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VARIETIES OF ENGLISH
STANDARD ENGLISH (SE)
There are five essential characteristics to define it:
SE is a variety of English , with distinctive combination of linguistic features such linguistic features are matters of grammar, vocabulary and orthography ; NO pronunciation, but it’s spoken in a wide variety of accents it’s the variety which carries most prestige within a country. It’s a social concept, it depends of what people consider to be most prestigious (social class, educational background, political), whatever they choose, will be the standard within the community it’s a recognised variety, used as the norm by communities’ institutions (government, media, law court) it’s widely understood but not produced: only a minority use it when talking (radio host); when writing it’s not always required. Two main problems arise because of English becoming worldwide spread in less than 60 years: internationalism and identity. The former case implies intelligibility, therefore, it demands an agreed standard so that everyone can use and understand it ( World Standard English ); identity implies individuality, demanding linguistic distinctiveness if a country wishes to preserve its uniqueness (New Zealanders don’t want to be Australians; Canadians don’t’ want to be Americans) ( Regional Standard Englishes ) There is still some way to go before reaching a an international intelligibility, since it’s really difficult for a language not to incorporate local words needed to express local character. When English is perceived to interfere with the characteristic or use of local languages, it may generate antagonism. We can identify 3 forms of antagonism: when there is borrowing from English, the local reaction can be far less positive; for instance, people may complain about the excessive influence of English in their country or it may even try to legislate against it (as in France) because of lexical invasions people can become increasingly conscious of the rights of minorities, and small countries feel particularly threatened even if they don’t have English colonial history (such as Iceland), so people ask if English is killing off other languages English may be rejected as an official language because of its association with colonial history or because a country wants to maintain a national identity (English was jointly official with Swahili until 1967, but then Swahili became the only official one in Tanzania). Not only can English be a threat but it can also itself be threatened. It’s unsurprising in countries where English is a second or a foreign language but it can also be threatened by countries where it’s a first language: on he one
hand standard English user may become worried by the spread of mixed varieties ( japlish, spanglish ) which are widely spoken; on the other English speakers may feel threatened by the growth of an immigrant language in their country. In USA English has never been legally recognised as official. Until recently this is rarely been an issue but with the growth of Spanish speakers, it was felt as this was altering the balance of society. Many states had made English their official language, but the most important consequences was the formation in 1987 of a group, English plus, to encourage American bilingualism (English plus one or more other languages). In England one accent has traditionally stood out above all others, e.i. received pronunciation, which tell us about a person social or educational background. The reason behind this name it’s claimed to be the accent which was received at the Royal Court (for this reason it’s sometimes identified with the Queen’s English ); it was also promoted by BBC ( BBC pronunciation ) By the early 2oth century, a person who spoke with a regional accent was mostly unlikely to belong to the upper class. As we know it today, RP is an index of a person’s high position in society, it’s no longer as widely used as it was 50 years ago, even though it’s still the standard accent of the Royal Family and national institutions and it’s still the taught accent to foreigners who wish to learn a British beside it being difficult to learn for its characteristic (no r after vowel). Its sub varieties are: Conservative RP > refined, traditional accent associated with older speakers General RP > mainstream, neutral accent in terms of age, occupation or lifestyle Advanced RP > contemporary accent associated with younger generation Now RP tends to be perceived as somewhat affected or real posh. This kind of negative reaction is also being reported in Britain, especially among young Londoners, many of whom use an accent popularly labelled as Estuary English, whose features are spreading both regionally and socially. Some features are t-glotting, yod-dropping and happy-tensing (using a short i at the end of words like happy or coffee). It shares many linguistic features with Cockney , the basilect end of London accent, but, for instance, Estuary English speakers use/ f/at the beginning of the word think (fronting). Other Cockney characteristics are glottal stop of /t/ in final position or intervocally, H dropping at the beginning, yod coalescence (/j/ preceding /t/ or /d/). Concerning grammar: wide use of questions tag to establish agreement or one’s position, done and seen instead of did and saw , double negation. An important feature is Cockney rhyming slang with which people employ a ‘secret language’ replacing a target word with a set of phrases that rhymes with the target word (to say stairs= apples and pears)
before voiceless consonants (fight, house). This effect is be referred to a CANADIAN RISING: the first element of the diphthong is articulated higher and in a more central position than it would be in RP or in an American accent. We also have the CANADIAN SHIFT which is a chain shift of vowel sounds involving the lowering and backing of the front vowels. However , it’s only found in Ontario and further West. Pronunciation variation: it display features of both, but preferences exists and are conditioned by factor like age and social classes.
