LESSON 6 & 7: DIFFERENT VARIETIES OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE / BIAS FREE LANGUAGE

PUPOSIVE COMMUNICATION (LECTURES)

BSBA – Financial Management I 1BAF-C I PROF. Rinalynn Borito I Sem 1 2022

English is the most widely-spoken language in the world, governments. If it happens that you lack writing skills to
having the distinct status of being the official language of complete your English
multiple countries. While the English language is
uniform with major variations in spelling present Australian English
between American English and British English, the
dialect or accent is usually the factor that enables one to Australian English is a major variety of the English

distinguish the various types of English out there. Like language, used throughout Australia. Although English has

most languages, there are varieties of English too, no official status in the constitution, Australian English is the

however, the difference is not as prominent as you may country’s national and de facto official language as it is the

see in other languages. first language of the majority of the population.

Australian English began to diverge from British English

From the thick Ugandan English to the French-
after the founding of the Colony of New South Wales in 1788
themed Canadian English, the varieties of accents present
and was recognized as being different from British English
are both diverse and beautiful. Apart from accents, there
by 1820. It arose from the intermingling of early settlers from
is a tendency for people to mix English with their local
a great variety of mutually intelligible dialectal regions of
lingo to form a hybrid variety of English language that is
the British Isles and quickly developed into a distinct variety
as colorful as the culture in that country.
of English.

British English
Canadian English

British English is the English language as spoken and

Canadian English is the set of varieties of English native to
written in the United Kingdom or, more broadly,
Canada. According to the 2011 census, English was the first
throughout the British Isles. Slight regional variations exist
language of approximately 19 million Canadians (57% of the
in formal, written English in the United Kingdom.
population) the remainder of the population were native

English is a West Germanic language that originated from speakers of Canadian French (22%) or other languages

the Anglo-Frisian dialects brought to Britain by Germanic (allophones, 21%).

settlers from various parts of what is now northwest

The term “Canadian English” is first attested in a speech by
Germany and the northern Netherlands. The resident
the Reverend A. Constable Geikie in an address to the
population at this time was generally speaking Common
Canadian Institute in 1857. Canadian English is the product
Brittonic—the insular variety of continental Celtic, which
of five waves of immigration and settlement over a period of
was influenced by the Roman occupation. This group of
more than two centuries. The first large wave of permanent
languages (Welsh, Cornish, Cumbric) cohabited alongside
English-speaking settlement in Canada, and linguistically
English into the modern period, but due to their remoteness
the most important, was the influx of loyalists fleeing the
from the Germanic languages, influence on English was
American Revolution, chiefly from the Mid-Atlantic States –
notably limited.
as such, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware,
Maryland, Washington, D.C., Virginia, and West Virginia.

American English Canadian English is believed by some scholars to have

derived from northern American English.

American English sometimes called United States English

Indian English
or U.S. English, is the set of varieties of the English
language native to the United States and widely adopted
English public instruction began in India in the 1830s during
in Canada. English is the most widely spoken language
the rule of the East India Company (India was then, and is
in the United States and is the common language used by
today, one of the most linguistically diverse regions of the
the federal government, considered the de facto language
world). In 1835, English replaced Persian as the official
of the country because of its widespread use. English has
language of the Company. Lord Macaulay played a major
been given official status by 32 of the 50 state
role in introducing English and western concepts to
 LESSON 6 & 7: DIFFERENT VARIETIES OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE / BIAS FREE LANGUAGE
PUPOSIVE COMMUNICATION (LECTURES)
BSBA – Financial Management I 1BAF-C I PROF. Rinalynn Borito I Sem 1 2022
education in India. He supported the replacement of Persian
by English as the official language, the use of English as the
medium of instruction in all schools, and the training of
English-speaking Indians as teachers.
The view of this language among many Indians has gone
from associating it with colonialism to associating it with
economic progress, and English continues to be an official
language of India, albeit with an Indian twist, popularly
known as Indian English.
Philippine English
Philippine English is any variety of English (similar and
related to American English) native to the Philippines,
including those used by the media and the vast majority of
educated Filipinos. English is taught in schools as one of the
two official languages of the country, the other being
Filipino (Tagalog).
Philippine English has evolved tremendously from where it
began decades ago. Some decades before English was
officially introduced, if not arguably forced, to the
Philippines, the archipelagic nation has been subject to
Spanish rule and thus Spanish was the language of power
and influence. However, in 1898, when the Spanish gave the
United States control of the nation, the English language,
although initially not favored, became widely used in a
matter of years, which was catalyzed by the coming of
American teachers.
Uganda English
Ugandan English, or Uglish (pronounced you-glish), is
the dialect of English spoken in Uganda. As with similar
dialects spoken elsewhere, Ugandan English has
developed a strong local flavor. The speech patterns of
Ugandan languages strongly influence spoken English.
Uganda has a large variety of indigenous languages, and
someone familiar with Uganda can readily identify the
native language of a person speaking English. Ugandan
speakers will alter foreign words to make them sound
more euphonic.
New Zealand English
New Zealand English is a unique dialect of the English
language that is spoken by the majority of the population
of New Zealand. The dialect has its roots in the English
spoken by the early settlers of the country, but has since
been influenced by the Maori language and culture. New
Zealand English is similar to Australian English, but has
its own distinctive features.
South African English
South African English is a distinctive dialect with its own
quirks and characteristics. It is spoken by around 4.89
million people in the country, making it one of the most
widely spoken languages in South Africa. The dialect has
its roots in the country’s history, with influences from
Afrikaans, Dutch, and other languages. Over the years, it
has developed into its own unique form of English.
LESSON 7: BIAS-FREE LANGUANGE
Bias-free language is language that is sensitive to
people’s sex, race, age, physical condition and many
other categories. Bias-free language does not discriminate
and therefore includes all readers in a fair and friendly
manner.
Avoiding Sexism
Use gender parallelism: use the word woman in the
context where you would use man, lady where you
would use gentleman, and girl where you would use
boy.
 Biased: I gave my name to the girl at the main
desk.
 Better: I gave my name to the woman at the main
desk.
Use appropriate pronouns when referring to people that
may be either male or female.
 Biased: Each manager must debrief his
department.
 Better: Each manager must debrief his or her
department.
Replace gender-biased terms such as salesman and
foreman with bias-free terms.
 Biased: Give your report to the committee
chairman.
 Better: Give your report to the committee chair.
Avoiding Racism and Ageism
Mention a person’s race or age only if it is relevant to the
story.
 LESSON 6 & 7: DIFFERENT VARIETIES OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE / BIAS FREE LANGUAGE
PUPOSIVE COMMUNICATION (LECTURES)
BSBA – Financial Management I 1BAF-C I PROF. Rinalynn Borito I Sem 1 2022

 Biased: A strange Black man spoke to me at the

grocery store.
 Better: A strange man spoke to me at the grocery
store.
Be aware of preferred group terms.
 Biased: The bus of Oriental senior citizens took a
detour.
 Better (only if the age and race are relevant): The
bus of Asian older adults took a detour.

Disability and Disease

Focus on people rather than conditions.
 Biased: I met an epileptic on the bus today.
 Better: I met a person with epilepsy on the bus
today.
These principles are taken from Business and
Administrative Communication (seventh edition) by
Kitty O. Locker, which is available for your use at the
Meijer Center for Writing and Michigan Authors