MIDTERM COVERAGE

(15 hours)

Intended Learning Outcomes

a. demonstrate an understanding of the concept of the varieties of English in Asian contexts
b. discuss the importance of the varieties of English in both oral and written contexts
c. identify some grammatical, lexical, and syntactic features of post-colonial varieties of English
in Asian context
d. demonstrate knowledge about the concept of registers of English in spoken and written
language
e. use appropriate register depending on the communication situation
f. evaluate multimodal texts critically to enhance receptive listening, reading, and viewing skills
g. convey ideas through oral, audio-visual, and/or web-based presentations for different target
audiences in local and global settings using appropriate registers
h. adopt awareness of audience and context in conveying messages
i. show appreciation and acceptance of differing cultures
j. apply communication aids and strategies using tools in technology to create multimodal texts

Specific Instructions in the Completion of this Midterm Coverage

1. You must read and understand the list of given Intended Learning Outcomes specified
above and use it as a checklist of acquired knowledge and skills after completing the entire
coverage. This shall be the basis of your teacher in designing the summative evaluation or
term exams that will be given soon.

2. You must carefully study the given lecture notes and take note of concepts that you did not
clearly understood so that you can communicate it to your teacher for clarification purpose
during his or her consultation time set for your class. Also, analyze the implication of the
concepts being applied in specific contexts to ensure comprehension.

3. Thoroughly understand the discussions presented, including your teacher’s insights to

better facilitate your comprehension on the subject matter being studied. Strictly follow the
instructions given in the learning guide and accomplish the given activities with utmost
diligence.

4. After comprehensively reading all the lessons and topics presented or accessing the videos
provided and searching additional references related to the topics, you are directed to
accomplish all the activities and self-reflection questions given hereafter. Always carefully read
and analyze the instructions before you start answering. Also, refer to the rubric as reference
in performing and grading all your activities in the appendices portion of your ILG.

5. Compile your outputs in your Learning Portfolio. Your teacher will inform you for the date of
the submission of your outputs.

6. If you have queries, always consult your teacher. Communicating to your teacher will make
your learning easier and enjoyable.
Chapter III. Varieties and Registers of Spoken and
Written Language

Key Terms

World Englishes genre register style

multimodal text transmedia digital multimodal literacy

basilect mesolect acrolect edulects

tenor mode field legalese

textese

Varieties of Language

1. Spoken – is a language provided by the articulation of sounds, spontaneous and

momentary, mostly maintained in the form of a dialogue
2. Written - is a language that is carefully organized, more explanatory and deliberate in its
word choice

Language Varieties
- is a specific set of linguistic items or human speech patterns (sounds, words,
grammatical features) which can be associated with some external factor such as
geographical area, social background, gender, age, etc.) - Wardhaugh, 1986, as cited in
Mu’in, 2008

1. Pidgin – a new language which develops in situations where speakers of different

languages need to communicate but do not share a common language. Once, a stable
pidgin has emerged, it is generally learned as a second language and used for
communication among people who speak different languages. (e.g. bueno, señor,
amiga, etc.)
2. Creole – this is a language when children start learning a pidgin as their first language
and it becomes the mother tongue of a community (e.g. Mindanao Chabacano)
3. Regional Dialect – is not a distinct language but a variety of language spoken in a
particular area of a country
4. Minority Dialect – sometimes members of a particular minority ethnic group have their
own variety which they use as a marker of identity, usually alongside a standard variety
(e.g. Negritos)
5. Indigenized Variety – are spoken mainly as second languages in ex-colonies with
multilingual populations
Lesson I. Varieties of English

English as a Specific Language

1. American English (AmE) – a variant of English language spoken mainly in the US,
introduced to North America by British settlers in the 17 th century
2. Australian English (AuE) – a variant of English language spoken mainly in Australia,
began to diverge from British English shortly after Australia was settled in the late 18 th
century; bears semblances to New Zealand English and certain dialects of South East
England
3. Black English – refers to British and American English spoken by black communities in
the US and the UK; also refers to a variant of English spoken widely in the Carribean
and Africa
4. British English (BrE) – is a variant of English spoken mainly in the UK; am English
variant, together with AmE, are taught in most English as a Second Language (ESL) and
English as a Foreign Language (EFL) programs.
5. Philippine English – originated in the US intervention of 1898 by the American teachers
who arrived in the Philippines; legitimate nativized variety of English used by the
Filipinos in controlling domains such as science and technology, the judiciary,
bureaucracy, higher education and scholarly discourse; it has linguistic properties
ascribed to other varieties of English, especially those used in Asia.

