World Englishes

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World Englishes
Nov 5, 2008
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Activity 1

• Listen to the following speakers and rate them on
  the characteristics provided on the handout

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What does World Englishes mean?

• The Expanding Circle
• China, Egypt, Indonesia,
• Israel, Japan, Korea,
• Nepal, Saudi Arabia,
• Taiwan, Russia,
• Zimbabwe, South Africa,
• Caribbean Islands
• (EFL)

The Outer Circle Bangladesh, India Ghana, Kenya,
Nigeria, Malaysia, Pakistan, Philippines,
Singapore, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Zambia (ESL)
The Inner Circle USA UK Canada Australia New
Zealand
Krachus Three Concentric Circles
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• how many Englishes are there?

MacArthurs circle of English
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If we include pidgins and creoles . . .
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Neo-Solomonic (Solomon Islands)
Is this English?

• Orayt, mif?la i go go lang salwater, lukawtim
  fish, naw win i kem, naw mif?la i go alebawt long
  kinu, naw bigf?la win i kem naw, mif?la go, no
  kachim ?ni ples i kwaytf?la.

• Very well. We kept going on the sea, hunting
  fish, and a wind arose now we were going in
  canoes, and an immense wind arose, and we were
  thrown around and ran very fast (before the wind).

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The Lords Prayer (from Hawaiian Pidgin Bible)

• God, you our Fadda. You stay inside da sky.
  We like all da peopo know fo shua how you stay,
  An dat you stay good an spesho, An we like dem
  give you plenny respeck. We like you come King fo
  everybody now. We like everybody make jalike you
  like, Ova hea inside da world, Jalike da angel
  guys up inside da sky make jalike you like. Give
  us da food we need fo today an every day. Hemmo
  our shame, an let us go Fo all da kine bad stuff
  we do to you, Jalike us guys let da odda guys go
  awready, And we no stay huhu wit dem Fo all da
  kine bad stuff dey do to us. No let us get chance
  fo do bad kine stuff, But take us outa dea, so da
  Bad Guy no can hurt us. Cuz you our King. You get
  da real power, An you stay awesome foeva. Dass
  it!

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what kinds of questions do researchers ask about
world Englishes?

1. how are different world Englishes (socially)
   perceived?
2. how recognizable are different world Englishes?
   what factors influence this recognition?
3. how is English used in the world? how should it
   be used? (in part, code-switching and language
   policy)
4. how do world Englishes differ from each other or
   how are they similar (pidgins and creoles)?

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1. how are different world Englishes (socially)
perceived?

• a. Matched Guise Test
• Lambert, et al. (1960) Asked native English and
  French speakers to listen to people speaking
  French and English and to judge the people on
  various personality characteristics
• 1 2 3 4 5 6
• Friendly Cold
• Dependable Lazy
• Stupid Intelligent
• In reality the exact same speaker spoke in
  English and French
• Findings? Both English and French speakers gave
  more positive characteristics to English than
  French speakers
• b. Real world applications

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Listener response survey
Looked at British listeners perceptions of 3
British (RP, West Yorkshire, Birmingham) and 3
American (Network, Alabama, NYC) varieties in
terms of status and solidarity characteristics
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Hiraga (2005)
Looked at British listeners perceptions of 3
British (RP, West Yorkshire, Birmingham) and 3
American (Network, Alabama, NYC) varieties in
terms of status and solidarity characteristics
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British attitudes vs. American attitudes
British (Hiraga, 2005)
American

• Solidarity
• RP
• Alabama
• West Yorkshire
• Birmingham
• Network American
• New York

• Status
• RP
• Birmingham
• Network
• NYC
• West Yorkshire
• Alabama

Overall RP Network Birmingham West Yorkshire New
York Alabama
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2. how recognizable are different world
Englishes? what factors influence this
recognition?

