GLOBALIZATION

STARTING POINT

From 5-7 mill speakers (17thc) to 2 bill (today)

[400 ENL (English as the native language) + 400 ESL]

2. MAIN AIMS

Analyze ´nice` Englishes (non-standard varieties)

Explore the relationship between gender, age, social class, ethnicity and variety
Reflect ´standard` language ideologies
Eliminate: good vs bad languages
Understand: equal status of all languages, dialects and accents
Respect: own and others´ varieties/speakers
Discuss: advantages and disadvantages of ELF

3. OPTIONS OF EVALUATION

TASKS

TASK POINTS DEADLINE

CRITICAL ESSAY 2 MARCH 4

MY LINGUISTIC 2 MARCH 18
REPERTOIRE
ANALYSING NICE 2 APRIL 27
ENGLISHES
GROUP PROJECT 4 MAY 4

VOLUNTARY TASK 0.5 APRIL 27

EXAM

EXAM 6 JUNE 2

TASKS 4 SEE ABOVE

VOLUNTARY TASK 0.5 MAY 31

TOPIC 1: GOOD AND BAD ENGLISHES

Where does ´standard ideology` come from?

Written form of language - Caxton´s printing press 1476

Reinforced with 18th ´puristic movement` - Latin
2. Effects on standard ideology on other varieties and people

Some languages, varieties are better than others > people

 Some modes are better than others (writing vs. speech)
Earlier periods of languages were better, purer
People ashamed of their regional/social varieties > change accent
Education (non-standard children considered disabled)
Finding a job, renting a flat, etc
3. Story of Standard (British) English and spread
Four interlinked and overlapping stages:

Selection and acceptance of a variety

Elaboration of functions: education, administration, law…
Codification in dictionaries, grammars, spelling books, etc
Implementation and further elaboration of functions
4. How does standard ideology spread?

Codification of specific variety

Functions
Creation of an ´official body` (Language Academy) to ´improve and ascertain L`
(Swift) +
Educational system
Mass media
Language activists > complaint tradition, watchdogs
Standard English is both socially and culturally constructed, it doesn’t exists outside
collective social practice
TOPIC 2: ENGLISH AS A GLOBAL LANGUAGE
Dialects vs. languages

Dialect: kind of language which identifies you as belonging to a particular group of

people/place. It is a regional or socially distinctive variety of language.
Subdivisions of language according to variation in words, grammar and
pronunciation.
Standard language: system shared by a community of speakers which follows the
institutionalized norm. It is a variety which has a maximal variation in function and
minimal in form.
Lingua franca: language widely used for practical reasons among speakers of
different (unintelligible) languages.
All of this is related to social, historical, economic, political and cultural factors, not
linguistic
Any dialect can become a standard language if there is appropriate socio-historical
and economic context-functions
Present-Day non-standard forms come from standard past forms and vice versa
Standard languages are not an entity, but an abstraction, ideological concept
2. Bad English: why does it still exist?

Social and geographical isolation: the access to standard is difficult

Covert prestige: individuals who participate in (at least) two different language
worlds (local, immediate and private//mainstream, broader community and public)
Identity: the distinguishing character or personality of an individual within a group;
symbol of cohesion and belonging and language as main index of an individual’s
identity. We codeswitch from one variety/community to other. Identity is something
that comes with brith, but also something that changes and that we create.
TOPIC 3: WHY IS ENGLISH THE LINGUA FRANCA OF THE
WORLD?

 Main features of English from origins
99%vocabulary of Germanic origin > 80%borrowings
synthetic, inflected > analytic
Linguistic & social mixing
Continental period
Celts
Romans
Scandinavians
Norman French
Central French
 Why English?

The mother–tongue use of a language is not enough to give it global status

It needs official functions:
government, law, media,
priority in educational system: 1st & 2nd L in schools
How did this happen? Two main reasons:
English was already well placed due to the colonial past > language of British
Empire, science and industrial revolution
Economic power (political, technological and cultural) of the USA
Different dispersals > colonies > languages: each colony is different (created
under different circumstances). We have three broad typologies:
17th century large-scale migrations:
- Establish permanent “settlement colonies” in new territories
- Pre-colonial population displaced
- From England, Scotland and Ireland to North America (1584, 1607 and
1620), Australia and New Zealand (1770 and 1852) and South Africa (1795)
17th century “trade colonies”:
- Set up forts and ports along West Africa, Asia, South Pacific coast
- Non-permanent
18th and 19th centuries “exploitation colonies”:
- Political control under territories to exploit natural materials (India, Nigeria)
- Pre-colonial population subjugated
- Small administrative elite educated in English
Linguistic consequences
Settlement colonies: imposition of colonizer’s L > new native varieties;
heterogeneous origins (regional, social, religious..)
Trade colonies: makeshift Ls, ‘New Englishes
Exploitation colonies: second L varieties. English taught through formal education
to administrative minority, elite. + indigenized varieties
 Models of English

