World Englishes Jennifer Jenkins A resource book for
World Englishes Jennifer Jenkins A resource book for students
Strand 8: The future of Englishes in the world l l Language distribution vs. language spread (Widdowson 1997) Difficulties inherent in the English language: - Orthographic Phonological Grammatical l Spanish as the principal world language: - Increasing influence in the EU and America Simpler pronunciation, spelling and verb system - - A 8
English language Complex (ELC) Mesthrie and Bhatt (2008) – – – – – Metropolitan standards Colonial standards Regional and social dialects Pidgin Englishes and Creole Englishes English as a second language (ESL) English as a foreign language (EFL) Immigrant Englishes Language-shift Englishes Jargon Englishes Hybrid Englishes B 8
Convergence or divergence? l Crystal (1997, 2002): – – l Increased diversification, but World Standard Spoken English (WSSE) Trudgill (1998): – – Increasing convergence in lexis (American influence) Unclear situation in grammar Diversification in phonology Mainly refers to Inner Circle Englishes B 8
English as killer language l l Global spread of English as a cause for language death Some positions/beliefs associated with why languages become endangered: – – – Primitive technology equals primitive linguistic means Linguistic survival of the fittest (social Darwinism) Immigrants are encouraged to abandon their language Linguistic capital – promise of economic advantages make a language worthy of acquisition Western school curricula in developing countries devaluation of traditional knowledge and culture C 8
English-knowing bilingualism l l l Important role in prevention of language death The de facto norm apart from monolingual Inner Circle English speakers Would be crucial for predominantly monolingual ENL societies to embrace this concept – – – l Becoming multilinguals Development of intercultural competence Acceptance of immigrant minorities Reversing the traditional hierarchy of Englishes C 8
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