Book 1: English in the World

History, diversity, change

Introduction + Chapter 1
English in the World Today
by Philip Seargeant
 Major themes of Block 1
The Introduction and Chapter 1 introduce the major themes
the book will be addressing. These are:
1. How do we define what ‘English’ is and why is this not as
simple as it might seem at first glance?
2. Given the great diversity in the language around the world,
how do we decide what counts as English or a variety of
English?
3. How is English a product of its history?
4. How is language an integral part of our own personal sense
of identity?
5. How have the ways English is used globally been
categorized by linguists, and what advantages and
drawbacks are there to such models?
 General Introduction
English first emerged when a group of Germanic tribes, now
referred to as the Anglo-Saxons (including Angles, Saxons, Jutes,
the Frisians), arrived in Britain. These tribes had their
‘indigenous’ dialects. This happened around 450 A.D.
Only about 500 years later, did the name English come to be
given to the language (around 890 A.D.)
In the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles written around 1150 A.D., there
is reference to five languages that were spoken in Britain at the
time: English, Brito-Welsh, Scottish, Pictish and Latin.

“So …English was just one language among several; it was

a language without a particular strong identity and with no
special status”(Seargeant 1).
 General Introduction
One and a half millennia after (1500 years after = around the year 2000),
English has the status of a global language.
“The book takes at its starting point the global existence of the English
language” (2). Questions to be answered in the book are:

How & why has English become global?

What have been the consequences of this global spread?
The way English is used and perceived around the
world?

First 4 chapters cover the historical story of English

Second half (Chapters 5,6 & 7) consider the forms that English takes, how it
is used as a means of expression, and how it relates to issues of both
personal and cultural identity (3,4)
 English in the world today
The linguist, Michael Toolan, suggested that the English
used today as an international language “is so culturally
removed from the traditional national language of
England that it should not be called ‘English’.
Toolan said English ‘is becoming increasingly released
from a sense of rootedness in one or more ethnic
homelands (whether that is thought of as England, or the
Anglo-Saxon world, or the Anglo-American world)’.
It is now an international language used as the language
of communication in business, diplomacy, scientists.
Therefore, it should be renamed as ‘Global’.
 English in the world today
Kachru (World English/ 3 Circles)
 English in the world today
The linguist Braj Kachru has suggested that because ‘English now has
multicultural identities … [t]he term “English” does not capture [the]
sociolinguistic reality’ of the language’.

Kachru suggested the term “Englishes” instead. It is not a single

language anymore. There are several varieties of English now spoken,
each of which is different to the extent that it could be given the status of
a separate language.
So whether a renaming is proposed or not, the ‘multicultural identities’
of English are emphasized by both the above linguists and many others.
For this purpose the chapter looks at

1. What counts as English today

2. How the diversity of the language reflects its social identity
3. The roles that English plays in people’s lives
4. Why it is that debates about the language and about how people use the
language, can sometimes be so controversial
 1.What counts as English today
Check the different definitions of English p. 7

Dr Johnson defined (18th C.) English inhis dictionary of the

English language:
ENGLISH. adj. Belonging to England; thence English is
the language of England.
More modern Dictionaries define English as:
The Chambers Dictionary defines it as:
A Germanic language spoken in the British Isles, USA,
most parts of the Commonwealth, etc. while the Oxford
English Dictionary extends this slightly further:
Of or relating to the West Germanic language spoken in
England and also used in many varieties throughout the
world.
 1.What counts as English today

Check the different definitions of English p. 7

These definitions focus on a number of elements:
a) the communities which the language is most associated with
b) its history
c) the way it is used in various places around the world
So they are most of all social definitions and are not directly related to the
structure of the language for example.

 Do speaking skills only count, or should writing be included in the

evaluation of who speaks English?
At what point do we say that people are speaking different varieties of
the language as opposed to different languages?