some features are shared with US English:
- /r/ after vowels ( far )
- flapped /d/ like /t/ ( Ottawa )
- strong syllable in suffixes like -ary, -ory ( laboratory )
- /sk-/ in schedule and /ei/ in tomato, typically American
some features are shared with UK English:
- /anti/ (no /antai/)
- /zed/ for z (no /zi:/)
- /baθ/ for bath
- /nju:z/ for news (no nu:z)
unique features > Some of the phrases and words originated in Canada are often borrowing from native American languages. A striking discourse feature is the use of eh? as a tag question, but are less specific. CANADIAN DIALECTS In Canada there is a greater degree of dialect homogeneity compared to UK, for instance. However, there is no universally used dialect, instead there are several dialects that can be recognised at a local level. The Atlantic Provinces have distinct dialects shaped by their maritime culture, like the Newfoundland dialect with terms such as “ tempest ” (storm) and “ water horse ” (salted cod). In Quebec, dominated by bilingualism, French influence is strong, evident in loanwords like “ calèche ” (a horse-drawn vehicle) and “ whisky blanc ” (an alcoholic drink). The Ottawa Valley reflects Scottish and Irish settlement with unique expressions, while Southern Ontario features urban speech influenced by historical and cultural factors. The Prairies have a more uniform dialect shaped by the railway, with local terms related to agriculture and industry. In the Arctic North, Inuit languages contribute words like “ igloo ” and “ kayak ” to
the local vocabulary. Meanwhile, the West Coast (British Columbia) shows both American influence and local indigenous languages, with specific terms from forestry and mining.
NEW ZEALAND
In New Zealand the story of English started later and moved more slowly. During 1790s traders and Christian missionaries began to settle there. However, the official colony was not established until 1840s following the Treaty of Waitangi between Maori and British, increasing its population. There are three strands of New Zealand’s social history, which have had special linguistic consequences:
- there's been a stronger sense of historical relationship with Britain which led to a more widespread conservatism, especially in relation to accent
- there’s been a growing sense of national identity (unlike in Australia) which has created distinctive New Zealand vocabulary
- there’s been a fresh concern to take account of the rights and need of the Maori people who, in 2015, formed 15% of the population. This has resulted in an increased awareness of Maori words in New Zealand English. (NZE). Moreover, Maori was given the official status in 1987, with the Maori Language Act, which helped Maori’s linguistic features to be included in NZE, for instance pronouncing Maori’s words with Maori pronunciation. Before the 1980s, NZE was only seen as identical to Australian English or mentioned as part of studies concerning Australian. The new studies following 1980s, affirm that NZE is different since it has been subject to four kinds of pressure: British, American, Maori, Australian. Pronunciation : RP is the mostly highly rated accent for education; while local accent for social attractiveness and solidarity. There similarities between AuE and NZE> turn /i:/ into /u:/ into diphthongs ( mean ), the use of /ə/ in unstressed syllable. It’s unclear whether the similarity stems from parallel development with Australian (mixing-bowl theory) or it’s due to its influence. Other features are:
/I/ as in fish tends to move towards [ə] (in contrast with Australian, where the movement is towards [i] /e/ has a closer articulation, moving towards [i] ( yes > yis ) several individual words have local pronunciations. The name of the country is often heard with a short /I/: /zɪlənd/ not (as in RP) /ziːlənd/, though this attracts some social criticism r is not pronounce after vowels, even though some young New Zealander due to American influence High rise intonation (uptalk) > they use rising tone at the end of statements, instead of falling tone. It’s used more by women and teenagers. There are two explanations: social differences: it’s preferred by less powerful member of society, it’s an unconscious expression of lack of confidence natural feature: to heighten the interest listeners (check if everything it’s understood, request of empathy, feedback) Vocabulary : in NZE a lot of Australianism are used. The major difference between these two countries has to do with Maori loan words, but there are
