Varieties of

English
By: Braj Kachru

Reporter: RIGEL VINCENT R. GABATO

Braj B.Kachru • Born in Kashmir, India.
• Indian linguist
Born on May 15, 1932 • Founder of the
Died on July 29, 2016 International
Association of World
Englishes.
• Author of the famous
three Concentric circles
of Englishes.
Braj B.Kachru • Born in Kashmir, India.
• Indian linguist
Born on May 15, 1932 • Founder of the
Died on July 29, 2016 International
Association of World
Englishes.
• Author of the famous
three Concentric circles
Trivia: Linguist it is a
person who is highly
of Englishes.
proficient and a
master at
communicating in
foreign languages.
This is where I discuss Mr.Kachru’s, three Concentric circles of Englishes and it is shown in this channel that
language used, language instruction, and language are three distinct things, but they're also inextricably linked in
a variety of fascinating and complicated ways.
Inner Circle with ENL or represented as “English as a Native Language” in countries.
Outer Circle with ESL or represented as “English as Second Language” in countries.
Expanding Circle with EFL or represented as “English as a foreign language” in countries.
 Expanding Circle
(EFL)

Outer Circle
(ESL)

INNER CIRCLE
(ENL)

Outer Circle
(ESL)

Expanding Circle
(EFL)

Three Concentric Circles of Englishes

 CHINA CARRIBEAN
COUNTRIES EGYPT
INDONESIA ISRAEL JAPAN
KOREANEPAL

Bangladesh Ghana India

Kenya Malaysia Nigeria Pakistan

Three Concentric Circles

UK USA CANADA of Englishes
AUSTRALIA NEW ZEALAND

Philippines
Singapore Sri Lanka
Tanzania Zambia

SAUDI ARABIA SOUTH AFRICA

SOUTH AMERICA TAIWAN CIS
ZIMBABWE
The structural properties of these new varieties differ, according to Bautista and Gonzalez
(2006). This is caused by the mother tongue or home languages of persons learning or acquiring
English. Even in terms of social characteristics, distinctions may be seen, since there is a
continuum of acrolectal,mesolectal, and basilectal, and versions of English within the same
speech community.
Acrolect- The most desirable accent, prestigious( Given more Education)
E.g. General American, Standard British, Cultivated South African, Cultivated Australian.
Mesolect- The intermediate accent( it is balanced)
E.g. Rhotic accent.
Basilect-The stronger working class accent(almost all native speaker accents)
E.g. Indians,Chinese,japanese
According to Kachru and Nelson (2006), these varieties of English have phonological, lexical,
syntactic, and discoursal properties that are impacted by the local language(s). In terms of stress
and rhythm, the Outer and Expanding Circle varieties, for example, use syllable-timed rhythm
and the inner Circle use stress-timed rhythm.

Phonological- Study of human speech sounds.

Phonology is the study of how sounds are organized and used in a language.
Syntactic- Study of sentences and phrases or how people put words into right order.
Discoursal- study of language in pragmatics.
Lexical- is the study closely matching the meaning of the term in common usage
Syllable-timed languages(rhythm) Stress-timed languages(rhythm)
The rhythm of the language is like this: The rhythm of the language is like this:
duh-duh-duh-duh-duh du-d-duh
Duuh-duh-duh-duuh
E.g.
Syllable-timed languages(rhythm) Stress-timed languages(rhythm)
The rhythm of the language is like this: The rhythm of the language is like this:
duh-duh-duh-duh-duh du-d-duh
Duuh-duh-duh-duuh
E.g.

E.g.

Philippine English: where are you going?

American English: wher ya goin?
 In terms of grammatical properties, question-answering systems differ between Inner and Outer-
Expanding Circles, according to Pope (1976, as referenced in Kachru & Nelson, 2006).While the former
observes a positive-negative system in which the answer follows the polarity of the question (i.e., if the
question is positive, the answer confirming the assumption of the questioner is positive, and the answer
disconfirming the assumption is negative), if the question is negative, the answer confirming the
assumption of the questioner is negative, and the answer disconfirming the assumption of the questioner
is negative .Unless followed by a clarification, response
THANK YOU!
GODBLESS!