English speakers in line with NationMaster

World Englishes

The 20th century will still be the century of the men who speak English

Theodore Roosevelt

English is no longer the possession of the British, or even the British and the Americans, but... exists in an increasingly large number of different varieties... But the most important development of all is seen in the emergence of varieties that are identified with and are specific to particular countries from among the former British colonies. In West Africa, in the West Indies, and in Pakistan and India... it is no longer accepted by the majority that the English of England, with RP as its accent, are the only possible models of English to be set before the young. (pp. 293)

Randolph Quirk 1962
The Use of English

 

I myself came from the Inner Circle of Englishes, the OVEs (Old Variety of Englishes) as they are called in South-East Asia; so I would like to start by reminding you that within this circle there are and always have been many different Englishes around. I’m not talking about the relatively recent worldwide varieties – British, North American, South African, Oceanic; but about the old dialects within Britain itself, Northumbrian, Mercian, Wessex, and Kentish at one period in the language’s history.

 

M.A.K. Halliday

 

Many historians and sociologists ask a question how it happened that in 1600 England – second-rate country, in the 19th c. the British Empire dominated in the world. The well-known phrase The Sun never sets in the British Empire was transformed into The Sun never sets in the empire of the English language. To put things metaphorically, whereas once Britannia ruled the waves, now it is English which rules them.

 

l language spread -- a process during which the uses and/or users of a language increase, often under conditions of political expansionism, prestige or technological influence.

Quirk’s (1988) analysis is considerably more complex, dividing the spread of English into three separate varieties – imperial, demographic and econocultural.

 

English as a GLOBAL language

In Mass Media there are numerous facts about English spread worldwide, for example:

n 400mln English mother tongue speakers

n 350 mln English as a second language

n 100 mln use it fluently as a foreign language

n 2/3 world scientists write in English

n ¾ world mail in English

n 80% electronic information

n In 1997 81% of Internet users used English, in September 2002 only 36,5%

 

Criticism of English

n Negative impact of English was first noticed in British colonies, in India, Ghandi, national leader, stated it brings alienation, intoxication, denationalization and mental slavery, later on other terms were coined internationally: Linguistic imperialism, linguicism, anglocentricity, glottopolitics

 

• Donor-recipient relations,
• Dominant and domineering cultures,
• English linguistic hegemony
• Linguistic imperialism
• Linguistic globalisation.
• Anglo-American hegemonic culture
• English as ‘a killer language’
• English-Only Europe? (2003) by Phillipson
• “the overarching dominance of anglophone nativespeakerism”

 

 

n English & Ideology: Some politicians state that British Council was set up as an institution to promote English, that English invasion was masterminded.

 

l In China teachers of English initiated the slogan which has become global “ Think global, teach local! Mind the gap! “

 

 

l American English also contributed to English invasion: in 1986 the Economist assembled a list of English words that have become more or less universal: airport, hotel, passport, telephone, bar, soda, cigarette, sport, golf, tennis, stop, O.K.,weekend, jeans, know-how, sex, no problem

IT loans in the Netherlands

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Sports loans - no Dutch equivalents for sport terms (racen, squashen, joggen, fitnessen, golf, keeper, penalty

Code-switching

The room is vol people (full of)

I have ook received it (too)

They try, nee, they tried to help us (no)

And then you neem another one (took)

He distributed it aan everybody (to)

 

 

Pakistan

Bootpolish – to lick sb’s boots

Cheap –sly, petty, low-class

Lift – special attention

Light – electric power

Meter – he’s lost his temper “His meter has gone full circle”

Korea

Second – kept mistress

Super- supermarket

T- T-shirt

Talent- TV actor

Old miss – unmarried woman past conventional age of marrying, spinster

Over - overcoat

Pro- TV/ radio guide

Rouge - lipstick

 

 

Thailand

Air- air-conditioned

Apartmet

Campaign – advertising

Fan – girl/boyfriend

Over – overexaggerate

Repeat – repeat a year in a college

Smart – elegantly dressed

Japan

Companion – attractive young lady at the exhibition

Half- half-Japanese

Hearing – listening

Hot –hot coffee

Talent –young media celebrity

Silver – relating to old age

Text – textbook of foreign language

Tobacco - cigarette

Italian - fame – rumour

Spanish – assistant - daily helping woman

Audience- court hearing

Librarian – book seller

Mascara – disguised person

Ghana (Семенец О.Е.,1985)

Linguist – a person who speaks on behalf of a tribe leader

Oracle - herbalist

(Quack - in Western Africa)

Cover cloth - overcoat

Canvas – shoes

A motor - bicycle

Storey – (storeyhouse) – more than 1

Electrolux – any fridge

Colgate - any ---

Kodak - any ---

Hoover - any –

To take seed/ to take in - to become pregnant

Euro-English

• Mainland Europeans, in the process of creating a pan-European culture in and through English, can also be seen to be on the periphery. English, for them, can act as a form of empowerment.
• One indication of this development into a separate variety is the use of Eurospeak or Eurojargon within EU institutions. First recognized as a lexical register utilized by Eurocrats, the conceptualization Eurospeak is now becoming much more commonly noticed and cited.

