World English Flashcards
What does the Three Circles Model describe?
The spread of English in terms of three concentric circles.
What is the Inner Circle in the Three Circles Model?
Countries where English is used as a first language, acquired from birth by most.
What is the Outer Circle in the Three Circles Model?
Countries colonised by Britain and the USA where English is spoken as a second language and plays an important historical and governmental role.
What is the Expanding Circle in the Three Circles Model?
Countries where English is not an official language but is recognised as important as a foreign language, perhaps for trade.
What does ENL stand for?
English as a Native Language, e.g., most speakers in the UK, USA, Australia.
What does ESL stand for?
English as a Second Language, e.g., many speakers in Nigeria, India, Singapore.
What does EFL stand for?
English as a Foreign Language, e.g., some speakers in Japan, China, Spain.
What is a Lingua Franca?
A common language used for communication between groups of people who speak different first languages; often used in the ‘Expanding Circle’.
What are key characteristics of a lingua franca according to 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.
What is Globish?
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.
What is norm-providing?
Inner Circle variety already codified; often looked to for guidance.
What is norm-developing?
Very established Outer Circle English, diverging from that originally distributed.
What is norm-dependent?
Expanding Circle variety, looking to Inner (or even Outer) Circle for guidance.
What is the difference between distribution and spread according to Widdowson?
English was ‘distributed’ around the world in a controlled manner, with Standard forms preserved. English today ‘spreads’ naturally around the globe, uncontrolled and mixing with local languages.
What is Linguistic Imperialism?
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.
What is exonormativity?
Upholding British Standard English and RP accent as standards in postcolonial nations.
What is endonormativity?
The acceptance of educated local forms of English as a standard, especially for teaching.
What is gatekeeping in language distribution?
A ‘gatekeeper’ decides which information will go forward and enter the system, usually for use in a colony.
What are the stages of the Dynamic Model of the Evolution of Postcolonial Englishes (Schneider)?
- Foundation: English is newly distributed. 2. Exonormative Stabilisation: close modelling on British standard forms. 3. Nativisation: coupling of standard and indigenous varieties. 4. Endonormative Stabilisation: local variety of English becomes accepted as the norm. 5. Differentiation: new variety reflects local identity and culture.
What is linguistic diversity?
The range and variation of languages in an area/nation.
What is Indigenisation?
Indigenisation is when English becomes localised to suit the particular needs of indigenous people, fulfilling important local functions, developing local forms and characteristics.
What is Glocalisation?
Glocalisation refers to transformations and localisations of English; dialectal variation brought about by language globalisation.
What is the Circle of World English (McArthur)?
The Circle of World English is a ‘wheel’ model for classifying World Englishes, with ‘World Standard English’ at the center, standardised varieties divided into eight geographical zones, and a ‘fringe’ perimeter of regional subvarieties.
What is the Life Cycle of non-native Englishes (Moag)?
The Life Cycle of non-native Englishes includes the stages: transportation > indigenisation > expansion in use > institutionalisation > possible decline.
What is the Centripetal Circles of International English (Modiano)?
The Centripetal Circles of International English is a model for the spread of world Englishes based on mutual comprehensibility and proficiency.
What is English as an International Language (Modiano)?
English as an International Language is a model based on features common to all varieties of English.
What is a Pidgin?
A Pidgin is an auxiliary language that has come into existence through attempts by speakers of two different languages to communicate; primarily a simplified form of one of the languages, with reduced vocabulary and grammar.
What is a Creole?
A Creole is a complete language with wide vocabulary and developed grammar, evolved from a pidgin; used in a community and acquired by children as their native language.
Creoles may have several levels: Acrolect (closest to the standard form), Mesolect (significant differences from the standard), and Basilect (furthest from the standard).
What is Creolisation?
Creolisation is the process of a pidgin developing into a creole.
What is Decreolisation?
Decreolisation is the process of a creole developing into the standard version of the primary source language.
What is Language ecology?
Language ecology is the study of languages in relation to one another and to various social factors.
What is Language preservation?
Language preservation refers to efforts to prevent language death.
‘Right place, right time’ (Crystal) refers to what?
‘Right place, right time’ suggests that English became the world’s leading language not for beauty or simplicity, but for three contextual reasons: distribution through the British Empire, its role in the industrial revolution and western science, and its association with the USA as a superpower.
What is Ethnic neutrality?
Ethnic neutrality refers to English adopted for official/political functions in young nations as it is not associated with one particular ethnic group, treating the population equally.
What is Functional nativeness?
Functional nativeness occurs when speakers use mostly or only English in their daily lives, rather than the indigenous language acquired from birth.
What is Language mixing?
Language mixing is when English may not replace an indigenous variety, instead fusing with local language habits, contributing to the growth of cultural hybridity.