The number estimations of 1500 and 2000million (1.5 to 2 billion) speakers

of English may raise more questions that give answers.
1.What counts as English today
Definition of “English” p. 7
 1.What counts as English today
pp.9-11 Cowboy poem- Arizona (Dialect)
 1.What counts as English today
pp.9-11 Scots (Gaelic + Scottish) (Dialect or
Language??)
 1.What counts as English today
pp.9-11 Manglish: Hybrid Malay+English (Banned
or expression of identity??)
 1.What counts as English today
pp.9-11

See Activity 1.2 pp. 9-13 extracts from different varieties of English? Different
languages?
Consider:
1. whether the excerpt is intelligible or not (understood?)[the cowboy poem from Arizona
region]
o the dialect words [the cowboy poem from Arizona region]
o the colloquial pronunciation [the cowboy poem from Arizona region]

2. Scots is a traditional Germanic language spoken in Lowland Scotland. [Varg, the poem
by contemporary poet Robert Alan Jamieson]
o Scots has developed mostly independently, to be considered by some people as a
dialect of English, and by others an entirely separate language – a close cousin of
modern standard British English (mainly for political reasons)
3. The poem [a song titled ‘Katoi’ by the Malaysian singer Zee Avi] is written in Manglish,
a blend of English and Malay/ bahasa rojak in Malay, which means ‘mixed language.’
o whether the hybrid nature of the song makes it controversial in terms of being
considered “necessarily real English at all” (p.12); should be banned or expression of
unique cultural identity?
 1.What counts as English today

These extracts reflect controversial issues; so that

English is:
 Very diverse; its form is different in different
communities
 Some view these varieties as not ‘real’ English.
Manglish, for example, is a mixture of English
and thus is a quite separate language.
 Scot and English have the same origin
(Germanic), now Scot is viewed as a separate
language (political issue).
 Language, varieties and dialects

So is there a central version of the language which we

should think of as authentic English? Or are each of
the varieties equally valid systems of linguistic
expression which happen to be different?
So far many terms have been introduced and can be
used to discuss the issues at hand:
Language:
Variety:
Dialect:
Accent:
p.13
 Language, varieties and dialects

Variety: a more general term, refers to any distinct form of a language, neutral (unlike the
other terms that suggest one form could be more prestigious or legitimate), e.g. Australian
English, Hong Kong English (large scale autonomous communities) as well as Geordie
dialect and New York accent (which are part of a wider population) all are varieties of
English.

Dialect: a language variety which has vocabulary and grammar aspects that relate the speaker’s
regional or social background, e.g. Geordie dialect (Newcastle), Standard British English

Accent: refers to differences in pronunciation e.g. New York accent

Language: a language has more status than a dialect. If a variety is referred to as a language it
is viewed as a language in its own right; it is given a greater respect than a dialect.
Languages refer to different nation states with clear political and geographical boundaries
and distinct institutions, and literary or cultural histories, etc. (e.g. Swedish and Danish)
IS GLOBAL ENGLISH DIFFERENT VARIETIES OR A FAMILY OF ENGLISH
LANGUAGES? WHAT ARE THE CONSEQUENCES OF EACH PERSPECTIVE?
 English through history
English has developed through history
Peterborough Chronicles (Old English)
 English through history
Activity 1.3 pp. 12-17 Old English
 English through history
Activity 1.3 pp. 12-17
Old English
English has developed through history.
See Activity 1.3 pp. 12-17 to check out different excerpts from
different stages and observe variations and similarities / (historical
development).
Old English:
 different characters such as: ð(eth) for th (as in the) ; ƥ(thorn) for th
as in thin; æ(ash) for ‘a’ as in ðæt
 change in meaning of some words ( næddre (now adder) has
become specialized type of serpent, while it used to mean serpent in
general), as well as ‘wife’ which meant ‘woman’ in OE, so the
meaning of ‘wife’ has narrowed now.
 We can also recognize ‘oðre’ as other, cwᴂƥ as quoth (quote), hwi
as why; this is in addition to similar words that are still used now,
e.g. and, to, wife, God, of.
English through history
Activity 1.3 pp. 12-17
Middle English
Middle English: qu is
first used instead of cw
(queen instead of cwene),
Ž (yogh) for y different
spelling of many words
(lyuynge instead of
living) with y instead i
and u instead of v
obsolete vocabulary
words (feller meaning
crueller/more ruthless in
Mod. Eng.) p.15
 English through history
Activity 1.3 pp. 12-17
Early Modern English (17th C.) and Modern
English (1961)
Early Modern
English: change in
meaning of some
words (wife has
become specialized
to female spouse,
while it used to mean
‘woman’ in general).
So the meaning has
narrowed down now.
 English through history

