World EnglishesNov 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 CircleBangladesh, India

Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Malaysia,

Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka,

Tanzania, Zambia(ESL)

The Inner CircleUSAUK

CanadaAustralia

New Zealand

Krachu’s Three Concentric Circles

how many Englishes are there?

MacArthur’s circle of English

If we include pidgins and creoles . . .

Neo-Solomonic (Solomon Islands)

• Orayt, mifla i go go lang salwater, lukawtim fish, naw win i kem, naw mifla i go alebawt long kinu, naw bigfla win i kem naw, mifla go, no kachim ni ples i kwaytfla.

• 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).

Is this English?

The Lord’s 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 TestLambert, 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 6Friendly ColdDependable LazyStupid Intelligent

In reality the exact same speaker spoke in English and FrenchFindings? 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)

AmericanSolidarity

1. RP2. Alabama3. West Yorkshire4. Birmingham5. Network American6. New York

Status

1.RP2.Birmingham3.Network4.NYC5.West Yorkshire6.Alabama

Overall

RPNetworkBirminghamWest YorkshireNew YorkAlabama

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.

• 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

correct dialect identification by native

English speakers

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

SouthernUS

England New York Australia Scotland India Ireland Kenya SouthAfrican

75

61 59

51

32

41

8

9092

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

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

SouthernUS

England New York Australia Scotland India Ireland Kenya SouthAfrican

5

30

15

9 6

16

28

9

20

correct dialect identification by non-native

speakers

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

SouthernUS

England New York Australia Scotland India Ireland Kenya SouthAfrican

2215 17 13

640

65

48

correct dialect identification by native (blue) and non-native

(light blue) speakers

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

SouthernUS

England New York Australia Scotland India Ireland Kenya SouthAfrican

75

61 59

51

32

41

8

9092

48

615

65

22

4

1317

0

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: Code-switching/mixing/nativized

EnglishWe, 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 Mixing1. Es un . . . uh. . .. factory worker

2. Conductor (shouting in Swahili):2. Conductor (shouting in Swahili): Fugueni madirisha! Fugueni madirisha! 'Open the windows!'Passenger (well-dressed) :Passenger (well-dressed) :That is your job.That is your job.

3. Vena aca. (child doesn’t listen) Ven aca. (child doesn’t 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

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%

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

4. how do world Englishes differ from each other or how are they similar

(pidgins and creoles)?Hawaiian Pidgin

I. Phonologicala. Spelling

b. Simplification and reduction of consonant clusters and digraphsailan for island.

c. Simple vowels that cover a variety of shades of phonemearurut for arrowrootorait for all right

d. A preference for CVCV or CVC spelling structuresbokis for box.

e. Loss of several sounds 1. /th/ /t/ and /d/ de for there, da for the2. /l/ /o/ mental mento; people peepo.3. No /r/ car cah; letter letta.

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 shiftsagen

'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) wordschinchi

tiny, 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,

II. Semantics (cont)d. Coiningsskylark 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. Loanshiftsbush = unpolished persondash = bribemobile = to own a carPassion week = week before paycheck when you have no money

III. Morphology/Syntaxa. Double negatives Hi neba get no buk

b. SVO word order Hi get da hawaian waif

c. No morphological/inflectional markerslooked = bin look looking = be look

d. No copula be Shi craiin

e. No possessive marker Jan buk hauli hous

f. Restricted prepositionsThe 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 expressionsthere = get here = had

h. no plural ma pikin 'my child/children' dat tu man pikin 'those two boys'