superior.