Theories

• Lawrence Bobo (2001)

  Common usage tends to associate race with biologically based differences between human groups, differences typically observed in skin colour, hair texture, eye shape and other physical attributes Ethnicity tends to be associated with culture, pertaining to such factors as language, religion and nationality.
• Janet Holmes (2017)


  individual words or phrases reaffirm or signal your ethnic identity to others, thus creating a sense of solidarity. Code switching can be used as a way of performing identity
• Sharma (2011)


  recorded voices were analysed and features specific to a british or indian variant and where they occurred were noted

  Indian participants used more indian variants (retroflex /t/, light /l/) with other Indian variant speakers and more british variants (alveolar /t/, dark /l/) with people who did not use the Indian variants. This shows people can perform their identity by changing their language
• Features of MLE


  Th fronting

  Glottalisation

  Emphasis patterns

  Wide vowel sounds (monothongs -> diphthong)
• MLE was first recorded by Jenny Cheshire, paul Kerswill and Sue Fox between 2004-10, Particularly in areas where there was a

  wide variety of ethnicities and different heritage languages. They do not see it as a separate varieties of English, rather as a 'repertoire of features’ emphasising the fluidity of speech.
• Kachru (1992) - inner circle


  Refers to English as it initially spread across the world

  Speakers from England carried it into Australia, North America, e.g.

  English is a primary language

  380 million people
• Kachru (1992) - outer circle


  Produced by the diaspora of English

  English is not native, but is a lingua franca between different communities

  Higher education and legislation occurs in English

  Example is India and Nigeria

  150-300 million speakers
• Kachru (1992) - expanding circle


  English plays no government or historical role, but is used widely as a medium of international communication

  Contains countries such as South Korea, china and Russia
• Platt, Webber, Ho (1984) (on Kachru’s expanding circle)


  1. English has developed through the education system
  2. it has developed in an area where a native variety of English was not the language spoken by most of the population
  3. It is used for a range of functions amongst those who speak or write it in the region where it is used
  4. It has become ‘localised’ or ‘nativised’ by adopted native language speakers
• Bamgbose (1998)


  when placing a country into Kachru’s circles, these must be considered…

  Demographic factor

  Geographical factor

  Authoritative factor

  Codification factor

  Acceptability factor
• Canagarajah (2010)

  ‘The circles are leaking’

  Migration and modern technology have lead to the leaking of clearly defined circles
• McArthur’s circle of English


  Centres around a variety of ‘world standard English’

  Next circle is regional standards

  The outer layer consists of localised varieties
• Canagarajah (2005)


  there is no world standard English

  people construct English as it suits their purpose in a given context at a given time

  Functionality and pragmatics are more important
• Johns (2013)


  Language allows you to succeed in life and if you do not adopt standard English you won’t be able to succeed in higher education or commerce

  People who speak street slang sound like they’ve had a ‘frontal lobotomy’

  Street slang should not be spoken
• Drummond (2013)


  street slang is as equally complex and sophisticated grammatically as standard English

  Street slang allows young people to express their identities and they should be encouraged to code switch
• Wardhaugh (2006)


  A pidgin is a contact language and is no ones native language

  Creoles originate from pidgins that are nativised

  A creole is a pidgin that has become the first language of a new generation of speakers
• Platt, Webber and Ho (1984)


  Pidgins…

  Do not mark specific nouns as plural

  do Not make a distinction between the third person pronouns he and she

  Change the word order within the noun phrases

  Limited marking of verbs for past tense
• Monogenesis


  All European-based pidgins and creoles derive ultimately from one proto-pidgin source (a Portuguese one from the 15-16th century)

  There are many linguistic similarities between Portuguese pidgins and all pidgins
• Polygenesis theories


  the independent parallel development theory

  The nautical jargon theory

  The baby talk theory
• The independent parallel development theory


  Pidgins and creoles arose and developed independently, but in similar ways because they shared a common linguistic ancestor and were formed in similar social and physical conditions
• The nautical jargon theory


  Nautical jargon (lingua francs of European sailors) formed a nucleus for the various pidgins to form around

  There are nautical elements in all pidgins and creoles with European lexicons
• The baby talk theory


  There are similarities between pidgins and the early speak of children

  Speakers of the dominant language use foreigner talk (simplified language) to talk to foreigners

  e.g. Reduplication and compound words are used in many pidgins, e.g. ‘bigman’ and ’pispis’
• Schneider’s dynamic model of post-colonial Englishes


  Five stages:

  Foundation

  Exonormative stabilisation

  Nativisation

  Endonormative stabilisation

  Differentiation
• Foundation

  Settlers who speak English arrive at a new territory

  Both language contact between settlers and natives, and different dialects of English occurs.

  This leads to the formation of a new stable settler English dialect

  Bilingualism is rare (a select few natives act as translators)

  The few borrowings that occur are limited to lexis, usually local flora, fauna or place names.
• Exonormative stabilisation

  under British rule, settler communities stabilise politically, and more natives learn English as an L2 (it is a colonial koine)

  Speakers continue to Look to England for the correct ways of speaking and local vocabulary continues to be adopted

  Education and increased contact with English settlers cause knowledge of English to be desirable. An indigenous elite develops. Bangladesh is in this phase.
• Nativisation

  A transition occurs. Beforehand, the English settler population held an identity which valued allegiance to their mother country over their colonised country. Now, English settlers build a new identity based on their allegiance to the indigenous population and their shared country. South Africa and Malaysia are currently in this phase and Susan Coetzee-van Rooy argues that South African English will lkely never progress beyond this phase.
• Endonormative stabilisation

  Now a self-dependent, increasingly multiethnic new nationAcceptance of and positive attitude towards local norms which is expressed through languageLiterary creativity begins to flourishStabilisation of a new variety of English - grammar and lexis begin to be established (national dictionaries created) Singapore falls into this phase.
• Differentation

  Stable young nation with internal sociopolitical differentiation

  Group-specific identity construction as part of overall new national identity

  Social networks constructed - lots of interaction internally within groupsGroup-specific (e.g. ethnic, regional, social) dialects emerge
• SDMPCE advantages

  • The model is generalised and applicable to the vast majority of postcolonial Englishes.
  • widely known and widely applied
  • The five phases are intuitive and makes understanding the process easier for non-linguists
• SDMPCE disadvantages

  The lengths of the phases are not defined, which means each country undergoing post-colonial Linguistic change may stay in different phases for different amounts of times, or not move through phases at all (see south Africa)