• Lexical items and multi-word units peculiar to Europe, such as

 

Brussels to refer collectively to EU institutions,

Maastricht to refer to the agreement signed there,

Schengen land

Euro land, Euro area, and Euro zone for those countries where the euro has been adopted as the currency,

Eurosceptic for someone skeptical of European integration,

internal market, a designation for the EU as a free-trade zone, and

Berlaymont, a synonym for “red tape,” as well as designations such as the “four freedoms”

Indeed, the term member state itself, a European invention, says much about how Europeans are molding language to accommodate a new political reality.

Varieties of English

 

The term “variety” is an academic term used for any kind of language production, whether we are viewing it as being determined by region, by gender, by social class, by age or by our own inimitable individual characteristics.

 

Among the varieties of English, there is a division into

1. the “Old Englishes” (usually British, American,Australian, Canadian and a few others) and

2. the “New Englishes” that have emerged in such nations as India, Nigeria,Singapore, and the Philippines.

3. It has become customary to use the plural form ‘Englishes’ to stress the diversity to be found in the language today, and to stress that English no longer has one single base of authority, prestige and normativity.

 

The concepts of language variety and variation lie at the heart of the world Englishes enterprise:

“varieties of English,”

“localized varieties of English,”

“non-native varieties of English,”

“second-language varieties of English,”

“new varieties of English.”

 

The issue of linguistic variety is also central to both traditional dialectology and contemporary linguistics, where it is often subsumed into the study of language variation and change. New varieties of English are also known as

 

Global Englishes

International Englishes

New Englishes

World Englishes

 

Tom McArthur’s Circle of World English (1987)

Simplification of English

l Basic English – constructed language,

l 1930 Charles Kay Ogden - 7 weeks

l Words selected via tests -850 words

l Simplified grammar which keeps it correct

l Idioms not included

l Words are pluralized with the help of S

l Each of 300 verbs can be turned into nouns by adding ER, ING; into adj by adding ING, ED

l Adjectives turn into adverbs by LY

l Adjectives can be inverted with UN

Operations – 100 words:

l Come, give, get, go, keep, let, put, seem, take, be, do, have, say, see, send, may, will

l About, across, after, at, among, between, by, down, from, in

l A, any, every, no, other, such, some

l North, south, east, west, please, yes

Things – 400 words:

Things – 200 picturable words:

Qualities - descriptive words

l Able, acid, angry, automatic

l Waiting, warm, wet, wide, wise, yellow, young

Qualities -50 opposites:

l Awake, bad, bent, bitter, certain, cold, complete, cruel,

l Thin, white, wrong

l EASY English – simplified at Level A, Level B

 

l A – 1200 words as a foreign language

l B - 2800 words, Cambridge First Certificate

l Commonwealth English – standard English spoken within Commonwealth

l Plain English (simple writing style)

l Globish - simplified, most common English words, made as a result common practice

 

 

Common Features of WE

Many New Englishes show a greater preference for forming yes/no questions by a rising intonation pattern, rather than by auxiliary inversion.

She’s coming tomorrow? (=‘Is she coming tomorrow?’ – IndSAf Eng)

She promised you? (Sgp Eng;

Anthony learned this from you or you learned this from Anthony? (Sgp Eng;

To my sister sometime I speak English. (Sgp Eng;

Q: Zulu? (i.e. Do you speak Zulu as well?)

A: Yah, and Zulu I speak.

Bokamba (1992:138--40) notes a common tendency in sub-Saharan African Eng to reduplicate adjectives to form adverbs:

Quickquick ‘quickly’;

small-small ‘in small doses’;

slow-slow ‘slowly’.

 

Kachru notes examples like different-different things and one-one piece.

The semantics here is distributive, with a stylistic nuance of emphasis.

In IndSAf Eng wh- words can be reduplicated with the semantics ‘plural/distributive’ based on details of the syntax of the Indic substrates.

