World Englishes

Abstract

This article examines some of the questions and implications considered in the study of World Englishes. Recent estimates suggest that there are 840 million speakers of English around the world and that less than half of those speak English as a first language. The widespread use of one language by so many individuals who use it for both international and intranational purposes is unprecedented. As English has been adopted by new populations of people, the mixing of English with other languages has led to the creation of new varieties of English. These new language varieties are of intense interest to linguists because of their differences; therefore, efforts are underway throughout the world to describe and categorize them. At the same time, sociolinguists have recognized that the spread of English has shifted traditional linguistic paradigms about the role of the native speaker in teaching and learning contexts. As English continues to evolve, linguists, policy planners, educators, and others must confront questions related to the role of standard and indigenized varieties of English in their relative contexts.

Keywords Convergence; Dialect; Divergence; English as a Second Language (ESL); English Language History; English Varieties; Inner Circle Countries; Language Varieties; Lingua Franca; Link Language; Linguistic Change; Outer Circle Countries

English as a Second Language > World Englishes

Overview

The history of English begins somewhere around 450 CE. Exact dates and places are subjects of debate, but around this time, Germanic tribes began to move into what is now England and an "Anglo-Saxon" civilization was born. The language of this civilization developed into "Old English," a complex form of English that bears little resemblance to today's modern varieties. English remained the prominent language of England until the Norman Conquest of 1066 CE. At that time, French-speaking conquerors established French as the language of power in the region. During the next two hundred years, French and English intermingled in such a way that when English kings regained power, English had evolved into a new form that linguists now call "Middle English." A few hundred years later, Modern English was born, taking root somewhere around the 1600s (King, 2006).

From this abbreviated history, an important observation can be made in that the English language has continuously undergone changes. Through contact with speakers of other languages, new words have entered the language. For instance, words such as "legal," "govern," "judge," and "defend" are taken from French, bestowed on English during the time King William ruled the English courts. This process, called borrowing (in which words from one language are adopted for use in another language) is just one of several processes that are known to create linguistic change when two languages come into contact. Other processes such as convergence, where two languages or dialects become more similar, and divergence, where two similar language varieties become distinct and unintelligible to one another, have also contributed to the evolution of English. Along with lexical additions, changes have also come at the phonological, syntactical, morphological, and grammatical levels (King, 2006).

Though early changes were easily classified into three progressively simpler variations—from Old to Middle to Modern English—today, an increasingly globalized world connected through an English-dominated media has spawned the creation of multiple new English varieties. Linguists now point to distinct varieties in regions as diverse as Singapore, Nigeria, Ireland, and the Caribbean, just to name a few. These World Englishes are the subject of intense interest by linguists who seek to describe, record, and classify the new forms. Some of the common categories of variants, as described by Melchers and Shaw (2003), follow:

Phonetics

The number of divergent accents is on the rise. Accent refers to the way that individuals pronounce words. Variations in pronunciation include differences in the way that vowels sound. Many accent varieties arise because certain English sounds (such as the th in thin and the) are difficult for some speakers around the world to pronounce.

Spelling

Because written language is more standardized than spoken language due to the availability of dictionaries, there are fewer variations in this category. However, one familiar case is exhibited in the differences between British and American spellings such as traveled vs. travelled or gray vs. grey. Many of the differences in American English were proposed and standardized by Noah Webster, whose dictionary was produced in 1789. One of its purposes was to establish an independent, national variety of English.

Grammar

As with spelling, there are fewer variations in grammar, but some of the differences include changes in the use of auxiliaries such as using Do in questions and changes in the use of verb forms.

Lexical Items

One of the major variational differences is the creation of new words and new meanings for words. Words can be added through the process of borrowing where English speakers take the name for something in another language and use it verbatim. (e.g., in China, quanxi is used for relationship or connection). New words can be created by one of three word-forming processes:

• Compounding, or putting two separate words together to get a new word (e.g., the Japanese coined "walkman")

• Derivation, which involves adding affixes to an old word to get a new one (e.g., muffle, muffler)

• Applying an old word to a new concept (e.g., Americans and British speakers both speak of robins, but when they do, they describe different birds)

Finally, words may differ because at one time, two words existed for the same idea, but when the languages separated, one form dominated in one area and the other form dominated in the other (e.g., railway vs. railroad in Britain vs. the United States).

Further Insights

The spread of English to nearly every corner of the globe has given English an unprecedented number of non-native users. Figures vary, but estimates place the number of English speakers at somewhere around 840 million people. Native speakers are thought to account for less than half of these speakers while the vast majority are speaking English as a non-native language. The unparalleled situation of having more non-native speakers than native speakers of the language has spawned questions about the potential linguistic and sociolinguistic impact on the world. For instance, some of the questions that arise include:

• Is the world witnessing the birth of one World English that is developing multiple geographical and social varieties or are multiple Englishes, deserving of autonomous recognition in their own right, now forming in the same way that Latin diverged into French, Italian, Spanish, etc.?

