EJ Erg sty, deity and change “The debate surrounding Quick’ pape ems then to hinge on diferente about process of standardization ad the fanedons of Standard Egish, the ‘ality of nonnative (and native nonsigndard) Englishes, and the tues at tached to English. These aes are central 0 any discussion of the ston oF English and is contemporary postion inthe word they resurface in her chapters inthis book, and in Tat in other took in the series. 1.6 CONCLUSION In this chapter T have focused on diversity and change within English: formal tiferences between varieties of English; differences between speakers; different pattems of use, in different contexts; and different (often ambivalent) social ‘meanings with which the language has heen associated. Linguists tend to rely on certain categories asa basis for discussing diversity ‘and change: they alk about ‘Old English’ and Middle English’, "British English" ‘or ‘Indian English’, ‘Standard English’ (or Englishes’). Such categories are useful as a starting point for linguistic description and snabpis, but 1 have suggested that they are idealizatons. Is dificult o draw definitive boundaries, according to linguistic criteria, around different varieties of English, (There are {further discussions and examples of ths pointin later chapters.) Infact, diversity, ‘cannot be considered purely in linguistic terms: people may desire boundaries ‘between varieties, for social and political considerations are of erucal importance in establishing what count as diainct varies of English ‘The spread of English to different pars of the world and its use as an “international” language have provoked considerable debate: the language may be seem as beneficial, purely instrumental, or athreat.1 mentioned that English is regulated in several countries in order to protect other languages and cultures. It has also proved difficult for many linguists to write dispassionately about diversity and change. Thave tied to give a lavour of different ideological positions taken by those who study and write about English . Chapter 4 dscuses standardization and English in England and Chapter 5 the development of new Englishes ‘diferent pars heptar | Recringe » Reading A ‘THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE TODAY David Crystal Inthe glorious reign of Queen Elizabeth (the fist thats ftom 155810 1608) the Engi peakersin the word isthought1o have been beoween five A he beginning ofthe reign of the second Queen Elizabet, in 1952, dhe igure bad inerened almost ifyfold: £50 million, vee sid, spoke English as a mother tongue, and a further 100 million or so had lerned it asa foreign language. Thivgyive Years on, the Agures continue to creep up. The most recent ‘eximates tellus that mothercongule speakers are now oter 300 milion, But this total i far exceeded by the numbers of people who use English asa foreign Tanguage ~ atleast a further 400 million, according to the most conserve of estimates, and perhaps a further bilion, according to radical ones. ‘Creep’ Perhaps, is no quite the right word, when such statistics ae introduce. ‘Whataccountsfor the seal of these increase? These of the mothertongue totals easy to expan. Is the Americans. The estimated population of the USA, vas just under 239 million in 1985, of whom about 215 milion spoke English asa nother tongue. The British, Irish, Australians, New Zealanders, Canadians, and South Afieans make up mos of the others~ buteven combined they don'treach 100 milion. Theres no doubt where the majority influence is. However, these figures are growing relatively slowly at present at an average rate ofabouthalfa per cent per anntim. This not where the drama lies. ‘Auch more intriguing question isto ask what is happening to English in countries where people don? te it as 2 mother tongue. A highly complicated {queson, ait coms out. Finding out about the number of foreimers using English en's and that iw there isso much variation among the estimates ‘There ae hardly any oficial ures No one knows how many foreign people have leamcd English to a reasonable standard of fluency orto any standard at all for that mater. There ar afew satinies avaiable ~ from the examination board for example ~ but these are only the tp ofa very large iceberg. English as a ‘second’ language “The iceberg is really in two pats, reflecting two kinds of language stuation, The fies par relates to those counties where English has some kind of special status ~ in particular, where it has been chosen as an ‘offical language. ‘Thisis the casein Ghana and Nigeria for example, where the governments have setled on English asthe main language to carry on the affairs of government, ‘education, commerce, the media, nd the legal system. In such cases, people have to learn English if they want to get on in life. They have their mother tongue to ‘begin with one or other ofthe local languages ~and they sart learning English, in school or in the street, at an early age. For them, in due course, English will become a language to fill back on, when their mother tongue proves to be inadequate for communication ~ talking to people from a different tribal back- ground, for example, of to people from outside the county. For them, English Becomes their ‘second! language. ‘{ | Engle sy ety henge Why do these countries not select a foal language for offical use? The problem ishowto choose between the manyindigenous languages, each of which represents an ethnic background to which the adherents are Fercely loyal. In Nigeria, for example, they would have to choose between Hausa, Yoruba, tbo, alan, and other languages belonging odiferentethnic groups. The number of speakerswon't decide the matter = there are aboutas many speakers of Hausa as there are of Yoruba, for instance, And even if one language did have a clear majority its selection would be opposed br the combined