World Englishes Flashcards
ideas for why the English lang. is global
- nothing to do w/ structure, but power of people who speak it
- had political power (British Empire)
- 16/ 17th c. English had scientific and technological power – 2/3 of things that were invented were done through the medium of English
- 19th c. English had economic power money ‘spoke’ in English (because of power of America and England)
- 20th c. English had cultural power (a lot of inventions were done in English)
what does Lingua Franca mean
- a common form of communication between two people from different countries
what does the term L1 mean
- it’s someone’s first language (was learned during infancy w/o conscious effort
what does the term L2 mean
- someone’s second language (usually learned through SLA during adolescence w/ a conscious effort)
what does the term L3 mean
- it’s someone’s third/ second foreign lang. learned through a process similar to SLA
what does the term ‘Globish’ mean
- a simplified version of Anglo-American English used as a world wide Lingua Franca
what do the terms ENL, EFL and EIL mean
- ENL (English as a native language)
- EFL (English as a foreign language)
- EIL (English as an International language)
PROS and CONS of Peter Strevens’ map and branch model (1980)
PROS:
- see how all varieties are linked (see connections)
- see England’s global power
CONS:
- generalises the English used in Africa to west and east and south African variations
- assumes English wasn’t influenced by any other lang.
- suggests a hierarchy where English and American varieties are seen as pure
Explain Kachru’s Concentric Circles (1982/1922)
- model attempts to capture different users of English
- the Inner circle contains British, American and Canadian speakers – are seen as the norm providing (sets the normal w/ white varieties)
- Outer Circle is norm developing, established via. trade relationships and they’ll have their own versions of English e.g. India using the progressive form a lot
- Expanding circle there’s no cultural development on English, so it’s norm dependent – uses more textbook English as a lingua franca e.g. China and Russia – they’re traditionally seen as speakers of English as a foreign lang.
PROS and CONS of Kachru’s Concentric Circles (1982/1922)
PROS:
- explains how people learn English – clear relationship between L1(U.K), L2 (India) and L3 (China) speakers
CONS:
- no clear relationship w/ newer English trends
- assumption that inner circle is pure and the norm
What is meant by the term ‘crossing’
- when a white speaker adopts non-white language (there’s no such term for when the opposite occurs, as this is expected)
Describe David Rubin (1992) experiment
- How whiteness affects the perception of accents
- 62 L1 students listened to recorded lecture and were shown a picture of the speaker
- Half were shown a white American women, the others an Asian woman.
- people shown picture of an Asian speaker said speaker had an Asian accent
- but recording was the same for both group
explain the problem w/ the concept of a ‘standard variety’
- automatically makes one variety unmarked and normal and other varieties marked and abnormal e.g. those w/ accent and dialect closest to standard not seen as having either
power of white varieties of English
- they’re seen as normal, so they control access to education and positions of power
PROS and CONS of McArthur’s circle of World English (1987)
PROS:
- isn’t generalised – has more specific varieties
- no hierarchy of power
- allows people to see the lang. change coming from below (how the people who use that lang. influence the ‘standard’ –see where all the varieties stem from
CONS:
- vague – what is the ‘world standard English?’ ‘what are the rules?’ ‘what are the identifiers?’
What is Schneider’s Development Paradigm (2007)
- classification looks at the evolution of postcolonial Englishes
- also looks at the socio-political background, sociolinguistic conditions and linguistic effects of the phases new varieties of English go through to reach varietal status
- stages are Foundation, Exonormative Stabilisation, Nativisation, Endonormative Stabilisation and Differentiation
Schneider’s Development Paradigm (2007)
- PHASE 1
Foundation:
- initial stage where English is brought to a territory by ‘a significant group of settlers
Schneider’s Development Paradigm (2007)
- PHASE 2
Exonormative Stabilisation:
-point where English is regularly used by settlers as the lang. of institution and government e.g. latin used in courts
Schneider’s Development Paradigm (2007)
- PHASE 3
Nativisation:
- involves linguistic and cultural transformation (intertwining of new and old)
Schneider’s Development Paradigm (2007)
- PHASE 4
Endonormative Stabilisation:
- the change from ‘English in X’ with X as the country, becomes ‘X English’ e.g. Indian English
Schneider’s Development Paradigm (2007)
- PHASE 5
Differentiation:
- when regional/ social dialects form (variety is completely independent)
- e.g. printing press
Examples of English varieties explained e.g. Singlish, Indian English and Uglish
- Singlish (creole lang. spoken in Singapore – established from Britian’s colonial rule and before declaring independence it’s standard form was British English)
- Indian English (developed after introduction of English in 1830s during rule of East India Company and it replaced Persian as the official lang. in 1835)
- Uglish (Ugandan English – speech patterns strongly influence spoken English)
lexical and grammatical features of Australian English
- ‘color’ instead of ‘colour’
- ‘realize’ instead of ‘realise’
- ‘program’ instead of ‘programme’
give some example of influences on Australian English
- trade links
- increasing use of social media
- increasing use of media e.g. film
what is standard Nigerian English
- nigerian StEnglish is offical lang. and serves a prestigious function as lang. of government, education, media etc.
- is based on british english w/ some additions and coinages
attitudes towards NPE
[Nigerian Pidgin English]
- ## regarded as bastardisation of English lang. used by non-literates
importance of NPE
- both literates and non-literates understand pidgin
- mainly used in informal situations – seen as easiest form of interaction amongst the population
- ## most widely spoken lang. (not a native lang. of any tribe) — a lingua franca
importance of NPE outside of Nigeria
- used by diasporic communities
- these communities use pidgin among themselves to feel at home