There is a tension between recognizing distinct national varieties (e.g., Gambian, Nigerian) since they share many features but also some of them can relate to a certain country, which suggests the possibility of a regional West African Vernacular English (WAVE). EAST AFRICAN English in East Africa developed differently from West Africa, with a significant population of British settlers creating a mother-tongue variety resembling South African or Australian English. This led to a strong model for Africans learning English as a second language and minimized the development of English pidgin varieties, unlike in West Africa. It's spoken as a second language in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda and it's also similar to southern Africa English. Pronunciation : there are a lot of similarity between East and West African English. Differences include:
fewer vowels they do not distinguish /l/ and /r/ /t∫/ and /∫/ may be merged with /s/, and /ʤ/ and /ʒ/ with /z/ Lexis : a lot of words derive from indigenous languages (EA askari is policeman, chai is tea) SOUTH AFRICAN South Africa’s multilingual and multicultural history creates a unique sociolinguistic environment where English, spoken as a first language by 10% of the population, holds a high status despite being a minority language. The country exhibits a complex range of linguistic proficiency levels and diverse stereotypes about English use across racial and tribal lines, although many of these perceptions have not been thoroughly studied. English is the preferred language for public use, media, and education, particularly among younger Afrikaners. English speakers from an Afrikaans background may also display unique features, such as the presence of an /r/ sound after vowels. Pronunciation : there is a continuum of accents: at one extreme there are accent of conservative speakers, close to RP; at the other accent used by working-class people, often with Afrikaner background. The short front vowels of RP are all raised, and the closest vowel has been centralized: /e/ as in pet moves in the direction of /i/, sounding more like pit /ɑː/ as in star is rounded and raised, sounding like store several diphthongs weaken their glides, sounding more like pure vowels: hair with [eː], right and mouse with values near to [ɑː]. Vocabulary: several words and phrases have become part of Word Standard English. Some have origins in Afrikaans or local native languages or are adaptation of standard English words. An important source for distinct vocabulary is A dictionary of South African English on historical principles (1996).
SOUTH AFRICAN ENGLISH (SAIE) is a unique variety of English that developed in South Africa, shaped by the country's complex sociolinguistic history, particularly during the apartheid era. It originated between 1860 and 1911, when over 150,000 Indian were brought to Natal, as cheap workers. By the 1950s, English began to be taught in Indian schools, leading to a generational language shift where English became the primary language for many South African Indians. Due to the segregation under apartheid, SAIE evolved separately from South African English and developed features that distinguish it from British or South African varieties, being influenced by Indian, creoles, and English taught in schools. Pronunciation : features deriving from both SAE and Indian: syllable-timed rhythm, raising of short front vowels. Vocabulary : it contains loanwords from Indian and adaptations of English words Grammar :
reduplication > phrases like fast-fast ( very fast ) rhetorical use of question words final use of conjunctions end-placed verbs ( So rude you ar e) AMERICAN The first significant step in the progress of English towards its status as a world language took place in the last decades of the 16th century. Between the end of the reign of Elizabeth I (1603) and the beginning of the reign of Elizabeth II (1952) the majority of English speakers lived outside the British Isles. THE NEW WORLD. The first expedition from England to the New World was commissioned by Walter Raleigh in 1584 and proved to be a failure. A group of explorers landed in what is today, North Carolina, and established a small settlement. The