What is a global or world language?

Why English?

What is a ‘global language’?

What are some global languages?

Why are they considered global languages?

Number of people who speak it? Aesthetic qualities of ‘beauty, clarity of

expression’? Literary tradition and power? Religious standing? Ease of learning?NO!!! POWER! Political Military Economic Technological

Greek Latin Arabic Spanish Portuguese French English Chinese?

Linguistic power – Will those who speak a global language as a mother tongue automatically be in a position of power compared to those who have to learn it as a second or foreign language?

Linguistic complacency – Will a global language eliminate the motivation for adults to learn other languages? (“I’m not good at languages.”)

Language death – Will the emergence of a global language hasten the disappearance of minority languages and cause widespread language death? “80% of the world’s 6,000 or so living languages will die out within the next century.”

1) In what domains had English become a world language by 1986? Has anything changes in the last 27 years?

2) How did Public School English (Received Standard) come to be? What kinds of attitudes do some people have toward it? Do similar attitudes exist in the U.S. toward other varieties? Other languages?

3) Why was English maintained as an official language in India after independence? In what domains is it used? Do you know of other areas of the world where English is an official language for the same reason?

4) Why did Creole English establish itself in Africa? What is the role of English in Africa? Are there situations that you are familiar with in which one variety is used for interpersonal communication and another is taught in school?

5) When did American English (AE) begin to become influential in the world? What are some varieties of AE mentioned in the film that have influenced world English? Can you think of other examples?

6) Because the movie was made in 1986, there are a number of references and images that today seem out of date, for example, the Soviet Union, Pan Am, the World Trade Center, the Super Sonic Transport (SST), the use of typewriters, the mention of old slang and the individual currencies of the countries of Europe. Did you notice any others?

7)  

In these assignments, you will write the responses after viewing videos, followed by class discussions. You papers should include each of the following levels of response:

1) Descriptive – After viewing the video, prepare a detailed summary of the highlights of the video.

2) Personal/Interpretive – What new insights did you acquire as a result of the content of the video? How did you feel viewing the video? Was it easy? Difficult? Fun? Frustrating?

3) Critical/Analytical – What evidence in the video seemed to support or dispute concepts or knowledge that you already have?

4) Creative/Application – What insights did you gain which may be applied to your interactions with your fellow students, in your future work environment, and/or as a citizen of the world?

Total: 5% of final grade: See the grading criteria on the course web site.

Introduction: English as a world language The history of English

Your personal linguistic heritage & journey Standard languages, dialects, accents

Language and culture Language and politeness

Language and intelligibility Native & non-native varieties: sounds, words,

sentences Conversational interaction

Bilingualism & code switching Pidgins & creoles

Language & gender

Abridged version

Extended version

(Based on David Crystal, English as a Global Language, Chapter 2)

5th c. CE – Old English arrives in England from Northern Europe, displaces Celtic languages of Wales, Cornwall, Cumbria, Scotland

Germanic Beowulf

◦ Epic poem, authorship unknown, written in Old English in England circa 8th-11th c. C.E., set in Scandinavia

The Lord’s Prayer◦ Written in the 11th c. C.E.

1066 C.E. - Norman Invasion Middle English – 1066-1470 Considerable borrowing from French Nobles from England fled north to Scotland 12th c. Anglo-Norman knights sent to Ireland 1380s-1400 – Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales 1420s-30s – Chancery Standard 1470 – Printing press brought to England

Here begins the Book of the Tales of Canterbury / When April with his showers sweet with fruit / The drought of March has pierced unto the rootAnd bathed each vein with liquor that has power / To generate therein and sire the flower; / When Zephyr also has, with his sweet breath, / Quickened again, in every holt and heath, / The tender shoots and buds, and the young sun / Into the Ram one half his course has run, / And many little birds make melody / That sleep through all the night with open eye / (So Nature pricks them on to ramp and rage)- / Then do folk long to go on pilgrimage, / And palmers to go seeking out strange strands, / To distant shrines well known in sundry lands. / And specially from every shire's end / Of England they to Canterbury wend, / The holy blessed martyr there to seek / Who helped them when they lay so ill and weak / Befell that, in that season, on a dayIn Southwark, at the Tabard, as I lay / Ready to start upon my pilgrimageTo Canterbury, full of devout homage, / There came at nightfall to that hostelry / Some nine and twenty in a company / Of sundry persons who had chanced to fall / In fellowship, and pilgrims were they all / That toward Canterbury town would ride. / The rooms and stables spacious were and wide, / And well we there were eased, and of the best. / And briefly, when the sun had gone to rest, / So had I spoken with them, every one, / That I was of their fellowship anon, / And made agreement that we'd early riseTo take the road, as you I will apprise. / But none the less, whilst I have time and space, / Before yet farther in this tale I pace, / It seems to me accordant with reason / To inform you of the state of every one / Of all of these, as it appeared to me, / And who they were, and what was their degree, / And even how arrayed there at the inn; / And with a knight thus will I first begin. /