• audio clips were taken from the speech accent
  archive created by Steven H. Weinberger of George
  Mason University. http//classweb.gmu.edu/accent/

1.
3.
2.
4.
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• 9 tracks
  (Australia, England, India,
  Ireland, Kenya, New York, Scotland, South Africa,
  Southern U.S.)
• audio clips were taken from the speech accent
  archive created by Steven H. Weinberger of George
  Mason University. http//classweb.gmu.edu/accent/

1. South Africa
3. Scotland
2. Georgia
4. Ireland
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correct dialect identification by native English
speakers
92
90
75
61
59
51
41
32
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type of incorrect answers given

• Southern US (11) Midwest US 3, Utah 3, West
  Coast US 2, Rural US 2, England.
• England (14) Australia 3, South Africa 3,
  Northeastern US 2, Canada, France, Scotland,
  United States, Caribbean, New Zealand.
• New York (35) Midwest US 11, West Coast US 9,
  Canada 6, Northern US 5, Australia 2,
  Southwestern US 2.
• Australia (54) England 17, New Zealand 8,
  Northeastern US 8, South Africa 6, Ireland 5,
  Southern US 3, Nothing 2, Canada 2, Midwest US 2,
  Northwestern US 2, United States 2, Wales 2,
  Scotland, Italy, Ukraine.
• Scotland (58) Ireland 38, Great Britain 6,
  Australia 4, New Zealand 3, Wales 2, Southern US
  2, Midwest US, Scandinavia, West Indies.

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• India (68) Africa 12, Caribbean 10, South Africa
  9, Singapore 3, Nothing 3, Southern US 3, Middle
  East 3, Saudi Arabia 2, Asia 2, Zimbabwe 2,
  Brazil 2, Western US 2, Spain, Australia, West
  Africa, Egypt, Canada, Algeria, New Zealand,
  South America, Nigeria, Philippines, Russia,
  Mexico, Fiji, Iraq, Israel, Afghanistan.
• Ireland (82) Scotland 29, Canada 15, England 10,
  Eastern US 6, Australia 5, New Zealand 4, South
  Africa 2, United States 2, Western US 2, Nothing,
  Argentina, India, Mexico, Norway, Spain, Wales.
• Africa (Kenya) (95) South Africa 21, Caribbean
  13, India 9, Nothing 6, Middle East 5, Canada 4,
  Germany 3, East Europe 2, France 2, Western US 2,
  Southern US 2, New Zealand 2, Northeast US 2,
  Midwest US 2, Hawaii 2, Hong Kong 2, Iraq 2,
  Ireland 2, Mexico 2, Netherlands, Pakistan,
  Poland, Philippines, Russia, Sri Lanka, Spain,
  United States, Wales, Australia, England.
• South Africa (129) Australia 44, Great Britain
  36, New Zealand 19, Northeastern US 6, Scotland
  4, Ireland 3, Wales 2, Africa 2, India 2,
  Nothing, Canada, China, Denmark, France, Hawaii,
  Jamaica, Midwest US, Northern Europe, Panama,
  Philippines.

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type of incorrect responses
30
28
20
16
15
9
9
6
5
19
correct dialect identification by non-native
speakers
65
48
22
15
17
13
6
4
0
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correct dialect identification by native (blue)
and non-native (light blue) speakers
92
90
75
65
61
59
48
51
41
32
22
17
15
13
6
8
4
0
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3. how is English used in the world?

• English used to make something
• look more fashionable,
• modern, expensive
• Example
• A is for Ambrella
• The very best stationery
• for people who get excited
• when they see English
• all over everything

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• Use of English between two speakers, neither of
  whom speak English as a native language

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Examples
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Examples
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Example study Advertising and World Englishes
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Example study Advertising and World Englishes
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Example study Advertising and World Englishes
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Example study Code-switching/mixing/nativized
English