• What are the specific characteristics of the new varieties?

• If English is to be a lingua franca, or language for specific international functions, should there be a recognized Standard English that users should learn?

• What variety or varieties of English should be taught in the classroom?

• What will the long-range impact of English be on the survival and use of other languages?

The Inner Circle, the Outer Circle, and the Expanding Circle

In order to investigate these and other potential consequences of the widespread use of English, Kachru (1985) proposed viewing the expansion of English in a model consisting of three concentric circles. The three circles illustrate the "types of spread, patterns of acquisition and the functional domains in which English is used across cultures and languages" (p. 12). In the Inner Circle are countries where English is the primary language. These include the United Kingdom, United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. The Outer Circle represents countries where English became institutionalized as a consequence of a political history involving colonization by one of the Inner Circle countries. Outer Circle countries are multilingual societies where English often has official status in government and education. In these countries, the use of English has depth and range, meaning that many users at different levels of society use English within a variety of domains. Additionally, English users in these countries have developed indigenized varieties that include creative literary traditions. Countries in the Outer Circle include India, Nigeria, Singapore, and Zambia, among others. The third, or Expanding Circle, represents countries where English is viewed as an international language. In countries such as China, Greece, Indonesia, Israel, Japan, South Korea, and Saudi Arabia, the spread of English is not necessarily connected to a history of colonization. Instead, the use of English in these countries is encouraged by globalization and the desire of individuals to communicate with the international English-speaking community.

Language Policies

Kachru's model has been widely influential in several related fields that use the model as the framework for studying World Englishes. For example, language policy researchers have used the model to explain language policy differences. Bamgbose (2006) discusses how members of the three concentric circles establish language policy based on their view of English's prestige, status, functionality, and its role in creating or preserving nationalism. He says that Inner Circle countries consider English to have an important role in maintaining nationalism. Questions these countries tend to ask include what role should be given to minority languages and how best to integrate immigrants into society. Outer Circle countries often view English as a language of prestige that conveys status and functionality, but these countries do not adopt it for nationalistic purposes. English in these countries often has official status and questions center on what other languages might be able to share this role. Policy questions include deciding the domains in which English should be used and when English should be introduced in schools. Finally, in Expanding Circle countries, English usually does not have official status, but it does have prestige. These countries encourage English use for its communicative and lingua franca functions.

The Role of the Native Speaker

Another influential impact of Kachru's model has been the reconsideration by linguists of the role of the native speaker in communication and foreign language learning. In traditional linguistic models, native English speakers in their speech communities were positioned as the ideal standard for English language learners (ELL) to emulate. Based on this ideal speaker and community, English instructors tried to get their students to speak and write as much like native speakers as possible. However, Kachru's model challenges this perspective on two important grounds. First, native speakers vary widely in their dialects. For instance, American regional dialects in the South and East are quite different, and British and American and Australian English all have distinct differences. Since speakers of native dialects can sometimes be unintelligible to one another (e.g., several dialects in England exist that cannot be readily understood by a speaker of American English), and the communities in which these native speakers speak vary widely in their cultural and pragmatic norms, it is no longer possible to define the ideal native speaker. Second, it is clear from the model that many English speakers may use English in contexts where no native speakers are present. For example, attendees at an Asian regional business conference may use English as a lingua franca even though none of the attendees is a native speaker. In some Outer Circle countries such as India, an indigenized variety of English is used as a link language—a second language that speakers of mutually unintelligible languages within the country use to communicate. Since the contexts and purposes for which speakers such as these use English do not include native speakers, what use is it for these speakers to be bound to an idealized native speaker norm?

Thus questions are raised about the appropriateness of setting norms and standards for English in the Outer and Expanding Circles. In the past and today, Inner Circle countries have been seen as "norm-providing" countries (Bolton, 2006, p. 293). These countries have traditionally produced the textbooks and set the standards for English that is learned around the world. But as new varieties of English are established and recognized, teachers must grapple with the question of which English variety should be taught in the classroom. Should teachers teach a standard variety of British or American English, which has been the case for most of English-teaching history? Or is it more appropriate for English teachers in Singapore, for example, to teach the local variety of Singaporean English, which is what most students are apt to speak?

