Exploring the possibilities of standardization and legalization of

Exploring the possibilities of standardization and legalization of English and the case of New Englishes

What is Standard English? Standard English refers to whatever form of the English language is accepted as a national norm in any English-speaking country. It encompasses grammar, vocabulary, and spelling.

Which one do you prefer? � I did it. � I done it. � Come quick! � Come quickly! � The book that I bought � The book what I bought � Them books � Those books � I didn’t break anything. � I didn’t break nothing. � I’m first, ain’t I? � I’m first, aren’t I?

Which one do you prefer? � I took some money from the ATM machine. ATM. � My Dad always votes Democratic. � My Dad always votes � Surfing the Web Democrat. � On whom will the blame fall? � Surfing the Internet � The IRS sent the refund check to � Who will the blame fall on? my wife and me. � The IRS sent the refund check � ‘Can I speak to Susan? ’ ‘This is to my wife and I. she. ’ � ‘Can I speak to Susan? ’ ‘This � This will whet your appetite. is her. ’ � This will wet your appetite. �

Video – English?

British and Irish Standard English

BBC English �Popular terms for this accent, such as ‘The Queen’s English’, ‘Oxford English’ or ‘Received Pronunciation’ are all a little misleading. �Instantly recognizable accent often described as ‘typically British’. �It is an accent, not a dialect, since all RP speakers speak Standard English. �Regionally non-specific but it does reveal a great deal about their social and/or educational background.

BBC English - Features �Non-rhoticity �Trap-bath �The vowels tend to be a bit more conservative than other accents in Southern England, which have undergone significant vowel shifting over the past century.

Video – Received Pronunciation

Cockney - Features �Raised vowel in words �Non-rhoticity �Trap-bath split �London vowel shift �Glottal Stopping �L-vocalization �Th-Fronting

Video – Cockney

Irish English East Coast Irish English (Dublin) South-Western Irish Accents Northern Irish Accents

Australian, New Zealand South Pacific Standard English

Australian Standard English Pronunciation Cultivated Australian Broad Australian General Australian

Australian Standard English - lexis �Battler: a person who works hard to make a decent living in difficult circumstances. �Bludger: person who lives off the efforts of others, a cadger and an idler, a person who expects others to do all the work. �Dinkum: work; a fair share of work; reliable, genuine, honest, true

New Zealand Standard English � Standard New Zealand is broadly the same as Standard British, but some distinctions exist, such as the plural forms "rooves" and "wharves" rather than "roofs" and "wharfs. " � In spelling, New Zealanders, like Australians, use ise as in centralise, not -ize. In British usage, -ise is common and -ize widely used, while in American usage -ize is the norm. � The kiwi accent has been rated the most attractive and prestigious form of English outside the UK in a BBC survey.

New Englishes �Spoken in the former colonies of Britain (India, Nigeria, Singapore, etc. ) and the US (the Philippines) �Learnt as second languages or one language within a wider multilingual repertoire of acquisition

New Englishes The four criterias as defined by Platt, Weber and Ho: 1. Developed through the education system. 2. Developed in an area where a native variety of English was not the language spoken by most of the population. 3. It is used for a range of functions among those who speak or write it in the region where it is used. 4. It has become ‘localised’ or ‘nativised’ by adopting some language features of its own.

Internal factors � According to Bamgbose internal factors determine the status of a neologism: � Demographic factor � Geographical factor � Authoritative factor � Codification � Acceptability factor

Levels of Variation �Pronunciation �Grammar �Vocabulary

Video – New Englishes

Asian and African Standard English

African English It refers to the English spoken in sub. Saharan Africa. The three distinct strands of English evolved in Africa are 1. West African English 2. East African English 3. South African English

South Asia �Geographically, the term South Asia is used to refer collectively to India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Maldives. �English is the official language. All government documents, military communications, street signs, many shop signs, business contracts and other activities use English.

Pronunciation BE(RP) th [t][d] Countries and Territories India, w [v] Sri Lanka, India p, k, t at word initial New E [- India, Malaysia Aspirated] Similar to [+ Voiced] Glottal Ghana, at word stops final

Pronunciation BE(RP) New E [l] vs [r] [l] = [r] [Sh] [s] Countries and Territories Hong Kong, Singapore, East Africa, Hong Kong [i] vs [i: ] [i] = [i: ] Singapore, India, Africa schwa [a] Africa

Grammar: Nouns Platt et al 1. 2. 3. 4. Lack of plural marking Specific/non-specific system rather than definite/indefinite system Change of quantifier forms Change of word order within noun phrase

Grammar: Verbs Platt et al 1. 2. 3. 4. Limited marking of the 3 -person singular present tense form Use of an aspect system rather than a tense system Extension of the use of be + verb + ing to stative verbs Different phrasal and prepositional verb constructions

Vocabulary �New coinages ◦ By adding a prefix or suffix to an existing word ◦ By compounding �Borrowings ◦ From indigenous languages �Idioms �Code switching