• We, that is the Matsumoto family, live in a
  manshon, too. At this moment, I am watching
  beisu-booru on terebi. My wife is out shopping
  at a depaato, and later she will stop at a suupaa
  to get pooku choppu, pan, bataa, jamu, and
  perhaps some sooseji for breakfast. My daughter
  has gone to the byuuchii saron to get a paama.
  Oh the terehon is ringing. We cannot live a day
  in Japan today without these loan words.
• Language purists lament the fact. The
  nationalists would wipe out all foreign-sounding
  words from our vocabulary. But where will they
  be without terebi, rajio, tabako, biiru, and
  terehon? Matsumoto, 1976
• Over 10 of the words in Japanese are English
  borrowings

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Examples of Code Mixing

• 1. Es un . . . uh. . .. factory worker
• 2. Conductor (shouting in Swahili) Fugueni
  madirisha! 'Open the windows!'
• Passenger (well-dressed) That is your job.
• 3. Vena aca. (child doesnt listen) Ven aca.
  (child doesnt listen) Come here now.
• 4. I went to Agra, to maine apne bhaiko bola ki
  (then I said to my brother that) if you come to
  Delhi you must buy some lunch.
• 5. A Well, I'm glad I met you.
• B Andale pues. And do come again, mmh?
• 6. We've got all . . . all these kids here right
  now. Los que estan ya criados aqui, no los que
  estan recien venidos de Mexico (those that have
  been born here, not the ones that have just
  arrived from Mexico). They all understood
  English

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Results Table 1. Proportion of intra-sentential
and inter-sentential mixes identified in English
and Spanish samples collected during years 1 and
2.

English samples Spanish samples Total
Inter-sentential Year 1 37 13.5 25.25
Year 2 .12 22 11.06
Intra-sentential Year 1 3.68 2.5 3.09
Year 2 1.5 5.88 3.69
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4. how do world Englishes differ from each other
or how are they similar (pidgins and creoles)?

• Hawaiian Pidgin
• I. Phonological
• a. Spelling
• b. Simplification and reduction of consonant
  clusters and digraphs
• ailan for island.
• c. Simple vowels that cover a variety of shades
  of phoneme
• arurut for arrowroot
• orait for all right
• d. A preference for CVCV or CVC spelling
  structures
• bokis for box.
• e. Loss of several sounds
• 1. /th/ ? /t/ and /d/
• de for there, da for the
• 2. /l/? /o/ mental ? mento people ? peepo.

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II. Words in Pidgins/Creoles

• a. Compound words
• bigman important person
  daiman corpse
• af dai (half die) difficult
  drai ai (dry eye) courage
• krai dai (cry die) wake
  put han (put hand) help
• b. Semantic shifts
• agen'any more' as in "Ah noh lov ahn agen" 'I
  don't love him any more' (H2)
• vex / bex angry, the pronunciation with b- is
  generally found more often in rural areas, etym.
  17th century English vex meaning 'to be
  distressed in mind, to fret' (A)
• c. Archaic (to our ears) words
• chinchitiny, a small amount etym. possibly from
  Old English chinch 'a stingy person' (C)
• wine opa vigorous dance, especially with
  swinging of the hips, etym. Old English wind
  meaning 'to turn this way and that,

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II. Semantics (cont)

• d. Coinings
• skylark to waste time
• commess confusion/controversy
• e. Reduplication
• san sun sansan sand pis fish pispis
  to urinate
• ben bend benben crooked
• wakawaka (walk) wander perpetually,
• toktok gossip
• fain cry fainfain very lovely
• f. Loanshifts
• bush unpolished person
• dash bribe
• mobile to own a car
• Passion week week before paycheck when you
  have no money

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III. Morphology/Syntax

• a. Double negatives Hi neba get no buk
• b. SVO word order Hi get da hawaian waif
• c. No morphological/inflectional markers
• looked bin look looking be look
• d. No copula be Shi craiin
• e. No possessive marker Jan buk hauli hous
• f. Restricted prepositions
• The guy gon lay the vinyl bin quote me price.
• The man who was going to lay the vinyl had quoted
  me a price.
• g. Formulaic expressions
• there get here had
• h. no plural
• ma pikin 'my child/children'