world english Flashcards
(12 cards)
Kachru’s circles
suggested a model using concentric circles:
L1 Countries are in the inner circle + represent the traditional bases of English e.g. England, America, New Zealand norm providing
Outer circle = norm referencing countries where English is not the native tongue but plays important part for nation’s institutions e.g. India, Nigeria, the Philippines, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Malaysia these tend to be territories where English has been imposed through colonialism - estimated speakers to range from 150 million to 300 million
Expanding circle = ‘norm dependent’ countries where English plays no historical or governmental role but represents nations where English is primarily used for international communication, business, and education estimates range from 100 million to 1 billion - China, Russia, Japan, most of Europe, Korea,
Circle of World English - McArthur
sees standard English as superior to other forms of English due to being in the centre. countries need to understand Standard English in order to communicate with other countries.
There are multiple forms of English in each country which could lead to the English breaking down into different mutual unintelligible forms
Features of Indian English
integrating indian words into english sentences, such as ‘piyaar’ for love
- ‘who they are’ instead of ‘who are they’
- ‘they send me a picture’ instead of ‘sent’
- ‘airdashing’ instead of scrambling
- sexual harassment is ‘eve-teasing’
use of present continuous tense ‘i am liking this movie’
Attitudes towards Indian English
English mainly language of upper class, holds power in society. British mocked this dialect + referred to it as ‘hinglish’ or ‘chutnification’ of language.attitudes are becoming more positive and is a source of pride and english is ‘floating free from its trouble british and american past… to take a life of its own’
Features of Jamaican Creole
past tense: mi ben taak
present continuous tense: mi a taak
past continuous tense: mi ben a taak
first person singular = mi; plural = wi
second person singular = yo; plural = unu
third person singular = im; plural = dem
Attitudes towards Jamaican Creole
has lower prestige in jamaica than standard english - connected to historical views of power and wealth
Singlish
mood particles ‘lah’, ‘leh, ‘hor’
- Lah – Adds emphasis or certainty
- “Can lah!” (Yes, definitely!)
- Leh – Expresses doubt or uncertainty
- “I don’t know leh.” (I’m not sure.)
- Meh – Turns a statement into a question, expressing disbelief
- “You sure meh?” (Are you really sure?)
- Hor – Seeks agreement or warns someone
- “You better do it hor!” (You should do it, okay?)
- sentences begin with a topic, followed by a comment (‘dis country weather very hot one’
- nouns optionally marked for plurality - ‘i like to read storybook’
adjectives repeated for intensification ‘wait long long ah’ to mean it will never happen)
attitudes towards singlish
striving for economic pragmatism - considered by the government to be a threat to singaporean development and stopping from being a global economy. standard english would give them an important competitive advantage - lead to the ‘speak good english now’ program for young people
+ encourages identity and allows young people to express themselves
Features of Chinglish
‘how do you look’ means how are you
-‘up your bottoms!’ instead of ‘bottoms up!’
- Simplified sentence structures – Chinglish tends to use direct word order, sometimes skipping auxiliary verbs.
- “You go where?” (instead of “Where are you going?”)
- “He very tall.” (instead of “He is very tall.”)
- - Words may be repeated for emphasis, similar to Chinese grammar.
- “Very very good!” (instead of “Really good!”)
Attitudes towards Chinglish
chinglish words and phrases being put in western dictionaries shows chinese global influence
- marker of identity, using it creatively in social media, advertising, and everyday communication.
- traditionalists condemn it as a ‘Martian language’. politicians believe young people are being corrupted
- Standardization Efforts – The government has introduced national guidelines to improve English translations in public spaces, aiming to eliminate humorous or confusing Chinglish phrases.
- Educational Policies – Authorities emphasize Standard English in schools and discourage Chinglish in formal education, viewing it as a barrier to effective communication.
- International Image – The push to reduce Chinglish is partly driven by China’s desire to present a professional and globally competitive image, especially in business and tourism.
American English
prosodic - adVERTisement (UK) vs adverTISEment (US)
lexical differences - soda, french fries, sneakers
orthographical differences - color, program, center
attitudes towards American English
becoming more popular as the global standard of english ude to americanization and media.