Who-who came? (= ‘Who (of several people) came?)

What-what they said? (= ‘What (different) things did they say?’)

The use of -s plural markers is overgeneralized. luggages, furnitures, firewoods, or grasses/ discontents, informations

 

Singlish

English in Singapore = English –based creole spoken colloquially in Singapore

Numerous cases of code-switching (Chinese, Malay, Tamil)

Broken English/ bad English → Speak Good English Movement

Schools discourage students from taking Singlish, but Singlish is often used for humorous effect, when the audience is local., in the Army, in coffee-shops & restaurants

 

Singlish as a sociolect phenomenon. Sometimes, analysts prefer to use the terms basilang, mesolang and acrolang, rather than basilect, mesolect and acrolect, to emphasise that they are dealing with developing competence in an L2

Acrolectal - high-class form, well-educated people in informal situations, close to BrE

This guy’s Singlish is very good

 

Mesolectal – middle class, semi-formal situations

Dis guy Singlish very powerful one

 

Basilectal – colloquial, unique lexical, phonological & grammatical features

Dis guy Singlish is bey powerful one

 

Singlish Phonology

/p/ t/ k/ become unaspirated esp among Malay Singaporeans →

Pat, tin, come → bat, din, gum

/t/ /d/ → three → tree, then → den

The distinction between /l/ & /r/ not found at basilectal level - “Use your blain!”

 

Plural – s is often omitted which might be the result of Chinese influence which does not distinguish between single and plural forms

Singlish is syllable-timed compared with other varierties of English which are stress-timed

Pitch tones are well-defined, tones resemble Chinese

Singlish tends to preserve tone of loan words from Mandarin and other languages

Singlish Grammar

Nouns are optionally marked for plurality. Articles are optional too.: He can play piano. I like to read novel. Your computer got virus one, izzit?

As a copular and auxiliary verb be is often omitted: Dis house very nice/ Dat car not worth the money / You looking for trouble, izzit?

Past Tense markers are optional: He talk for so long, never stop, not even when I ask him. I eat liao (I ate or I have eaten) How come he never pay just now? (Negation+ past tense marker)

Interrogative This book you want or not? Can or not? They never study, is it? You don’t like that, is it?

Reduplication My boy-boy is going to primary school. We two friend-friend one. Want to go Orher walk walk see see or not? (Orchard Road) You got take the small-small one.

1. Kena is an auxiliary to mark the passive voice: He was scolded – He kena scold (negative evauation) VS * he kena praised.

Singlish Discouse Particles

Lah - Drink, lah! – Come on, drink! (in the end of the sentence to assert solidarity)

What / wat/ - But he very good at sports what!

Mah – This one can also work mah!

Leh – command, complaint, claim:

Give me leh!

Daughter: Mum, it’s private. How can I let you read it?

Mother: Can la. I’m your own mother.

 

Wife: You bought cheese, Farouk? (= ‘Did you buy cheese, Farouk?’)

Husband: No’, but lot butter I bought. (= ‘No, though I did buy a lot of butter’) (No’ = [noυ])

Why didn’t you come in?

B: You told me to wait here, what

 

Manglish / Malgish

Variant of colloquial English spoken in Malaysia. The language shares a substantial pool with Singlish, some experts claim they are the same languages with a few slang words found in one and non-existent in another.

Malay is the country’s official language since 1968. As English is widely spoken, many Malay words penetrated into informal English or Mangled English. The impact of other languages (Mandarin, Cantonese, Tamil, Hokkien) spoken in Malaysia is also taken into account.

Many speakers of Manglish belonging to various ethnic groups tend to pepper their speech with the words from their mother tongue which is the example of code-switching

 

Manglish particles

Lah – used in the end of the sentence to affirm a statement which often ends with an exclamation mark Don’t be an idiot lah! Mah – less intensive than lah

She’s like that mah

Liao - means ‘ already’ No more liao!

Meh – used in questions, often skeptical Really meh

Lor - used when explaining smth Like that lor!

One - used as an emphasis in the end of the sentence Why is she so naughty one?

What - unlike AE & BrE is used with an exclamation mark

What! How could you do that?

 

 

Manglish Vocabulary

Kapster – a talkative person

Blur – confused

Jalan – to walk

Kena – to get caught

Makan – to eat

Minum – to drink

On/ off - to activate/ deactivate

Pon – to skip school

Saman – to issue a traffic ticket

 

HP (handphone) - mobile/ cell phone

KIV – keep in view - keep for further consideration

Outstation - out of town/ overseas

MC – He is on MC today (medical certificate) - sick note

 

Can - yes/ alright

Cannot - no

Photostat - photocopy, Xerox

Different meanings

Driver - a personal chauffeur/ odd job man, often sent on errand

Alphabet – a letter of alphabet (The word ‘vase’ has four alphabets.

