World Englishes

Nov 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)

TheOuterCircle
Bangladesh,India
Ghana,Kenya,
Nigeria,Malaysia,
Pakistan,Philippines,
Singapore,SriLanka,
Tanzania,Zambia
(ESL)

Krachus Three Concentric Circles

TheInner
Circle
USA
UK
Canada
Australia
NewZealand

how many Englishes are there?

MacArthurs
circle of
English

If we include pidgins and

creoles . . .

Is this English?
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).

Neo-Solomonic (Solomon Islands)

The Lords 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, codeswitching 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 Test

Lambert, 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
Friendly
Dependable
Stupid

6
Cold
Lazy
Intelligent

In reality the exact same speaker spoke in English and French

Findings? 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)

American
Solidarity

Status

Overall

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

1.RP
2.Birmingham
3.Network
4.NYC
5.West Yorkshire
6.Alabama

RP
Network
Birmingham
West Yorkshire
New York
Alabama

RP
Alabama
West Yorkshire
Birmingham
Network American
New York

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
92
90

75
61

59
51
41
32

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

28
15
5

30
16

20

correct dialect
identification by non-native
speakers
65
48

22

15

17

13
4

correct dialect identification by

native (blue) and non-native
(light blue) speakers
92

90

65

75
61

59

48

51
41
32

22
15

17
13
4

8
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: Codeswitching/mixing/nativized English

We, 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 Mixing

1. Es un . . . uh. . .. factory worker
2. Conductor (shouting in Swahili): Fugueni madirisha! 'Open the windows!'
Passenger (well-dressed) :
That is your job.
3. Vena aca. (child doesnt listen) Ven aca. (child doesnt 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

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

Inter-sentential
Year 1
Year 2
Intra-sentential
Year 1
Year 2

English
samples

Spanish
samples

Total

37%

13.5%

25.25%

.12%

22%

11.06%

3.68%

2.5%

3.09%

1.5%

5.88%

3.69%

4. how do world Englishes differ from

each other or how are they similar
(pidgins and creoles)?
Hawaiian Pidgin
I. Phonological
a. Spelling
b. Simplification and reduction of consonant clusters and digraphs
ailan for island.
c. Simple vowels that cover a variety of shades of phoneme
arurut for arrowroot
orait for all right
d. A preference for CVCV or CVC spelling structures
bokis for box.
e. Loss of several sounds
1. /th/ /t/ and /d/
de for there, da for the
2. /l/ /o/ mental mento; people peepo.
3. No /r/ car cah; letter letta.

II. Words in Pidgins/Creoles

a. Compound words
bigman =important person
af dai (half + die) = difficult
krai dai (cry + die) = wake

daiman =corpse
drai ai (dry + eye) = courage
put han (put + hand) = help

b. Semantic shifts
agen
'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) words
chinchi
tiny, a small amount; etym. possibly from Old English chinch 'a stingy
person' (C)
wine op
a vigorous dance, especially with swinging of the hips, etym. Old English
wind meaning 'to turn this way and that,

II. Semantics (cont)

d. Coinings
skylark 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. Loanshifts
bush = unpolished person
dash = bribe
mobile = to own a car
Passion week = week before paycheck when you have no money

III. Morphology/Syntax
a. Double negatives

Hi neba get no buk

b. SVO word order

Hi get da hawaian waif

c. No morphological/inflectional markers
looked = bin look
looking = be look
d. No copula be Shi craiin
e. No possessive marker Jan buk hauli hous
f. Restricted prepositions
The 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 expressions
there = get here = had
h. no plural
ma pikin 'my child/children'
dat tu man pikin 'those two boys'