LIST OF BRITISH ENGLISH TERMS AND THEIR EQUIVALENCE IN AMERICAN ENGLISH

British American British American British American

trousers pants moisturise moisturize tram streetcar
lift elevator licence license travelled traveled
aubergine eggplant practise practice tyre tire
billfold wallet analyse analyze underlay carpet pad
garden yard humour humor undertaker mortician
year grade colour color vest undershirt
loo comfort labour labor wardrobe closet
room
tap faucet clamour clamor to wash wash up
lorry truck favour favor wing fender
candy floss cotton candy neighbour neighbor zebra crosswalk
crossing
sweet candy biro ball-point metre meter
pen
oven mitt oven glove bonnet hood flat apartment
cooker stove braces suspenders diversion detour
biscuit cookie car park parking lot duvet comforter
nappy diapers caravan trailer engaged busy
pavement sidewalk caretaker janitor enquiry inquiry
 zip zipper catalogue catalog fancy dress costumes
post mail centre center football soccer
post code zip code chips French fries full stop period
taxi cab notice board bulletin to hire to rent
board
underground subway number plate license plate indicator blinker
chemist’s drug store, petrol gas icing sugar powdered
shop pharmacy sugar
shop store polo neck turtle neck ladybird ladybug
head master principal quid buck match game
solicitor, lawyer, roundabout traffic circle, motorbike motorcycle
barrister attorney rotary
airplane plane rucksack backpack mum mom
a pack of a deck of rubber eraser trolley cart
cards cards
pants underpants rubbish garbage boot trunk
phone box phone booth share stock cosy cozy
pepper bell pepper shop sales clerk double heavy cream
assistant cream
postman mailman sick nauseated draughts checkers
prawn shrimp single ticket one-way dummy pacifier
ticket
programme program Sorry. Excuse me. earth wire ground wire
primary elementary sports day fields day expiry date expiration
school school date
grade school
to queue to line up sultana raisin fortnight two weeks
anorak jacket, parka sweet shop candy store mackintosh raincoat
at the on the term semester mashed mashed
weekend weekend potato potatoes
bank holiday national theatre theater motorway freeway,
holiday, highway,
federal expressway,
holiday interstate
base rate prime rate timetable schedule litre liter
to bath to bathe tin can lost property lost and
found
beetroot beet town centre downtown maths math
bill check torch flashlight jewellery jewelry
bin, dustbin garbage can, trainers sneakers Jumble sale yard sale
trash can
Source: www.englisch-hilfen.de

Have you encountered the term World Englishes (WE) or varieties of English? WE actually
stands for the localized varieties of English as they are used or spoken in certain areas. In the
Asian context, the concept was introduced by Braj Kachru. The famous “Three Concentric Circles
of Asian Englishes” attributed to Kachru presents the three circles: Inner Circle with ENL (English
as a Native Language) member countries; the Outer Circle with ESL (English as a Second
Language) member countries; and the Expanding Circle with EFL (English as a Foreign Language)
member countries.
Aside from the fact that the Outer and Expanding Circles are ESL- and EFL- speaking,
respectively, they have been colonized by some member countries in the Inner Circle making the
varieties they speak as post-colonial. It is then to be understood that people have different
linguistic and cultural backgrounds making intercultural communication a significant variable in
communication.

The Expanding Circle

China, Egypt, Indonesia, Israel, Korea, Caribbean Countries,
Nepal, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Taiwan, Russia, Zimbabwe,
South Africa, CIS, South America

The Outer Circle

Bangladesh, Ghana, India, Kenya, Malaysia,
Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore,
Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Zambia

The Inner Circle

USA, UK, Canada, Australia,
New Zealand

Kachru’s Concentric Circles of English

According to Bautista and Gonzales (2006), the structural characteristics of these new varieties
differ. This is brought about by the mother tongue or home languages of those who learn or
acquire English. And even in terms of social features, differences can also be highlighted in that
there is a continuum of basilectal, mesolectal, and acrolectal varieties of English within the
speech community. The acrolect then comes closest to the standard while the basilect
digresses thoroughly from it and comes closest to the pidgin. Mesolect or the middle variety is
the midway between the acrolect and basilect. Bautista and Gonzales use the term edulects
for these varieties resulting from certain types of education ascertained by social class but are
conveyed or transferred by the kind of instruction of the school system especially for those
coming from higher-income families and/or better educated classes.
As regards structural variation, Kachru & Nelson (2006) claim that these varieties of English are
influenced by the local language(s) in various areas of their grammars and exhibit specific
phonological, lexical, syntactic, and discoursal characteristics (p. 35). For instance, in terms of
stress and rhythm, Outer and Expanding Circle varieties observe syllable-timed rhythm rather
than stress-timed rhythm. Nigerian say ‘ success for suc`cess and Indians and Nigerians say
recog`nize for ‘recognize. Moreover, speakers from the Outer and Expanding Circles do not
make any changes in their pronunciation to make a distinction between nouns and verbs in
pairs which Inner Circle countries observe as in the case of ` import and im`port and do not
utilize contrastive stress for focusing (Bamgbose, 1992 & Gumperz, 1982a, 1982b, as cited in
Kachru & Nelson, 2006). As regards sounds, Outer and Expanding Circles do not observe initial
aspiration of voiceless plosives such as p, t, k and these are often perceived by Inner Circle
countries as b, d, g. Some speakers of expanding Circle varieties, as in the case of Japanese
speakers, do not properly distinguish between r and l.