Exclamations in Manglish

Best/ syok – indicates that the object is superlatively good, Die/ finish/ gone – to indicate trouble like English ‘damn it’

 

Many things were borrowed from Chinese dialects: Why are you so like that one? =

Why are you behaving in that way? (BrE)

 

Philippine English

English functions in Manila since 1762 when the British invaded the country, but got rooted in 1898 when the USA took the government. Americans set up education system with English as the language of education.

After independence the Philippines government followed the same line with parallel usage of Filipino. In private schools arranged by Catholic Church dual system is valid and English prevails.

American spelling prevails.

Educated people prefer American pronunciation.

Mispronunciation

lead /i/ as in leader

salmon / l/ is pronounced

climber / b/ is pronounced

Wrong syllables are stressed:

Comfortable - /komFORtabl/

Preferable /preFERabl/

Admirable /adMYrabl/

Category /kaTEGori/

Ceremony /seREmoni/

 

Short /u/ turns into long /u/:

Frustration / froostr../

Suspend /soospend/

T, k, p are pronounced without aspiration

Vocabulary and usage

C.R. – Comfort Room = toilet, bathroom

Get/ go down the bus – get off the bus

Open/ close the light – Switch on/off the

Every now and then - often

 

Japlish/ Janglish/ Engrish

Japlish/ Janglish are typically considered more derogatory and referred to any East Asian language.

Engrish is a pejorative term used to describe attempts of Japanese writers to create English words and phrases, or mistranslation of an original Japanese text, exotic embellishment of the text in ads.

Engrish is applied to East Asian languages as they do not separate L and R sounds.

Engrish refers to Japanese pronunciation of English loan words.

Engrish occurs commonly in electronics produce manuals.

Engrish is used in Japanese pop culture as English is considered to be extremely fashionable.

Humorous English mistakes which appear in Japanese advertising and product design

Engrish can be found in other countries but the funniest examples come from Japan

Some of the English-based Japanese coinages can be used as Japanese originated English.

Actually, walkman, karaoke, play station, case-by-case, or forward-looking have already been received internationally, while nighter (bargain), washlet, hot carpet, or paper driver may have a good chance of adoption if appropriately introduced.

Nihonglish

Badly pronounced and ungrammatical Japanese produced by a native English speaker. Usage is intentional either with sarcastic or humorous intent. NB! Japanese bites back!

Variants of English/

Australian English

l Divergence of Australian English from BrE can be dated back to 1788 when the first penal colony for British convicts was set up. They spoke mostly Cockney. In 1827 when the speech of Australian residents was described, strong Cockney impact was noticed.

l During Australian gold rushes in the 1850s Australian English borrowed increasingly from external sources.

l Americanization of Australian English occurred during massive influx of American troops during WWII and increased later in the 1950s due to television, movies and mass media.

Australian English has a lot in common with New Zealand English, however the difference is obvious to a speaker from either country.

n There is Australian Corpus of English

n British spelling prevails, correlation of British and American spelling in 3:1 (-ise VS ize)

 

n There is some influence of Hiberno- English as many people are of Irish descent. Irish impact is seen in the use of me instead of my: What’s me hat?

n Some words in Australian English are unique like bush – remote, sparsely-populated areas.

n Some elements from Aboriginal languages (places, flora, fauna) were incorporated like kangaroo.

Pork products are known

in South Australia as fritz

In Victoria as stras

In New South Wales as devon,

In Western Australia as polony

In Queensland as windsor

In Tasmania as belgium

Stereotypically Australians have a rising tone/ questioning intonation known as high rising terminal. There are lots of regional patterns

 

Sociolinguistic approach in Australian English studies:

n Broad Australian English

n General Australian English

n Cultivated Australian English

 

Cultivated Australian English (CAE) is similar to RP. 3 -10 % population speak CAE. Common among public figures.People speaking CAE are ridiculed as aloof, snobby, affected. General Australian English - stereotype of Australian English, the language of movies & TV. Broad Australian English is a recognizable variety due to accent, known for long diphthongs and nasal drawl.

 

Indian English

British English and Scottish English are taught, the latter influenced Indian English with rhoticity and thrilled -r-.