first permanent settlement dates from 1607, when an expedition arrived in Chesapeake Bay. The colonists called their settlement Jamestown (after James I) and the area Virginia (after the ‘Virgin Queen’, Elizabeth). Further settlements quickly followed along the coast, and also on the nearby islands, such as Bermuda. Then, in November 1620, the first group of Puritans established a settlement at what is now Plymouth, Massachusetts. The group was extremely mixed, ranging in age from young children to people in their 50s, and with diverse regional, social, and occupational backgrounds. What the ‘ Pilgrim Fathers’ (as they were later called) had in common was their search for a land where they could find a new religious kingdom free from persecution. DIALECT DIFFERENCES. The two settlements – one in Virginia, to the south; the other to the north, in present-day New England – had different linguistic consequences. The southern colonists came mainly from England’s ‘West Country and brought with them its characteristic accent, with its ‘Zummerzet’
such as those ending in -ary/-ory (e.g. secretary, laboratory) which attract stress on the final syllable. CLASSIFYING LEXICAL DIFFERENCES. In describing the lexicon of the two regions, there are three distinctions which have to be made: some words are found only in American English (AmE), some only in British English (BrE), and some (from either source) have become established throughout the world as part of Standard English. it is no longer very useful to call one AmE and the other BrE, from a linguistic point of view. They are now part of World Standard English (WSE): words which have at least one WSE meaning and one or more additional meanings that are specific to either BrE or AmE: an example is caravan , which in the sense of ‘group of travellers in a desert’ is common to both varieties; but in the sense of ‘vehicle towed by a car’ it is BrE (= AmE trailer). Some words have one meaning in WSE and a synonym in one or other of the two varieties (sometimes both). both have pharmacy , but AmE has drugstore and BrE has chemist’s. We also have to remember the effect of frequency. Some words are used in both varieties but are much more common in one of them: flat and apartment are used in both, but the former is frequent in BrE and the latter in AmE. Other examples are shop vs store, and post vs mail. It is often impossible to give a precise answer to the question ‘ What’s the equivalent of a – in BrE/AmE ?’ because there is no one-for-one correspondence between the different ranks, or at best only a partial correspondence. Words that can be used only in the one variety: Holiday (BrE) – Vacation (AmE); items that can be used in the other variety: baggage (AmE) – Luggage (BrE). SPELLING. Some of the most general differences can be proved if we consider words such as centre, theatre, fibre, where in BrE they are spelled with -re, while in AmE they are spelled with -er. GRAMMATICAL DIFFERENCES. There are relatively few grammatical differences between BrE and AmE. In the verb phrase, AmE prefers have to have got for possession. AmE also sometimes uses a simple past tense where BrE has a present perfect ( I just ate vs I’ve just eaten ) In the noun phrase there are some differences of word order (e.g. Hudson River vs River Thames, a half hour vs half an hour ) and the use of the article ( in the future vs in future, in the hospital vs in hospital) ; AmE prefers collective nouns in the singular ( the government is ), whereas BrE allows plural also (the government are ). Clausal patterns sometimes differ, as in AmE Come take a look (vs Come and take ). There are several ways in which prepositions contrast between AmE and BrE. AmE prefers round to around in such sentences; Compound
prepositions also show some contrasts, such as the AmE preference for aside from (BrE apart from). Gotten is probably the most distinctive of all the AmE/BrE grammatical differences. It is not simply an alternative for have got. Gotten is used in such contexts as They’ve gotten a new boat (=‘obtain’), They’ve gotten interested (=‘become’) and He’s gotten off the chair (=‘moved’), but it is not used in the sense of possession (=‘have’). MORPHOLOGY. The difference between BrE and AmE is based on the paradigm of some verbs-> some verbs that are irregular in BrE are regular in AmE or other way round.
