Lectures Notes World Englishes

Corso di Laurea Magistrale
In Lingue e Letterature Moderne Europee e Americane

Facolt di Lingue e Letterature Straniere Universit Degli Studi di Cagliari Anno Accademico 2010- 2011
English Course World Englishes: An Overview Lecture Notes

Prof.ssa MariaTeresa Maurichi
Prof.ssa MT Maurichi - Lecture Notes
Main contents of the course are: An overview on the Varieties and Variation of World English The description of English as a Global Language
COURSE OUTLINE
SESSION 1
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Features of English as an international Language The English spoken Countries Development of the English English Language Timeline Main Languages influence
SESSION 2 - World English vs World Englishes - Definitions and Explanations - World (New) Englishes - The Three Way Classification: ENL, ESL and EFL their definition: - ENL - English as Native Language - ESL - English as Second Language - EFL - English as Foreign Language SESSION 3 - The Spread of English: An outline - Main factors for the initial spread of English - Why English Has become a World Language - The Dominance Of English - World (New) Englishes Key Points - Kachrus Three Circle Model of World Englishes - The Inner Circle - The Outer Circle - The Expanding Circle - McArthurs Circle of World English - The English - Today Debate SESSION 4 Some Features of New Englishes: a Framework
Defining a New English Language Standards The Standardising Process Key terms: Language, Dialect, Accent Some Changes in Variation of Englishes The social variation - Lexical change - Phonological variation
SESSION 5 Varieties of Englishes - some features: Main influences Variation in vocabulary Variation in Morphology and syntax Diachronic change in syntactic simplification Synchronic changes Differences in tenses - Cultural conventions - Some misunderstandings - Variation in contemporary England - Scottish English and Variation in Scotland SESSION 6 American English: the powerful variety The Development of American English Some features of -The African American Vernacular English (AAVE) The Southern American English (SAE) Standard American English or General American: Main features Variation in American English The main ethnic variety: African American Vernacular English - AAVEs Southern American English SAE main features SESSION 7 - Canadian English - CanE - Its origins - Candian as linguistic area - Linguistic situation - Some Features of Canadian English
SESSION 8 - English in Australia and New Zealand - Australian English (AusE) descriptive account - Features of varieties of Standard Australian English - Some features of Australian Aboriginal English - Aboriginal English - How varieties of English are influenced by indigenous languages The historical Perspective Cultural/conventional and pragmatic norms - New Zealand English - NZE - Some remarkable features
SESSION 9 - English in Asia and Europe: an overview - Asia and Europe - Similarities and Differences - Asian Varieties - Some shared features - The Language Pyramid - New Englishes in Europe
- Some shared and common features - The Changing Role of English in Europe - New Emerging features - Identity markers - European English: a definition - The Future of English Main theories
SESSION 1
ENGLISH AS AN INTERNATIONAL LANGUAGE
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Definition of a global Language

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English and its origins

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British English vs American English Definition of an International Language Some Characteristics:

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large number of native speakers the most widely spoken: Mandarin, English, Spanish, Hindi and Arabic - A large number of speakers of other languages
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A language of wider communication: a) among individuals from different countries b) between individuals from one country D. Crystal (1997): a language achieves global status when it develops a special role that is recognised in every country Achieving a global or special status means: - Making it an official language of the Country - Giving it a special priority - Studying it as a required foreign language or second language - English has achieved a special status in over 70 countries
LIST OF ENGLISH SPOKEN COUNTRIES

Ra nk Countries Amount
# 1 # 2 # 3 # 4 # 5 # 6 # 7 # 8 # 9 # 1 0 # 1 1 # 1 2 # 1 3
United States: India: United Kingdom: Canada: Australia: South Africa: New Zealand: Ireland: Zimbabwe:
280,000,000 100,000,000 55,000,000 17,100,000 15,682,000 3,500,000 3,213,000 2,600,000 375,490
Singapore:
227,000
Israel:
100,000
Sri Lanka: Puerto Rico:
97,000 82,000
Ra nk
Countries
Amount
# 1 4 # 1 5 # 1 6 # 1 7 # 1 8 # 1 9 # 2 0 # 2 1 # 2 2 # 2 3 # 2 4
Liberia:
69,000
Bermuda:
58,800
Papua New Guinea:
50,000
Zambia:
41,434
Philippines:
32,802
Guam:
28,800
Malawi:
16,000
Barbados:
13,000
Namibia:
10,941
Cayman Islands: Honduras:
9,200 9,000
Ra nk
Countries
Amount
# 2 5 # 2 6 # 2 7 # 2 8 # 2 9 # 3 0 # 3 1 # 3 2 # 3 3 # 3 4 # 3 5
Virgin Islands:
8,414
Brunei:
8,000
Fiji:
4,929
Micronesia, Federated States of:
3,540
Gibraltar:
3,300
Mauritius:
3,000
Malta:
2,400
Midway Islands:
2,256
British Virgin Islands:
2,000
Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas): Ethiopia:
1,991 1,986
Ra nk
Countries
Amount
# 3 6 # 3 7 # 3 8 # 3 9 # 4 0 # 4 1 # 4 2 # 4 3 # 4 4 = 4 5 = 4 5
Vanuatu:
1,900
Wake Island:
1,730
Norfolk Island:
1,678
Seychelles:
1,601
American Samoa:
1,248
Cook Islands:
683
Nauru:
564
Kiribati:
338
Saint Pierre and Miquelon:
188
Kenya: Tanzania:
0 0
Ra nk
Countries
Amount
= 4 5 = 4 5 = 4 5 = 4 5 = 4 5 = 4 5
Nigeria:
Niue:
Belize:
Rwanda:
Ghana:
Uganda: Total: Weighted average:
0 478,367,213 9,199,369.5
From Website: http://www.nationmaster.com
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Map Of English Spoken Countries
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Major Language Families

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Indo-European Background - Major language families

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ENGLISH IS A GERMANIC LANGUAGE

( with strong Romance elements due to language contact in history)
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The Three Way Classification: ENL, ESL & EFL

- Three distinct forms of users - increasingly difficult to classify speakers belonging to only one group - but important starting point to understand distinctions and spread of New & World Englishes
1 ENL - English as Native Language

- language of people born &raised in countries, where English is (historically) the first language - countries like: UK, USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand - as traditional, cultural & linguistic bases - around 350 million ENL speakers around the world - not one single variety, differences in territories (e.g. UK and US) - Norm providing and spoken in the Inner Circle 2 . ESL - English as Second Language - people living in territories like India, Bangladesh, Nigeria and Singapore - Countries former colonised by British - English gained importance in administration - English serves official purpose within the country in law, education and government - also worldwide around 350 million speakers - Norm developing and labelled as non-standard, illegitimate, interlanguage, bad, deviant, half baked
3. EFL - English as Foreign Language

- For speakers of EFL English serves no purpose in own country - Historically learned for communication with ENL speakers - Nowadays used for communication with other non-native speakers - Norm dependent and used in Expanding Circle
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SESSION 3
The Spread of English: An outline
Key Facts: Main factors for the initial spread of English:
Several geographical, historical, socio-cultural factors
Colonialism
Speakers migration
technology development
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17th and 18th centuries English is the language of the leading colonial nation (Britain)
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18th and 19th centuries is the language of leader of the industrial revolution (Britain)
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The late 19th and early 20th centuries is the language of the leading economic power (the USA)
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Beginning of 19th century Britain is the worlds leading industrial and trading nation English emerges as a first-rank language in areas that affect all aspects of society:
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The press, advertising, broadcasting, sound recording, movies, transport and communications
Why English Has Become a World Language

Why English? English dominates three key components of the global popular culture (especially among young people)
Motion picture industry
Popular music
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The Internet
The Dominance Of English

English is the main language of:
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Tourist related industries (10% of worlds labour force)

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International airports
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Major international hotels (English staff)

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Dissemination of information.
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Scientific publishing
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85% of Biology, Physic Papers,

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73% of Medical Papers

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65% Mathematics and Chemistry Papers INTERNET: 84% of Internet servers are in English (Widdowson 1997): One of the primary reason for the spread of English today is because it has such a variety of specific purposes English plays a key role in the economic development of countries for: RELEVANT INFORMATION
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in political and intellectual areas

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International organizations, private funding sources information

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Gives the access to the global community for economic development to obtain:
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Public Health issues

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Agricultural development
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Transportation infrastructures EDUCATION - Medium of instruction

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It gives access to higher education
World (New) Englishes

Forms of New Englishes not uniform in characteristics, but share criteria: developed through education system developed in an area where English was not spoken by majority of people has become nativised by own language features ( J.Jenkins, World Englishes,2003,p 22/23)
Three-way model: ENL, ESL & EFL

-Three distinct forms of users - increasingly difficult to classify speakers belonging to only one group - important starting point to understand distinctions and spread of New & World Englishes English Today the Three Way Classification
Three main groups of users:

