MIDTERMS COVERAGE

LESSON 2
VARIETIES AND REGISTERS OF SPOKEN AND WRITTEN LANGUAGE
The term World English (or World Englishes) refers to the English language as it is variously
used throughout the world. Also known as international English and Global English. The English
language is now spoken in more than 100 countries. In relation, the varieties of English language
is also associated with language registers. Unlike Spanish, French and German, English does not
have any different pronouns for addressing others in different registers. That makes the Native
English lacking additional language as a disadvantage. So, it is very important to use appropriate
varieties and registers of language in certain communication because there are different
situations and people that call for different registers.
Lesson Objectives: At the end of this lesson, you will be able to:
 Demonstrate understanding of the concept of the varieties of English in Asian contexts.
 Discuss the importance of the varieties of English in both oral and written contexts
 Identify some grammatical, lexical, syntactic features of post-colonial varieties of English in
Asian context  Distinguish the lexicon of some Asian varieties of English
 Demonstrate knowledge about the concept of registers of English in spoken and written
language
 Use the appropriate register depending on the communication situation
 Display an ability to adjust and cope with communication breakdown

Discussion:

Varieties of English
During your senior high school, you must have encountered the term World Englishes (WE) or
varieties of English in class. 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 Expanding Circle with
EFL (English as a foreign language) member countries.
Examples of countries belonging to the Inner Circle are the USA, UK, Australia, Canada,
and New Zealand. Kachru’s Outer Circle is comprised of Singapore, Malaysia, the
Philippines, and Pakistan, among others while the Expanding Circle is composed of
countries such as China, Japan, Taiwan, and Thailand. 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.
Three 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 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 continuum of basilectal, mesolectal, and
acrolectal varieties of English within the same 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 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 higherincome families and/or better educated
classes.
As regards structural variation, Kachru and Nelson (2006) claim that these varieties of English
are influenced by the local language(s) in various areas of their grammars and exhibits specific
phonological, lexical, syntatic 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. Nigerians say “success for suc’cess and Indians and Nigerians say
recog’nize for recognize.
Moreover, speakers from the Outer and Exapanding 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 and Gumperz, 1982a,1982b, as cited in Kachru and Nelson,2006) As
regards sounds, Outer and Expanding do not observe initial aspirations 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 in Kachru and Nelson, 2006) in the case of
syntactic features, questions-answering systems differ between Inner and Outer-Expanding
Circles. While the former observes the 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’show off,’misy’ nurse,’ chop’ rubber stamp,’ Marina kids
‘youngster who spend their leisure time at or around Marina Square a shopping centre,” graduate
mothers ’graduate (well-educated) married woman, encouraged to have more children and
accorded certain privileges in Singapore,’ as compared to non-graduate mothers (Pakir,1992, as
cited in Kachru and 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 extramarital affairs,’manualize ‘to prepare manulas,’ 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 in a game,’ and
balikbayan box,’ box where Filipinos returning from abroad put all their shopping,’ among
others (Bautista, 1997, as cited in Kachru and Nelson 2006);and,
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 and Ng,
2000, as cited in Kachru and 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. Gonzales
(1985, as cited in Bautista, 2000) identified the following lexical features in Philippine English
(p.76)
:  Preference for specific words and collocations specifically shall, could, such, wherein, of (to
signal possession);
 Unusual words and collocations, specific terms, and with 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,
 Unusual prepositional usage, including omission of prepositions in two words verbs, addition
of prepositions to verb phrases, local use of different prepositions in some 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 placement.
2. Use of articles, including absence of the definite article, unusual use of the definite articles,
absence of the 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 adjectival nouns in compounds;
4. Pronoun-antecedent agreement;
5. Subject-predicate incongruence;
6. Reclassification of GAE transitive verb 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 tense is called for in GAE, lack of tense
sequence. As for the question “When does an error become a feature of Philippine English?”,
Gonzales (1985) has this to say: 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, Australian, 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.”
When do these errors cease and become part of the standard? If enough educated elites in the
society “commit” these errors, then these errors in effects have been accepted by the society as
the standard (p.189) You have to be aware of and recognize intercultural communication as you
need to be sensitive to the people around you who belong to different cultural heritages and have
their 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.
Language Registers/Registers of English
When it comes to language variation, the terms genre, register, and style are often encountered.
David Crystal(2008) defines register as “a variety of language defined according to its use in
social situations e.g. a register of scientific, religious, formal English. (p.409),”He added:” In
Hallidayan linguistics, the term is seen as specifically opposed to varieties of language defined
according to the characteristics of the users (viz. Their regional or class dialect), and is given a
subclassification into field, mode and manner of discourse (p.409). Crystal (1964) further style
and register: It is to be noted that genre and register overlap and are sometimes used
interchangeably.
According to Lee (2001), whereas genre is associated more with the organization of culture,
register is associated with the organization of situation. To this end, register is understood as the
context-specific variety of language to which the field-mode tenor framework is important.
Language being the product of interaction among the members society, must ultimately be
studied according to the social context in which it is found. Within a language, there are
variations in style and register, which differentiate and formally characterize distinct social
situations. Style refers to the degree of formality attached to particular interpersonal social
situation which is reflected by differences in language-for example, the kind language used while
talking to a friend will differ noticeably from that used in addressing a superior, in otherwise the
same situation. Register refers to a kind of language whose forms are of a definable social
situation, regardless of the status of the participants-thus one finds the register of legal language,
liturgical language, and so on. (p.149)
To give a concrete example, with the genre of recipe, field may be analyzed in terms of the
social setting and the communicative purpose in which the text is produced.
Tenor may be described in terms of the roles required of the writers and readers including the
cultural values shared by both. Mode could be explained in light of the knowledge of other texts
required of speakers/listeners and writers/readers as regards the genre including the formal text
features. Language register then refers to the formality of language which one speaks. Different
registers are used in different situations. It is through register that you are able to determine the
kind of lexicon or vocabulary to use as well as the kind of structure to be used. Even in writing,
you may use a formal or an informal register.
In some instances, even a neutral language register is identified. The formal register then is used
in formal speaking and writing situations. Earlier in the discussion, it was mentioned that register
refers to the kind of language whereby the forms used define the social situation,
notwithstanding the status of the interlocutors. Thus, legalese or legal language is highly
characterized by archaic expressions, technical jargon intrinsic only to the community of legal
professionals, embedded structures, nominalizations, passive voice, as well as long, kilometric
sentences which are not the features of textese or language of texts.
Conversely, the features of SMS language or textese language, are exactly the opposite-use of
abbreviations, acronyms, slang words, and expressions. This is so since messages used to be
limited to a certain number of character/spaces which made texting much easier and quicker.
However, misinterpretation and/or miscommunication in text messaging may arise if vocabulary
and knowledge of context are limited. Hence, extra care should be practiced when
comprehending text messages.

Summary of the Lesson:

1. Intercultural communication plays an important role in achieving effective communication.
2. There are different varieties of English spoken by countries colonized by Britain, the US,
Canada, and Australia: Singapore English, Malaysian English, Philippine English, and Thai
English, among others. These varieties have their own grammatical, lexical, and syntactic
features and should not be considered errors.
3. Language has formal and informal registers. These registers have forms which define the
social situation.
4. The kind of register to be used affects the way one speaks and writes
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