World English Vs. World Englishes

1
World English Vs. World Englishes

• Wednesday Sharing Session
• December 2, 2009
• Presented by Sonny Soentanto

2
Definitions Explanations

• 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)

3
Why English Has Become a World Language

• 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

4
World (New) Englishes

• 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
• has become nativised by own language
• features
• 
  ( after J.Jenkins, World Englishes,2003,p
  22/23)

5
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

6
ENLEnglish 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
• -gt 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

7
ESLEnglish as Second Language

• people living in territories like India,
  Bangladesh, Nigeria and Singapore
• Countries former colonised by British
• -gtEnglish 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

8
EFLEnglish as Foreign Language

• For speakers of EFL English serves no purpose in
  own country
• Historically learned for communication with ENL
  speakers
• Nowadays used for communication with other
  non-native speakers
• Norm dependent and used in Expanding Circle
• Example for EFL Indonesia

9
Kachrus 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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Kachrus three cirlce model of world Englishes

• The Inner Circle
• Countries UK, USA, Canada,Australia, New Zealand
• -gt ENL countries
• Spoken English as norm providing
• English-language standards determined by ENL
  speakers (Inner Circle)

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Kachrus three cirlce model of world Englishes

• The Outer Circle
• Countries Bangladesh, Singapore,
• India, Nigeria, Pakistan, Sri Lanka,
• Tanzania, Malaysia,
• -gt ESL countries
• Spoken English regarded as norm developing
  (developing own standards)

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Kachrus three cirlce model of world Englishes

• The Expanding Circle
• Countries China, Egypt, Indonesia, Taiwan,
  Korea, Israel,
• -gt EFL countries
• Spoken English regarded as norm performing
• -gt standards from Inner Outer Circles are
  performed / taken over
• But no official status, therefore dependent on
  standards set by Inner Circle

13
Kachrus three cirlce model of world Englishes

• Criticism
• Model implies uniformity of countries within one
  circle
• -gt not true even in Inner Circle differences in
  amount of liguistic diversity
• todays Immigration left out of account
• grey area between Outer and Expanding Circle -gt
  countries in transition from EFL to ESL status,
  like Argentina, Belgium, Denmark

14
Mc Arthurs circle of World English

• Inner Circle
• World Standard English
• -gt but not existing in identifiable form
• Outer Circle
• Band of regional varieties of English
• standard standardising forms
  forms

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Mc Arthurs circle of World English

• crowded fringe
• Dividing the world into 8 seperate regions
• Describe subvarieties of the standard
  standardising forms
• Examples Welsh English, Quebec English,
• Summary example
• WSE
• American Standard English
• Midland

16
Singapore English - Short Overview About History

• 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

17
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
  English-medium 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

18
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

• on the other hand home-grown colloquial style -
  so called Singlish
• serves the young as a means of solidarity,
  relaxing and being oneself
• vigorous, slangy and creative language

• at the higher level there's a government-backed
  normative variety based on British English
• spoken with a near-RP accent
• used by Singapore Broadcasting Corporation
• influenced by American usage

20
Singapore English - Particular Features

• Chinese influence
• Chinese particles la(h) and aa/ah used to express
  emphasis and emotion
• la(h) as a token of informal intimacy ? Can you
  come tonight? Can lah/Cannot lah
• aa/ah in yes-no questions ? You wait me, aa?
  instead of Will you wait for me?
• I come tonight, ah? instead of Should I come
  tonight?
• You think I scared of you, ah?

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Singapore English - Particular Features

• Chinese-style interjections
• ay yaah! to express surprise or exasperation
• ay yor! to express pain or wonder or both
• ay yer! indicating a reaction to something
  unpleasant and maybe unexptected
• che! expressing irritation or regret

22
Singapore English - Pronounciation

• vowels in words such as take, so and dare are
  often single vowels as in Scottish English and
  not diphthongs as in RP
• reduction of final consonant clusters to one
  spoken consonant
• juss for 'just'
• tol for 'told'
• slep for 'slept'

23
Singapore English - Grammar

• tendency of omitting
• articles You have pen or not?
• plural inflection -s I got two sister and three
  brother.
• present-tense inflection -s This radio sound
  good.
• past-tense inflectinon -ed/-t ask for asked and
  slep for slept

24
Singapore English - Grammar

• direct and indirect objects are often placed
  first ? Me you don't give it to. instead of You
  didn't give it to me.
• also used more often than too, especially at the
  end of a sentence? But we are supposed to learn
  Chinese also.

25
Singapore English - Grammar

• ways of checking if someone agrees or disagrees
  or can or cannot do something are pretty
  informal
• Are you coming? Yes or not?
• Like it or not?
• Are you going? Can or not?
• Enough or not?

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Singapore English - Vocabulary

• English words with re-applied meanings
• send meaning 'take' ? I will send you home.
• open meaning 'put on' ? Open the light.
• close meaning 'put off' ? Close the light.
• take suggesting 'eat, drink, like' ? Do you take
  hot food?

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Singapore English - Vocabulary

• formal and informal style are less distinct from
  each other than in British and American usage
• that results in a mix of highly colloquial and
  highly formal use ? her deceased hubby rather
  then her dead husband
• 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.