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
what are some descriptivist linguist attitudes to english in the world and who has control of it
Kachru
-English must serve different purposes for millions of people around the world
-A single standard English is therefore impossible
-Language use is complicated and hard control/codify need to acknowledge identity of different Englishers
Widdowson 2002
‘How English develops in the world is no business whatever of the native speakers in England or the united stated or anywhere else. They have no say in the matter, no right to intervene or pass judgement they are irrelevant’-
Saraceni thinks that England should accept that we’ve lost control of the English language, and should now think in terms of Englishes, plural. This means letting go of the idea of standard British English as the ideal ‘correct’ variety.
Mcarthur states that ‘english is undergoing such a radical change around the world that it is fragmenting into ‘a family of languages’
what are some prescriptivist linguist attitudes to english in the world and how it is control
Quirk- 1991- l
-We must have a strong standard English that does not allow for ‘incorrect’ vocab or grammar
therefore British English should be the model for all native learners, and by
By comparison other English’s which are not fully based on BSE are linguistically deficient
Mcarthur states that ‘english is undergoing such a radical change around the world that it is fragmenting into ‘a family of languages’–> Fragmenting could indicate its breaking up the english langauge
Saraceni argues that ‘the psycoloigcal umblical cord’ between england and english around the world is cut and that people in other countries should be free to do what they want with the langauge’
whats singlish
Singlish is singaporean colloquial english
what are some opinions on the future of english?
Crystal believes that ‘the current momentum of english growth has becomes so great that there is nothing likely to stop its spread a global lingua franca’
Graddol believes ‘the current global wave of English may lose momentum’-Possibly due to the takeover of Mandarin
Ostler
‘english will lose its pre-eminent position in the same way other langauges have, but it will not be replaced by another langauge, technology will aloow us to translate any langauge into another so that ‘everyone will speak and write whatever langauge they choose and the world will undefstand’
Saraceni argues that ‘the psycoloigcal umblical cord’ between england and english around the world is cut and that people in other countries should be free to do what they want with the langauge’–> Questions weather we in the furture it is cut
what is the singapore view toward english
Singapore has a prescriptivist language policy which privileges British and US English as high prestige varieties, and rejects ‘Singlish’ as slang or ‘broken’
English which could adversely affect Singapore’s position as a centre of international trade
how many native speakers does english have
english has the third largest amount of native speakers in the world
what does the term ‘world englishes’ mean
World Englishes is used to describe all the different varieties of English that exist worldwid
why do the british not own english
- Taken influence from various different languages e.g. In 1066, the Normans invaded Britain, bringing a form of French that helped shape what we now refer to as Middle English
DEFINE english
the language of England, widely used in many varieties throughout the world.