Those who speak English respectively as
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a native language = ENL
a second language = ESL
a foreign language = EFL Neat classifications become increasingly difficult Problems with the three-way Classification Models of the spread of English Three circle model of World Englishes
Kachrus three circle model of world Englishes

It is the most influential model describing spread of World English
Connected to the ENL, ESL, EFL concepts
Kachru divides World Englishes in three concentric circles
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Kachrus three circle model of World Englishes
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The Three circle model of World Englishes: a) The Inner Circle

The inner circle refers to the traditional bases of English, where it is the primary language. Included in this circle are the USA, UK, Ireland, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. The varieties of English used here are, in Kachru's scheme, 'norm providing'.
b) The Outer Circle

The outer or extended circle involves the earlier phases of the spread of English in non-native settings - where the language has become part of a country's chief institutions, and plays an important 'second language' role in a multilingual setting: - Singapore, India, Malawi and over fifty other territories are included in the outer circle. The varieties used here are what Kachru calls 'norm-developing': - in regions using these varieties there has been a conflict between linguistic norm and linguistic behaviour.
c) The Expanding Circle

It includes those nations which acknowledge the importance of English as an International Language. - Historically, they do not belong to that group of countries which were colonised by members of the inner circle, and English doesn't have any special intranational status or function. - constitute the context in which English is taught as a 'foreign' language as the most useful vehicle of international communication. - These are 'norm-dependent' varieties, and are essentially exonormative in Kachru's terms. The inner circle (UK, USA) is 'norm-providing', meaning: that English language norms are developed in these countries and English is the first language there. The outer circle (mainly New Commonwealth countries) is 'norm-developing'. The expanding circle (much of the rest of the world) is 'norm-dependent', because it relies on the standards set by native speakers in the inner circle.
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D. Crystal while warning that such data should be carefully interpreted, lists some seventy-five territories in which English 'has held or continues to hold, a special place as a member of either the inner or the outer circles' What is more significant, though, is the growth in the expanding circle, which has resulted in English being used by non-native speakers among themselves at least as much as between native and non-native English speakers
The Inner Circle includes:

ENL Countries: UK, USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand Spoken English as norm providing English-language standards determined by ENL speakers (Inner Circle)
The Outer Circle includes ESL Countries : Bangladesh, Singapore, India, Nigeria, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Malaysia - Spoken English regarded as norm developing (developing own standards)
The Expanding Circle includes: EFL Countries: China, Egypt, Indonesia, Taiwan, Korea, Israel, - Spoken English regarded as norm performing - standards from Inner & Outer Circles are performed / taken over - But no official status, therefore dependent on standards set by Inner Circle
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McArthurs circle of World English
The Inner Circle:
World Standard English

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but not existing in identifiable form The Outer Circle: Band of regional varieties of English standard forms standardising forms
McArthurs circle of World English Model
Divides the world into 8 seperate regions
Describes sub-varieties of the standard and standardising forms
Examples: Welsh English, Quebec English, ect Summary example: American Standard English - Midland
The English - Today Debate

Key points: The Outer and Expanding Circles: - English has become Englishes - Local conditions + influence of other languages The Inner Circle Differences: accents, vocabulary, in less extent grammar Standard varieties: legitimate (world norms) Some Country Standard Superior to those of other ENL countries The Outer and Expanding Circles point of view: Their Varieties are institutionalised form of English Should be seen comparable with the Inner Circles Englishes Valid as a local Teaching Models Inner Circle point of view: The English of outer Circle:
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- It is an Interlanguage (has not yet reached the target English) - It is a fossilised language: (when learning as ceased short native competence)
SESSION 4
Some Features of New Englishes: a Framework
- Variation in English - Kachrus Circle Model
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Outer and Inner Circles First Group of Englishes are: North America (US and Canada) Australia New Zealand South Africa Englishes developed independently from English in Britain - Spoken as a mother tongue - has elements of continuity Latter group of Englishes are: Indian English Philippine English Nigerian English Singapore English (increasingly spoken as a mother tongue) Were/are learnt as second languages One language with wider multilingual repertoire of acquisition The New Englishes should be considered in their own right, not in terms of their differences American English and British English are the worlds two prestige varieties of Englishes Defining a New English: An umbrella Term, covering a large varieties of English Far from uniform in their characteristics and current use They share some features (Platt et all 1984)
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Developed through the education system

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Developed in areas where a native variety of English was not the spoken language
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Used for a range of functions speak/write

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Became localised/nativised - language features of its own:

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sounds, intonation, patterns, sentence structures, words, expression
New Englishes has to be considered: on the basis of the status of its norms = innovative uses The extents of acceptance despite the difference from the native model norms Status of Innovation Acceptance of innovations Bangbose (1998) defines some internal factors of the status of an innovation in English - Demographic Factor (how many speakers of acrolet/standard - Geographical factor (how widely diffused) - Authoritative factor (where its use is sanctioned) - Codification (appears in reference books (dictionaries/grammar) - Acceptability factor (the attitude of users /non users towards it) The most crucial factors: Codification and acceptability: any innovation is regarded as an error than a legitimate form Standard Language in the Inner Circle Term used for: Variety of Language considered to be the NORM
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Optimum for education purposes

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Yardstick against which other varieties of language are measured

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Prestige Variety (spoken by a minority of people occupying position of power

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speakers have high prestige Language Standards The Standardising Process Selection: one variety rather than another is chosen
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Social/Political process Codification: The chosen variety has to be fixed in grammar books/dictionaries -access to the standard form Elaboration of Function: - fulfilment its role - Perform a wide range of institutional and literary functions (government, law, education, science and literature, media) Acceptance: - Relevant population accept the selected language as a standard Standard English In the Inner Circle context Some definitions
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Language of educated people throughout the British Isles

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Used in writing, in school and University

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Radio and television

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spoken by educated speakers

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Studied as a foreign/second language

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Formal instruction
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Refers to grammar, vocabulary (dialect) not pronunciation (accent) Standard English definitions Set of grammar and lexis forms
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The grammar and the core vocabulary of educated usage in English

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Pronunciation cannot be labelled standard

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Traditionally the medium of the upper and professional middle class

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since the 1920s the accent has been called the Received Pronunciation (RP)
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the Queens English

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Oxford English, BBC English Standard English Trudgill: Primarily a matter of grammar and vocabulary promoted through the education system Standard English is a dialect of great prestige
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Not associated accent

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Not part of geographical continuum

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It is a SOCIAL DIALECT
Key Terms to consider:

- Language, Dialect, Accent - Not easily defined LANGUAGE AND DIALECT (Not clear-cut difference)
LANGUAGE: autonomous
DIALECT: heteronymous Language: related to names of independent political entities (the definition doesnt apply to English which is the official language of more than 20 nations)
Some Features of the Dialect

- often intelligible - mainly spoken no codified written form used in certain DOMAINS - DOMAINS: recurring limited situation type/contexts (situational use of language - a definable context of life in a society)
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- Typical Domain: the school, the family, work, the Church, the local media, a living dialect is characterised by the use of several domain LOSS OF DOMAIN means: endangered DIALECT AND ACCENT ACCENT: refers to the pronunciation of a variety DIALECT: refers grammar and vocabulary speaking a particular Dialect implies using a particular variant of pronunciation
What is a dialect?
- a specific variety of English that differs from other varieties in three specific ways: - lexis (vocabulary), - grammar (structure) - phonology(pronunciation or accent). - may be different from each other - all speakers within the English-speaking world can still generally understand them. What is an accent? Accent, refers only to differences in the sound patterns of a specific dialect we all speak with an accent. DIFFICULT DISTINCTION BETWEEN DIALECT/LANGUAGE WE USE A NEUTRAL TERM: VARIETY: covers both concepts: the general term to refer to World Englishes TYPES OF VARIATION VARIATION in World Englishes is to be found at all level of language: - Spelling - Phonetics/phonology - Morphology - Syntax - Lexis (vocabulary) - Discourse
Some Changes in Variation of Englishes

Change in Pronunciation changes in pronunciation can come in a variety of forms.
Some changes merely affect the way a single word is pronounced:

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the pronunciation of a particular vowel sound or consonant sound changes gradually across successive generations and thus has an impact on a large group of words. A change in pronunciation might initially take place only in one particular geographic location and remain local. Or it may over time spread nationally and thus affect all varieties of English. RP - Received Pronunciation is a Social Accent of English Received Pronunciation, or RP for short, is the instantly recognisable accent - described as typically British. - Popular terms for this accent, such as The Queens English, Oxford English or BBC English are all a little misleading. - The Queen, for instance, speaks an almost unique form of English, while the English we hear at Oxford University or on the BBC is no longer restricted to one type of accent. RP is an accent, not a dialect, since all RP speakers speak Standard English. It avoids non-standard grammatical constructions and localised vocabulary characteristic of regional dialects. - RP is also regionally non-specific, that is it does not contain any clues about a speakers geographic background. - it does reveal a great deal about their social and/or educational background There is more than one RP:
Conservative RP refers to a very traditional variety particularly associated with older speakers and the aristocracy.
Mainstream RP describes an accent that we might consider extremely neutral in terms of signals regarding age, occupation or lifestyle of the speaker.
Contemporary RP refers to speakers using features typical of younger RP speakers.
All RPs are united by the fact they do not use any pronunciation patterns that allow us to make assumptions about where they are from in the UK
Social Variation
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Making speech fit the situation
All native speakers adjust their speech patterns depending on context:
from relaxed conversation in familiar surroundings to a more formal setting.
Most of us have been accused of having a telephone voice.
We all have a range of different voices for talking to children, talking to friends in the pub, making a presentation or talking to a foreigner and we modify our speech accordingly.
Lexical change
refers to a change in the meaning or use of a word, or a generational shift in preference for one word or phrase over another.
Lexical change is probably the most frequent type of language change and certainly the easiest to observe.
we can make confident assertions about the age of a speaker who uses the word courting to mean going out with, or one who uses the adjective fit to describe someone they find attractive.
In most cases, the changes we make are extremely subtle but nonetheless noticeable,
perfectly natural way of making the people we are talking to feel at ease.
Often this process is subconscious simply expressing a shared identity or group solidarity or attempting to present a certain image.
the range of any given speakers repertoire is defined by who he or she is.
People from different geographical places speak differently,
but even within the same small community, people might speak differently according to their age, gender, ethnicity and social or educational background PHONOLOGICAL VARIATION Different forms:
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The way a single word is pronounced

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The pronunciation of a singular vowel or consonant changes gradually across successive generations
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Has an impact on a large group of words

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Can take place in a particular area and remain local

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May spread nationally and affect many varieties of English GRAMMAR VARIATION
distinction between standard and non-standard grammar,
Standard English refers to what many people consider a prestigious form,
Use by people in positions of authority and because of its universal acceptance as the written norm.
Just as speakers with a broad accent do not reflect their pronunciation in writing, most people whose speech is characterised by non-standard grammar, switch to more standard forms in writing.
However, there is a great deal of difference between written and spoken language, both in terms of purpose and audience, and this is reflected in their different grammars
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RP samples
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Dialect samples
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Lexical Changes
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Phonological Changes Grammar change Students Listening activity Audio recordings from: The British library: http://www.bl.uk/
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SESSION 5
Varieties of Englishes
Some features: Inner Circle ) split in an extra vowel - USUALLY schwa // e.g. Irish and Australian Englishes: Film and known = /film/ and /nouwn/ respectively 1st INFLUENCE: Consonant Cluster languages vs Consonant-Vocal-Consonant Consonant cluster at the ends of words, as in English past tenses and plurals
Speakers of C-V-C- simplify to a single consonant sound:
walked /w:kt/ = /w:k/ - or even /w/
Books /bks/ = /bk/ (with a glottal stop / / as final sound) 2nd INLUENCE The main reason for Syntactic Simplification can be Phonological Another major influence occurs whether they are: STRESS-TIMED or - SYLLABLE TIMED Languages - STRESS-TIMED: the number of stress points determines how long it will take to say something (swallowing effect) (Australian) syllables between stress point get shortened and vowels are often sounded as schwas - SYLLABLE TIMED: equal time -each syllable takes more or less the same amount of time to produce (easier to understand)
Some languages are more stressed-timed than syllable-timed
People with Syllable-Timed L1 develop Englishes characterised by syllable-timing, for example Malaysian and Singaporean Example: Common words:
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- Stress-Timed RP /ftgrf/ ( 1st, 3rd and 4th vowels are shortened to a schwa) - Singaporean: /fotogrf/ Similarity = the final schwa the attitude variation are needed are natural not worries about them VARIATION IN VOCABULARY Different kinds of Varieties: 1.Variation in meaning: same word different meanings in different varieties or Englishes Different usage of vocabulary can cause misunderstanding among different varieties of English Speakers (reflect local culture and context) 2 Variation in Vocabulary Different Varieties of Englishes have words that are unique to them vocabulary reflects ways of talking about common things and concept related to particular cultures different varieties of English can adapt words to suit the culture in which they are used For Example Australian Informality is a cultural value: - gives rise to the shortening and clipping of common words - gives them a special Australian informal flavour
A Politician = a Pollie - a Journalist = a journo
a refugee = a reffo Vocabularies of varieties of Englishes enriched by words from local languages (referred to local cultures, practices and traditions) - Adoption of words from native language ( not from a particular variety of English, from other languages) - many Japanese words are now of common usage (judo, suschi.) - Word are adopted to describe peculiar geographical features, local flora and fauna, local phenomena - remarkable the contribute of Australian Aboriginal Language: kangaroo, koala, boomerang; now understood by speakers of many different varieties of Englishes
MORE VARIATION
- Sound that cause learners of English more trouble than any other / / or / /
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- Voiceless nouns such as bath: and mau:th - Voiced verbs: beth (bathe) and mouth - RP has th sound at the beginning of words such as // thirty-three - Irish and certain variety of American English have sounds closer to a /t/ in the above words (bath mouth) - RP words, such a mother in other varieties the sound is more like /d/ It is difficult when these sounds do not exist in the learners language It would be useful consider which sounds of English are important for no-native speakers to master sand which can be ignored even if being intelligible Functional Load Functional Load: defines the relative meaning load a sound may refer to the importance of certain features in making distinctions in a language. how hard would it be to guess the identity of a phoneme in context when it has not been heard? A vowel sound that carry high functional load in Standard American English may carry a lower functional load in other varieties of English. speaking/learning English does not necessarily mean speaking/learning RP or Standard American
MORPHOLOGY and SYNTAX

Variation in the way people use grammar Once English had a more complex inflected language structure (words change form according to grammatical function) English maintains some elements of the Inflectional System as follows: - Signs time by changing the form of the verb - S for plurals - S -3rd singular person present simple - past tenses (ed), - Saxon genitive - Inflection are also way to sign the time tense system - -In English inflection can change the part of speech: For example: noun beauty = adjective beautiful by adding a suffix FUL Beautifully + suffix FULLY (adverb) Other languages (Chinese) the word do not change is not and inflective language. Some languages use different ways of signalling time (use adverbs: yesterday, next year)
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SOME CHANGES
Dictionary Writers keep track of the changes in languages by recording (and, ideally, dating) the appearance in a language of new words, or of new usages for existing words.
By the same token they may tag some words as "archaic" or "obsolete Diachronic change (takes place over a long period of time) A process of syntactic simplification
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use of inflections has reduced slowly over the centuries

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The old inflectional system had: nominative accusative genitive dative Today English - retains inflections on nouns the suffix S for plurals the Old English: suffix EN still exist in irregular plurals such as: Children and oxen For Example: - The second singular person was Thou; - the second person singular inflection was est - the 3rd person singular inflection was eth - you make = thou makest - He makes = he maketh Genders and Causes markers have all disappeared The accusative and genitive are restricted to WHOM and the S are dropping out of use except in formal writing - The old inflectional system had two ways of marking the past tense: The strong form: by changing the internal vowel: Rdan rd (ride-rode) Findan fand (find found) Beran baer (bear-bore) Sprecan spraec (speak-spoke) The weak form- by adding a suffix: Endian endode endod (end-ended-ended) Cysson-cyssede (kiss-kissed) Cepan cepte ceped (keep-kept-kept)
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Over time the strong forms have lost out to the weak forms Today nearly all new verbs take ED as past tense marker Therefore: - the trend for New Varieties of English - NVE is in favour regular ED endings - Mirroring a historical process
The Word Order

A change associated with the simplification of the inflectional system has been: the move from a relatively free to a relatively fixed word order In Modern English: the king betrayed the queen and the queen betrayed the king (very different meaning) In Old English: - so cwn besc pone cynig and - pone cynig besc so cwn mean the same: the queen betrayed the king despite the different word order, the subject and object are marked through inflections Inflections have disappeared from most modern varieties of Englishes NOT in THE VARIETY of ENGLISH spoken In the Yorkshire (North West Of England) - It still retains the more complex system of inflection - Thou = you - st verb suffix - Yorkshire = Hast thou seen him? = have you seen him? - Yorkshire = Wherest thou bin ? / Where hast thou been? = where have you been? DIACHRONIC CHANGE IN SYNTACTIC SIMPLIFICATION Some irregular are slowly getting dropped: Centuries ago the past tens of WORK was WROUGHT still occurs in the phrase wrought iron worked iron (metal shaped by hammering) - Many irregular past tense forms still exist - There is evidence they have slowly been disappearing over time - The trend: is to form the irregulars as the regulars by adding the suffix ED
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SYNCHRONIC CHANGES Change taking place at the moment: - Among speakers of English whose first language do not have tense or inflections are developing their-own simpler system of tense and inflections Predictable future changes: - loose the S of the singular 3rd person in the present simple - simplification can be phonological (find it hard to pronounce inflections as it occurs as consonant clusters) Occurs more in the spoken language than in written form
DIFFERENCES IN TENSES DIFFERENCES IN THE WAY TENSES ARE USED AMONG VARITIES Standard British Englishes- SBE vs Standard American Englishes - SAE- in certain contexts: SAE may use the SIMPLE PAST While SBE use the PRESENT PERFECT For example: SBE: Have you bought that car yet? SAE: Did you buy that car yet? COMMON FEATURE IN INDIAN ENGLISH (IE) - the Use of the present continuous - Where the SBE would use the Present Simple IE: I am knowing very well BE: I know very well - Influence of first language Punjabi: - the present continuous in English is the present simple in Punjabi
Cultural Conventions and Schemas - The language in real contexts