 In conclusion, English has changed a lot over

the last 1000 years, in terms of lexis,
orthography, semantics and syntax.
 However, we still see a line of continuity back
through all the passages.
 Therefore, it is acceptable to refer to them as
examples of development of the same
language.
 Reasons for Change

One reason for the change that has happened over English over the centuries is that,
since its very beginnings, English has always been in contact with other
languages.

The influence from this contact can be most seen in terms of loanwords.
Loanword or borrowing is used to refer to an item of vocabulary from one
language which has been adopted into the vocabulary of another. The
process is usually a result of language contact, where two or more languages
exist in close geographical or social proximity. The dominant language
usually absorbs new items of vocabulary, either to cover concepts for which
it has no specific word of its own, or to generate a slightly different function
or nuance for concepts for which it does have existing words.
See example of “English Sans French” pp.18 &19, illustrating the number of words
borrowed from French that would be crossed out (The example was a criticism/
satire of the political row and the anti-French feeling in the US over lack of
French government support for the war on Iraq in 2003.
 Reasons for Change
loanwords / borrowings
 Who speaks English?

The answer to this question needs to be

addressed away from the statistics (2 billion)
and numbers (make generalizations) and
with more focus on the attitudes and the
political views of the people towards English
itself, and its speakers, as well as motivations
for learning that language, mainly as a
means of access to global economy.
See examples in Activity 1.4, Activity 1.5, Activity
1.6 pp. 20-26
 How do we model the spread of
?English
There is a first distinction that is often made between the
English that is spoken by:
native speakers (NS)as opposed to that spoken by non-native
speakers. Native means “natus” in Latin, which is “to be born”
so native speakers have also been called mother tongue
speakers of English. People growing up in bilingual or
multilingual environments might learn more than one language
from birth, and may have more than one mother tongue. A
native speaker is someone who has learned a particular
language – in this case English – since early childhood.
Non-native speakers (NNS) learn a language later in life. This may
result in speaking the language with an accent influenced by one’s
native language.
 How do we model the spread of
English?
In this same respect we speak of teaching English.
We can talk about:
English as a native language or as a non-native language that has as
much to do with the biography of the speaker as with the nature of
the language itself. This also involves other environmental factors
such as occupation, educational background and identity.
 How do we model the spread of
English?
Another distinction used is between
English as a Second Language (ESL)
and English as a Foreign Language (EFL) .
English as a Second Language, there is an official or legal status for
English in the country it is spoken. This could be due to a colonial
history. For example, English is an official language in India- and is
thus used in administrative and educational contexts- although it is
not the mother tongue of the majority of population.
English as a Foreign Language, in contrast to ESL, does not have a special
official status. It is taught in schools for the purpose of being a useful tool
for international communication. For example, in Japan, English is learnt
at schools but is not expected to be used as part of their everyday life but
a useful tool should they travel abroad or want to learn about the cultures
of English-speaking nations.(p.28)
 English in the world today
Since the emergence of English as a ‘pre-eminent language of
international communication’ it is beginning to be seen less as a
foreign language and more as an international language. It is
used in Japan, for example, not simply to communicate with, or
learn about, people from the UK or the USA, but to allow
communication with people from a wide range of places. And
therefore, the term English as an International Language (EIL)
is more helpful or accurate in the ‘conceptualization’ of how
English is used today.
 English in the world today
(cont’d)
Statistically more people use English in EFL contexts (international
communication) than the number of native language users of
English. Now English is viewed as EIL essential International
communication in this globalizatized and information
technology revolution.

