english in the world history, diversity, change introduction + chapter 1 english in the world today...

English in the World History, diversity, change

Introduction + Chapter 1 English in the World Today

by Philip Seargeant

General Introduction

• English first emerged when a group of Germanic tribes, now referred to as the Anglo-Saxons (including Angles, Saxons, Jutes, the Frisians), arrived in Britain. These tribes had their ‘indigenous’ dialects. This happened around 450 A.D.

• Only about 500 years later, did the name English come to be give to the language (around 890 A.D.)

• In the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles written around 1150 A.D., there is reference to five languages that were spoken in Britain at the time: English, Brito-Welsh, Scottish, Pictish and Latin.

• “So …English was just one language among several; it was a language without a particular strong identity and with no special status”(Seargeant 1).

• One and a half millennia after (1500 years after = around the year 2000), English has the status of a global language.

• “The book takes at its starting point the global existence of the English language” (2). Questions to be answered in the book are:

how & why has English become global What have bee the consequences of this global spread The way English is used and perceived around the world.• First 4 chapters cover the historical story of English• Second half (Chapters 5,6&7) consider s the forms that English

takes, how it is used as a means of expression, and how it relates to issues of both personal and cultural identity (3,4)

General Introduction

• Michael Toolan suggested that the English used today as an international language is so culturally removed from the traditional national language of England that it should not be called ‘English’.

• It does not reflect the identity of the language.

English in the world today

• The linguist Braj Kachru said ‘English now has multicultural identities … the term “English” does not capture the sociolinguistic reality’ of the language’.

• Kachru suggested the term “Englishes” instead.


• So whether a renaming is proposed or not, the ‘multicultural identities’ of English are emphasized by both the above linguists and many others


1. What counts as English today?

• Do speaking skills only count, or should writing be included in the evaluation of who speaks English?

• At what point do we say that people are speaking different varieties of the language as opposed to different languages?

• Definitions pages 7-8


1. What counts as English today?

So the definitions in the book are most of all social definitions and are not directly related to the structure of the language for example.

The number estimations of 1500 and 2000million (1.5 to 2 billion) speaks of English may raise more questions that give answers.


So is there a central version of the language which we should think of as authentic English?

Or are each of the varieties equally valid systems of linguistic expression which happen to be different?

So far many terms have been introduced and can be used to discuss the issues at hand:


LanguageVariety: is the general term and is used to

refer to any distinct form of a language.Dialect: language variety in which aspects

of the vocabulary and grammar indicate the personal's regional or social background.

Accent: the differences in pronunciationp.13


English has developed through history.See Activity 1.3 pp. 12-17 to check out different excerpts from different stages and observe variations and

similarities / (historical development). Old English:

- different characters such as Ž (yogh) for y ; ∂ (eth) for th (as in ‘the’) ; þ (thorn) for th as in thin; æ (ash) for a as in ∂ æt

- different spelling of many words (lyuynge instead of living) with y instead i and u instead of v- obsolete vocabulary words (feller meaning crueller/more ruthless in Mod. Eng.) p.15- change in meaning of some words ( næddre (now adder) has become specialized type of serpeht, while

it used to mean serpent in general) p.16Middle English: qu is first used instead of cw (queen instead of cwene) Early Modern English: change in meaning of some words (wife has become specialized to female spouse,

while it used to mean ‘woman’ in general) p.17Modern English: Change and development have happened in terms of: (p.17) Lexis:Orthography:Semantics:Syntax:


English through History: One reason for the change that has happened over

English over the centuries is that, since its very beginnings, English has always been in contact with other languages. Language has changed in terms of Lexis ( vocabulary) orthography (spelling), semantics ( meaning) and syntax (word order).

The influence from this contact can be most seen in terms of loanwords.



• Loanword or borrowing is used to refer to an item of vocabulary from one language which has been adopted into the vocabulary of another. The process is usually a result of language contact, where two or more languages exist in close geographical or social proximity. The dominant language usually absorbs new items of vocabulary, either to cover concepts for which it has no specific word of its own, or to generate a slightly different function or nuance for concepts for which it does have existing words.

Who speaks English?The answer to this question needs to be addressed

away from the statistics and numbers and with more focus on the attitudes and the political views of the people towards English itself, and its speakers, as well as motivations for learning that language, mainly as a means of access to global economy. See examples in Activity 1.4, Activity 1.5, Activity 1.6 pp. 20-26;


How do we model the spread of English?There is a first distinction that is often made between the English that is spoken by:

native speakers as opposed to non-native speakers. Native means “natus” in Latin, which is “to be born”


• native speakers have also been called mother tongue speakers of English.

• People growing up in bilingual or multilingual environments might learn more than one language from birth, and may have more than one mother tongue. A native speaker is someone who has learned a particular language – in this case English – since early childhood.


In this same respect we speak of teaching English. We can talk about: English as a native language or as a non-native

language that has as much to do with the biography of the speaker as with the nature of the language itself.

