Asian Englishes in the Outer and Expanding Circles

1
World EnglishesUnit 6 (AF)

• Asian Englishes in the Outer and Expanding Circles

2
English in the Indian SubcontinentOrigins
and History

• The British first arrived in India in the early
  1600s and soon established trading posts in a
  number of cities under the control of The East
  India Company.
• By 1765 the Companys influence had grown to such
  an extent that the British were effectively
  controlling most parts of the country.
• This date is often taken as the start of what is
  referred to as The Raj a period of British rule
  in India that lasted until Independence in 1947.

3
English in the Indian SubcontinentOrigins and
History

• A large number of Christian schools imparting an
  English education were set up by the early
  1800's.
• The earliest English language policy for India
  was enshrined in Macaulays famous Minute (2
  Feb.1835)
• We must at present do our best to form a class
  who may be interpreters between us and the
  millions whom we govern,  --a class of persons
  Indian in blood and colour, but English in
  tastes, in opinions, in morals and in intellect.
  To that class we may leave it to refine the
  vernacular dialects of the country, to enrich
  those dialects with terms of science borrowed
  from the Western nomenclature, and to render them
  by degrees fit vehicles for conveying knowledge
  to the great mass of the population.

4
Macaulays Attitude toward Indian Languages and
Educational Policy

• I have no knowledge of either Sanscrit or
  Arabic. But I have done what I could to form a
  correct estimate of their value. I have read
  translations of the most celebrated Arabic and
  Sanscrit works. I have conversed, both here and
  at home, with men distinguished by their
  proficiency in the Eastern tongues. I am quite
  ready to take the oriental learning at the
  valuation of the orientalists themselves. I have
  never found one among them who could deny that a
  single shelf of a good European library was worth
  the whole native literature of India and Arabia.
  The intrinsic superiority of the Western
  literature is indeed fully admitted by those
  members of the committee who support the oriental
  plan of education.

5
English in 20th Century India

• English had become the official and academic
  language of India by the early twentieth century.
  English was increasingly accepted as the language
  of government, of the social elite, and of the
  national press.
• In 1947 India became an independent nation state.
  English was supposed to be gradually replaced by
  Hindi as the language of administration. But, in
  a country with hundreds of languages, it was
  difficult to choose a single national language,
  as mother tongue speakers of that language would
  automatically enjoy greater social status and
  have easier access to positions of power and
  influence. So, although English was not an
  indigenous language, it became an Associate
  Language, alongside Hindi, the Official
  Language of the Union of India and eighteen
  'National Languages', such as Bengali, Gujurati
  and Urdu, that have a special status in certain
  individual states.

6
English in India today

• Despite continued pressure from nationalists,
  English remains at the heart of Indian society.
  It is widely used in the media, in Higher
  Education and government and therefore remains a
  common means of communication, both among the
  ruling classes, and between speakers of mutually
  unintelligible languages.
• Role of English as a neutral language of wider
  communication.
• Despite being a three percent minority, the
  English speaking population in India is quite
  large that three percent puts India among the
  top four countries in the world with the highest
  number of English speakers.

7
Indian English

• It is a linguistic variety with its own
  grammatical, lexical, phonological and discoursal
  norms.
• It has developed its own varietal characteristics
  through the interaction of Indian languages and
  social behaviours with those of English.
• The Indianisation of English involves
  adaptations of existing features of British
  English and the use of transferred mother-tongue
  items where British English is deficient.