- Cultural Conventions are cultural routines - the way people greet / address each other - Fairly predictable sequences = follow a predictable schema - For example Schema = is a word adopted from a language to another with the consequent variations in meaning Schemas of Cultural Conventions
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-The way people greet in British, American, Australian English - BE; How are you Fine, thanks - AE: How are you doing? _ Great (thanks) - AusE: How are you going? - Good, thanks - It may cause misunderstanding when people move from one culture to another Misunderstanding - British people who move to live in Australia can be confused by being asked how are you going? A British English sensible answer might well be : by bus CULTURAL CONVENTIONS - In certain Asian Cultures is common to greet have you eaten? Some example of Cultural Conventions - American Academic Culture: Students address to academic staff by title and family name - In Australian Academic Culture: Students address to their lecturers by first names This norm is like violating their own conventions SOME MISUNDERSTANDINGS - when a Speaker although using excellent English may use His/her own cultural schema and cultural norms For Example: A Chinese variety of English prefers a request schema that places reason for a request for before the request itself. Varieties of English reflect the cultural conventions and norms of the different speakers VARIATION IN CONTEMPORARY ENGLAND - debate over the number of major varieties of English spoken - Non debate on the many varieties still existing Ellis (1890) identifies 6 major dialects, he subdivided into 42 districts Viereck (1986) identifies 7 major dialect areas in England namely: 1 The North 2. The North West 3. The County of Lincolnshire 4. East Anglia 5. The Midlands 6. The Extreme Southeast 7. The Extreme Southwest
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Trudgill (1990) distinguishes between: - Traditional/rural dialects - 13 listed - Modern/urban dialects 12 listed From Ihalainen (1994),: some examples of distinctive grammar features: The Northern Subject Rule: - The plural present tense takes S if not preceded by a personal pronoun subject: - they peel and boils them instead: birds sings - southern usage, in contrast the S is affixed after a personal pronoun subject: they peels and boils them Scottish English and Variation in Scotland Scots is described as a variety of English Is Scots a variety of English or is it a separate language? For the Political status should be a Language Many varieties of English include many varieties of Scottish English Kay (1988) identifies 7 dialects of Scots: Southern South West and East Central Northern Highland Insular Northern dialect is called Doric or Buchan Doric It is Spoken in the North of Aberdeen, Northeast of Scotland Widely used, also in written form Leopard magazine is edited and published in northeast Scotland and carries articles about Doric written in Doric including a popular comic Concillor Swick Common grammatical features of Scottish English It suffix as a past tense ending I aye likit (liked) /f/ for /w/ in wh -words The use of the past simple where in Standard British English (SBE) the present perfect would be used
Summing up
There is a wide variation between varieties and also variation within varieties - The most obvious variation between varieties occur in :
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- pronunciation and vocabulary - significant differences in syntax and grammar - differences are immediately noticeable and might cause temporary misunderstandings - more importantly varieties reflect the culture of the speakers this is a cause of difference between varieties as the ways cultural norm are expressed as a result differ across varieties All language is characterised by variation and change - No language is pure - Varieties develop to supply the needs of their speakers - No matter how many rules prescriptive grammarians or linguistic bureaucrats will prescribe . - Variation and change are powerful markers of cultural and linguistic convention diversity Burchhfield (1985): (scholar, writer, and lexicographer) maintains that: stability of meaning is rare in any language and that no construction is everlasting stable, no cherished remains unbroken - Without variation varieties English could not be a global language; variety is the world cultural foundation
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SESSION 6
AMERICAN ENGLISH: THE POWERFUL VARIETY The Development of American English American English AE- is the most influential and powerful variety of English in the world today REASONS: 1. The USA is the most powerful nation on earth (power brings influence) 2 . The USA political influence extended through USA popular Culture: Films and music mainly Kahane (1992) points put: The international dominant position of a culture results in a forceful expansion of its language. The expansion of language contributesto the prestige of the culture behind it 3. the international prominence of American English is directly associated with the extraordinary quick development of communication technology (Microsoft is owned by the American Bill Gate) = a computers default setting for language is A E Development of AE: there are too many varieties so well focus on just two key issues - African American Vernacular English (AAVE) - Southern American English (SAE) Background FIRST OFFICIAL ENGL-SPEAKING GROUP arrived in 1497 with the leader John Cabot - In 1621 - English-speaking / English Puritans arrived on the Mayflower - Followed several waves of migration to America from Britain and many other countries in Europe - Many where imported as slaves from African colonised countries (slave trade) - America provided contact point for English and many other languages (European African) More complex issue: 1) migrants form Britain brought many different varieties of BE (also of poorly educated people) 2) indigenous of America population spoke several different languages
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3)The presence of so many languages gave rise to American Indian Pidgin English (AIPE) and it was an important Lingua Franca (in the days of early settlers and during the move west across the US) - in 1776 America achieved independence from Britain and also Linguistic Independence Kahane (1992) points out: Four main influences that caused American English to break from Brit English are: 1) A decline of Anglophilia 2) The standardization of informal speech (consequence of adopting democratic principles and a general levelling of society 3) The levelling of social dialects (no single dialect was associated with prestige) 4) Integration of foreign elements (influence from languages of African European emigrants) Kahane points out that: the 2nd and 3rd points are mainly consequence of democratisation and Democratisation often pushes the Vernacular or a low form of variety into becoming the standard accepted form The most noticeable difference between dialects was as still is pronunciation America English AE vs British English - BE For examples: J/ does not Glide (move smoothly) after certain consonants in AE - Duke = /dju:k) is /du:k/ in AE - Stress pattern on words differs: British: laboratory has 4 syllables , main stress on the second - AE laboratory has 5 syllables equal stress on each - BE = Extraordinary = 4 syll. main stress in the 2nd - AE = has 6 syll main stress on the 1st and 3rd syll. - BE /privsi/ - AE: /praivsi/ There are many differences in vocabulary - in different areas: - Examples in CARS and DRIVING issues: BE: bonnets, boots, gear levers, number plates, tyres, windscreens AE: hoods, trunks, stick shifts, licence plate, tires, windshields BE: drive on motorways, ring roads, pull off at junctions and pull up on the hard shoulder AE: drive on interstates, and beltways and exit at exits and pull off at pull offs
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REMARKABLE GRAMMATICAL DIFFERENCE: - In the same contexts: AE can use the past simple While - BE uses the present perfect. STANDARD AMERICAN ENGLISH or GENERAL AMERICAN Codification began in 1828, Noah Webster published An American Dictionary of The English Language the American counterpart of Johnsons - Yet the concept of standard in USA is not easy to define both in pronunciation and vocabulary - Classification of Standardness is somewhat flexible respect to the regional varieties - The Term General America refers to American accents without a great deal of regional colouring Network English Standard
Phonology Features
Comparison between the accents representing: New England New York City and the South SEE THE US LEXICAL SETS (handout) New York: the variable rhoticity (letter /r/ after a vowel) GRAMMAR: - Share the features of Regional non-standard AE: - Unmarked plurality - Multiple negation - Simplified verb agreement system - Double modals - Preference of construction: my hair needs combed instead of need combing - Positive anymore: They watch a lot of videos anymore -meaning nowadays VARIATION IN AMERICAN ENGLISH There are a number of varieties of AE that differ markedly from one another A Controversy: - differences between African American Vernacular English (AAVEs) - and White American English Vernaculars (WAEVs) There are two competitive theories 1) Colonial lag Theory = WAEVs developed by preventing or introducing features from varieties of B E (white Americans: perhaps a need to legitimize AE by proving that they use little nothing that has not been previously by use by Brit E
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2) Language Contact Teheory: AAVEs differs from WAEVs because they developed from the contact of English with other languages, primarily African Languages; this is the most accepted Theory AAVE and\SOUTH AMRERICAN ENGLISH influenced each other similarities among them; this can be explained by some 200 years of common history and regular interaction between speakers Other factors influencing the American Varieties: There are 3 specific forces: 1.accelerating metropolitanisation 2.increasing migration (both domestic and foreign) 3.Expanding of ethnic diversity - 1860 = 80% of American Population lived in rural communities - Today = 80% live in 280 metropolitan areas The population growth in major cities: - Los Angeles, Houston, Dallas, San Diego, - Miami and New York City is mostly by foreign immigration - The majority of the population are not native of the community - The varieties of English spoken are likely to undergo further significant changes - Urban varieties show observable language change in progress - Rural varieties (especially in isolated areas) are likely to be more stable There are different acronyms: Different acronyms and terms are used to describe different varieties of American Englishes:
BEV - Black English Vernacular (black people)
AEV = African English Vernacular
AAE African American Vernacular
AAE = African American English
AAVE = African American Vernacular English
EBONICS = Black American English a variety of African Languages rather than English variety
SAE = Standard American English