AUSTRALIAN
Australia was visited by James Cook in 1770, and within 20 years Britain had established its first penal colony at Sydney , thus relieving the pressure on the overcrowded prisons in England; from then on, immigration rapidly increased. The British provided the main source of settlers, and the main influence on the language; Several words commonly thought of as Australian started out in Britain, and may still be heard locally in British dialects, such as tucker (compare tuck shop), and joker (‘person’). On the other hand, the variety contains many expressions which have originated in Australia. A major issue in Australian social history has been the question of identity. There has long been a tension between the preservation of British cultural values and the promotion of Australian independence. The linguistic consequences of this issue can be clearly seen in the patterns of present-day usage variation. The Aborigines were nomadic and there were many language differences. As a result, only a few Aboriginal words came into English, most of them being plant and animal names, such as kangaroo and koala. On the other hand, about one-third of Australian place names are unmistakably Aboriginal. Australia is a vast country, with large tracts uninhabited, and nationwide communication dependent on transportation lines or the media. The country now has a chiefly urban population, with most people living in the fertile areas near the coast. These factors combine to promote an initial impression of Australian English as a variety with little internal variation. There seem to be no notable grammatical differences, as one moves from state to state, and only a few regional lexical differences have so far been identified, such as stroller (New South Wales) vs pusher (South Australia) for a child’s push-chair. It would, however, be a mistake to conclude from that there is no variation at all: event at a geographical level, one can’t underestimate the extent to which there may be linguistic diversity in the more informal varieties of speech. SOCIAL VARIATION. Terms such as ‘ uniformity’ must therefore be interpreted with caution – meaning only the absence of variation which can be explained solely on geographical grounds. When social stratification is taken into account, there is a linguistic situation which is more described as one of ‘uniformity operating in diversity’. People find the most distinctive feature of
Melbourne, and Adelaide: a result which agrees with Australian perceptions of the first two cities as being more sharply stratified by class. GRAMMAR AND VOCABULARY. There are no clear examples of distinctive regional usage in Australian English grammar; the situation changes at a lexical level: lots of lexical items of Australian English origin have become part of World Standard English. Among many general words are: footpath (‘pavement’), goodday (‘hello’). Australian English is famous for its vivid idioms; There are also important differences in the force of some expressions compared with British English, as the ‘routine’ use of bloody. Australian English does not have a great deal of Aboriginally derived vocabulary, but among the exceptions there is boomerang. VARIATION. The amount of regional lexical variation within Australia is unknown but is certainly larger than is traditionally thought. There are several clear examples, such as bardi (a type of grub) in Western Australia, mainlander in Tasmania (someone from mainland Australia), and evening in Queensland (any time after midday). SWEARING. We need to draw a clear distinction between the language of taboo, the language of abuse (invective), and the language of swearing. The three may overlap or coincide: to call someone a shit is to use a taboo word as a term of abuse, and if said with enough emotional force would be considered an act of swearing. But there is no necessary identity. The term swearing is often used as a general label for all kinds of ‘foul-mouthed’ (volgare) language; it refers to the strongly emotive use of a taboo word or phrase. Swearing is an explosion, which gives relief to surges of emotional energy. It is a substitute for an aggressive bodily response, and can be aimed either at people or at objects. Swearing has important social functions : It can mark social distance , as when a group of youths display their contempt for social conventions by swearing loudly in public or writing obscene graffiti on walls. And it can mark social solidarity , as when a group develops identical swearing habits. It is important to appreciate that swearing is universal. It is a sign that a stressful situation is bearable, and indeed may be a factor in helping to reduce stress. VARIETY HUMOUR. The existence of language variety is a major source of humour all over the English-speaking world. The regional accents and dialects within a community lend themselves to comic exaggeration. If a variety is used as a prestige dialect, its forms provide an effective means of satirizing the elite group who speak it. Occupational varieties, such as those of the policeman, lawyer, or cleric, are especially vulnerable. Some ‘schools’ of comedy have in relied heavily on the exaggerated or incongruous use of varieties of English. In the UK, an influential example was the Monty Python TV series of the 1970s, which regularly used situations where people spoke in an unexpected or inappropriate way. INDIAN: SOUTH ASIA