8
Indian English Phonology

• VW merger many speakers do not differentiate
  between the sounds ltvgt and ltwgt.
• TH-stopping they sometimes replace ltthgt in words
  like think and this with a lttgt and ltdgt sound, as
  no Indian languages contain these consonants.
• Rhoticity the ltrgt sound is pronounced after a
  vowel in words like hard, corn and nurse .
• Unaspirated ltpgt there is no release of air when
  ltpgt precedes a vowel in words like pin and pot

9
Indian English Grammar

• Under the influence of traditional Hindi grammar,
  speakers often use progressive tenses in
  statements, such as I am believing you or she is
  liking music.
• Zero article the indefinite article, a or an, or
  the definite article, the, are often omitted.
• Zero past tense marker verbs are left unmarked
  for tense, although other signals (adverbs of
  time, such as yesterday, last week etc.) often
  give linguistic clues about the timing of an
  event.
• Declarative word order in interrogative
  construction normal subject verb word order
  is retained in statements using the question
  words who, what, when, where, why, how etc. .
• Plural uncount nouns litters, luggages,
  furnitures, woods .

10
Indian English Lexis

• Code-switching the occasional or even frequent
  use of a Hindi (or Urdu, Punjabi, Gujurati etc.)
  word or expression within an English sentence can
  communicate a great sense of shared identity or
  solidarity with other speakers.
• Extensive compound formation English-speaking
  classes, cousin-brother / cousin-sister,
  chalk-piece, key-bunch, meeting notice, age
  barred, pindrop silence, time-pass.
• Shortening of words enthu for
  enthusiastic/enthusiasm or fundas for
  fundamentals
• Acronyms MCP Male Chauvinist Pig - FOC Free
  Of ChargeMPK Maine Pyar Kiya (a popular
  movie)ILU I Love You (from a song pronounced
  ee-lu)ABCD American Born Confused Deshi
  (native of India)FOB Fresh Off the Boat

11
Indian English Usage

• Whats your good name?
• Dear sir, with reference to your above see my
  below - popular opening line in official
  letters.
• Pritam Singh has left for his heavenly above -
  a death notice.
• Hue and Cry notice - title of police missing
  person newspaper advertisement.
• She freaked out last night - she had a good
  time.
• Kindly please advise me.
• Thank youji, Doctor Sahib.
• Namaste, how are you?
• "Will you take tea?
• To give a test

12
English in China History

• 1637 first contact between English speakers and
  Chinese when British expeditionary mission
  arrives in Macau and Canton.
• A century later, Chinese Pidgin English
  develops as a lingua franca between natives and
  foreigners on the coast of South China.
• Growth and diffusion of CPE enhanced by its
  extensive usability.
• 1862 Treaty of Tientsin opens many other places
  to Western interests. Western missionaries
  establish schools, where either English is
  formally taught or adopted as a medium of
  instruction.
• 1949 establishment of the Peoples Republic of
  China. English disappears from the school
  curriculum and Russian becomes the main foreign
  language.
• After the collapse of the Cultural Revolution
  (196676), English recovers its importance and
  popularity as the country shifts to modernization
  and economic development.

13
English in China today

• A primary school English textbook adopted in
  Tientsin starts with this preface English is
  usually used at international settings, and it is
  also a tool to grasp advanced scientific and
  technological information. In accordance with our
  countrys reform and open-door policies, it is
  essential that we learn English properly.
• English is recognized as an indispensable
  language for international exchange and
  better-paid employment.
• English is a very important subject at all levels
  of formal education. TV and radio stations
  popularize ELT programs across the country.
• The national College English Test (CET) promotes
  English language learning at the tertiary level.
  The certificate of CET Band 4/6 has attained such
  a high social value that a majority of
  universities adopt the policy of no CET 4/ 6
  certificate, no graduation diploma, with the
  result that 6 million students take the tests
  annually.
• English-language training in China is an industry
  worth around 15 billion yuan a year, or about
  1.3bn, and there are more than 50,000
  English-training organisations in China.

