world englishes Flashcards
how did english first spread around the world
- First diaspora
-Relatively large-scale migration of English speakers from British isles to areas which are now known to be USA, Canada, Aus and NZY
-English speakers settled and established first varieties of english(L1)
2.Second Diaspora
-smaller groups of english speakers settled in South Af, South asia and parts of africa
-Here, many people spoke other languages and english was used as a way of communicating between both traders and english settlers with locals (so therefore originally started as a lingua franca)
-Eventually english gained status and became second langauges in these countries (L2)
2.Colonisation
Through British colonialism and
American imperialism, the English language spread around the world. Communities adopted and adapted the language to suit their needs, resulting in the creation of hundreds of new varieties of English
what are prescriptivist attiudes towards english?
Prescriptivists believes
-Theres a standard form of english which comes from native speakers of the UK
-They believe any other form of english, such as American English, are varieties of Standard British english
-They argue that people who use english is other ways are corrupting it as the english native speaker esentially own the language
What are descriptivist attitudes/views toward english?
Descriptivists believe that
-Standard’ English is not superior to other varieties
-The british do not own ‘english’, therefore have no control over how people use it
how many speakers did david crystal estimate there to be in 2008
-400 million L1 speakers
-400 million L2 speakers
-600/700 speakers as ELF (english as a lingua franca)
what did the arrival of english as a language usuallly link to?
-political power
-trade
-religion and violence
English settlers and native speakers of different countries are characterized by use of force.
English settlers colonised many countires, which was not only a political desicons but a lingustic one too
What do some prior colonized countries view English as
- some view it as a sign of opression and violence
-Others view it to be a useful tool
what is a lingua france
a lingua france is laanguage used between speakers who do not share the same first common language. It is therefore a medium or contact language for communication
what is a pidgin
a pidgin is a form of contact language which acts as a lingua france, in which pidgins are made up of different languages
how does a pidign turn to a creole
when a pidign becomes a native language, it turns to a creole and picks up a wider vocab and grammar
give an example of a creole
Jamacian creole
what are the opinons and attitudes towards creoles and pidgins
creoles and pidgins are seen to many as inferior forms of language, usally seen to be ‘broken english’ ( from a prescriptivist view).
This stands to be a deficit view, descriptivists would states their not inferior they just serve a different purpose
What did Kachrus model stand to do
It stood sort out the different englishs into groups via concentric circles
what are the issues with kachrus model
Kachrus model place native L1 speakers in the ‘inner circle’ and labeled them as the norm providers
However this indicates a level of privelgidge which the L1 speakers have, suggeting that their way of speaking english is superor to other forms of english
what does schniers (2007) model show?
Schniers model aimed to show how a new variety of english develops through 5 stages
1.foundation
2.exonormative (looking outside the community for the norms of language use)
3.nativization (old and new langauge become closely linked)
4.endonormative stabilization (looking within the community for the norms of language use)
5.differntiation (the new variety develops its own features)
what did strevens model aim to show
aimed to Show the influence which English has had over the world
through the formation of an Upside down family tree diagram
issues with strevens model:
-places american and british english to start at the same time, however british english stated much earlier
-place british and american english as the top, whcih other varieties leading off, suggesting a sense of prestige and staus which these two hold, where as all other varieties are inferior
- Suggests that English is dominant language in each country, however, this is not the case
* Implies English is the only language spoken in these countries, which its not
how does phonology differ within english variaties
-accents
–>American english /r/ rhotic accent where as British english is not
–>Indian english use distinctive constonant sounds, retroflex (pronouce /t/ /d/ with the tip of their tounge rolled
back to their mouth
–>singaporean english, use distinctive constonant sounds, where /r/ and /l/ sound similary e.g. ‘low’ ‘row’
–>anothe difference is weather speakrers native langauge is stress time or sylable based
how english differs around the world: vocab
american english =
candy vs sweets
pants vs trousers
soccer vs football
australia english=
thong vs flip flop
vocab can depened on cultural contexts
Research from Kim and Elder showed hwo korean pilots got confused with what american air traffic staff where syaing when they stated (showing different vocabs.
what did jenkins state about ELF
- ELF serves a different purpose in comparison to English Spoken by native speakers
- The purpose of ELF is to communicate successfully on a ‘common code’ not emulate(be like) British English,
ELF speakers are just trying to be mutually intelligible therefore any
judgments about it not being ‘proper’ are therefore irrelevant
- Cant compare the two, standard English vs ELF, have completely different purposes
what do some people say about English as a lingua france
Some people say its not an authentic variation but a language of learner errors ( deficient)
what are some negative non linguist attitudes toward english in the world and who has control of it:
People of the UK
Many people in the UK believe and see english to be property of the English people
Sees others that use English as simply ‘Imperfect borrowers’
what are some non lingusit postitve attitudes toward english in the world and who has control of it
‘The English have as much control over English as the Italians have over pizza and the Indians over chicken korma’ Daily telegraph message
we have lots of things in England that we have taken from other countires and turned it into out own, so why can other countries not do the same with englihs and make it into their own? They’re accomodating it to their needs
what did crystal state about english
He stated that differnt places adopt and adapt english to suit their needs
how is bse percieved in some countries
BSE in some countries is seen to hold great prestige.
In signapore, they have aimed to hired L1 speakers to teach english to get rid of singlish (singaporean colloquial english) and push english into the culture
They see english as a nessecity of trade and indicates higher intelligence
Howevr some see singlish as a sign of culure, and any one who only speaks enlgish as esentially full of themslves
