World Englishes Flashcards
What is MLE?
- MLE stands for Multicultural London English
- mix of London English, west Indian, west Africa + Bangladeshi influences
What is meant by ‘Basilect’?
- the variety of speech that’s most remote from the prestige variety, esp. in an area where a creole is spoken
- e.g Jamaican creole is the basilect whereas standard Jamaican English is the acrolect/prestige lang
What was Trudgill’s theory on world Englishes?
Trudgill: “Standard English is a dialect”
- differs from other dialects, has greater prestige
- doesn’t have an associated accent
- doesn’t form part of a geographical continuum
- purely a social dialect
What are the reasons for the international status of English?
- historical
- internal political
- external economics
- practical reasons
- intellectual
- entertainment
- personal advantage/prestige
these are reasons according to Crystal, 1997
What is meant by a ‘Pidgin’?
- it’s a mixture of multiple languages where there’s no shared language or lingua franca
- e.g Chinese Pidgin English
What is meant by ‘Neosemy’?
- the process by which an existing word develops a new meaning
In what two senses, is English a global language?
- lexicon is derived from languages all over the world
- used by a billion speakers over the world
What is the ‘Random Fluctuation Theory’ - Charles Hockett (1958)?
- language changes owning to its instability, because of random errors + events within the language system, as a response of the ever-changing context of lang use + its users
- e.g. ‘book’ a synonym for ‘cool’ (predictive texting)
What is a ‘Wave Model’?
- a model of language change in which a new lang feature (innovation) or a new combo of lang features spreads from a central region of origin in continuously weakening concentric circles
- this is similar to waves created when a stone is thrown into a body of water
What is the theory of Polygenesis?
- pidgins + creoles developed independently but in similar ways
- formed in similar social + physical conditions
What is the theory of Monogenesis?
- derived from Portuguese pidgin; used in the world’s trade routes during the 15th and 16th century
evidence for theory:
- many linguistic similarities between present-day Portuguese pidgins and creoles
Why do people around the world want to speak English?
- personal advantage
- communication
- job opportunities
- lingua franca
- more desirable + expensive
- fashionable
- making something seem more authoritative
What is meant by ‘Acrolect’?
- the variety of speech that’s closest to a standard prestige lang, esp. in an area in which a creole is spoken
- e.g standard Jamaican English is the acrolect, where Jamaican creole is spoken
What is the theory of Universal?
- based on similarities between certain pidgins + early speech of children
What is the ‘Nautical jargon’ theory?
phonology:
- ‘o’ in ‘go’ is more similar to vowel sound in ‘caught’, pronounced [wa:]
grammar:
- lack of inflections, e.g. ‘bless’ rather than ‘blessed’
vocab:
- ‘like’, ‘yeah’ as fillers, ‘man’ in terms of address
What is a case study of TNCs using English as an official lang?
Rakuten is Japan’s largest online marketplace + mandated English as the official lang
- the CEO stated “English isn’t an advantage, but a requirement”
- menus were replaced + tested their English skills
- 50% of employees can adequately communicate in English
- 26% communicate in English to their partners/coworkers
What was Canagarajah’s opinion of the ‘Circle Theory’ + his reasons why?
Canagarajah: “The circles are leaking”
reasons:
- human migration (historical + current)
- technology connects people (e.g. call centres)
What is meant by an ‘Inkhorn term’?
- foreign borrowing (or a word created from existing word roots) into English is deemed to be unnecessary/overly prestigious
- controversy over inkhorn terms was rife from mid 16th + mid 17th century, during the transition from Middle English to modern
- also, in the time when English was in a contest w/ Latin as the main lang of science + learning
- many inkhorn terms are used commonly, eg. comment, capacity, celebrate, dismiss
What was Bamgbose (1998) theory on Innovation English?
- demographic factor (speaker)
- geographical factor (location)
- authoritative factor (use sanctioned)
- codification factor (reference book)
- acceptability factor (attitude)
How is there variation across the outer circle?
according to Platt, Weber + Ho (1984):
- developed through education
- developed in an area where a native variety of English wasn’t spoken lang
- used for a range of functions
- became ‘localised’ or ‘natived’ by adopting some lang features of their own
What are the 3 groups that speak English respectively classified as?
the 3 groups of users:
- a native speaker = ENL
- a second lang = ESL
- a foreign lang = EFL
but, neat classification are becoming increasingly difficult
What is Braj Kachru’s Circles theory?
- the 3 circles represent the countries and how they speak English
inner circle (New Zealand, USA): - native speakers
outer circle (India, Kenya): - not native speakers but serves as useful lingua franca
expanding circle (China, South Africa): - doesn't play a role in their country
What is meant by ‘Lingua Franca’?
a common lang used to communicate with speakers that don’t speak the same lang
What is meant by the ‘Inkhorn Controversy’?
the name was generally given to the extended dispute, largely in the late 15th + early 16th century, over whether English should continue to add words from Greek + Latin
What is meant by ‘Hegemonic’?
influence or authority over others
the social, cultural, ideological, or economic influence exerted by a dominant group
What is meant by ‘Creole’?
- it’s a language developed from a Pidgin
- they have a fully complete grammar + lexicon
- e.g. Jamaican creole
What is meant by ‘Relexification?
- it’s the process whereby a word or a group of words in a lang is replaced w/ a corresponding word/group of words from another lang w/o drastically changing the relexified language’s grammar
What are the 3 groups of theories?
- monogenesis; single-origin of pidgin
- polygenesis; independent origins
- universal; universal strategies
What is meant by ‘Pidgin’?
a trade lang, usually not the language of either of the speakers