weight of the other speakers, who would otherwise find themselves seriously disadvantaged, socially and educationally. Intertibal tension, leading to unrest nd violence, wold be a likely eomequente. By giving offical stats to an ouelde language, such as English, al internal languages are placed onthe sme footing. Everyone is now -qually disadvantaged. Itisa complex decison to implement, but atleast is fai ‘Totalkof ‘disadvantaged’ though sa litle misleading. From another point of view, the population is now considerably ‘advantaged’ in that they thereby comet haveaccesstoaworld of eience, technology and commerce which would otherwise not easly be available to them. But why English? In Ghana, Nigeria, and many other counties, dhe choice is motivated by the weight of historical tration froma the British colonial era, {A similar pattern of development can be observed in countries which were influenced by other cultures, such asthe French, Spanish, Portuguese, or Dutch, French, for example, i he ofcial language in Chad; Portguese in Angola, But English isan official Orsemi-offiial language in over sity countries ofthe world = 4 total which far exceeds the range of these other languages. oes this mean that we ean obtain an estimate of the world’s second-language English speakers simply by adding up the populations ofall the counties in volved? Unfortunately isn't so easy: Most f these countries are in underdeve- loped parts of the world, where educaticnal opportunities are limited. The country may espouse English officially, but onl fraction of the poptlation may be given an opportunity to learn it The most dramatic example ofthis gap between theory and practice is India, In 1985, the population of India was estimated to be 768 milion. English isan official language here, alongside Hindi. Several other languages have special status in their own region but English i the language of the legal stems itis a ‘major language in Parliament, and ie isa preferred language inthe universities and in he alindia competitive exams for senior poss in such fields asthe cil service and engineering. Some 3,000 English newspapers re published through out the coun. There is thusgreatreason tc learn to use the language wel. Butit isthought that those wih an educated awareness of English may be as litle 38 8 per cent of the population. Perhaps 10 pereent or more, if we recognize lower levels of achievement, and inchude several varieties of pidgin English, In real terms, the English speakers of India may only number 70 millions ~ a smal amountcompared with the tota population. On the other hand, this figure is well in excess of the population of Britain ‘When al the estimates for secondangvage use around the world are added up, wereacha figure ofaround 300 milion speakers~aboutasmany athe total of rmothertongue users, Butwe have to remember thatmostoftheseeountriesare it partsof the world (Africa, South Asia) wherethe population increas is four times 3s great as that found in mothertongue counties. If present tends continue, Within a generation mothertongue English use will have been left far behind Chapter | Rea English as a foreign’ language “The second pat ofthe language learming iceberg relates to people who ive in counties where Engh has no offi sas, but bereits leared asa foreigh language in schol instatesofhigher education, and through the se of wide Tange of ‘selthelp’ material There are only hints a8 to what the numbers involved might be, Eren inthe sts aware coutses of Wester Europe, there are norelable figures svllable for die numberof people who are Learning Enginh asa foreign language ~ or any oer langvage, for tha matter fn 2 fontinent suchas South America, the totale pore quesvork. “The total most often cited in te mid1980s wr 100 milion, base largely on the figures alable Hom Englstvianguage examining onrds, estimates Tsteners t Englshlanguage radio. programmes, sles of Englishdanguage rewpapers, and the ke. Bat tis gure didnot ake into acount wht taurrenty happening in the county wiere data about anything has tadonallr fen notriudyafcalt co come by China. Th China there hasbeen an explosion of interestin the English language ia recent years, One vitor returned to China in 1979, ater an absence of went Years and wrote: in 1988, everyone was carrying 4 book of the thoughts cf huttman Mao, today, everyone i caryng 2 book of elementary Engin 1063, is tought argond 100 milion people watched the BBC television seis designed to teach the language, Follow Ms Considerable publciy vas given the ‘ese media to the aight of groups of Chinese prattsing Engls-anguage {eerie afer work, or queuing ot ou their Engi on x pasng tours The presenter of Falbw Me Kathy Flower, became 4 national celebrig, recognized Eegwhere. And the intrest cntnves, ith new series of programmes being dlsgged to mect the necdsof scenic and busines ners What eel of fluency ‘Sing achieved by thn massive influx of lamers is unknown. But only « Faction of China's population success, this slone wll be enough to make the 100 milion toal for worl foreighlanguage wee 4 gros underestimate And wy shouldnt hey be sucess n China Japan, Bre Poland Faypt and elawhere? There is enormous motiraion, given the way that English has ‘pecome the dominant language of work communication, Textbooks on English thevedasrequlryrchearse te Many ofitsachievemenee isthe main langage ofthe world’s books newspapers and advertising It sth oficial international Tanguage of airports andar taific contro Is the chief maritime language. Its the language of international busines and academe conferences of diplomacy, ofsport Ores two thirds ofthe word's sclentsts writin English. Three-quartis of the worlds mal is writen in English. Eighty per cent of all he information Storedin che electronic retrieval stems of the world stored in English. And ata iste, examptesa theme