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WAEV= White American English Vernacular(s)
GA = General American
The main ethnic variety:

African American Vernacular English - AAVEs Once: no one American Accent used / variety was considered to be more prestigious than another This democratic principle, unfortunately has changed in recent times: Nowadays AAVE is the variety that currently attracts negative prejudices Lippi- Green (1997) points out that: AAVE Speakers is likely to be not capable of certain types of works It can be successfully in sports and entertainment but not in other (intellectual) fields (teaching subjects) - Centuries of Controversy if legitimate/not the AAVE - AAVE can be seen as symbolic of black resistance to the cultural mainstream FEATURES OF THE AAVEs AAVE is used by black population, not by all and to a\varying degree it depends on:
Social class
Style
Religion
Differences: young speakers use more AAVE features than older speakers as a marking identity
The debate on its origins

- No definitive agreement 1) The most common theory: it is a Creole Language, a native speaker variety descended from pidgin (it is believed to arise when a pidgin, which was developed by adults for use as a second language, becomes the native and primary language of their children a process known as nativization; 2)It is a dialect of English based on the varieties the slaves learnt from their masters (many southern feature);
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3) it is derived from West African languages AAVEs Grammar Features Complex and systemic grammar: The use of BE as a linking verb Infinitive form they be walking up too early, occurs with the first person sing pronoun (Im), and neutral third person sing (its) - It is obligatory in the past tense - Occasionally BE can be used with an -s inflection - Thats the way it bes Trudgil (1995) points out that: AAVE is a separate ethnic group variety /black speakers: (SEE THE HANDHOUT: ALICE WALKERS The Colour Purple extract ) There are distinct lexical items and phonetic features Posses distinct lexical items and phonetical features (from other languages particularly African ones)
Some examples:
Item: Tote
Meaning: carry
Language: Bantu
Item goober
Meaning: peanut
Language: Bantu
Item: bogus
Meaning: fake
Language: Hausa
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Item: dig
Meaning: like, appreciate
Language: Wolof Different phonological features: - Non-use of consonant clusters (especially final position) - Wes for West - Boyfren for boyfriend - The sound // and / / do not occur so the, that become de and dat - Nothing and South sound nofing and souf SOUTHERN AMERICAN ENGLISH SAE Debate and research - The South: Are not easy to define: geographically and culturally It includes: - The States of Virginia North Carolina _ South Carolina Tennessee Georgia Florida Alabam Mississipi Arkansas Texas and Louisiana - Remarkable Geographical Spread the SAE cannot be considered a single variety Algeo (2003) identifies: Four major hierarchical levels of SAE: Coastal Interior Delta South Midland These 4 level can be further classified to give a total of 18 sub-varieties Some Common Features - SAE developed in response to 3 major influences - English core Basis - the 2nd and the 3rd are from Scot-Irish and African Languages Common phonological feature: - The so called: southern drawl (inflection)= prolongation of certain vowel sound and breaking of vowels and diphthongs into triphthongs There : / aj/ and bad /bed/ Another distinctive feature: -The merging of vowel /I/ and /e/ as in the words : pin and pen Common conviction: people speaking the SAE is ill-educated
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Main syntax features:

Feature: a-verb-ing - Ex: he left a-running Feature: plural verb-s - Ex: folks sits there Feature: perfective done - Shes done left Feature: you-all: yal - we say yall Feature: fixinto - Im fixin to eat Feature: multiple modals - we might can make it
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SESSION 7
CANADIAN ENGLISH - CanE Its origins: - In the 16th century French explorers began their settlement in Canada - Later arose conflict between British and French interests - In 1763 French were forced to give their North American colonies to Britain Base of Canadian English The base of Canadian English is derived from a large group of pro-British loyalists who left The USA for Canada after the War of Independence: settled on the Canadian Coast, later moved into Ontario and Quebec. Other groups from Pennsylvania, New Jersey, NewYork and Vermont, settled in areas around the Great Lake - In the early 19th century in connection with 1812-14 War, a large group of immigrants came from the USA and from Britain and Ireland and - in 1850 another massive group from Scotland and Ireland - From mid 19th century to late1970 general immigration on a large scale was encourage by Canadian Government: - Demographic diversity is a value mosaic - People of diverse origins and communities are free to preserve and enhance their cultural heritage while participating as equal partners in Canadian society CANDIAN AS LINGUISTIC AREA Linguistic situation - Policy of promotion of multiculturalism and Multilingualism - Ability to speak, at some level, more than one language - Implemented in the media and education immersion schools the second language is the media of instruction in all subject There are two official languages: 1.English: mother tongue of about 63 % of the population the Anglophones 2.French: with about 25% native speakers the Francophones The two languages have equal status in all federal departments, judicial bodies, administrative agencies - Three Provinces are officially bilingual: Quebec, Manitoba, New Brunswick - Canadian bilingualism is characterized by fluctuation more than stability SOME FEATURES OF CANADIAN ENGLISH CanE: - Hypercorrection in phonology due to conflicting British and American norms and standards
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Linguistic hypercorrection occurs when a real or imagined grammatical or phonetical rule is applied in a mistaken or non-standard context, so that a attempt to be "correct" leads to an incorrect result: - Faced with enough exceptions to a rule, the speaker might mistake the exception for the general rule, applying it to situations where it never was meant to occur. - Hypercorrection also in spelling, vocabulary, and in some extent grammar - Nowadays is fashionable to imitate British English speech as well as manners and Anti-American attitudes REGIONAL DIVERSITY The most distinctive region ethnography as well as linguistic is Newfoundland which has the longest history of the English speaking communities - English-speaking immigrants were from linguistically distinctive areas such as : - Devon, Cornwall, Scotland and Ireland and joined the Canadian federation only in 1949 - Prince Edward is another Island-based community regionally distinctive Many interesting enclave varieties are: - German-influenced dialect of Lunenburg, Nova Scotia in Atlantic provinces and Ottawa River Valley - Other rural areas dialect reflect input from settlements of various language groups: Ukrainian, Italian, Dutch, Scandinavian and French CANADIAN ENGLISH - Features lexical sets: Price and Mouth = the starting point of the diphthongs /au/ and /ai/ is raised , i.e. closer than in the reference accent when followed by voiceless consonants: Out, house, knife, night - Not consequently in loud, houses, knives, ride - the use of tag eh = - the occurrence of BE lexical incidental pronunciation: shone with a short vowel, corollary, capillary with stress on 1st syllable - The unique use of certain lexical items: recycled English words and French borrowings PHONOLOGY: There is a vacillation between British and American norms The Canadian raising Canadian raising is a phonetic phenomenon that occurs in varieties of the English language, in which certain diphthongs are "raised" before voiceless consonants (e.g., /p/, /t/, /k/, /s/, /f/).
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/a/ (the vowel of "eye") becomes [i], while the outcome of /a/ (the vowel of "loud") varies by dialect, with[u] more common in the west and a fronted variant [] commonly heard in Central Canada. - In any case, the /a/-component of the diphthong changes from a low vowel to a mid-low vowel ([] or []).
GRAMMAR FEATURES - Found in morphology rather than syntax - the initial as well as = as well as, I include my CV - the tag eh = its way out in suburbs , eh,so I cant get there by bike Found in morphology rather than syntax
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SESSION 8
AUSTRALIAN AND NEW ZELAND VARITIES AUSTRALIA AN OVERVEW - The Anglophone Australia and New Zealand are two of the youngest nations in the world. - The first Europeans who took their residence in Australia came 205 years ago. - Australia was founded as a penal colony. - were eventually followed by voluntary immigrants - Until now, the Australian with British ancestor are the predominant part of the population - Among them, the area where a nowadays Australian most probably can find their ancestors is the region around London - The second important group of immigrants were Irish, mainly responsible for the huge number of Catholics in Australia compared with Britain
-
According to Hammarstrm (1980) Australian pronunciation is more or less the Cockney one of the last 18th century, having developed independently ever since -it missed the RP-contact arising in Britain in the 19th century-, but conservatively -like most exported languages are. Australian English is different from any accent existing in England (Wells, 1982b: 593).
Australianisms Most of the Australian specialties in vocabulary derive from English local dialects. On the other hand, in recent years the influence of American English has been apparent... Thus we find American truck, elevator, and freeway alongside British petrol, boot (of a car) and tap." (Crystal, 1988: 240) Few aboriginal words were borrowed, though a third of the place names is taken from their languages, with in increasing number in our days (Bhr, 1974: 274)
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A short excerpt from Aussie vocabulary (including slang words, which are more accepted than in Mother England; Bhr, 1974; Crystal, 1988; Baker, 1978): Australian English British English this arvo this afternoon footpath pavement weekender holiday cottage sheila girl lolly sweet drongo fool paddock field singlet vest Aussie Australian cobber mate Dinkum honest shanty pub chromo prostitute broke for in need of fed with tired of chunder vomit Educated and Broad Australian Regional variation is practically absent in Australia. However, in opposition to the situation in America, Australian English knows are a great social range of different speeches. SOCIALLY BASED
Educated and Broad Australian Regional variation is practically absent in Australia. However, in opposition to the situation in America, Australian English knows are a great social range of different speeches.
Through this influence you can distinguish Educated Australian from Broad Australian (Bhr, 1974: 2AusE has been described along a continuum that ranges from BROAD to GENERAL
to CULTIVATED
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Through this influence you can distinguish Educated Australian from Broad Australian (Bhr, 1974: 274). The vowel system of Broad Australian is very similar to Cockney. Educated Australian is close to RP The main specialties of the former (Cockney) is: - [ ] in unstressed position within a word where the English use [ ], - and the ending -y, which is pronounced [ ] The sounds on the continuum at the left border of the vowel diagram are less open, e.g. that is sounds for an Englishman as if it were thet. [ ] is produced as [ ] in most positions, in words like dance even []. Like in the American South SAE [ 276f.). ] occurs in words like pound (Bhr, 1974:
As for the consonants, there are no glottal stops (in spite of all the similarities of BA to Cockney).
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There are some unsystematic peculiarities of Australian pronunciation that should be quoted (Bhr, 1974: 277; Wells, 1982b: 597): Australian Pronunciation RP [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] teacher's: [ ] [ ] teachers: [ ] [ ]
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The main peculiarity that makes an Australian be recognized as such is the particular intonation pattern (Wells, 1982b: 604) As a whole, the accent is marked by a pronunciation reminding of southern - -English, but with a "nasal twang" exaggerated nasality in speech (as in some regional dialects) described as being slightly different from New England twang) and a "drawl" as in America. In fact, the broadest dialect is defined by the longest vowels. AUSTRALIAN ENGLISH (AusE) descriptive account A shortlist of particularly salient features - the front /a:/ (in palm and start (see NZE) - the wide(ample) Cocknye like diphthongs (fleece face price goose goat mouth) - The close front vowel , (dress Use of 2 extremely productive noun suffixes : ie and o (wharfie docker , smoko a stop for the rest and a smoke) - special use of she as a generic pronoun: shes jake its fine - highly characteristic vocabulary: e.g.: sheila (girl) tucker (food) , billabong (waterhole formed by broken meander of river) , drongo (idiot) yacker (work) SPELLING -Basically follows the British English - we can find: both color and colour - Australian Labor party Spells its name without u - or instead of our - verbs: realize and sympathize AE spelling - reference spelling dictionary: Macquaire Dictionary
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PHONOLOGY Well (1987): phonologically all Australian English is very close to RP , Phonetically it is not The phonemic inventory: the number and distribution of distinctive units is as the RP The quality of virtually of virtually all vowels is different (front rather than back vowel in Palm and Start SEE handout of the 6 distinctive lexical set PAGE 105 Note: the Cultivate AusE approximates to RP in unshifted diphthongs BROAD = differs: having wider more radically shifted diphthongs length (mouth = beginning with a nasal vowel a twang Listening Australian Speaker of The Track Ten /tin/ Bath followed by a nasal sound + another consonant Schwa often replaced by /I/ (also in RP) in a number of unstressed affixes AusE nonrothic Tendency towards intervocalic TVoicing H dropping my occur as hypercorrected form (Aboriginal E) very common HRT intonation pattern uptalk / upspeak) the interview Tune predominantly used by teenagers, females, lower class the HRT function is to request participation of the listener VOCABULARY Unique vocabulary items / describing a range of phenomena and concepts that exist only in their natural environment and culture Borrows from indigenous / Aboriginal languages - words for plant and animals Most common: kangaroo, koala, boomerang Words in English used with different meaning to reflect local culture and concepts Example: Bush is a particular Astralian concept that suits different local contexts LISTENING CD page 73 Clipping vocabulary = shows the Australian value of informality Example: arvo: afternoon Aussie: an Australian barbie: barbeque cozzie: swimming costume journo: journalist pollie: politician Also peoples first names and surnames Sport names
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GRAMMAR: morphological feature: striking productivity of ie and o suffixes common clipping = beaut for beauty or beautiful Uni for university Oz for Australia roo for kangaroo
IN Australia English was the only significant language fro the outset (start) of colonization Killer language is an appropriate definition: The death of Aboriginal Language is directly/indirectly due by the presence of English In 18th and 19th the founder population was almost exclusively English Australian English (AusE) is an English variety in its own rights AusE is the 3rd reference variety (British English General American) It is increasingly used in teaching , especially in East and SouthEast-Asia It is codified in major dictionaries (macquariesdictionary.com.au) THE HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE it was a penal colony the first variety of language observed is in connection with prison life roughness (violence) vulgarity Called : Flash Language Cant (slang) or Jargon of thieves Mainly a slang used to assert group solidarity Many keywords have survived in AusE Paradoxically now are use deviating speakers in Aboriginal Communities using le language of educated whites Cockney-like speech Parallel: pure speech non regional not American not cockney
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SIMILARITY WITH COCKNEY The accent can easily be distinguished Different lexical features INFLUENCES AusE is currently subject to influence from AE = word stress on the second syllable: as in harass (bother) AE-like phonological feature: the voicing of intervocalic /t/ (not so clear in AusE) There is a degree of Americanization in spelling AusE seem to master both BE and AE very well Regional Variation: Limited in AusE if considering the vastness of the country Area: 7,686,85 sq .km Physical and social distance will eventually have the effect of increasing regional differences It is possible to exemplify regional differences in vocabulary and also phonological variation Among the feature of PV : L vocalization = a new feature in AusE Social Variation Mitchell and Delbridge (1960) distinguished: AusE Broad 34% General 55% Cultivated 11% LISTENING SAMPLES CD Cultivated = acrolect affinity with the RP CULTURAL CONVENTIONS AND PRAGMATIC NORMS Australian tend to address each other by their first names Age, gender, status of people is not so important Greetings: good day, how are you going, mate? The majority of AusE speakers are able to use all 3 varieties (broad, general and
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cultivated) depending on what the context requires Trend frequent use of the GENERAL
ABORIGENAL ENGLISH
- 1770 British arrived in Australia there were 250 Aboriginal languages Aboriginal Australia was a richly multilingual ana multicultural society possessing 250 mutually unintelligible languages (not dialects). Multilingual nature of AbA = meant a single ab language was unlikely to assume the role of communication language among all the AB A The role has been assumed by English in the form of AbAEnglish has become a Lingua franca AAE is now the primary form of communication for Australian Aboriginal AAE must provide its speakers with aboriginal identity Language characterized by the transfer of pragmatic and cultural norms from ab lang.
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Harkins (2000): AAE is an indigenised variety of English in the sense that it was adopted, however involuntarily, by an indigenous population for whom it is now the primary language of internal and wider communication, and has undergone changes at all levels of language structure to become a distinct dialect with a unique set of linguistic featuresRelative homogeneity remarkable similarities: Malcolm et all (19nn) - Aboriginal English has now \become a very significant marker of identity for indigenous Australians Best researched ethnic variety of AusE Not easy to define covers the full range from broken Pidgin E through a creole to non-standard to a complete mastery of standard English First and second Language AbE Features: retroflex articulatory setting some non-standard grammatical features (reminiscence of AAVE): copula deletion unmarked plurality (how many huncle you got?) bin = marker of past tense (that man bin come inside bar) SYNTAX OF AbAusE double subjects: my mother, she came from down there multiple negative marking: they didnt give us nothing noun phrase ellipsis (contraction): GRAMMAR: -transfer from aboriginal language mainly aboriginal L Kaytetye language Central Australia: Use of marker gether indicates kinship father-gether = father \and child brother-gether \elder and younger bothers Belonginto: is used as a preposition CULTURAL/CONVENTIONAL AND PRAGMATIC NORMS communicative strategies: - indirectness = avoiding making direct requests ask trigger questions Way to respond to direct questions: use yes of gratuitous concurrence (agreement) used as a strategy for accommodating the directness of
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interacting with white , olr migrant Australians. yes lets the speaker know that the listener is attending to what is being said Tolerance for silence Silence. A sign of comfortable deepening of communication - preparation for a seriously considered response Aborigines in urban settings have lost their indigenous language speak varieties closer the English end Usually non-standard language Forms shared in worldwide Multiple negation Differences in verb agreement Non-standard form of irregular verbs Standard English is not considered a prestigious variety within aboriginal community More is the use of flash language OVERALL CONSIDERATION Two major function of language are communication and identity The identity-communication continuum
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NEW ZEALAND / AOTEROA