RP is encouraged and promoted

Indian English has established itself as an audible distinct dialect with specific phrases

Obsolete forms of English, antiquated phrases which were fashionable 50 years ago

Indian English is an object of jokes due to ruined Grammar

BrE is popular with older generations, AmE – with younger, there are debates about variant to be adopted:

70% BBC English, 10% General American English, 17% Indian English

AmE grows popular due to TV, pop-culture, visits to the USA

AmE gradually dominates within academic, technical publications, mass media

/v/ < > /W/

Impact of Bengali, Hindi, Tamil → Benglish, Hindish, Tanglish

Progressive tense in stative verbs: I’m understanding, He is knowing the answer

Variation in number: he likes to pull your legs

Prepositions – to pay your attention on, discuss about

Tag questions: isn’t it? / no? in general questions; He’s here, no?

Word order: They’re late always. My all friends are waiting. Yes, I didn’t.

Past tense form: I had gone = I went

But & only as intensifiers: I was just joking but.

Open/ close = turn on/off

Overuse of words actually, basically, obviously in the beginning of the sentence

Overuse of the word different – different: We had gone to different different places.

Omission of the article: Let’s to ______city

Your good name please? = what’s your name?

Deadly = intensive (That movie is deadly)

Hi-fi = stylish (Your shoes are hi-fi)

Sexy = excellent & extremely cool (That’s a sexy car)

Hello! What do you want? = in telephone conversations

Back = ago: I met him 5 years back

Mr/ Mrs as common nouns: My Mrs is not feeling well

Uncle/ aunt to refer to someone significantly older

Repair = of a broken object: The TV became repair

Healthy = to refer to fat people

Dress - to refer to any clothes for men/ women/ children

Bath and bathe are interchangeable

Interjections

High-end-= of very high quality (sarcastically of work and people)

Oof! = distress& frustration

arey! Acchha! = to express range of emotions

Words from India in English

Jungle, bungalow, banana, pajamas, guru, shampoo

 

Canadian English

Close to AmE

Commonwealth spelling

Pronunciation is closer to AmE

Many words known as americanisms are also found in Canada

 

Major dialects are Newfounland, Eastern Canadian, Quebec, Central / Western, Ottawa Valley Twang

 

American English

Northern is not to be confused with political North during the Civil war, historically it is New England

Southern – coastal areas of Waryland, Virginia, Georgia, Gulf States

Midland – area extending through all the country

Sing/ Plural coordination

BrE The team is …/AmE The team are

 

2. Past Simple in AmE with words already, just, yet

 

3. Get –passive is more common in AmE

Subjunctive mood is more common in AmE

BrE He suggested they should apply…

AmE He suggested they_____ apply..

 

5. Irregular verbs in AmE form past tense forms as regular verbs (learned, leaped, spelled)

Usage of prepositions: AmE to meet with someone

Monday to Friday, AmE Moday thru Friday

In Churchill Street, AmE on Churchill Street

BrE toward s, backward s AmE toward__

AmE divided highway

BrE dual carriageway

 

Among the countless American coinages are these:

radio, disc jockey, waterfront, right away, get along with, fall for, make the grade, get around to, babysitter, boyfriend and girlfriend, knowhow, in the red, hitchhike, show business, merger, publicity, executive, hindsight, commuter etc.

 

 

• Many americanisms have become comprehensive thanks to Hollywood

biscuit cookie

queue line

flat apartment

fancy-dress party costume party

Pensioner retiree

lorry truck

football soccer

trousers pants

crisps potato chips

 

British American

windscreen windshield

bonnet hood

wing fender

quarterlight wing

boot trunk

indicator turn signal

hazard lights flashers

running lights parking lights

Tyre tire

 

Cambridge International Corpus (CIC)