there canbe od venereal Japanese Company wishing to negotiate wth ts Arabic customers, rrangesal is Teeringe in Eegeh-A Colman doco epors athe spendsalmosar mich time improving his English as practising medicine. A Copenhagen uversiy Student comments ‘Nearly everyone in Denmark speaks English; if we didn, there wouldnt be anyone t lk to” Satis of thin are tly imprenve and could conte fr sv arageapt, They make tne pont tha ies not the number of mother tongue Fpeakerswhich makea language importantin the eyes ofthe world (hat rows ihriedby Chinese), but the extenttowhich alanguage found useful ovaide fs Srigeal sting, In the couse of history, other languages have achieved ‘Widespread we throughout educated soceyy Daring the Mile Ages, Latin Temaned undisputed ss the European language of leaning. Tn the eighteenth2 Eng sony vesty ond hore ‘century, much ofthis prestige pasted to French. Today, itis the turn of English Ttis development which could be reversed only bya massive change in the economic ortunes of America, and in the overall talance of world power Source: Crystal, 1988, pp. 1-7 Reading B FRANGLAIS ‘Marie-Noéle Lamy Introduction ‘Waouht! Super, on Walkman CD! shoutsa young character in a Prench educa tional cartoon. The cartoon s produced bythe local authortiesin the French city ‘of Nantesfor distribution to teenagers on deprived estatesin the area. Isaim ist0 rise teenagers’ awareness of the dangers of receiving stolen goods, To achieve this, it features the story of two young men (one a cunning seller and one an “unwitting receiver who getsarrested by the police) drawn and toldin such away as, ‘tomake its young readers identi with the victim character. Asseems clear from, the quotation above, using vocabulary and syntax borrowed from English isfeltto be a good way of reaching out to the young. 3 nnito's foes! WO ice ENS, Ti VAS Voir NEP csr einerr noe! ‘The fashion for English words, or for franglas, which iva mixture of English and French, isnot new to the French. They have been borrowing from English in this ‘way for at leasta century, but there are nov learsamong thoee who want to protect French from Anglo-American influences thatthe trend is accelerating beyond ‘control. In 19642 French academic called René Btiemble published the results of the check-up he had carried out on the French language in respect of its ‘contamination’ by English: his book Parle vous rangaist (Etiemble, 1964) was a serious linguistic analysis, butt was widely read and Etemble became a house- hold name. Since the 1960s, many have batied against the trend, mostrecently by ‘drawing on the French tradition of linguistic interventionism and by using the power of the French state i 3 3 i _ ee Copter | Readings B Borrowing from English What is borrowing? (One definition of borrowing s what happens when ‘language Ausesand ends up absorbing a linguistic item or feature which was part of language B, and which language A did not have. The linguistic items or featores themselves are called “borrowings” (Dubois eta, 1973, p. 188). “Atts mos noticeable, a borrowing ia word ora phrase tha ‘feels to yous though itis foreign, This may be a mater of i sounding or looking diferent, as when English speakers use French phrases like de riguewr or hale cute Borrowings uty sso exprese a familiar meaning in an unfamiliar way: i ae 8 French speaker talking in English about corruption, Tsay the fish ros from the head’, my remark willbe recognized asconveying the same kdeaas the rotstatsat the top’, but it will sound ‘unEnglish’ However borrowings only fee! foreign if they have not had time to become integrated into the host language. The English fanguage is fll of borrowings from Latin (mansion, cr, srt, or Danish (place names ending in yr hadi) (Crystal, 1988), But they have been part of te English language so long that no tne woild now point to them as being foreign Types of borrowing “There are many degrees of integration of English borowings into French. At he icatinyated endof the scale; wordae sed wth he orginal promunciaton (Gras cove wit at speakers of french can manage), anda with ther origal Ineaning and speling. For example, wn sp, sua em eneman sow “The highest degree of integration is when the borrowed word loses ts speling anit prontnciaton,Tscan only happen ove ie Inthe eave wih Fench words ane redingt rom riding coat) or un uingrn (rom bowling freen) The French language necdstoinventa gender for these guess that come ‘efetrom languages that are not gender based an hii cei ways which ace notalwas predictable Tote examples above, the ending ofeach word’ dried Form imitating the original pronunciation and this provides pretex for aig ingaender:Frenchwordscndinginaeare often feminine, wile wordsendingit “irate marcline Between tise two extremes there ae diferent ways in which words or phrases can become integrated: Borrowings may rein their speling (and Epcew oftheir meaning) while dhe pronunctation is tally glicined ner Sizsis never pronounced in ay other way than (nan approximate rendesiog) “interiou' anda rah (a stampede for some new Sl or product) sspelc wn sk ‘burpronotnced something ike euche'. Sometimes whole phrases snd clases aretrandatedinto French bluestockng’camelnfoPeneas un aviat te Beginning ofthe nineteenth century, mips metas det snot my cup oF tea) wasoncefelto bean affection vsed only snglopiles But nowt ipso the tongue atleast in younger social groups English borrowings ae otn abbreviated in Pench, making them casero pronounce; wr sof a selfsevce restaurant’, xm fod i fastfood ‘esturant and le herds ‘hardcore pornography’ (0 nfl hard sna fm thats aiicalc to understand’) The meanings of sich borrowings may aso thecome specialied ops not an extractor any video bata music Wes Wile wr kis not any objet sold in prs tobe asembed bythe buyer afer purchase, but ‘apiece of forte” bought in Ki form.