CASTRO, PRINCESS JOY

BSED-ENG-1A

POSITION PAPER

World Englishes entails identifying varieties of English used in various

sociolinguistic contexts across the world and studying how sociolinguistic histories,

multicultural backgrounds, and functional contexts impact the use of English in

various parts of the world and how it affects the economy. The monumental event

when the English first started was because of early colonization. English is a West

Germanic language derived from the Anglo-Saxon dialect used by today's Anglo-

Saxon immigrants from northwestern Germany, southern Denmark, and the

Netherlands in the 5th century. Due to the widespread of English during imperialism

over the late centuries, conquerors have influenced other countries with their own

English configuration. World Englishes are evolving localized or indigenized variants

of English, particularly in countries impacted by the United Kingdom or the United

States.

Every phenomenon that occurs as globalization colonizes the world day by day

always has something to offer, its benefits and disadvantages. In general, through the

help of technological advancements, one of the benefits is that World English is used

to aid and support communication, education, promote empowerment in the economy,

and unity of people in the global community. In essence, English plays a vital role in

connecting all people across the world, regardless of nationality, cultural background,

or race. World English has no doubt united diverse countries and brought quality

communication, and it serves as an opportunity to showcase ideas in a way that

everyone could comprehend and understand. And due to understanding between

countries, it closes the gap of indifference towards other countries and their citizens.

Therefore, it discloses disagreement and misunderstanding and thus, discourages the

occurrence of war.

There are multiple English in different countries, and they differ in countless

aspects, particularly in pronunciation, grammatical structure, choice of words, and

more that aid communication. However, American English and British English have

been the most well-known English since their English formality manifests itself in

academically inclined purposes. Meanwhile, other countries' Englishes are being

neglected and refuse to recognize and respect. And this falls to individualism and

egocentrism for some people. It is the recognition given by both people from other

countries as well as those citizens of that country that stands out the most. This kind

of attitude shows the negative side of the presence of World Englishes since it held

prejudice, discrimination, stereotyping, and biased attitude towards those countries

that are significantly different from what they thought of who is better. In addition,

another negative impact of World Englishes is that it causes informality in both

academic speech and writing when encountering formal affairs in some instances.

Despite the negative impacts of World Englishes on countries, the positive still

outweigh the negative. In a broader conceptualization, the English language has made

a significant contribution to bringing together various countries and making them able

to understand one another. Besides encouraging and securing quality communication

between countries, it also helps in implementing economic reforms, either inside or

outside the country. Furthermore, as a student, World Englishes helps us in a way that

we can express our beliefs and ideas without being judged by other people. It is
because they know that our English is different from others. And being a student,

understanding the differences between the standard and our version of English assists

us when or not we should consider using them.

Accordingly, I concluded that World Englishes is indeed a smart advancement in

language and communication. Despite the fact that it embedded negative impacts on

both people and the economy in general, it only balanced everything to maintain the

equilibrium of the communication system, just as maintaining homeostasis to ensure

the body system's survival. Understanding the varieties of Englishes and Standard

English when using is understanding its guidance and rules to equate the format

adequately to avoid unprofessionalism when dealing with a specific situation. Every

one of us is capable of speaking our localized English. We can hear and use it every

day and without being aware of doing so. Nevertheless, not everyone knows its

restrictions. We should educate ourselves and learn the basics and complexity of our

English as well as the other varieties of English. It is to circumvent misunderstandings

and ignorance.

Online Source:
Oxford Dictionary https://languages.oup.com/google-dictionary-en
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_English
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Englishes
Book:
Jenkins, J., (2003) A resource book for students https://books.google.com.ph/books?
hl=en&lr=&id=Te3ohxBuCGkC&oi=fnd&pg=PA4&dq=what+is+world+englishes