world english Flashcards
Three Circles Model (Kachru)
describes the spread of English in terms of three concentric circles:
- the Inner Circle: where English is used as a first language, acquired from birth by most
- the Outer Circle: includes countries colonised by Britain and the USA where English is spoken as a second language and plays an important historical and governmental role
- the Expanding Circle: where English is not an official language, but is recognised as important as a foreign language, perhaps for trade
the model has been criticised for being oversimplistic and too geographically bound. In a globalised world, it is becoming increasingly challenging to define people and the languages they speak in this way.
ENL ESL EFL
ENL: English as a Native Language eg. most speakers in the UK, USA, Australia
ESL: English as a Second Language eg. many speakers in Nigeria, India, Singapore
EFL: English as a Foreign Language eg. some speakers in Japan, China, Spain
Lingua Franca:
a common language used for communication between groups of people who speak different first (native) languages; often used in the ‘Expanding Circle’
Key characteristics of a lingua franca (Jenkins):
allows for non ENL/ESL communication;
alternative to EFL as a functional tool;
includes local innovations;
depends on specific context;
used for description for the purpose of codification
Globish (Nerriere):
a highly simplified and unidiomatic variety of English employed as a lingua franca, using a subset of Standard English grammar, and a list of 1500 English words
Critics of Globish either feel that its codifications are not sufficiently clearly rendered, or that an artificial language is preferable to any natural one.
Norm-providing:
Inner Circle variety already codified; often looked to for guidance
such as Standard English
Lowth Grammar - multiple negation, difference between pronouns
But not even English follow- many regional dialects use non standard form + teens
Norm-developing:
very established Outer Circle English, diverging from that originally distributed
eg Indian English just developed a dictionary
Norm-dependent:
Expanding Circle variety, looking to Inner (or even Outer) Circle for guidance
Distribution vs. spread (Widdowson):
English was ‘distributed’ around the world (mostly to colonies of the British Empire) in a controlled manner, with Standard forms preserved. English today ‘spreads’ naturally around the globe, uncontrolled and mixing with local languages
Linguistic Imperialism (Phillipson):
the dominance asserted and retained by the establishment of structural and cultural inequalities between English and other languages; language transfer as a demonstration of power
Exonormativity:
: upholding British Standard English and RP accent as standards in postcolonial nations
Endonormativity:
the acceptance of educated local forms of English as a standard, especially for teaching
Gatekeeping:
A ‘gatekeeper’ decides which information will go forward and enter the system. In language distribution, this is selection of (standard) variety, usually for use in a colony
Dynamic Model of the Evolution of Postcolonial Englishes (Schneider):
1 Foundation: English is newly distributed
2 Exonormative Stabilisation: close modelling on British standard forms - Australian English
3 Nativisation: coupling of standard and indigenous varieties - Indian English
4 Endonormative Stabilisation: local variety of English becomes accepted as the norm
5 Differentiation: new variety reflects local identity and culture - American English
However, stops too early - one may say American English has passed stage 5 and has overt prestige due to influence over the media and its large population
such as the colloquial slang “rizz”, a non-standard abbreviation of the abstract noun “charisma” which originated in America but through social media has seen popularity across the world and has been codified by its inclusion in the Oxford Dictionary, even being their 2023 word of the year.
Indigenisation
When English becomes localised to suit the particular needs of indigenous people, fulfilling important local functions, developing local forms and characteristics