Appunti di Inglese - modulo I

VARIETIES OF ENGLISH - KACHRU’S MODEL

Braj Kachru identifies three circles:

1. The inner circle (norm-providing) holds varieties of English

as it originally took shape and was spread across the world in the

first diaspora. English is the native language in these countries

2. The outer circle (norm-dependent) holds second diaspora

varieties, caused by imperial expansion in Asia and Africa. English is

not the native tongue, but serves as a useful lingua franca between

ethnic and language groups. Higher education, the legislature and

judiciary, national commerce and so on may all be carried out

predominantly in English

3. The expanding circle (norm-developing) encompasses

countries where English plays no historical or governmental role, but

where it is nevertheless widely used as a medium of international

communication

McARTHURT’S MODEL Tom McArthur also proposed a three circles model.

1. idealized central variety called "World Standard

English," which is best represented by "written international

English."

2. regional standards or standards that are emerging.

3. localized varieties which may have similarities with

the regional standards or emerging standards

PROBLEMS:

- ENL, ESL and EFL are conflated in the second

circle

- the multitude of Englishes in Europe are also

missing in this layer

- the outside layer includes pidgins, creoles and L2

Englishes.

SCHNEIDER’S MODEL

Edgar Schneider proposes an evolutionary model of World

Englishes.

- Phase 1: Foundation. English is transported into a new territory. Settlers and Indigenous populations

remain separated

- Phase 2: Exonormative stabilization. The settlers stabilize and English is regularly spoken and formally

established as language of administration, education and legislation. There are initial contacts with

Indigenous populations. English is still very much like the original imported variety, but starts getting in

contact with local languages. The indigenous population begins to acquire it.

- Phase 3: Nativization. Settlers and Indigenous populations both see themselves as natives. They wish

to be independent from Britain. Languages merge, loans happen. All features of language shift from the

original variety.

- Phase 4: Endonormative stabilization. The new norm is stabilized, recognized as a new language

belonging to a new nation. Literary creativity emerges.

- Phase 5: Differentiation. The language belongs to a stable national/ethnic entity that is now free to

divide itself into smaller units. Dialects and varieties of the new language appear.

AMERICAN ENGLISH

- 1584: first expedition from England to the New World commissioned by Walter Raleigh (in North

Carolina, Roanoke Island) →failure

- 1607: first permanent English settlement (Jamestown, in Virginia, after Elizabeth I, the “Virgin Queen”)

- 1620: the first group of Puritans, members of the English Separatist Church, arrived on the Mayflower in

Plymouth, Massachusetts. They were looking for a land to found a new religious kingdom, “purified”

from the church practices they had experienced in England.

- By 1640, 25,000 immigrants had come to the area.

- 18th century: wave of immigration from Northern Ireland + Spanish, Dutch, Germans, French and

Africans (due to the slave trade)

- 1776: Declaration of Independence

- In the 19th century, there was a massive increase in American immigration, as people fled the results of

revolution, poverty and famine in Europe (more Irish, Germans, Italians, Jews…)

- 1828: Noah Webster publishes his An American dictionary of the English language, in which he

standardizes spelling.

AMERICAN ENGLISH VS BRITISH ENGLISH

- AT PRESENT: many mixed dialect areas, but the main divisions of north, midland, and south are still

found throughout America. There is a Standard/General variety. African American Vernacular English is

not region-specific anymore, just like Chicano English. The language is a major factor in maintaining

American unity, a glue bringing people together.

- AmE is a development of 17th-century British English

- BrE has long enjoyed greater prestige, being considered “better” and “purer”

- Increasing acceptance of AmE varieties.

LEXICON

- New words from AmE to BrE: cafeteria, cocktail, egghead, fan, radio (wireless), star, blurb

BrE AmE

Railway Railroad

Tin Can

Petrol Gas(oline)

Biscuit Cookie

Mad Crazy

Lift Elevator

SPELLING

- -OUR → -OR (behaviour, colour, favour, labour, harbour, neighbour)

- -RE → -ER (calibre, centre, theatre) Notice that most of these words occur in earlier BrE with –er

- -LL → -L (travel)

SYNTAX AND MORPHOLOGY

- the British live in a street, the Americans live on a street

- growing use of prepositions in BrE as a result of AmE influence→ face up to, plan on, cancel out

- Susan JUST FINISHED (AmE)/HAS JUST FINISHED (BrE) her homework.

- I insisted that he SHOULD TAKE (BrE)/TAKE (AmE) the documents with him.

PRONUNCIATION

- In British English the “short o” sound, which often appears in a stressed syllable with one letter o such

as in dog or model, is pronounced as an open back rounded short sound [ɒ], as in hot /hɒt/, or possible

/ˈpɒsəbl/. In American English it is pronounced either as an open back unrounded long sound [ɑ:], as in

hot /hɑ:t/, or as an open-mid back rounded long vowel [ɔ:], as in dog /dɔ:g/. Note that British English

prefers a short sound as opposed to American English, which prefers a long sound in all cases.