According to Pope (1976, as cited Kachru & Nelson, 2006), in the case of syntactic features,
question-answering systems differ between Inner and Outer-Expanding Circles. While the
former observes positive-negative system where the answer follows the polarity of the question
(i.e. If the question is in the positive the answer confirming the assumption of the questioner is
in the positive, and the answer disconfirming the assumption is in the negative. If, however, the
question is in the negative, the answer confirming the assumption of the questioner is in the
negative as well, while the answer disconfirming the assumption of the questioner is in the
positive), the latter observes the agreement-disagreement system which poses difficulty to
speakers who follow the positive-negative system particularly in interpreting the yes or no of
the response unless it is followed by a clarification (i.e., Yes, I think you’re right: No, that’s not
so) (p.45).

With respect to lexicon, vocabulary words peculiar only to some English varieties in Southeast
Asia can be noted as seen in the following examples (pp. 189-190):

1. Singapore English: actsy ‘showoff,’ missy ‘nurse,’ chop ‘rubber stamp,’ Marina kids
‘youngsters who spend their leisure time at/or around Marina Square, a shopping center,’
graduate mothers ‘graduate (well-educated) married women, encouraged to have more
children and accorded certain privileges in Singapore,’ as compared to non-graduate mothers
(Pakir, 1992, as cited in Kachru & Nelson, 2006).

2. Philippine English: deep ‘puristic or hard to understand’ as an attribute of language,

stick ‘cigarette,’ high blood ‘tense or upset,’ blow out ‘treating someone with a snack or
meal,’ motel ‘a hotel used for pre-marital or extra-marital affairs,’ manualize ‘to prepare
manuals,’ go ahead ‘leave before others with host’s permission,’ studentry ‘student body,’
Amboy ‘a Filipino perceived to be too pro-American,’ promdi ‘from the province,’ behest loan
‘unguaranteed bank loan given to presidential cronies,’ pulot boy ‘boy who picks up tennis
 balls in a game,’ and balikbayan box ‘box where Filipnos returning from abroad put all their
shopping,’ among others (Bautista, 1997 as cited in Kachru & Nelson 2006).

In other sources, these are the additional information about Philippine English:

Varieties of Philippine English

a. Acrolectal – is associated with academics, bilinguals from English speaking homes and
English majors at university level.
b. Mesolectal – is spoken by professionals who are non-English majors and who mostly use
English in the workplace, and who display a noticeably Philippine accent.
c. Basilectal- typically differs from the standard language in pronunciation, vocabulary, and
grammar, and can often develop into different languages; it is also characterized by the
use of words that are typically considered slang or colloquialisms, which are usually
spoken by factory workers, janitors, drivers, etc.

(Note: The three varieties of Philippine English are what Bautista and Gonzales (2006), term
as edulects.)

Linguistic Features of Philippine English

a. Phonological features - include devoicing of sibilant consonants in words like beige,

pleasure, seize, bees and cities which are articulated as [s]and the rendering of
“th”sounds as [t], [d], in words such as this [dis], thin [tin]. With vowels, other features
may occur including a loss of distinction between long and short vowels in such pairs as
sheep/ship, full/fool’ bought/boat, etc.

b. Lexical features – borrowed extensively from Spanish ( despedida ‘farewell’, estafa ‘faud’
‘scandal’, querida ‘mistress’, and Tagalog. Loan translations are also widely used
including open/close the light/radio for “turn on/off the light/radio”, joke only for “I’m
teasing you”, and you don’t only know for “you just don’t realize”; local coinages include
such items as to carnap, highblood, hold-upper, and topnotcher, while archaic items
derived from late 19th century American English include comfort room (CR), solon, and
viand.

3. Malaysian English: antilog ‘a male hated by a girl,’ popcorn ‘a loquacious

person,’ kachang ‘peanuts, easy,’ slambar ‘relax,’ red spot, open shelf ‘girls who are
popular and those who are not,’ day bugs ‘those who come to attend school but do not
live in residence halls’ (Said & Ng, 2000, as cited in Kachru & Nelson, 2006).