14
China EnglishA definition

• English language specialists in China tend to
  refer to local features of English as China
  English instead of Chinese English since they
  claim that the latter characterization sounds
  derogatory to them, associated with Chinese
  Pidgin English or Chinglish.
• China English is an educated variety of English
  that Chinese speakers of the language are
  expected to employ at international encounters,
  expressing their own cultural norms, behavioral
  patterns, and value systems. Jiang, 2002

15
China English Phonology (Deterding et al., 2006)

• s instead of th sounds
• avoidance of weak forms for function words
• stressing of final pronouns
• no voiced fricatives
• many multisyllabic words pronounced with
  syllable-timing
• insertion of final schwa

16
China English Syntax Pragmatics

• Topicalization of adjuncts adverbials or
  adverbial clauses placed in front of main verb of
  a sentence.
• Null subject parameter.
• English texts are often organised in a deductive
  manner (main topic at beginning, supporting
  material postponed). China English texts share
  the Chinese inductive discourse structure (most
  significantpoints are delayed until sufficient
  background info is given).

17
China EnglishIntercultural communication

• Several years ago, when Hong Kong was still
  a colony of Britain, I was sitting in the office
  of a superintendent of the Hong Kong Police
  Force. The superintendent was English. In those
  colonial days, almost all the police officers
  were expatriates and the sergeants and constables
  were all locals. I was there because I worked for
  a company who had been asked to explain the
  communication problems that were common in the
  police force at that time. There was a quiet
  knock at the door and in came a young Chinese
  police constable . . . (Honna, Kirkpatrick, and
  Gilbert, 20011617)

18
China EnglishIntercultural communication

• Yes?, enquired the superintendent.
• My mother is not very well, sir, started the
  constable.
• Yes?, repeated the superintendent, a frown
  appearing on his brow.
• She has to go into hospital, sir, continued the
  constable.
• So?
• On Thursday, sir.
• The superintendents frown was replaced by a look
  of exasperation. What is it that you want?, he
  asked sternly
• At this direct question, the constables face
  fell and he simply mumbled, Nothing,
• sir. Its all right, and turned and left the
  room.
• As soon as the door had closed the superintendent
  turned to me and said
• You see. A classic case. They cant get to the
  point.
• So, what would you want him to say?, I asked.
• Well, instead of beating around the bush, he
  should come straight to the
• point. He obviously wants some leave so he can
  look after his mother. He should
• ask for leave and not waste my time going on
  about his poor mother.
• You want him to say something like, Can I have
  some leave please, sir?
• Yes, exactly, replied the superintendent

19
China English Lexis

• China Daily, Shanghai Daily, or the Beijing Today
  weekly are full of expressions coined to refer to
  Chinese ways and experiences of life, such as
• barefoot doctor, peoples commune, great
  leap forward, paper tiger, ideological
  remodeling, reform through physical labor,
  red guard, red rice, one country, two
  systems, the higher authorities have policies
  and the localities have their countermeasures,
  planned commodity economy, enterprise
  contracted production system, safety first and
  prevention first, outstanding deeds and
  advanced persons, one-family-one-child policy,
  family contracted responsibility system.

20
English in Japan

• The English language was first introduced into
  Japan in March, 1600. It was when William Adams,
  the English pilot of a Dutch ship, reached the
  western part of the country after a shipwreck.
  Later renamed as Miura Anjin in the Japanese
  fashion, he soon acquired Shogun Tokugawa
  Ieyasus personal trust and worked as an
  intermediary between the Japanese ruler and Great
  Britains King James I, delivering translated
  messages back and forth across the seas.
• At the time of Meiji Restoration (1868), Japans
  new enlightened leaders came to realize that
  English would be essential for the countrys
  modernization and development. The Government
  soon established a national educational system in
  1872 and introduced English language teaching in
  five-year secondary schools, often even in
  six-year primary schools, in major cities.

21
English in Japan

• English language teaching was reinvigorated as
  peace was restored after the end of World War II
  in 1945. Two years later, the government set up
  six-year primary school and three-year junior
  high school education as compulsory, with English
  introduced nationally as a subject from the first
  year of the secondary curriculum to continue into
  the three-year senior high school and then to
  college.