In terms of numbers of English speakers, the Indian subcontinent ranks along with the USA and UK. This is largely due to the special position which the language has come to hold in India itself. There are also considerable numbers of English speakers elsewhere in the region, which comprises six countries (India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan). The variety which has emerged throughout the subcontinent is known as South Asian English , one of the most distinctive varieties in the English-speaking world. The origins of South Asian English lie in Britain. The first regular British contact with the subcontinent came in 1600 with the formation of the British East India Company – a group of London merchants who handled the trading monopoly of the area, during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. The Company’s influence grew, but in 1858, after the Indian Mutiny, the Company was abolished, and its powers handed over to the Crown. During the period of British sovereignty, from 1765 until independence in 1947, English gradually became the medium of administration and education throughout the subcontinent; in 1857, English became the primary medium of instruction. In India, English is now recognized as an ‘ associate’ official language , with Hindi the official language. It is also recognized as the official language of four states (Manipur, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Tripura) and eight Union territories. It has no official status in the other countries of South Asia, but throughout the region it is universally used as the medium of international communication. In India, the conflict between the supporters of English, Hindi, and regional languages led in the 1960s to the ‘ three language formula’ , in which English was introduced as the chief alternative to the local state language. English has kept its standing within Indian society, continuing to be used within the legal system, government administration, secondary and higher education, the armed forces, the media, business, and tourism. Since the 1960s, much attention has focused on what has been called the ongoing ‘ Indianization’ of English: There is no doubt, however, about the emerging structural identity of Indian English. South Asian English provides the most convincing example of the way a ‘new English’ can develop in the outer circle. Or perhaps this should be ‘new Englishes’, for there are many varieties spoken within the region. There are also several geographical and social subvarieties, influenced partly by the native languages which have been in contact with English, and partly by the highly stratified social system. Some of these have developed during the period of colonial rule; as a result, modern South Asian English has thousands of distinctive lexical items – some deriving from local Indian languages, some new combinations of English words, or English words with new senses. PRONOUNCIATION. The most noticeable feature of the English spoken throughout South Asia is its syllabic rhythm; also the retroflex plosives t and d , though these are often replaced by alveolar plosives in educated speech. GRAMMAR. There are many distinctive usages with much social variation. The following are often condemned as errors by those who speak an English close to the British norm: The progressive in ‘static’ verbs: I am understanding it, She is knowing the answer. Prepositions: pay attention on, discuss about, convey him my greetings. Tag questions: You’re going, isn’t it?, He’s here, no?.
The English of most educated Indians is non-rhotic. The consonants /p/, /t/, /k/ tend to be unaspirated. The alveolar consonants /t/, /d/, /s/, /l/, /z/ tend to be replaced by retroflex consonants /ʈ/, /ɖ/, /ʂ/, /ɭ/, /ʐ/. IndEng differs considerably from other forms of English in stress, rhythm and intonation. IndEng tends to be syllable-timed rather than stress-timed; Suffixes tend to be stressed, and function words which are weak in other varieties of English (of /əv/, to /tə/, etc.) tend not to be reduced in IndEng. MORPHOLOGY AND GRAMMAR. It can be noticed: An extended use of compound formation: constructions with other prepositions, notably of (meeting notice: ‘notice of a meeting’) Different use of some auxiliaries. The auxiliaries could and would are often used instead of their present forms can and will because IndEng speakers feel the past forms are more more polite: We hope that you could join us. Differences from EngEng in the usage of tense and aspect in IndEng: the use of future forms in temporal and conditional clauses where EngEng would require present tense forms→ IndEng When you will arrive, please visit me; EngEng When you arrive, please visit m e. The absence of subject-verb inversion in direct questions and the use of such inversion in indirect questions: IndEng What this is made from?; EngEng What is this made from?