Standard versus Localized English Varieties

Today, in many Expanding Circle countries such as China, governments are actively increasing the number of English language classes available in order to spur economic growth and competition in world markets (Honna, 2006). For this reason, one argument for teaching a standard English variety is that there is a need for intelligibility across cultures. That is, if English is to be a true lingua franca, then it is important for individuals to use the same variety in order to understand one another. On the other hand, as already noted, many countries use English not only for international reasons but for intranational ones as well. For some speakers, learning a localized variety might be more useful. A further problem in assuring that one particular variety is taught is that with the majority of English speakers in the world being second language speakers, many of the teachers are also non-native speakers. In practice, this means that local varieties are taught in the classroom because the teacher is frequently unaware of what aspects of the language are local (Baumgardner, 2006).

The question of whether to teach standard or localized varieties of English remains fairly controversial. One possible outcome is that at some point, English speaking societies will be bidialectical or multidialectical, meaning that individuals will use two varieties of English, one for local purposes and one for international purposes (Graddol, 2006; Modiano, 2006). Another possibility is that a new standard variety of English will emerge that accommodates facets of the new varieties of English as well as traditional Inner Circle varieties. Seidlhofer (2001) suggests that international uses of English as a lingua franca are already producing a set of norms that are familiar to English as a foreign language speakers but are different than norms that are associated with native English language speakers. She points to the work of Jenkins (2000, as cited in Seidlhofer, 2001) who identified how ELL speakers in lingua franca contexts regularly use phonological features differently than a native speaker might. For instance, speakers often substitute hard to pronounce sounds (such as /ð/ and /θ/) with sounds that are easier to make (i.e. /f/ or /v/). Seidlhofer advocates codifying these lingua franca uses into a "feasible, acceptable and respectable alternative to ENL [English Native Language] in appropriate contexts of use" (p. 150). Such a resource would provide teachers with at least one set of norms for teaching English for international use.

English and Advertising

Though an official global English standard does not exist, British and—more frequently today—American varieties dominate the international world. American English has become particularly widespread due to increasing globalization and the spread of American media, advertising, and products. If advertising practices are any indication of future trends in English evolution, then future mixing of English varieties may be expected. Bhatia (2006) notes that contact of languages through advertising is creating a high level of fusion resulting in the mixing of World Englishes, world accents, English with other languages, and English with non-Roman scripts. Examples of creativity in linguistic mixing include writing English text to imitate other varieties. This can be seen in the following British advertisement for Dutch beer where a line of nonsensical text makes sense when pronounced by an English speaker. "De woord onder bus es Oranjeboom . . . Not everyone will get it" (Martin, 2006, p. 590). Advertisers also frequently use English to name products and as attention-getters (Bhatia, 2006). Paradoxically, though international advertising has spread American English around the globe, global corporations are moving away from British and American standard varieties by featuring speakers with multiple accents and cultural identities in their ads (Bhatia, 2006).

Viewpoints

For many, knowledge of English brings access to greater economic, political, technological, and educational advancement (Bamgbose, 2006). There are also concerns about the affect English will have on the survival of other languages as well as about the exacerbation of existing hegemonic power relationships. Phillipson (1992) decries the Anglo-Americanization of European culture that he feels has been brought on by the spread of American English to mainland Europe. He voices concern for the survival of minority and lesser-used languages.

Similar concerns have been raised in other countries. In Japan, fears have been expressed that the increasing number of English loan words will have a negative impact on the beauty of the Japanese language. In 2003, the National Institute for Japanese Language went so far as to develop more than one hundred Japanese replacements for English expressions used in Japanese contacts (e.g., outsourcing, agenda). These, however, did not seem to catch on (Honna, 2006). The French have been especially vigilant about protecting the French language. In 1994, the Toubon Law was passed to restrict the use of other languages in French ads by requiring "equally legible" French translations for all foreign words appearing in print and broadcast media. Nevertheless, English continues to be prominently displayed in many French ads (Martin, 2006; 2007).

Others worry that the major reason English has caught on as a global language is because of underlying economic inequalities in the world. Bamgbose (2006) points out that there may be detrimental effects for countries that "choose" English as a medium for education or government because there really isn't any other choice. These effects may include higher dropout rates for children trying to learn English in classrooms that are not of high quality, greater social stratification brought about by the emergence of an English speaking elite, and the loss of other languages or language rights.

At this point, the future of English is unclear. Already, the three circles paradigm is being challenged because members of the inner, outer, and expanding circles are highly mobile (Graddol, 2006; Omoniyi, 2006). As they move between countries and cultures, linguistic change is continually created through convergence and accommodation. Whether this mobility will lead to greater convergence or divergence, to the emergence of a new English standard variety or to the creation of multiple new and unintelligible languages is unknown. What is certain is that English, as it has throughout history, will adapt to the needs of its users as it meets them in new cultures and contexts.