2 names: 1 New Zealand originally called Niew Zeeland after the province of Zeeland in the Netherlands by the Dutch explorers in the 17th century 2 Aotearoa: land of the long white cloud named by the Maori settlers more than a thousand years ago - only in 1840 the British established their colonization and most of Maori chiefs were induced to accept Queens Victoria guardianship. - New Zealand was granted self-government in 1852 full parliamentary system set in 1856 - following decades were characterised by a great deal of turbulence - conflict between the white settlers and Maori especially in the North Island 1872 it resulted in loss of land and general submission of the Maori - - thing have improved In 1987 the Maori Language Act was passed official status to Maori coequally with English established a Maori Language Commission Today Maori constitute about 14% of the population 3% immigrants from South Pacific Sizeable groups of immigrants from various European Contries - Chinese and Indian minorities 3 main types of English-speaking immigrants : - 1840 up to 1880s immigrants from various distinctive parts of british isles (London West Country Scotland) mainly for religios /ideological reasons Early 1860s Australians dominated a wave of immigrants who came for the discovery of gold on the west coast of South island 1870s immigration took place on large scale mainly from Southern England Immigration is an important factor in the growth of NZ population 19th century there were more New Zeland born Europeans rather NZ cabn be described as a an unusually monolingual country Only pacific Island Polynesian settled in NZ in 1950s + very recent immigrant groups (from Asia) use their native languages extensively outside the home domain
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It is not characterized by strongly stratified social classes Can be described as an egalitarian society Neither a land-owing upper class aristocracy nor an industrial proletariat Most significant social parameter is ethnicity Maori vs Pakeha English NEW ZEALAND ENGLISH - NZE Shortlist of particularly significant of NZE: The centralized quality of the KIT vowel: // rather than /I/.The short front vowels

In New Zealand English the short-i of KIT is a central vowel not phonologically distinct from schwa //, the vowel in unstressed "the". It thus contrasts sharply with the [i] vowel heard in Australia. Recent acoustic studies featuring both Australian and New Zealand voices show that the accents were more similar before the Second World War and that the KIT vowel has undergone rapid centralisation in New Zealand English. Because of this difference in pronunciation, some New Zealanders claim that Australians say "feesh and cheeps" for fish and chips while some Australians counter that New Zealanders say "fush and chups". The short-e // of YES has moved to fill in the space left by //, and it is phonetically in the region of []. Likewise, the short-a // of TRAP is approximately [], which sounds like a short-e to other English speakers.
The merging of diphthongs in NEAR and SQUARE / i.e. words like BEER and BEAR are homophonous The front /a:/ in BATH ; PALM ; START Rounding and fronting of NURSE vowel Maori elements in lexicon increasingly used in everyday conversation SPELLING it follows British conventions alternative spelling for certain entry and Maori words
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PHONOLOGY apart from The NEAR/SQUARE merger the phonemic inventory remains alike the RP Until fairly recently RP enjoyed high prestige in NZ Increasingly awareness of national identity Attitude to American accents are positive (not significant influence in NZE phonology SEE NEW ZEALAND LEXICAL SETS COMPARISON: NZE and RP Note: the diphthongs in FACE PRICE _ GOAT SQUARE in comparison with RP are generally wider Merging diphthongs in NEAR and SQUARE is variable SCOTTISH-LIKE FEATURES: Is the realisation of <wh> as <hw> i.e. making a distinction between words such as WINE , WAIL and WHALE On the suprasegmental level striking feature of NZE is the frequent use of hifgh rising terminal(HRTs) Maori influence GRAMMAR Preference for certain variants rather than categorically different grammatical rules: - ves plurals rather than fs in words such as hoof roof wharf Increasingly use of unmarked plurality in words on Maori origin: iwi for tribes Use of indicative in mandative sentences: I recommend that this meeting passes a motion commissioning me to travel to Wellinghton Use of plural you(s) She as a non referring pronoun LEXIS Salient feature: the impact of Maori The New Zealand dictionary contains 6000 main headwords entries The bulk of NZ vocabulary is definitely shared with other inner circle varities especially Standard EE Features: alternation of meaning y/ie suffixes in creating familiar forms names common objects creatures and people Many words related to NZ society , topography, flora and fauna Also items a wide range of domains related everyday life - borrowing from Maori: (about 700 words): kia ora : hello
SESSION 9
THE ENGLISH IN ASIA AND EUROPE: AN OVERVIEW
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Asia and Europe - Similarities and Differences They are tow large non-Inner Circle Nations - Asia: Outer Circle - Europe: Expanding Circle
The Euro-English
European English / Euro-English
-
In the early years of the 21st century,

-
Just emerging as distinctive variety

-
Or
-
More accurately group of varieties

-
With its own identity

-
Reject the concept of having to defer to British English

-
Evolving as European Lingua Franca

-
Not only in restricted fields (business and commerce)

-
Increasingly used as language of SOCIALIZATION Asian-English English as Asian Language Outer Circle Variation Asian Englishes can be categorised both regionally and functionally REGIONALY: Divided into three grouping: - South-Asian Varieties - South-East and Pacific variety - East Asian Varieties (South-East and East Asian varieties are sometimes grouped together) FUNTIONALLY
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Are divided into two categories: Depending on whether they are institutionalised varieties of the Outer Circle Or Non institutionalised varieties of the Expanding Circle
Asian Varieties
L2 English (reasonable) competence range among the Regional and Functional Groups of Asian Englishes: - India 200 million -Philippines 40 million - Pakistan 17 million
-
Hong Kong, Singapore, Sri Lanka about 2 million

-
Brunei 134,000
-
Bhutan 75,000 (in some of these areas the L2 English is spoken by large percentage of population) Less than 50% of Indian speak L2 English (reasonable competence) The total population is over 1 million The number of L2 Indian English speakers is Vast Asian-Englishes are:
-
South-Asian Englishes belong to Outer Circle

-
Exception of the Maldives

-
Indian
-
Lankan
-
Pakistani
-
Bangladesh
-
Often grouped together

71
Indian and Lankan Englishes are: The most developed and documented
-
Bhutan
-
The Maldives
-
Nepal
-
Little documented SHARED FEATURES: - Postcolonial territories - English was introduced mainly by military force - During the process of colonization by English speaking Countries - Became independent in 1947-1965 - The independent postcolonialism states rejected to use English - Many countries replaced English with their local Languages For Example: Malaysia Policy since 1969 replaced English with Malay - Education system and administration - Codified the Malay Language as a national language - Reform favoured indigenous people and disfavoured non-Malay speaking and Chinese and Indian groups - English remains dominant in business sectors
Asian countries have much in common

In terms of history and culture:
-
Different positions towards English

-
Favourable position: English as a vehicle of modernization that poor nations need Ra dical position: poor countries are poor because rich ones subdue them
-
The use of English is seen as a tool for maintaining of dominance of the USA and Britain
-
72
Language Pyramid
Shows a common situation in postcolonial territories
-
3 layers of competitive languages with national value

-
At the top is English (ruling class /educated in English)

-
2 one of the several national languages (nationalist values spoken by a majority/ dominant groups) 3 regional/ethnic Languages (languages of minority groups)
-
Large group use the national languages Also as\medium of instruction

-
Minority groups prefer English Ethnically neutral Language of any group no ethnic group is superior
73
LANGUAGE PYRAMID
ENGLISH
NATIONAL LANGUAGE (S) REGIONAL/ETHNIC LANGUAGE(S)
Many postcolonial states continue to use English for many functions only a minority of citizens master the language
-
This leads to unequal access to power and justice

-
In many countries proficiency in English is a prerequisite for public and political activities In many countries law court are conducted in English
-
The accused only understands proceedings via interpreters.