Another distinction used is between English as a Second Language (ESL)

and English as a Foreign Language (EFL) .The difference being that in case of English as a Second Language, there is

an official or legal status for English in the country it is spoken. [People who speak English as a Foreign language, such as in Japan, are not expecting to use it as part of their everyday life but a useful tool should they travel abroad or want to learn about the cultures of English-speaking nations.](p.28)


Since the emergence of English as a ‘pre-eminent language of international communication’ it is beginning to be seen less as a foreign language and more as an international language. It is used in Japan, for example, not simply to communicate with, or learn about, people from the UK or the USA, but to allow communication with people from a wide range of places. And therefore, the term English as an International Language (EIL) is more helpful or accurate in the ‘conceptualization’ of how English is used today.


English now is the world’s lingua franca – the language that “operates as a means of communication for people across the globe who do not share a mother tongue and yet, given the globalized society in which we now live, have the need to interact” (Seargeant 29).


The Three Circles of English

NL, non-NL, MT, ESL, EFL, EIL can describe and identify how people use the English language, but they do not describe how English spread around the globe or explain the dynamics of this spread or the nature of the distribution of English.


Many models have been suggested for describing the dynamics of the spread of English and the nature of its distribution, but the most efficient and influential has been that suggested by the linguist Braj Kachru known as :-The Three Circles of English.

The Inner CircleThe Outer CircleThe Expanding Circle



The Expanding Circle

The Outer Circle

The Inner Circle

China, Japan, Finland, Norway,

Kuwait

Bangladesh, Ghana, India,

Kenya, Malasia

UK, USA, New Zealand, Canada,

Australia

Expanding Circle

Outer Circle

Inner Circle


NL-MTNorm Providers

ESLNorm Developing

EFL- EILNorm Dependent

The Inner Circle refers to the traditional culture and linguistic bases of English. In the inner circle countries, English is the mother-tongue, the native language, such as in England, or where English replaced the indigenous languages and has become ‘firmly embedded as the majority language’ such as in the USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.Kachru calls these countries the “norm-providing” in that English there operates as the model for the type of English taught around the world.


The Outer Circle represents the institutionalized non-native varieties (ESL), in the regions that have passed through extended periods of colonization…In these countries, English has not displaced the indigenous languages, but instead was used alongside them for certain specific roles. English is not the first language of the majority, but is rather an additional language used in institutional contexts such as bureaucracy and education. Examples of these countries are Kenya and India. (Kachru, 1992, qtd in Seargent 30-1). See Table 1.1 p. 32

The Expanding Circle includes the regions where the performance varieties of the language are used essentially in EFL contexts (i.e. varieties that lack official status and are typically restricted in their use. (Kachru, 1992, qtd in Seargent 30-2).


The strength of Kachru’s model is that it allows for speaking of several world Englishes rather than a single, monolithic entity. -The model has helped focus on non-native varieties and legitimize them as valid linguistic systems


BUT the model has its limitations :. • It deals with language only at the level of the

nation state. .. Varieties is a limited notion. Sometimes people mix phrases from English with native or other languages they speak.

• Some countries do not fit neatly within the scheme (Canada, New Zealand)

• The model doesn’t take into account countries that are in shifting status from EFL into EIL ; e.g. Scandinavian countries.


• See the opinions of both Kachru , Pennycook, Qurik & others about dialects, Englishes and their validity ( pp.32-4).


English through history:The seven stages of English

-c. AD 450 1. Pre- English Period

450- c 850 1. Early Old English

c. 850 - 1100 1. Later Old English

c. 1100- 1450 1. Middle English

c. 1450- 1750 1. Early Modern English

c. 1750- 1950 1. Modern English

Britain retreats from empire. New standardized varieties of English merge into newly independent countries. English becomes international language of communications technology.

c. 1950 - 1. Late Modern



Anglo-Saxon invasion c. AD 499 after the Romans have withdrawn in 410. Settlers bring their Germanic dialects from Mainland Europe. First English literature appears in c. AD700 . English borrows many words from Latin via church.










Extensive invasion and settlement from Scandinavia. In the north of England dialects of English become

strongly influenced by Scandinavian language .


c. 1100- 1450

1. Middle English

c. 1450- 1750

1. Early Modern English

c. 1750- 1950

1. Modern English






Norman conquest and the Norman rule. English vocabulary and spelling affected by French, which becomes the official language in England. Educated English people trilingual ( French, Latin, English) Chaucer. England becomes to become recognized as a political entity within Britain.










Includes the Renaissance, the Elizabethan era and Shakespeare. The role of the church, of Latin and French declines and English becomes a language of science and government. Britain grows commercially and acquires overseas colonies. English taken to Americas Australia and India. Slave trade carries African people speaking different African languages to Caribbean and America , giving rise to English creoles. English acquires typographic identity with the rise of printing. Many attempts to standardize and fix the language with dictionaries and grammars. Union of England and Scotland ( 1707).










Britain experiences industrial revolution and consolidates imperial power, introducing English medium education in many parts of the world. English becomes the international

language of advertising and consumerism .




The local language is Celtic and the inhabitants are Celts or Britons. After the 55AD Roman invasion the dominant language is Latin of culture and government.the languages are Celtic and Latin.








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