Terms and Concepts

Convergence: The process whereby two distinctly different languages become more similar.

Dialect: A form of a language that varies from the standard variety of the language in grammar and vocabulary. A distinction between a dialect and a language tends to reflect political choices regarding the language.

Divergence: The process whereby two similar dialects or languages become distinct and mutually unintelligible.

Inner Circle Countries: Are countries where English is the primary language. These include the United Kingdom, United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

Lingua franca: A common language that is used, often in international business settings, by individuals who speak different languages.

Link Language: A common language that speakers, within a country, who speak different languages can use for communication.

Nativized Varieties: A nativized variety of English is a variety of English that has taken on characteristics of the local language through processes such as borrowing, word-creation, and convergence.

Outer Circle Countries: Countries in which English became institutionalized primarily as a consequence of a political history involving colonization by one of the Inner Circle countries. India, Nigeria and Singapore are Outer Circle countries.

Standard Variety: A Standard Variety of a language is one variety of a language that has gone through a standardization process. There is nothing intrinsically valuable about the variety itself, but the variety has been chosen as a standard and has gained acceptability through use and codification in dictionaries and grammars.

Bibliography

Bamgbose, A. (2006). A recurring decimal: English in language policy and planning. In B. Kachru, Y. Kachru & C. Nelson (Eds.), The handbook of World Englishes (pp. 645–660). Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing.

Baumgardner, R. (2006). Teaching World Englishes. In B. Kachru, Y. Kachru & C. Nelson (Eds.), The handbook of World Englishes (pp. 661–679). Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing.

Bhatia, T. (2006). World Englishes in global advertising. In B. Kachru, Y. Kachru & C. Nelson (Eds.), The handbook of World Englishes (pp. 601–619). Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing.

Bolton, K. (2006). Varieties of World Englishes. In B. Kachru, Y. Kachru & C. Nelson (Eds.), The handbook of World Englishes (pp. 289–312). Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing.

Bolton, K. (2012). World Englishes and linguistic landscapes. World Englishes, 31, 30–33. Retrieved from EBSCO Online Database Education Research Complete. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=71866346&site=ehost-live

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Dallas, Tex.: SIL International. Online version: http://www.ethnologue.com/.

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Honna, N. (2006). East Asian Englishes. In B. Kachru, Y. Kachru & C. Nelson (Eds.), The handbook of World Englishes (pp. 114–129). Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing.

Kachru, B. (1985). Standards, codification and sociolinguistic realism: The English language in the Outer Circle. In R. Quirk & H.G. Widdowson (Eds.), English in the world: Teaching and learning the language and literatures (pp. 11–30). Cambridge University Press: London.

King, R. (2006). The beginnings. In R. Quirk & H.G. Widdowson (Eds.), English in the world: Teaching and learning the language and literatures (pp. 19–29). Cambridge University Press: London.

Lok, I. (2012). World Englishes and postcolonialism: Reading Kachru and Said. World Englishes, 31, 419–433. Retrieved from EBSCO Online Database Education Research Complete. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=83584674&site=ehost-live

Martin, E. (2006). World Englishes in the media. In B. Kachru, Y. Kachru & C. Nelson (Eds.), The handbook of World Englishes (pp. 583–600). Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing.

Martin, E. (2007). "Frenglish" for sale: multilingual discourses for addressing today's global consumer. World Englishes, 26 , 170–188.

Melchers, G., & Shaw, P. (2003). World Englishes. Arnold: London.

Modiano, M. (2006). Euro-Englishes. In B. Kachru, Y. Kachru & C. Nelson (Eds.), The handbook of World Englishes (pp. 90–113). Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing.

Omoniyi, T. (2006). Hip-hop through the world Englishes lens: A response to globalization. World Englishes, 25, 195–208.

Phillipson, R. (1992). Linguistic imperialism. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Seargeant, P. (2012). Disciplinarity and the study of world Englishes. World Englishes, 31, 113–129. Retrieved from EBSCO Online Database Education Research Complete. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=71866347&site=ehost-live

Seidlhofer, B. (2001). Closing a conceptual gap: The case for a description of English as a lingua franca. International Journal of Applied Linguistics, 11, 133–159.

Suggested Reading

Graddol, D. (2006). English Next . Retrieved from http://www.britishcouncil.org/learning-research-english-next.pdf

Jenkins, J. (2014). Global Englishes: A resource book for students. 3rd ed. London: Routledge.

Kachru, B., Kachru, Y., & Nelson, C. (Eds.). (2006). The handbook of World Englishes. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing.

Thumboo, E. (Ed.). (2001). The three circles of English. Singapore: UniPress.