-
Who may not be proficient both in the specific dialect spoken
New Englishes
The name refers to the English varieties spoken in the outer circle - No linguistic characteristics is common to all - All varieties are recreated by children from a mixture group of features
-
Are new all new in every generation
74
All the countries share some features

-
The outer circle varieties mostly a substratum

-
Very different from English acquired by formal education
Some shared features

Varieties spoken are seen as part of multilingual repertoire (more language in use) Different languages spoken in different contexts: 1 English at work 2 local language at home 3 another language with peer groups Some Common Features
-
Internal variation of proficiency

-
Local feature of the variation in the degree of English in a given situation

-
Variation in the proficiency of English

-
Basilect is the English of low-proficiency learners, characterised by limited vocabulary

-
Efficiency as a meaning of communication The Inner circle has a vowel system with 20-24 different phonemes Substrates tends to result a simplified system Phonologically The Outer Circle varieties tend to eliminate marker features of inner circle SYNTAX FEATURES: There is a greater tolerance in relation to the status of local variation Both local usage and metropolitan standard usages may co-occor without the speakers regarding each other as alien Some varieties are more influenced by the British English while other by American English may co-exist
75
Kachru identifies three main features of Indian English shared with other varieties: 1. distinctive use / non use of articles 2 . reduplication of words 3 Yes-no confusion: You have no objection? Yes, (i have no objection)
Other features:
- interrogative word order in direct questions : tell me where can you meet us - Invariant tag question: you know it, isnt it? - Use of present continuous instead of the present simple (verbs: know and stative verbs) Especially Indian English IE: direct transfer of L1 language We are having our house in Thana LEXIS Simplification of the Inner Circle complex lexis system: - set of words singular but refer to plural /collective concepts The Outer circle tends to simplify and make these words ordinary singulars with general sense
Pragmatics Cultural Convention:

Use of greetings, curses - Common in outer circle use more formal or hierarchical types of address
The Changing Role of English in Europe

The European Union is linguistically very rich: - 23 EU Languages have an official status: Bulgarian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Irish, Latvian, Lithuanian, Maltese, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Slovak, Slovene, Spanish, and Swedish Three Languages dominate, THE BIG LANGUAGES: English French German Graddol points out: Europe as in India, there may e who are monolingual in a regional language, but those who speak one of the big languages will have better access to material success
76
By the end of the 20 century - A single of the three big languages became the biggest = English Common opinions: - Those who speak English will have the best access to material success - Significant popularity of learning English - especially among Young European BECAUSE: - Its easier for all Europeans than to learn each other language - Rather than having several working languages and use of translation machineries - The EU should opt officially for English as its Lingua Franca
-
English language for communication

-
Not to express the social identity of the European speakers

-
European mother tongues remain the language for identification
Increasingly European English is developing the potential to express emotional aspects among young people: Hybrids compounds as telefon junkie Drogenfreal and Metallfan
New Emerging features Identity markers:

- Recent Position as Lingua Franca - European English contains a number of grammatical, lexical, phonological and discoursal features Found in individual continental European Languages along with some items common to many languages of nostandard British or American Nativization process English is undergoing: It carries out three roles:
Native
Foreign
77
International language European introduce innovation = Effect: de-Americanise and de-Anglicise English Language
European English:
Use English for Intra-European communication Indicates: not-British / America /Canadian In this view British English can be considered: merely as one of a number of European Varieties Alongside nativised variety such as French English Dutch English , Danish English and the like Berns maintains: European English speakers are in the midst of an exciting, challenging, creative social and linguistic phase in which their potential to have significant influence on the spread of English It is a sort of Sociolinguistic-History-in the-making It needs regularly revision as empirical evidence became increasingly available
The Future of English

There are two main theories: 1) English as a language of others 2) The language(s) of others as a world language(s) Potential shift: English could lose its international role altogether or come to share it with a number of equals. Due to native speaker resistance to the spread of non-native speakers Consequence: abandoning of English by large numbers of non-native speakers. 1 English as a language of others English is already numerically the language of others as the century proceeds it becomes more overtly so - The centre of gravidity is almost certain to shift in the direction of others - Years to come we are very likely to witness increasing claims for speakers Especially outside the Inner Circle: In growing economies such as: Brazil, Russia, China
78
In this paradigm English spreads and adapts according to the linguistic and cultural preferences of its users in the outer and expanding Circles - If the English is to become the language of others. The others have to be accorded/accord themselves at least the same English language rights as those claimed by mother-tongue speakers This includes the right to innovate without every difference from standard native variety of English, being labelled wrong This is by definition what it means for a language to be international: It spread and becomes a global Lingua Franca for the benefit of all rather than being distributed to facilitate communication with the natives.
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KEY REFERENCES Algeo, J. (1991) A meditation on the varieties of English. English Today, 7, 3-4 Bangbose, A (2006) World English and Globalization: World Englishes, 20 (3) 35764 Berns, M. (1995) English in the European Union. English Today, 43, 11 (3): 3-11 Burchefield, R. (1981) The English Language. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Crystal, D. (1997) English as a Global Language: Cambridge, Cambridge University Press Graddol, D. (1997) The Future of English? London: The British Council Ihalainen O. (1994) The Dialects of England since 1776, In Burchefield, R (ed.) in Cambridge History of the English Language, Vol 5: English in Britain and Overseas, Origin and development: Cambridge University Press pp197 -274 Kahane, H. (1992) American English: From a colonial substandard to prestige language, in Kachru, B B, (ed) (1982/1992) The Other Tongue Chicago: Illinois University Press, pp. 229-36 Kachru, Braj B. (ed) (1982) The Other Tongue: English Across Cultures. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press. Kachru, Braj B. (1985) Standards, codification and sociolinguistic realism: The English Language in the outer circle. In English in the World: Teaching and Learning the Language and Literatures. Edited by Randolph Quirk and Henry G. Widdowson. Cambridge University Press, pp 11-30 Kachru, Braj B. (1992) World Englishes: Approaches, issues and resources. Language Teaching, 25, 1-14 Kachu Braj B., Kachru Y., Nelson C. L., (2009) (edited by) The Handbook of World Englishes, - Wiley-Blackwell, publication, United Kingdom Kay, W. (1988) Scots The Mother Tongue, Edinburgh: Grafton Book Kirkpatrick A. (2007), World Englishes, Implications for international communication and English language teaching,. Cambridge University Press Lippi-Green, R (1997) English with an Accent. Language, ideology and Discrimination in the United States, London: Routledge McArthur, T. (2001) World English and World Englishes: Trends, tensions, varieties and standards. Language Teaching, 34, 1-20 Platt J., Weber, H. & Ho M. L. (1984) The New English, London: Routledge Quirk, R. (1985) The English Language in a global context, In English in the World, Teaching and Learning the Language and Literatures. Edited by Randolph Quirk and Henry G. Widdowson . Cambridge University Press. Quirk, R. and Widdowson H. G. (eds) (1985) English in the World: Teaching and Learning
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Trudgil P. and Chamber, J.K (eds) (1995), English Dialects: Studies in Grammatical Variation. London: Longman Widdowson, H. (1997): "EIL, ESL and EFL: Global Issues and Local Interests", in: Melvia, H. et al. (1997): Across the West African Divide. Dakar: British Council and USIS, 2234.
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REFFERENCE BOOKS FOR STUDENTS ____________________________________________________________________ Jenkins J. (2005), World Englishes, A Resource Book for Students, 2nd edition. Routledge Taylor and Francis Group , London and New York Melchers G. and Shaw P. (2003), World Englishes: An introduction, Arnold editions, Oxford University Press.
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FURTHER READINGS A SELECTION OF RELATED ARTICLES & STUDENTS ASSIGNMENTS AND HANDOUTS
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Corso di Laurea Magistrale

In Lingue e Letterature Moderne Europee e Americane

English Course World Englishes: An Overview Lecture Notes

Prof.ssa MT Maurichi - Lecture Notes

Prof.ssa MT Maurichi - Lecture Notes

Prof.ssa MT Maurichi - Lecture Notes

Definition of a global Language

English and its origins

British English vs American English Definition of an International Language Some Characteristics:

Prof.ssa MT Maurichi - Lecture Notes

LIST OF ENGLISH SPOKEN COUNTRIES

280,000,000 100,000,000 55,000,000 17,100,000 15,682,000 3,500,000 3,213,000 2,600,000 375,490

Sri Lanka: Puerto Rico:

Prof.ssa MT Maurichi - Lecture Notes

Papua New Guinea:

Cayman Islands: Honduras:

Prof.ssa MT Maurichi - Lecture Notes

Micronesia, Federated States of:

British Virgin Islands:

Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas): Ethiopia:

Prof.ssa MT Maurichi - Lecture Notes

Saint Pierre and Miquelon:

Prof.ssa MT Maurichi - Lecture Notes

Uganda: Total: Weighted average:

From Website: http://www.nationmaster.com

Prof.ssa MT Maurichi - Lecture Notes

Map Of English Spoken Countries

Prof.ssa MT Maurichi - Lecture Notes

Major Language Families

Prof.ssa MT Maurichi - Lecture Notes

Prof.ssa MT Maurichi - Lecture Notes

Indo-European Background - Major language families

Prof.ssa MT Maurichi - Lecture Notes

ENGLISH IS A GERMANIC LANGUAGE

Prof.ssa MT Maurichi - Lecture Notes

Prof.ssa MT Maurichi - Lecture Notes

The Three Way Classification: ENL, ESL & EFL

1 ENL - English as Native Language

3. EFL - English as Foreign Language

Prof.ssa MT Maurichi - Lecture Notes

Prof.ssa MT Maurichi - Lecture Notes

Several geographical, historical, socio-cultural factors

Why English Has Become a World Language

Motion picture industry

The Dominance Of English

Tourist related industries (10% of worlds labour force)

Major international hotels (English staff)

85% of Biology, Physic Papers,

73% of Medical Papers

in political and intellectual areas

International organizations, private funding sources information

Public Health issues

Transportation infrastructures EDUCATION - Medium of instruction

It gives access to higher education

World (New) Englishes

Three-way model: ENL, ESL & EFL

Three main groups of users:

a native language = ENL

a second language = ESL