1. Shall is infrequent in AmE, they prefer will or be going to. I shall be in the office at 9.30. Frequency of Shall per 1 million words BrE AmE 118 16	However, AmE allows shall in first person interrogatives, especially functioning as suggestions or in semi-fixed expressions:   Let’s try to find other words, shall we? How shall we say it?
1. Must is much more frequent in BrE than in AmE which prefers have to to express obligation. Frequency of Must per 1 million words BrE AmE 450 151	Had better is 6 times more frequent in spoken BrE than AmE.
Be going to (and the contracted form gonna) are not a characteristic use in BrE, which prefers imperatives in direction-giving: You’re gonna to go two blocks and then you’re gonna to see a big modern white building… (AmE) Come to T-junction, turn left. Go down…, you come …. (BrE)	1. I guess is 30 times more frequent in spoken AmE than in BrE where I suppose, I reckon are more frequent. I reckon we should have more coffee after this.
The present tense form of have with got is more than twice frequent in spoken BrE than AmE: I’ve got one sister and one brother (BrE)	Ir(regular) verbs In AmE, the past tense of fit is most often fit, while in BrE fitted: Jennifer says she never really fit in… I found a pair of boots that fitted me
Interrogative tags are around 4 times more frequent in BrE than in AmE: He’s brilliant, isn’t he?	In informal contexts, AmE speakers often use an interrogative copy tag with rising intonation in responses involving surprise or emotional involvement: I changed schools three times You did? In one year. Wow. Wow. In BrE Did you?
Affirmative copy tags occur in both variants but are much rarer in AmE than in BrE: I think it’s really funny that they live together, I do. (BrE)	The universal tag,right? is 4 times more frequent in AmE than in BrE: You lived in Canada, right? (AmE) I was hoping we could change this one, right? (BrE)
Tails are considerably less common in AmE than in BrE, but they do occur in informal spoken AmE: That was a nightmare, that one. (BrE) He’s a scary guy, that Dan Boland (AmE)	Good is often used in informal spoken AmE where BrE requires well: Hi, how are you doing? I’m good.
Present Perfect is less frequent in AmE where the tendency is to use Past Simple.	AmE uses some exclamative and intensifying expressions which are not common in BrE: geez, goddam, oh my gosh: It was the best tastinggoddamstuff I’ve ever eaten in my life. It’s been eighty degrees here.- Oh my gosh!

 

African American English

l A reference to varieties of English used in the United States (referred to in Canada as African Canadian English) by people who are wholly or partially of African descent. This accounts for over 10 per cent of the population, the figures depend on the definitions of African American: the United States Census Bureau gave the total population ‘Black or African American alone or in combination’ in 2010 as 13.5 per cent or some 42million;

l ‘Black or African American alone’ was given as 12.6 per cent or 39 million. The majority of African Americans are the descendants of slaves taken by the British from West Africa to America to work on the plantations of the South. Initially, the transportation was via the Caribbean, then directly to the south-east coast of the later United States. Although there was a concentration of African Americans in the rural South, the migration to the large cities of the inland north in the early twentieth century (Anderson 2008 [5.1.10]) meant that Urban African American varieties developed outside the South. Because these were severed from the historical core area they have frequently undergone developments not shared with the original varieties in the South. Varieties of African American English embody a large number of non-standard features on all levels of language. Some of these are almost conventional stereotypes and their frequency varies greatly – some are indeed quite rare.

l There is also a range of sub-varieties, for example with young/urban/hip hop contrasting with rural/traditional, and they have characteristics of their own. Furthermore, most of these features are not distinctive and are shared with many other non-standard varieties.

Pronunciation

l (1) Consonant clusters in non-initial position are reduced to a single segment: test [tes], desk [des] looked [luk], talked [tɔːk].

l (2) Non-prevocalic /r/ is absent: car [kaː], party [paːti].

l (3) Frequent deletion of final /l/, particularly before labials or wordfinally with auxiliaries: help [håp], he’ll be home [hi bi hoːm].

l (4) Stopping of initial /р/ to either [d̪] (dental stop) or [d] (alveolar stop): this [d̪ɪs], there [d̪åː].

l (5) In word-final position /θ/ is frequently shifted to [f] (also found in cockney English); this shift is also found for /р/ (→ [v]) in word-internal position: bath [baːf], teeth [tiːf] brother [brʌvə].

l (6) Velar nasals are realized as alveolars: She’s comin’ tomorrow.

l (7) The distinction between short /å/ and /ɪ/ is frequently lost before nasals (also in southern white American English). The neutralization is to the raised vowel [ɪ]: pen, pin [pɪn]; ten, tin [tɪn].

l (8) Glide reduction with /ai/, a feature typical of the Upper South, is also found in African American English before voiced segments: five [faːv], time [taːm].

l (9) Initial stress is often found with words with non-initial stress in other varieties, e.g. ˈ police, ˈ define.

Grammar, general

l 1) Negative concord (the agreement of all polarity items with each

l other within a clause) serves the purpose of intensifying a negation, for example I ain’t givin’ nothin’ to nobody.

l (2) Existential there is replaced by it: It ain’t no football pitch at school.

l (3) Plurals are not marked if preceded by numerals. He here for three year now.

l (4) The genitive is not necessarily marked with /s/ (as position is sufficient to indicate this category) I drove my brother car.

l (5) A formal distinction is frequently made between second person singular and plural: you [juː] (singular) and y’all [jɒːl], derived from you + all (plural); this is also a general southern feature.