- The most widely current pronunciation of a given word in American English may occur in standard BrE

as a less frequently used variant Ex: Either → UK:/ˈaɪðər/, /ˈiːðər/US:/ˈiðɚ, ˈaɪðɚ/ ,(ē′ᵺər, ī′ᵺər)

- In British English, when /r/ comes after a vowel in the same syllable (as in car, hard, or market), the /r/ is

not pronounced. In American English it is.

- “a” sounds become æ → “ask” UK:/ˈɑːsk/US:/æsk, ɑsk/; “Class” UK:/ˈklɑːs/US:/klæs/; “Path”

UK:/ˈpɑːθ/US:/pæθ/

ENGLISH IN AUSTRALIA

1770: Australia was visited by James Cook. Within 20 years, Britain had established its first penal colony in

Sydney (1788), in New South Wales, thus relieving pressure on the overcrowded prisons of England.

The prisoners were ‘free settlers’, mostly coming from London and Ireland, thus importing a variety of British

Englishes.

The contact with Aboriginal languages has produced today’s variety of Australian English.

For thousands of years (est. 7,500) prior to the arrival of Europeans, northern Sydney was occupied by different

Aboriginal clans. Living primarily along the foreshores of the harbour, they fished and hunted in the waters and

hinterlands of the area, and harvested food from the surrounding bush. Self-sufficient and harmonious, they had

no need to travel far from their lands, since the resources about them were so abundant, and trade with other

tribal groups was well established. Moving throughout their country in accordance with the seasons, people only

needed to spend about 4-5 hours per day working to ensure their survival. With such a large amount of leisure

time available, they developed a rich and complex ritual life – language, customs, spirituality and the law – the

heart of which was connection to the land.

The Australian accent is for the most part non-rhotic. This means that the pronunciation of the /r/ sound will never

occur at the end of words. Where an American will say three separate sounds for the word car /kar/, an

Australian native speaker will only say 2 /ka:/.

Vowels pronunciation differs the most from BrE and AmE.

Differences in stress, weak forms and standard pronunciation of isolated words occur between Australian English

and other forms of English, which while noticeable do not impair intelligibility.

AusE also has some morphological variations. They tend to abbreviate the words or modifying them by attaching

suffixes. - Ex: breaky; commy; possy (position); mossy (mosquito)

Australians also use to shorten sentences: Australians would pronounce “good day” as “g’day” or “It’s going to

rain” – like “s‘cona rine”

Australians often drop the –L- or the –H- out words: Australia becomes Austray’a or house becomes ‘ouse

“youse” = plural of “you” “good onya” = “good on you” - replacement of “my” by “me” -- “Where’s me hat?” instead

of “Where’s my hat?

ABORIGINAL LOANS AUSTRALIAN-SPECIFIC ENGLISH WORDS

Kangaroo Bush (BrE: woods)

Boomerang Public servant -

(BrE: civil servant) originates from the convict

system

Dingo Battler (someone who has a hard life due to circumstances)

Koala Bogan (an uncultured person)

Wallaby Digger (Australian soldier)

Cooee (to catch attention) Outback (very isolated and uninhabited land)

Yakka (hard work)

ENGLISH IN NEW ZEALAND

- 1769-1770: Captain Cook charted the islands

- 1790s: European whalers and traders began to settle there, expanding the developments already taking

place in Australia.

- Many ex-convicts from Australia also moved here, importing similar linguistic and cultural features.

- 1840: the official colony was established, following a treaty between the Māori Chief and the British

Crown. This led to an increase in European immigration.

- Today New Zealand is less connected to Britain than in the past. It is recovering some ancestral roots,

having Māori representatives in the government.

- New Zealand English lexicon borrows from Māori languages

- A typical feature of New Zealand English is “uptalking”: the voice goes up at the end of the sentence

even if it’s not a question.

INDIAN ENGLISH

1579: Father Thomas Stephens: the first British settler in India

1600: first regular British contact with the subcontinent, with the formation of the British East India Company, a

group of London merchants who were granted a trading monopoly in the area by Queen Elizabeth I in Surat,

Madras, Bombay and Calcutta. Until independence in 1947, English gradually became the medium of

administration and education throughout the subcontinent.

1857: the universities of Mumbai, Calcutta and Madras were established. English became the primary medium of

instruction, thereby guaranteeing its status and steady growth during the next century. 1947: India gains

independence from the UK.

1960s: there came a three language formula, in which English was introduced as the chief alternative to the local

state language, typically Hindi in the north and a regional language in the South. Now it is an “associate” official

language, with Hindi the official language.

Today, we call Hinglish the language used by the urban and semi-urban educated Indian youth, as well