Criticism for New Englishes They are second languages which do not have ‘a status equal to those varieties of English which are used as primary or first languages’ (Kachru) � They display lower standards. � They are mastered only by a minority who ‘have a very imperfect command of only a limited portion of the language’. � They are ‘reserved for use with specific individuals in a narrowly restricted range of situations’. � They show ‘widely shared “aberrancies” ’ � ‘Each individual typically adds in his own speech a large and idiosyncratic collection of features reflecting his particular native language, educational background and personal temperament. ’ � Phonological changes which take place in them can change other parts of the language �

Canadian English

History of Canadian English Ø Ø Result of waves of immigration and settlement Influx of loyalists fleeing American Revolution Ø Considered by many linguists to be a variant of North American English Waves of settlement from Britain and Ireland after the war of 1812 Ø In the 1800 s more than half a million English speakers travelled to Canada Ø Education became compulsory in England in 1880 so the immigrants’ dialect was uninfluenced by Standard British English Children who grew up speaking English in Canada played a significant role in its birth

History of Canadian English Ø The languages of Aboriginal peoples in Canada started to influence European languages used in Canada even before widespread settlement took place and the French of Lower Canada provided vocabulary to the English of Upper Canada. Major influences: British, American and French

Features of Canadian English Ø SPELLING Ø Ø Ø American and British variations coexist in Canadian English Our/or: Spellings with –our are preferred. Such as colour and favourite (French influence) Re/er: Spellings with –re are preferred: Such as centre and theatre Doubling final consonants: Such as enroll, install, marvellous, traveller Long forms of last syllable: Such as catalogue, omelette Historical trade relations influence spellings of certain words such as American spelling of “tire” is used because Canadian Automobile industry has been dominated by American firms. On the other hand, British spelling of “cheque” is linked to the important ties with British financial institutions.

Features of Canadian English Ø PHONOLOGY Ø Ø Ø Ø Rhoticity Canadian Raising Pre rhotic vowel substitution Heavy usage of the diphthong which gives a prominent “aa” sound such as Vietnam and Nevada Letter “Z” is normally pronounced zed instead of American “zee” Yod dropping T-flapping and T-deletion Dropping final consonants

Features of Canadian English Ø VOCABULARY and GRAMMAR Ø Ø Ø Ø The great multipurpose “EH” – tag question, backchannel utterance for agreement, asking for repetition Click – kilometer Load words from native languages -Eskimos’ language and NA English Native words borrowed from French Canadianism: words given a new meaning in the canadian context Few grammatical differences Tendency to drop the definite articles Juxtaposing nouns removing possessive form – probably natural evolutionary effect resulting from a desire to simplify language

History of American English Ø British colonialism Ø Travelling in search of land discovery Ø Religious links Ø Forced immigration for African slave trade Ø American and British conflict – matter of identity Ø Early Modern English period – English borrowed heavily from regional languages Ø Syntactic changes developed – “gotten”

Features of American English Ø Ø Ø Loan words or words influenced from a multitude of languages including French, Yiddish, Dutch etc Rhotic Preposition frequency differences Ize preferred in American spellings over ise Shorter last suffix preferred such as catalog, program Americanisms Dropping of the “u” in words of British origin er spellings preferred Differences in frequency of usage of grammatical components such as semi modals Verbing Compound words

Should there be a standard English?

Ø Political argument: social adhesive vs suppression of cultural pluralism Ø "We should not be so naive. . . as to begin thinking that nonstandard English will ever shed its stigma. Many who argue against teaching Standard conventions seem to believe it will. The reality is that failure to teach the conventions of Standard and formal Standard English in our classes is unlikely to have any effect on society's attitudes toward speakers of nonstandard English, but it will most certainly have an effect on our students' lives. Their horizons will be limited, and many at the bottom of the socioeconomic scale will remain ghettoized. On this basis alone, I would argue that we must push students to reach their full potential, especially with regard to language. Our society is growing ever more competitive, not less, and Standard English, because it is inclusive rather than limiting, is a basic requirement for social and economic opportunities. " (James D. Williams, The Teacher's Grammar Book, 2 nd ed. Routledge, 2005)

Ø Economic argument: costs of translation vs threat to freedom and implementation costs Ø Channeling resources towards one language threatens other languages Ø Education issues Ø Teachers incompetent in standard language Ø Countries with high proportion of immigrants

-IPTIVISM is a myth! Yet most writers who have given serious thought to language are neither kind of iptivist…The thoughtful, nondichotomous position on language depends on a simple insight: Rules of proper usage are tacit conventions. Conventions are unstated agreements within a community to abide by a single way of doing things—not because there is any inherent advantage to the choice, but because there is an advantage to everyone making the same choice. Standardized weights and measures, electrical voltages and cables, computer file formats, the Gregorian calendar, and paper currency are familiar examples. (Steven Pinker)

Ø "It is important to understand that identifying a dialect as standard or nonstandard is a sociological judgment, not a linguistic one. " (F. Parker and K. Riley, Linguistics for Non. Linguists. Allyn and Bacon, 1994)