Grammar, syntax

(1) Third person singular - s is variably omitted. She like my brother.

(2) The copula is deleted in equative sentences, that is those of the form X = Y. She a teacher. They workers in the factory.

(5) Bare subject relative clauses occur, for example He the man (who) got all the cars.

(6) Double modals are found occasionally within the same verb phrase (as elsewhere in the South, e.g. in Appalachian English): He might could do the work. She may can do the work. This is probably an inherited feature from Scots-derived dialects originally brought to the United States in the eighteenth century which then diffused into the language of the African-American population.

Vocabulary

l Some items are clearly of West African origin, such as buckra ‘white man’, tote ‘to carry’, goober ‘peanut’, yam ‘sweet potato’ (note: the origin of jazz is unknown).

l Semantic extensions of existing English words are:

homies ‘close friends; prisoner inmates’, bloods ‘other blacks’,

whities ‘white people’, bad ‘good, admirable’,

cool ‘good, neat’,

hip ‘knowledgeable’,

dude ‘male’ (often disparaging).

 

Chicano English

A reference to vernacular varieties of English spoken by Spanish immigrants in the south-west of the United States. Most of these are from Mexico (‘Chicano’ apparently derives from this name). There is a long association of the south-west of the present-day United States with Mexico. People from Central American countries have also been among these immigrants so that, at around 40 million, Spanish-speaking or Spanish-descent Americans constitute the major ethnic population of today’s United States. Chicano English covers a range of varieties and applies to both L1 and L2 speakers of English. In its most basilectal form it shows considerable influence from (Central American) Spanish

l Vocabulary Apart from actual Spanish words used in English because of code-switching Chicano English speakers may use words related in sound but different in meaning, so-called ‘false friends’, for example molest to mean ‘disturb’ based on Spanish molestar with this meaning. Other instances are extensions of English meanings, for example barely to mean ‘just recently’ as in She barely rang her mother.

 

 

References

1. English Language in Europe. Ed. By Reinhard Hartman, 1996

2. Intercultural Communication. Adrian Halliday, Martin Hyde, John Kullman.- Routledge, 2004

3. An Encyclopaedia of Language. Ed. by N.E.Collinge. Routledge, 1990

4. World Englishes. The Study of New Linguistic Varieties.-Cambridge Univ.2008

5. In and Out of English: For Better, For Worse?- Mutilingual Matters, 2005

6. The Handbook of World Englishes.- Blackwell Publishing, 2006

7. World English. A Study of Its Development.- Janina Brutt-Griffler, Multilingual Matters, 2002

8. History of English // YouTube/ Parts 1-8

9. Моїсеєнко О.Ю. Концептуальна інтеграція англійської мови в лінгвокулттурний контекст Східної Африки. Дис....д.філол.н. К. 2015

World Englishes

The 20th century will still be the century of the men who speak English

Theodore Roosevelt

English is no longer the possession of the British, or even the British and the Americans, but... exists in an increasingly large number of different varieties... But the most important development of all is seen in the emergence of varieties that are identified with and are specific to particular countries from among the former British colonies. In West Africa, in the West Indies, and in Pakistan and India... it is no longer accepted by the majority that the English of England, with RP as its accent, are the only possible models of English to be set before the young. (pp. 293)

Randolph Quirk 1962
The Use of English

 

I myself came from the Inner Circle of Englishes, the OVEs (Old Variety of Englishes) as they are called in South-East Asia; so I would like to start by reminding you that within this circle there are and always have been many different Englishes around. I’m not talking about the relatively recent worldwide varieties – British, North American, South African, Oceanic; but about the old dialects within Britain itself, Northumbrian, Mercian, Wessex, and Kentish at one period in the language’s history.

 

M.A.K. Halliday

 

Many historians and sociologists ask a question how it happened that in 1600 England – second-rate country, in the 19th c. the British Empire dominated in the world. The well-known phrase The Sun never sets in the British Empire was transformed into The Sun never sets in the empire of the English language. To put things metaphorically, whereas once Britannia ruled the waves, now it is English which rules them.

 

l language spread -- a process during which the uses and/or users of a language increase, often under conditions of political expansionism, prestige or technological influence.

Quirk’s (1988) analysis is considerably more complex, dividing the spread of English into three separate varieties – imperial, demographic and econocultural.