BLACK ENGLISH
During the early years of American settlement, a highly distinctive form of English was emerging in the islands of the West Indies and the southern part of the mainland, spoken by the incoming black population. This was a consequence of the importation of African slaves to work on the sugar plantations. From the early 17th century, ships from Europe travelled to the West African coast, where they exchanged cheap goods for black slaves. The slaves were shipped in barbarous conditions to the Caribbean islands and the American coast, where they were in turn exchanged for such commodities as sugar, rum, and molasses. The ships then returned to England, completing an ‘Atlantic triangle’ of journeys. The policy of the slave-traders was to bring people of different language backgrounds together in the ships , to make it difficult for groups to plot rebellion. The result was the growth of several pidgin forms of communication, and in particular a pidgin between the slaves and the sailors, many of whom spoke English. Once arrived in the Caribbean, this pidgin English continued to act as a major means of communication; Then, when their children were born, the pidgin gradually began to be used as a mother tongue, producing the first black creole speech in the region, used throughout the southern plantations. Creolized forms of French, Spanish, and Portuguese were also emerging in and around the Caribbean, and some of these interacted with both the creole and the standard varieties of English. The Caribbean islands came to develop a diverse
range of varieties of English , reflecting their individual political and cultural histories. THE GROWTH OF AFRICAN AMERICAN ENGLISH. In the USA, the history of vernacular varieties of Black English is complex. In the late 19th century, black culture became known throughout the country, especially for its music. The linguistic result was a large influx of new, informal vocabulary into general use, as whites picked up the speech patterns of those who sang, played, and danced. At the same time, there was a growth in educational opportunities for black people, and an increasing involvement in political and professional roles. The civil rights movement in the 1960s had its linguistic as well as its political successes, with schools being obliged to take account of the distinctive character of Black English Vernacular. In the 1980s, the public use of many expressions in the language for talking about this group of people was radically constrained by a doctrine of political correctness: African-American has replaced words like negro. Black is now often proscribed, and language conflicts have grown as people can’t find fresh forms of expression lacking its pejorative connotations. Dr Martin Luther King, Jr, making his famous speech at the Lincoln Memorial on 28 August 1963, in support of black civil rights. Its words have since become a rhetorical symbol of the civil rights movement in the USA. The African American presence in the USA has made a substantial impact on English vocabulary. Until the mid-19th century, most of this lexicon reflected the status and conditions of slavery, a great deal of it consisting of insult and invective. Thereafter, the language showed the efforts to move towards a better order. CARIBBEAN Varieties of the English language are found in many of the islands of the Caribbean Sea and in several areas of the adjacent Central and South American mainland, and the label ‘Caribbean English’ is used, often with more geographical than linguistic accuracy. The history of the region has brought together two dimensions of variation: a regional dimension , from which it is possible to establish a speaker’s geographical origins, and an ethnic dimension , in which the choice of language conveys social and nationalistic identity. Several varieties of varying distinctiveness and stability have emerged and now compete for survival. There are at least six categories of language use: A variety of Standard English exists as an official means of formal international communication in the area, spoken by an educated minority with regional accents. It is American English which has become the dominant voice of the mass media.