English now is the world’s lingua franca – the language that

“operates as a means of communication for people across the
globe who do not share a mother tongue and yet, given the
globalized society in which we now live, have the need to
interact” (p. 29).
The Three Circles of English
NL, non-NL, MT, ESL, EFL, EIL can describe and identify
how people use the English language, but they do not describe
how English spreads around the globe or explain the dynamics
of this spread or the nature of the distribution of English.
Many models have been suggested for describing the
dynamics of the spread of English and the nature of its
distribution, but the most efficient and influential has been
that suggested by the linguist Braj Kachru known as The
Three Circles of English.
The Inner Circle
The Outer Circle
The Expanding Circle
Each circle in Kachru’s model reflects three issues:
1. Historical process
2. How people acquire the language
The Three Circles of English
 The Three Circles of English

The Inner Circle refers to the traditional culture and linguistic bases
of English.
In the inner circle countries, English is the mother-tongue, the native
language, such as in England, or where English replaced the
indigenous languages and has become ‘firmly embedded as the
majority language’ such as in the USA, Canada, Australia and New
Zealand.
Kachru calls these countries the “norm-providing” in that English
there operates as the model for the type of English taught around the
world.
 The Three Circles of English

The Outer Circle represents the institutionalized non-native

varieties (ESL), in the regions that have passed through extended
periods of colonization…
In these countries, English has not displaced the indigenous
languages, but instead was used alongside them for certain specific
roles. English is not the first language of the majority, but is rather
an additional language used in institutional contexts such as
bureaucracy and education. Examples of these countries are Kenya
and India. These are norm-developing; English has become securely
rooted in the culture- they are indigenized varieties- yet they don’t
have the status of ENL varieties. Kachru adds that in “the Outer
Circle the varieties of English have their own local histories, literary
traditions, pragmatic contexts and communicative norms”. P. 32
 The Three Circles of English

The Expanding Circle includes the regions where the performance varieties of the
language are used essentially in EFL contexts (i.e. varieties that lack official
status and are typically restricted in their use. These include the rest of the
world. They are ‘norm dependent’; they follow the standard presented by
native speakers as their model. English is taught for tourism purposes and
reading literature. The purpose for learning English is Globalization.

See Table 1.1 p. 32 for the attributes of each of the three circles.
 The Three Circles of English
The strengths and limitations of the model

Strengths:
The strength of Kachru’s model is that it allows for speaking of several world
Englishes rather than a single, monolithic entity.
-The model has helped focus on non-native varieties and legitimize them as
valid linguistic systems. Unlike, Quirk (1990) who views Outer Circle
varieties as deficient versions of Inner Circle varieties.
Kachru referred to the Outer Circle varieties as legitimate and are linguistically
stable and firmly embedded in the culture of the communities that use them.
He referred to them as separate Englishes, rather than simple non-native
dialects.
- The model draws attention to historical and political processes.
 The Three Circles of English
The strengths and limitations of the model
Limitations:
The model has its limitations as pointed out to by Pennycook and Bruthiaux, for
example.
- It deals with language only at the level of the nation state. .. Varieties is a limited
notion. It overlooked regional and social dialects and registers used at work. It is too
general and provides just generalizations. It also overlooked different varieties
within the country itself. The model, thus, does not capture the heterogeneity of
English. Sometimes people mix phrases from English with native or other languages
they speak. (the case of India or Malay)
- Some countries do not fit neatly within the scheme . For example, South Africa (11
official languages/ English is only NL for some), (Canada and New Zealand are
bilinguals).
- The model doesn’t take into account countries that are in shifting status; e.g.
Scandinavian countries, where English is shifting from EFL to ESL.
- EFL contexts is also shifting English to an International language.
Nevertheless, Kachru’s model is a good starting point for an investigation of
modern-day English which will be discussed in more details in the coming chapters.