world english

Created by

Mia Naidu

Cards (24)

why might people want to learn english in 21st century
English official language in 67 sovereign states
the language of science, of aviation, computers, diplomacy, and tourism. Knowing English increases your chances of getting a good job in a multinational company within your home country or of finding work abroad.
second or third language in a countless number of countries
One out of five people can speak or at least understand English
Certain varieties of English are considered superior in a range of international contexts
esperanto 
Esperanto is the world's most widely spoken constructed international auxiliary language. Created by L. L. Zamenhof in 1887 to be 'the International Language', it is intended to be a universal second language for international communication.
impacts on world english
british empire
USA as a superpower
esperanto
king james bible
international language of business
technology/social media
2nd language learning
spread of english within british isles
Into Scotland during 17th & 18th centuries

Into Wales during the 8th century but more significantly from 12th century onwards. Robert Penhallurick states that ‘from the end of the 19th century, English can be considered the majority language in Wales.’
Into Ireland – more complicated but by 18th century English was widespread
english in scotland 
grew alongside and in opposition to local forms
scots had something of a revival in 20th and 21st century
english in ireland
taken into Ireland with settlers from Britain who arrived in 12th century
Movement from people from Scotland to Ireland brought in Scots English
The Great Famine (1846-48) led to over a million lives being lost – many of whom were Irish speakers
Introduction of national school system in 1830 preferred the teaching of English
english in wales
process of Anglicisation came after Norman rule who had established strongholds through the north and south of Wales
Like Scots, Welsh undergone slight revival but English is still very much dominant
american english
earliest forms of American English were established in the 1600s with settlers seeking religious freedom and escape from persecution.
Native Americans have had very little influence on American English. Dick Leith suggests this is because ‘the language of a conquered people has little effect on that of the conquerors’
growth of early American English is largely down to immigration and also the slave trade. Their languages were swallowed up
language diasporas 
diaspora- when something disperses or spreads out from a centre point
jennifer jenkins- diasphoras:
Large scale migration (think English speakers to America) – here English becomes the mother tongue and changes to meet the needs of its users over the years
Colonisation – Jenkins refers to ‘New Englishes’ being created here (think places such as India, Nigeria, Kenya). This has led to much greater variety in English which we will explore later
jennifer jenkins- lingua franca core
Lingua Franca: a language that is adopted as a common language between speakers whose native languages are different.

Many learners of English do not want/need to use English with people whose first language (L1) is English.
They are more likely to use English in situations where nobody shares an L1.
For example: A native French, Japanese and Arabic speaker might use English to communicate
vocabulary variation
When English spans out globally, it takes words from the areas in which it spreads in order to expand its lexicon
‘dosa’ and ‘roti’ are used in South Asia to describe types of bread.
Rose (2015) refers to ‘semantic extensions’ – in Singapore English (Singlish) the verb ‘open’ also means ‘turn on’ as in ‘open the light’.
negative attitudes to american english
Journalist Matthew Engel complained that…
“Nowadays, people have no idea where American ends and English begins. And that’s a disaster for our national self-esteem. We are in danger of subordinating our language so someone else’s – and with it, large aspects of British life.”
kachrus circles theory
classified varieties of english around the globe as inner circle, outer circle and expanding circle
inner- USA, England, Australia
outer- India, Kenya, Singapore
expanding- Egypt, Russia, Saudi Arabia
inner circle - Kachru
refers to English as it originally took shape and was spread across the world.
speakers from England carried the language to Australia, New Zealand and North America.
The Inner Circle represents the traditional historical and sociolinguistic bases of English in regions where it is now used as a primary language.
The total number of English speakers in the inner circle is as high as 380 million.
outer circle- kachru
produced by the second diaspora of English, which spread the language through imperial expansion by Great Britain in Asia and Africa.
English is not the native tongue, but serves as a useful lingua franca between ethnic and language groups.
Higher education, the legislature and judiciary, national commerce and so on may all be carried out predominantly in English.
The total number of English speakers in the outer circle is estimated to range from 150 million to 300 million.
expanding circle - Kachru
countries where English plays no historical or governmental role, but where it is widely used as a medium of international communication.
The total in this expanding circle is the most difficult to estimate, especially because English may be employed for specific, limited purposes, usually in a business context. The estimates of these users range from 100 million to one billion
drawbacks of Kachru's model
He devised the model in 1992, before the rise of the internet
It does not address the diversity of Englishes within the circles
It does not address the proficiency of English usage within the outer and expanding circles
It does not take into account the grey area that exists between outer and expanding circles
It has come under criticism for the labels he used: ‘inner’ and ‘outer’ suggest value judgements about ‘better’ usage
mcarthurs model
The concept is based on monolingualism but the norm is bi or multilingualism.
It suggests that the outer strands are in some way ‘lesser’ or inferior to the central ‘World Standard English’
canagarajah on mcarthurs model
"There is nothing in the center.”
Reasons:
There is NO universal English language, nor a World Standard English (WSE).
People construct English as suits their purposes in a given context at a given time.
Functionality and pragmatics are more relevant than WSE
view of acceptance
We are likely to generally take the view that world Englishes are not inferior to British English but thriving variations of it.
Mario Saraceni suggests that ‘the psychological umbilical cord’ between England and world Englishes should be cut.
He argues that existing models for explaining the relationship between World Englishes foreground what he calls ‘the metaphor of “spread”’ which creates a fundamental problem.
Saraceni’s argument is that rather than view English as belonging to any one group more than another, or one variety of English to be seen more ‘genuine’ than another, a different focus should be explored.
modianos model of english
generally displaced Kachru’s 3 circles.
centre consists of users of English as an International Language, with a core set of features which are comprehensible to the majority of native and competent non-native speakers of English.
The second circle consists of features which may become internationally common or may fall into obscurity.
The outer area consists of five groups (American English, British English, other major varieties, local varieties, foreign varieties) each with features peculiar to their own speech community and which are unlikely to be understood by most members of the other four groups
post-colonial varieties of english- schneider 
considers how post-colonial varieties of English have developed and evolved.
5 phases
schneider 5 phases 
foundation- english first appears in new terriotory
Exonormative stabilization-English begins to be used
nativization- english becomes the native
Endonormative stabilization-country is often more independent and the language variety used looks within the immediate community for norms and standards
differentiation-The new variety develops its own regional and social differences
negative attitudes to american english
Journalist Matthew Engel complained that
“Nowadays, people have no idea where American ends and English begins. And that’s a disaster for our national self-esteem. We are in danger of subordinating our language so someone else’s – and with it large aspects of British life.”