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An inevitable consequence of the globalization of English has been linguistic change: English has

taken roots in many new territories, and today consists of a lot of dialects, accents, varieties.

English has been under constant change, particularly when coming into contact with other

languages

Language change

Language change a ects:

pronunciation,

orthography (spelling),

grammar,

vocabulary,

pragmatics (language in use)

Linguistic variation and change is the result of many factors.

The most in uential factor is the degree of contact with speakers of di erent dialect. 2 types of

change:

– Diachronic change refers to changes over a long period of time.

S

– ynchronic change → transference of words, sounds, and structures from one language to

another.

Language change can be:

internally driven changes

– (endogenous) = from the language system. Includes things such as

stabilization, regularization, simpli cations

externally driven changes

– (exogenous) = caused by speakers. For example, the Great Vowel

Shift: resulted in some long vowels changing to diphthongs.

communication accommodation theory →

The change connects to involves the adaptation to

the interlocutor’s communicative behavior. People vary language to increase or decrease social

distance.

Changes are still taking place as English comes into contact with other languages.

Language change also happens when realities require description.

Code-switching → multilingual speakers switch between di erent languages or varieties

Code-mixing → transfer of linguistic items from one language into another in multilingual

speech

Borrowing → kind of assimilation into the new language

Characteristics of ‘New’ Englishes

Also, the contact with the indigenous languages, has shaped the “New Englishes”.

New Englishes are far from uniform in their characteristics and current use, although they do

share certain features:

– They developed through the educational system in places where English was not the main

language.

– Once schools were established and English was used as a medium of instruction

3 phases:

Non-native, institutionalized varieties pass through

1 Non recognition of the local variety: seeing the native version as superior

2 The local variety exists side by side with the imported one, beginning to be used in a wide

→

range of situations but still viewed as inferior

3 Local variety becomes recognized as the norm.

Variation in the EC and ELF usage

– WE: geographical regions.

identi cation of varieties of English in speci c

ELF:

– no focus on ‘ xed’ speech communities, but on how English is used in more virtual and

contact language community

transient contexts worldwide. English is seen as a where ‘both the

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of speakers location changing

and the can be and are often not associated with a speci c

nation’

GE:

– includes both the WE and the ELF research paradigms.

Levels of variation

– Variety: group-speci c, nation-based language forms.

Dialect:

– a geographical subdivision of a language form, usually associated with a region

(‘regional dialect’) or a class or a group (‘social dialect’) – class, ethnic group, age group, and

gender. Dialect cannot be used to describe the various Englishes worldwide. African American

English, for example, does not t the criterion of regionality.

Accent:

– pronunciation (dialect includes its grammar and vocabulary) – the two often go hand in

hand, but dialect often has negative connotations.

Register:

– stylistically de ned language varieties or situational contexts.

Lexical variation →

- Same meanings, di erent words e.g. chip – fries

• →

- Semantic extension new meanings in addition to the original one

• →

- Semantic narrowing words take on a more restricted meaning

• →

- Compounding new words are created by adding pre xes or su xes

• - Abbreviation

• →

- Blending parts of words are combined (eg. Distripark)

• - Acronyms

• →

- Borrowing words taken from another language to describe new phenomena

•

Phonemic variation

Most di erences in the sounds are related to the realization of vowels. For example, in terms of

inner circle di erence, there are many examples of vowel merges (unione) and splits (divisione).

Variation also exists in the outer circle and the expanding circle. Individual consonants are also

pronounced di erently by speakers of English throughout the world.

Spelling variation

The process of simpli cation in English spelling slowed down after the seventeenth century as a

result of the standardizing in uence of printing and the spread of dictionaries.

Grammar/syntactic variation

Variations exists also in grammar:

- Subtractive di erences

- →

Additive di erences uncountable nouns into countable ones (eg. informationS)

- →

Tense and aspect where speakers use di erent forms

- →

Question formation patterns may be used di erently

- Article omission

- Concord with collective nouns

- Use of auxiliaries

- Levelling of irregular verb forms

Pragmatics

- Greetings and address vary

- Conventions of formality

Pidgins and creoles

pidgin

A is usually de ned as a language that emerges in situations where a simple language is

needed to communicate between two communities.

creole

A usually develops from a pidgin, among a second generation of speakers of the pidgin for

whom the pidgin is a rst and primary language of communication.

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The process of language development from a contact language to a creole is called

CREOLIZATION. superstrare language

To form a pidgin there is a (the contact language or imposed language, ex:

substrate language

English) and a (the local languag