 

English as a GLOBAL language

In Mass Media there are numerous facts about English spread worldwide, for example:

n 400mln English mother tongue speakers

n 350 mln English as a second language

n 100 mln use it fluently as a foreign language

n 2/3 world scientists write in English

n ¾ world mail in English

n 80% electronic information

n In 1997 81% of Internet users used English, in September 2002 only 36,5%

 

English speakers in line with NationMaster

l USA 280,000,000

l India 100,000,000

l UK 55,000,000

l Canada 17,000,000

l Australia 15,682,000

l South Africa 3,500,000

l New Zealand 3,312,000

The USA 2007 – 5 years and older

l 267,444,149 - 95,19%

l 225,505,963 - Mother tongue

l 41,938,196 - additional language - do not speak English at home but know it ‘very well’ or ‘well’

l Great Britain (David Crystal) 2003 - 97,74%

1,500,000 - additional language

l Canada 85,91%

7,551,390 - additional language

l Australia (2001) – 97,03%

l New Zealand – 97,82%

l Ireland – 96,3%

 

Germany 56%, 272,504-L1 France 39% no L1 Italy 34% no L1 Spain 22% no L1 The Netherlands – 90% (2012), no L1 Austria – 73% Israel - 84,97% Denmark - 86% Switzerland – 61,28% Norway – 89% Singapore – 80%

China –0.83% - 10,000,000 Russia 4,9% 6,963,511 Kazakhstan - 15,4% Bulgaria 25% Slovakia 26% Slovenia 59% Lithuania 38% Latvia 46% Estonia 50%

2/3 world scientists write in English

¾ world mail in English

80% electronic information

In 1997 81% of Internet users used English, in September 2002 only 36,5%

World companies adopt English as a working language:

In Germany 98% specialists in Physics and 93% in Chemistry communicate in English

 

n Besides economic and political factors, vogue for English computers & electronic produce made their contribution→ communicative shift (Lotman)

or semiotic revolution (Kabakchi): Computers (IT) + English

 

Semiotic revolution has changed the nature of communication making it

n Electronically/ digitally-based, computer-mediated, in virtual world with focus on audio and video

In Europe:

$ 600 mln for translation papers into the languages of member-states

47% residents of EU claim English as their second foreign language

n Language policy in different countries aimed at protection their mother-tongue, for example, in 1992 Academy of France published the Dictionary of French with 6000 borrowings from other languages despite all criticism of purists. Among the words forbidden to use are: baby-sitter, boss, camping, cheeseburger, cocktail, copyright, drugstore, fast-food, know-how, marketing, parking, pickpocketing, sandwich, self-made man, sponsor, supermarket etc.

n One of the reasons English words squeeze out French equivalents is that English ones are much shorter:

French VS English

 

Téléscopie fax

Courriel e-mail

Imprimante printer

 

 

n Latin America complains about English invasion, about exposure to English but 57% young Spanish-speaking people claim their native language is Spanish but give preference to English in numerous situations,

 

Some sociolinguists claim that English becomes endangered in the USA as the Chinese increased 98%, Vietnamese 150%, Korean by 127% during the last decade, the number of native English speaking population (WASP) in the USA decreases as a result of graying and browning of America. After President Obama’s inauguration the newspapers published photos with caption “ Will America paint the White House Black?”

• In comparison with other languages English is presented as

English VS other languages

n World localized

n Link confining

n Window closed

n Neutral biased

 

 

Criticism of English

n Negative impact of English was first noticed in British colonies, in India, Ghandi, national leader, stated it brings alienation, intoxication, denationalization and mental slavery, later on other terms were coined internationally: Linguistic imperialism, linguicism, anglocentricity, glottopolitics

 

• Donor-recipient relations,
• Dominant and domineering cultures,
• English linguistic hegemony
• Linguistic imperialism
• Linguistic globalisation.
• Anglo-American hegemonic culture
• English as ‘a killer language’
• English-Only Europe? (2003) by Phillipson
• “the overarching dominance of anglophone nativespeakerism”

 

 

n English & Ideology: Some politicians state that British Council was set up as an institution to promote English, that English invasion was masterminded.

 

l In China teachers of English initiated the slogan which has become global “ Think global, teach local! Mind the gap! “

 

 

l American English also contributed to English invasion: in 1986 the Economist assembled a list of English words that have become more or less universal: airport, hotel, passport, telephone, bar, soda, cigarette, sport, golf, tennis, stop, O.K.,weekend, jeans, know-how, sex, no problem