World Englishes
Nov 5, 2008
Activity 1
Listen to the following speakers and rate them on the characteristics provided on the handout
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
how many Englishes are there?
MacArthurs circle of English
If we include pidgins and creoles . . .
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).
Neo-Solomonic (Solomon Islands)
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!
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)?
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 Friendly Dependable Stupid 3 4 5 6 Cold Lazy 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
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
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
British attitudes vs. American attitudes
British (Hiraga, 2005)
American
Solidarity Status Overall
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.
RP Alabama West Yorkshire Birmingham Network American New York
1.RP 2.Birmingham 3.Network 4.NYC 5.West Yorkshire 6.Alabama
RP Network Birmingham West Yorkshire New York Alabama
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.
2.
3.
4.
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
2. Georgia
3. Scotland
4. Ireland
correct dialect identification by native English speakers
100
92
90 75 61 59 51 41
90
80
70
60
50
40
32
30
20
10
8
Southe rn US England Ne w York Aus tralia Scotland India Ire land Ke nya South African
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.
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.
type of incorrect responses
100 90
80
70
60
50
40
28
30 20
30 16 20
15
5
Southe rn US
10
9
England
6
Ne w York Aus tralia
0 Scotland India Ire land Ke nya South African
correct dialect identification by nonnative speakers
100 90 80
70
65
60
48
50
40
30
22
15
17
13 4 6 0
South African
20
10
0 Southe rn US England Ne w York Aus tralia Scotland India Ire land Ke nya
correct dialect identification by native (blue) and non-native (light blue) speakers
100
92
90 75 65 61 59 51 41
90
80
70
60
48
50
40
30
22
32
20
15
17 13 4 6 0
Ire land Ke nya South African
10
0 Southe rn US England Ne w York Aus tralia Scotland India
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
Use of English between two speakers, neither of whom speak English as a native language
Examples
Examples
Example study: Advertising and World Englishes
Example study: Advertising and World Englishes
Example study: Advertising and World Englishes
Example study: Codeswitching/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
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
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 Inter-sentential Year 1 Year 2 Intra-sentential Year 1 Year 2
Spanish samples
Total
37% .12%
13.5% 22%
25.25% 11.06%
3.68% 1.5%
2.5% 5.88%
3.09% 3.69%
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. 3. No /r/ car cah; letter letta.
II. Words in Pidgins/Creoles
a. Compound words bigman =important person af dai (half + die) = difficult krai dai (cry + die) = wake daiman =corpse drai ai (dry + eye) = courage 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 chinchi tiny, a small amount; etym. possibly from Old English chinch 'a stingy person' (C) wine op a vigorous dance, especially with swinging of the hips, etym. Old English wind meaning 'to turn this way and that,
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
III. Morphology/Syntax
a. Double negatives b. SVO word order Hi neba get no buk Hi get da hawaian waif
c. No morphological/inflectional markers looked = bin look looking = be look d. No copula be Shi craiin hauli hous
e. No possessive marker Jan buk
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'