When Bautista’s monograph on Defining Standard Philippine English: Its Status and
Grammatical Features came out in 2000, she answered the usual questions asked about
Philippine English: Is there a Standard Philippine English? and When does an error become a
feature of Philippine English? She stressed that just like any other new variety of English (Indian
English, Singaporean English and Nigerian English), Philippine English is legitimate, having its
own grammatical, lexical, and syntactic features. Gonzalez (1985, as cited in Bautista, 2000)
identified the following lexical features in Philippine English (p. 76):

1. Preference for specific words and collocations specifically shall, could, such, wherein, of (to
signal possession);

2. Unusual words and collocations, specific terms, and word combinations which may have been
originally confused with other collocations but which, because of frequent use, have become
fixed combinations in their own right (e.g., results to instead of results in); and

3. Unusual prepositional usage, including omission of prepositions in two-word verbs, addition

of prepositions to verb-phrases, local use of different prepositions in noun phrases following
certain verbs or adjectives.

The syntactic features identified include the following (pp. 76-77):

1. Word-order features, consisting of the placement of the time adverb before the place adverb,
placement of the adverb between verb and object, placement of the adverb between noun and
prepositional phrase, placement of the indirect object introduced by to between verb and direct
object, other unusual adverb placements;

2. Use of articles, including absence of the definite article, unusual use of the definite articles,
absence of indefinite article;

3. Noun sub-categorization, consisting of the non-pluralization of count nouns, the

reclassification of General American English (GAE), mass nouns as count nouns, mass noun
pluralization, pluralization of the adjectival nouns in compounds;

4. Pronoun-antecedent incongruence;

5. Subject-predicate incongruence;

6. Reclassification of GAE transitive verbs as intransitive verbs; and

7. Tense-aspect usage consisting of unusual use of verb forms and tenses, use of the perfect
tense where the simple past tense or even present perfect is called for in GAE, lack of tense
sequence.
As for the question “When does an error become a feature of Philippine English?”, Gonzalez
(1958) has this to say:

When do these errors cease to be errors and become part of the standard? If enough educated
elites in the society ‘commit’ these errors, then these errors in effect have been accepted by
society as the standard (p. 189).
The foregoing discussion only shows how dynamic English is. These are only some of the
essential features of some varieties of English which should be given full attention by users
coming from different cultures. From the variety of English used by the native speakers such as
British, Americans, Canadians, Australians, and New Zealanders, English has evolved into post-
colonial varieties and should not be mistaken as errors most especially if they have become the
standard in the speech community and have been codified. As the poet Gemino Abad (1997, p.
8) aptly put it: “English is ours. We have colonized it too.”

You have to be aware of and recognize intercultural communication as you need to be sensitive
to the people around who belong to different cultural heritages and have their own linguistic
identity. When you encounter them, you will be able to avoid misunderstanding, avoid
communication breakdown, and overcome language barriers with less difficulty since you are
exposed to their own language features. This way, you will be able to enhance your personal
and social interaction.

Teacher’s Insights

Intercultural Communication plays an important role in achieving

effective communication. There are different varieties of English
spoken by countries colonized by Britain, The US, Canada, and
Australia: Singapore English, Malaysian English, Philippine English,
Thai English, among others. These varieties have their own grammatical, lexical, and syntactic
features and should not be considered as errors.

Task 1. British English vs. American English (Quiz)

Directions: Watch news on BBC and CNN International Compare
the two varieties of English you listened to. Make a list of
vocabulary items that each variety uses and provide their
counterparts. Place them on the table.

BBC CNN International

(British English) (American English)
Task 2. My Cultural Experience (Class Standing)
Directions: Visit an ethnic restaurant and get exposed to some of the cultural food it offers.
Make a listing of the new cultural terms that you learned. Then write a one-paragraph text
describing your first-hand cultural experience. Also, please attach a photo as a
documentation/proof of the visit.

List of Cultural Terms

___________________ ___________________ _______________
___________________ ___________________ _______________
___________________ ___________________ _______________
___________________ ___________________ _______________
___________________ ___________________ _______________

My Cultural Experience
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________

Directions: Rate yourself honestly as you read the following statements.

Check the column that corresponds to your answer. Use the rating scale:

Agree = 4 Somewhat agree= 3

Neither agree nor disagree= 2 Disagree= 1

Indicators 4 3 2 1
1. I enjoy listening to people from other cultures.
2. I am aware that I can offend the feelings of people
belonging to other linguistic and cultural environments.
3. I apologize whenever I hurt the feelings of people from
other cultures.
4. I insist on my own views and beliefs even if I am aware that
culture vary significantly.
5. I go out of my way to adjust to the culture of other people.
6. I am aware that no culture is superior nor inferior.
7. I am aware that all linguistic and cultural environments are
equal.
8. I am aware that all linguistic and cultural environments
should be respected.