World English Flashcards
1
Q
How many people globally speak English
A
Over 1.5 billion
2
Q
How did/ does English spread?
A
- Colonisation and colonial links
- countries like UK and USA are economic superpowers
- political power in EU and NATO
- social media
- IT e.g. universal word for “laptop”
- early TV and Radio broadcasts in English
3
Q
Advantages of having English a world language
A
- easier to communicate at a global scale so forums use a common language
- indicator of education (better employment)
- easier to access ideas
- international lingua franca (businesses, news)
- adaptable to different needs and cultures
4
Q
Disadvantages of having English as a world language
A
- loss of language diversity, identity and culture
- language killer
- language imperialism
- people forced to learn English and forced upon people in history (form of oppression)
- negative towards native languages which can lead to them dying out
- those who don’t have access to/ speak English feel excluded and don’t receive same opportunities
- Native English speakers don’t bother learning other languages (superiority complex)
5
Q
Jay walker - English mania
A
- English is an opportunity for a better life and job
- English is the worlds 2nd language
- 2 billion people are trying to learn English worldwide
- English is the language of problem solving
6
Q
Jay Walker - English Mania - China
A
- China will soon be the biggest
English speaking country - 80 million Chinese high school students take the Gaokao(intense English learning test)
- by law, English learning starts in 3rd grade
- 25% of final grade comes from English speaking ability
7
Q
Aboriginal contribution to English
A
- kangaroo
- wombat
- koala
- boomerang
- billabong
8
Q
Americanism examples
A
- take 5
- hit the road
- diaper
- to hike up prices
- Color
- honor
- poop
- eggplant
- zucchini
- outside the box
9
Q
Dr Lin Murphy attitude towards Americanisms
A
- American vs British English is a bit simplification as there are many English’s in each e.g. British stereotyped to southern British English
- people are annoyed at words in general especially if it replaces words they already have, too casual or words that don’t hold the same connotations (e.g bug = to annoy)
- Americanisms sound more informal however there’s a general move towards informal language in spoken English anyways in the 21st century
- Americans use prepositions as verbs and nouns as verbs e.g. “meet up”, “visit with” which annoys British but British use “top up” for years - America is merely speeding up informalities that has been happening for years in Britain
- euphemisms (e.g. poop) always changing as when you use one too much it gets “dirtied” so you have to look for a new euphemism
- evaluative adjectives are always changing e.g. no more groovy, next gen will no longer say awesome
- 1/4 of business management words people complained about were British according to Financial Times
- “outside the box” is an Americanism used more by British
- popular music and trends is merely a phase that affects a certain generation, the next generation will do something else
- losing words is a natural process eg British used to say “cennight” = seven days
- Americanisms (e.g. Color not colour) is not an act against Britain but a creation of unity amongst the 13 colonies in 17th century
- Americanism are influenced by other countries too e.g. “zucchini” is Italian
- it is important for people to have language they can identify with
- American and British English are becoming more distant than similar as vocab always changes
- British English doesn’t need to worry as grammar and pronunciation isn’t changing
10
Q
How has Americanisms become so dominant?
A
- technology and journalism in America influenced the wide spread of American English e.g. tv show Friends used a lot of Americanism
- American is much larger than Britisn
- emergence of Hollywood, Wall Street, film ,tv, music (1930s) and a greater economy and population in America greatly influenced language in the 20th century