which the language comes to be used. The children use it as a mother-tongue and it becomes a creole. CREOLE CHARACTERISTIC. There are some similarities among the English-based creole languages of the world.. It can be explained as a consequence of the way these languages have developed out of the kind of creole English used by the first black slaves in America and the Caribbean. GRAMMATICAL FEATURES. The grammatical features which distinguish Caribbean creoles from each other are few; among these we can find: there is no concord between subject and verb in the present tense; Nouns often do not use -s to mark a plural; Several pronouns have alternative forms, such as (for I) mi and a; Past tenses are expressed using the base form without an ending: Mary go last week. The choice of a spelling system is one of the critical questions facing anyone who works with creole. The problem is particularly acute in deciding what symbols to use for vowels, as there is a much reduced vowel system. TOK PISIN. Tok Pisin is an English-based pidgin, influenced by local Papuan languages, used in Papua New Guinea. The language can be seen in advertisements and heard on radio and television. CREOLE DEVELOPMENTS IN THE UK AND US. LONDON JAMAICAN. Over the past couple of decades, interest has grown in this London creole; It was originally known in academic circles as London Jamaican , reflecting the strong Jamaican influence on the working-class speech of many young Londoners. Jamaican Creole emerged as the ‘heritage language’ used among the second generation of migrants from the Caribbean, and is “used as a symbol of group identity by ‘Black British’ children and adolescents. It reflects the process of recreolisation , where a creole that has moved further along the Creole Continuum in the direction of the standard language, shifts back towards earlier creole forms. The (re)emergence of pidgins and creoles as well are thus part of the wider phenomenon of super- diversity which, itself, has arisen from the increase in migration and led to widespread mixing of linguistic resources. In other words, we are seeing the emergence of plurilingual linguistic forms at the intersection of two or more language communities (Multilingual London English). JAMAICAN CREOLE INFLUENCES ON MLE. Most speakers of Jamaican Creole use MLE as a powerful marker of group identity: in the London context it is a speech style, marked by a selection of ‘non-English’ features. EBONICS. Despite the popular use of the term Ebonics, many linguists prefer African American Vernacular English [AAVE]. Among its features we can find; present tense, third person -s absence; use of [f] and [v] for final th, e.g. toof. The uniqueness of AAVE lies in the particular combination of structures that make up the dialect; it is characterised by a growing sense of linguistic solidarity and identity among them.
THE EBONICS DEBATE. On 18 December 1996, the School Board in Oakland, California, passed a resolution regarding its policy in relation to the language skills of African-American pupils. These pupils had continued to exhibit higher levels of illiteracy than their peer group; for this reason, they proposed teaching them Standard English through their ‘mother tongue’, African American Vernacular English (AAVE), also commonly known as Ebonics (from ebony and phonics ). It resulted in the improvement of their skills.
WEST INDIAN ENGLISH AND ENGLISH-BASED CREOLES.
ENGLISH-BASED PIDGINS. Human beings appear to be biologically programmed to learn languages in infancy and early childhood. Adolescents and adults, on the other hand, only in very rare instances manage to learn foreign languages so well that they can speak them exactly like native speakers; the language in question will be, to different degrees, simplified and mixed. Simplification involves: Regularization which means treating irregular forms as if they were regular, such as when a learner of English said I buyed rather than I bought. Loss of redundancy often involves the omission of grammatical material which is repeated elsewhere or is not absolutely necessary for conveying the message intended, as when a learner of English says she like. Mixing is a term which refers to the way in which language learners introduce elements from their own language into the language they are attempting to learn. For example, a French-speaking learner of English will almost certainly have a French accent in his or her English and may also use certain French grammatical constructions and idioms. Adult learners’ language will also be reduced : they do not know so much of the language, and because they use it for a more restricted range of purposes. When a language experiences such simplification, mixture and reduction, we can say that it has been subjected to the process of pidginization. It can happen that a form of language of this type comes to be very useful as a means of communication between groups of people who have no native language in common. It may then, over time, develop norms that are shared by large numbers of speakers: such a language is referred to as a pidgin. A development of this type occurred in West Africa, where, as a result of early European contact, a regularized, Africanized, reduced form of English, acquired initially from limited contacts with sailors and traders, became useful as a lingua franca amongst different groups of the indigenous population. It then eventually crystallized into the pidgin language that we today call West African Pidgin English, used as a trading language along the coast of Africa. This language is mixed – there are elements in its pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary which are due to indigenous African languages; it is simplified or regularized – there are fewer grammatical irregularities than in English,