16th-17th c. C.E. – Early Modern English Great English Vowel Shift Shakespeare & King James Bible Shakespeare’s Sonnet No. 18 (published

1609)

17th c. – the first settlements◦ 1607 – Jamestown (VA) settlement◦ 1620 – Plymouth (MA) settlement

18th c. – immigration from northern Ireland, but also◦ Spanish, French, Dutch, German, Africa

19th c.- massive increase in immigration◦ Irish (famine of 1840)◦ Germans, Italians (failed 1848 revolutions)◦ Central European Jews (1880 Pogroms)

2000 – Over 80% of Americans speak only English at home

1497 – John Cabot to Newfoundland1520 – J. Cartier to Nova Scotia, Quebec18th c. – French defeated

◦ Queen Anne’s War (1702-13)◦ French & Indian war (1754-63)◦ 1750s – French expelled from Nova Scotia

Louisiana – Cajun Creole, Cajun food

1776 – U.S. Independence◦ British loyalists flee to Canada

21st c. – French a co-official language

1517 – Spanish bring first African slaves to the West Indies

17th c. – start of the ‘Atlantic triangle’ of slave trade◦ 1619 – first 20 slaves brought to Virginia ◦ 1776 – half million slaves in N.A.◦ 1865 – 4 million slaves in N.A.

Rise of pidgins◦ Gave rise to creole English, but also◦ Creole French, Spanish, Portuguese

Australia 1770 – James Cook to Australia By 1838 – 130,000 prisoners sent to Australia By 1850 – 400,000 ‘free’ settlers in Australia 2002 – Australian population at 19 million

New Zealand 1769-70 – Cook explores N.Z. 1840 – Official colony established in N.Z. 2002 – N.Z. population at 3.8 million

South Africa 1652 – Dutch colonists to South Africa 1820 – First British settlement 1822 – English made the official language 1993 – English, Afrikaans, 9 indigenous languages are ‘official’

English spoken by less that 10% of pop. Afrikaans seen as language of repression

1652 – Dutch colonists to South Africa 1820 – First British settlement 1822 – English made the official language 1993 – English, Afrikaans, 9 indigenous

languages named as ‘official’ English spoken by less that 10% of pop. Afrikaans seen as language of repression

India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan

1612 – First trading station at Surat, India 1765-1947 – the Raj (period of British

sovereignty)◦ 1835 – English education system in India◦ 1857 – Universities of Bombay, Calcutta, Madras

1960s – ‘Three language’ formula◦ English an ‘associate’ official language

21st c. – 200 million speakers of English(?) Pakistan – English an ‘associate’ official

language

18th c. – only Dutch had a permanent settlement in Africa

By 1914, Britain, France, Germany, Portugal, Italy, Belgium had colonized almost all of Africa.

After WWII – realignment of colonial powers in Africa

1960s – most gain independence West vs. East Africa

The rise of English-based creoles - Krio Sierra Leone Ghana (formerly Gold Coast) Gambia Nigeria Cameroon Liberia

◦ Founded in 1822 as homeland of former slaves◦ Republic since 1847

From 1880s – European powers vie for influence/ colonies in East Africa

English as a Language of International Communication in ◦ Botswana◦ Kenya◦ Lesotho◦ Malawi◦ Namibia◦ Tanzania (formerly Zanzibar & Tanganyika)◦ Uganda◦ Zambia (formerly Northern Rhodesia)◦ Zimbabwe (formerly Southern Rhodesia)

Spanish-American War◦ Guam, Northern Marianas, (Puerto Rico) ◦ The Philippines

Hawai’i 1940s- Trust Territories of the Pacific

◦ Palau, the Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia Malay Peninsula

◦ Malaysia, Singapore Hong Kong Papua New Guinea Other Pacific former colonies

◦ Fiji, Kiribati, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, The Solomon Islands◦ American Samoa

World status of English is due to:◦ Expansion of British colonial power, beginning in the

17th century and peaking at the end of the 19th century

◦ Emergence of U.S. as leading economic & military power in the late 20th century

The spread of English as three concentric circles◦ Inner circle◦ Outer / extended circle◦ Expanding circle

Expanding Circle

Outer Circle

Inner Circle