Transcript New & World Englishes

World English Vs. World
Englishes
Wednesday Sharing Session
December 2, 2009
Presented by: Sonny Soentanto
Definitions & Explanations
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World English:
is the concept of the English language as a global
means of communication in numerous dialects, and also
the movement towards an international standard for the
language. It is also referred to as Global English, World
English, Common English, Continental English or
General English.
Sometimes "international English" and the related terms
above refer to a desired standardisation, i.e. Standard
English; however, there is no consensus on the path to
this goal.
 World Englishes:
„Any language variety of English including those
developed by communities in which English was not
indigenous in modern history.“
( The Routledge
Companion to Sociolinguistics, 2007, p. 234)
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Why English Has Become a World
Language
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Historical reasons: spread through trade and
colonization, wars, and cultural dissemination.
Educational reasons: English is much more developed
than other languages.
Political reasons: Language of super power and
language of political institution
Intellectual reasons: scientific, technological, and
academic info available in English
Economic reasons: working language in mncs
Practical reasons: international air traffic, emergency
services
Entertainment reasons: language of popular music,
cultures, broadcasting
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World (New) Englishes
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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
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has become „nativised“ by own language
features
( after J.Jenkins, World Englishes,2003,p 22/23)
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The Concepts of 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
May 2007May 2007
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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
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ESL
English as Second Language
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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 labeled as non-standard,
illegitimate, interlanguage, bad, deviant, half
baked
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EFL
English as Foreign Language
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For speakers of EFL English serves no purpose in own
country
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Historically learned for communication with ENL
speakers
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Nowadays used for communication with other non-native
speakers
Norm dependent and used in Expanding Circle
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Example for EFL: Indonesia
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Kachru‘s three cirlce model
of world Englishes
 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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Kachru‘s three cirlce model
of world Englishes
The Inner Circle
 Countries: UK, USA,
Canada,Australia, New
Zealand
-> ENL countries
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Spoken English as „norm
providing“
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English-language
standards determined by
ENL speakers (Inner
Circle)
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Kachru‘s three cirlce model
of world Englishes
The Outer Circle
 Countries: Bangladesh,
Singapore,
India, Nigeria, Pakistan, Sri
Lanka,
Tanzania, Malaysia,…
-> ESL countries
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Spoken English regarded as
„norm developing“
(developing own standards)
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Kachru‘s three cirlce model
of world Englishes
The Expanding Circle
 Countries: China, Egypt,
Indonesia, Taiwan, Korea,
Israel,…
-> EFL countries
Spoken English regarded as
“norm performing“
-> standards from Inner & Outer
Circles are performed / taken
over
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But no official status, therefore
dependent on standards set by
Inner Circle
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Kachru‘s three cirlce model
of world Englishes
Criticism
Model implies uniformity of
countries within one circle
-> not true: even in Inner Circle
differences in amount of
liguistic diversity
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todays Immigration left out of
account
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grey area between Outer and
Expanding Circle -> countries
in transition from EFL to ESL
status, like: Argentina,
Belgium, Denmark…
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Mc Arthur‘s circle of World English
Inner Circle:
 World Standard English
-> but not existing in identifiable
form
Outer Circle:
 Band of regional varieties of
English
standard
forms
standardising
forms
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Mc Arthur‘s circle of World English
„crowded fringe“
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Dividing the world into 8
seperate regions
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Describe subvarieties of the
standard & standardising forms
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Examples: Welsh English,
Quebec English,…
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Summary example:
WSE
American Standard English
Midland
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Singapore English - Short
Overview About History
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Singapore was originally part of the Sri Vijaya kingdom of
Sumatra
in 1819 the British trader Sir Stamford Raffles leased the
island from the Sultan of Johore
it became the 'Straits Settlements' with Malacca and
Penang in 1826 (under the East India Company)
1867 British colony
taken by Japanese in 1942 (WW II) but became British
again in 1945
self-government in 1959
part of the Federartion of Malay from 1963 to 1965
then independent state
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Singapore English - General
Facts
four official languages in Singapore English,
Mandarin Chinese, Malay and Tamil
English is the language of the law courts,
government administration and education
1947 31,6 percent of students attended Englishmedium schools (others attended Chinese- and
Tamil-medium schools)
since 1987 English is the exclusive medium for
primary, secondary and tertiary education
main language of commerce and business
main feature: wide social range of its users
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The Concept of basilect and
acrolect use of English
 Social
dialectic concept
 Acrolect (standard):
• Used for international communication
• And for formal & public intranational
interaction
 Basilect (colloquial):
• Used for informal intranational
communication
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Singapore English - General
Facts
the higher level there's on the other hand homegrown colloquial style - so
a government-backed
normative variety based on called Singlish
British English
serves the young as a
means of solidarity, relaxing
spoken with a near-RP
and being oneself
accent
at
used
by Singapore
Broadcasting Corporation
influenced
vigorous,
slangy and
creative language
by American
usage
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Singapore English - Particular
Features
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Chinese influence
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Chinese particles la(h) and aa/ah used to express
emphasis and emotion
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la(h) as a token of informal intimacy → Can you come
tonight? Can lah/Cannot lah
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aa/ah in yes-no questions → You wait me, aa?
instead of Will you wait for me?
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I come tonight, ah? instead of Should I come tonight?
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You think I scared of you, ah?
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Singapore English - Particular
Features
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Chinese-style interjections
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ay yaah! to express surprise or exasperation
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ay yor! to express pain or wonder or both
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ay yer! indicating a reaction to something
unpleasant and maybe unexptected
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che! expressing irritation or regret
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Singapore English Pronounciation
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vowels in words such as take, so and dare are
often single vowels as in Scottish English and not
diphthongs as in RP
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reduction of final consonant clusters to one
spoken consonant
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juss for 'just'
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tol for 'told'
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slep for 'slept'
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Singapore English - Grammar
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tendency of omitting
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articles You have pen or not?
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plural inflection -s I got two sister and three brother.
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present-tense inflection -s This radio sound good.
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past-tense inflectinon -ed/-t ask for asked and slep
for slept
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Singapore English - Grammar
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direct and indirect objects are often placed first
→ Me you don't give it to. instead of You didn't
give it to me.
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also used more often than too, especially at the
end of a sentence
→ But we are supposed to learn Chinese also.
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Singapore English - Grammar
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ways of checking if someone agrees or disagrees or
can or cannot do something are pretty informal
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Are you coming? Yes or not?
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Like it or not?
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Are you going? Can or not?
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Enough or not?
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Singapore English - Vocabulary
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English words with re-applied meanings
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send meaning 'take' → I will send you home.
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open meaning 'put on' → Open the light.
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close meaning 'put off' → Close the light.
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take suggesting 'eat, drink, like' → Do you take hot
food?
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Singapore English - Vocabulary
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formal and informal style are less distinct from each
other than in British and American usage
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that results in a mix of highly colloquial and highly
formal use
→ her deceased hubby rather then her dead husband
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words taken from regional languages
for example the Malayan word makan (food)
→ Let's have some makan.
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The Implication for LIA
 No
need to bother about World Englishes
if you teach EC, ET, EA.
 Expose the students to World Englishes if
you teach CV, CIB etc. to raise their
awareness and tolerance and provide your
students with cross-cultural
communication strategies.
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