ENGLISH LANGUAGE – 2° YEAR A HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE Annalisa Federici, Ph.D. Textbook: J. Culpeper, History of English, Routledge (unit 12)

WORLD ENGLISHES Common concepts: English as a Lingua Franca (ELF): a language that is used widely by non-native speakers of it in order to communicate, i.e. a contact language between persons who share neither a common native tongue nor a common national culture, and for whom English is the chosen foreign language for communication.  ELF can be regarded as a language for communication, i.e. a useful instrument for making oneself understood in international encounters, or in enabling communication with people who do not speak one’s own L1.  As a consequence, there is no definable group of ELF speakers. ELF users use ELF as a transactional language for their own communicative purposes and advantage.

WORLD ENGLISHES English as an International Language (EIL): a language spoken across national boundaries by native, near-native and non-native speakers. Global English (GE): a language spoken worldwide in particular fields (commerce, science, technology, scholarship). David Crystal: “a language achieves a truly global status when it develops a special role that is recognised in every country” (“English Worldwide”, 2006). This may refer to:  Countries in which English is spoken as a first language (Britain, Ireland, USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand)  Countries where English is made an official language and comes to be used as a primary medium in such domains as government, the law courts, broadcasting, the press (Ghana, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, India, Singapore)  Countries in which it has no official status, but is made a priority in the foreign-language teaching policy.

WORLD ENGLISHES The crucial factor in the development of English over the last few centuries has been its leading role in the world and the fact that it has come into contact with new environments and languages:  1607: the first permanent English-speaking settlers, sent by a trade company, founded Jamestown (Virginia).  Forced migrations (due to religious persecutions, prison colonies, slave trade, poverty): British prisoners were sent to the West Indies in the 1620s, to Georgia in the 1730s, to Australia in the 1780s; the Irish famine of the 1820s caused many people to leave Ireland for other parts of the world.  Expansion through trade: the British East India Company (est. 1600); West Africa for trade and slave trading (1670s).  Gradual constitution of the British Empire (Burma, Malaysia, Singapore, East Africa, South Africa, India, Philippines, etc.).

WORLD ENGLISHES All of this has resulted in new directions of development and in different varieties of English. Such varieties differ from the point of view of:  Spelling and sounds  Grammatical features (morphology, syntax)  Lexicon (mainly because of contact with indigenous languages; contact with immigrant languages; different lexical choices; differences dating back to before English started spreading around the world).

WORLD ENGLISHES As a consequence, today English is a GLOBAL LANGUAGE, as it is the main language of publishing, science, technology, commerce, advertising, broadcasting, diplomacy, air-traffic control, cinema and popular music. The reasons for such globalisation are found in colonialism; migration; the political and economic power of Britain in the nineteenth century, and of the USA in the twentieth century. This determined a dramatic increase in the number of users of English all over the world. Nowadays English is the most widely used language in the world, with ca. 300 million native speakers and a further 300 million speaking it as a second language (in total: about a billion using it with various degrees of proficiency).

WORLD ENGLISHES Countries in which English is spoken as a native language (ENL Countries): USA, UK, Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand. Countries in which English is spoken as a second language (ESL Countries): India, Singapore, Hong Kong, Malawi, Philippines, Zimbabwe. In these countries, often formerly part of the British Empire and speaking their own native languages, English has been given an official status as the language of administration, law, the press. Countries in which English is spoken as a foreign language (EFL Countries): Russia, Japan, Spain, China, France, Greece. IN ENL AND ESL COUNTRIES ENGLISH HAS ACQUIRED ITS OWN DISTINCTIVE FEATURES (that is, the status of a VARIETY OF ENGLISH) AND DEVELOPED ITS OWN LITERATURE.

WORLD ENGLISHES Braj Kachru formulated the so-called CONCENTRIC CIRCLES MODEL (1985), distinguishing between: INNER CIRCLE: where English is used in the home (Great Britain, Ireland, US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand). OUTER CIRCLE: where English is part of the government/school system (India, Singapore, Philippines, Pakistan, etc.). EXPANDING CIRCLE: where there is no history of colonisation, but where English is used for communication with other countries (Europe, China, Japan, Korea, Indonesia, etc.).

WORLD ENGLISHES

With the international spread of English it is perhaps more appropriate to talk about WORLD ENGLISHES: AE and BE are the two main varieties in terms of numbers of speakers and world-wide impact, but linguistically just two varieties among many. Why did such different varieties develop? 1.In the early seventeenth century the first settlements from Britain were established in North America: British colonists brought with them the language spoken at that time in the mother country and adapted it to the new reality.

WORLD ENGLISHES 2.Separated from the mother country and brought into contact with a new environment, with the native Indian languages and with the languages of other colonists (whose influence is particularly evident in vocabulary), the variety spoken in North America acquired its own characteristics. New words were coined to name new referents related to the physical features of the new continent (e.g. prairie, foothill, clearing, underbrush, chipmunk, eggplant).

WORLD ENGLISHES 3.Such peculiarities are still evident today, that is why it is sometimes said that AE still has features which are archaic from the point of view of BE. 4.After the independence and with the rise of a national consciousness, the idea of an American variety of English with its own peculiar characteristics led to the consideration of an American Standard (cf Noah Webster’s An American Dictionary of the English Language, 1828).

WORLD ENGLISHES SOME FEATURES OF GENERAL AMERICAN ENGLISH (GA), the standard American dialect and accent typically found in the middle and west states, as compared with the language of a British RP speaker: 1.In GA the vowel in words such as ask, dance, bath, half is [ æ ] and not [] as in RP. The [ æ ] began to be lost in southern BE from the late eighteenth century. 2.In GA the letter r is pronounced in all positions, but in RP it is only pronounced before vowels (e.g. very, paragraph). Post- vocalic r probably began to disappear from London speech from the late seventeenth century.

WORLD ENGLISHES SOME FEATURES OF GENERAL AMERICAN ENGLISH (GA): 3.In RP the vowels in pairs like cot/caught are distinct: [] and [] respectively. In GA these vowels have merged in various ways. 4.The most striking morphological difference between GA and BE is the use of the past participle form gotten in GA, which in BE was used two centuries ago. 5.Spelling and lexical differences (e.g. theatre vs. theater, colour vs. color, defence vs. defense, travelling vs. traveling, cancelled vs. canceled, lift vs. elevator, toilet vs. restroom).

WORLD ENGLISHES Exercise: test your familiarity with near equivalent words in BE and AE by filling in the gaps.

WORLD ENGLISHES Clue: trainers-sneakers vest-undershirt waistcoat-vest motorway-expressway/freeway torch-flashlight braces-suspenders petrol-gas shop assistant-salesclerk candy-sweets carryall-holdall cookie-biscuit cot-camp bed diaper-nappy drapes-curtains faucet-tap public school-state school

WORLD ENGLISHES BRITISH ENGLISH Collective nouns such as family, staff, committee and names of sports teams, organisations, companies (both singular and plural) require either a singular or a plural verb (most commonly plural). Some verbs can be regular or irregular (burned or burnt, spoiled or spoilt, spelled or spelt). Have a bath/shower… At the weekend/at weekends In a street AMERICAN ENGLISH Collective nouns such as family, staff, committee and names of sports teams, organisations, companies (both singular and plural) are most commonly followed by a singular verb. The same verbs are normally regular (burned, spoiled, spelled). Take a bath/shower… On the weekend/on weekends On a street