Inner Circle (ENL)

Mother tongue of the majority
Default medium of communication in all actions
“Norm providing”
Outer Circle (ESL)
Result of British colonialism (Commonwealth)
Official, second status, additional L
People are bilingual: English does not displace indigenous languages. English is
used in specific functions (school, court, administration)
Expanding Circle (EFL)
Use directed to globalization, not colonialism
Status of Lingua Franca
“Norm Dependent”
Strenghts and limitations of the model
 Strenght: it brought Englishes into the picture; non-circle varieties where
legitimized
Limitations: it only looks at nation-level Englishes; circles are in constant change
(grey areas between inner-outer-expanding); does not account for reality
(diversity, hybridity, bilingualism); “inner” implies that native speakers are
more central, stronger in the spread of English, but NNS outnumber NS


 Who owns English today?

350-400 million (ENL)

350-400 million (ESL)
600 million - 1 billion (EFL)
In the Outer and Expanding circles, English is essentially learned to interact with
native speakers. English has become the main vehicle for interaction among
non-native speakers
The goal of learning and teaching English is to adopt the native models of English.
Matter of ideology, attitude, the concept of ‘native speaker’ is changing. In
Outer circle non-native Englishes have been institutionalised, indigenized
(‘norm developing’ teachers, writers…)
Native speakers, teachers and material developers of English provide a serious
input in the global teaching of English. Native speakers have an insignificant
role in the global spread and teaching of English today (materials..)
The diversity and variation of English is necessarily an indicator of linguistic
decay; restricting decay is the responsibility of native scholars of E and ESL
 programmes.
Indicator of
the reality &
future of English
In the Outer and
Expanding
circles, English is
essentially
learned
through
explicit
teaching
TOPIC 4:

EXPANDING CIRCLE (EURO ENGLISH)


 English as Lingua Franca in EU

18thc - French replaces Latin as Lingua Franca

End 18thc ’three-language-system’:
French (diplomacy, culture)
German (science, scholarship)
English (industry)
2nd half 19thc – English increases through industrial, technological power of US +
British scholarship
1st half 20thc – English continues to increase functions & status after WWI &
WWII
20thc – ELF military, economic power of US > culture, technology, science…
Linguistic legislation UE- English after Brexit?
Strong institutional commitment to multilingualism:
- No official working language
- 23 national Ls / 28 nations
- Translation & interpretation pros & cons
Real situation:
- English language de facto – pivot language?
- Multilingualism de jure in public fora (European Parliament, Council of
Ministers, Committees..)
- English informal meetings, corridors, cafés…
The more nations joiningEU>the more official languages > the more English is
used
Position of English as pivot Language is very strong:
95% Commission drafters write in English (only13% mother tongue)
54% of Commission drafters rarely have docs checked by native speakers
(Musmeci & Foti 2014)
Almost no native speakers involved > ‘off-shore’ variety not controlled by NS
 Some definitions
 

Functions/domains
TOPIC 5: ENGLISH IN THE BRITISH ISLES (LINGUISTIC
DIVERSITY)
1. Introduction
The label ‘British English’ fails to account for enormous linguistic heterogeneity in
British Isles:

over 100 geographical samples (British Library archive)

sociolinguistic diversity - London
Cockney (working class)
RP (upper class)
Estuary English (middle class)
urban conglomerates:
Scouse (Liverpool)
Geordie (Newcastle)
 London Jamaican
gender, age, style, new modes, ethnic, occupational,…
Why such linguistic
diversity?

history of its peoples, whose

Ls have left their stamp
on SE and regional dialects
Celts, Romans,
Germanic tribes,
Scandinavians,
Normans...

borrowings from many Ls

Dutch/Low German, High
German, Spanish,
Portuguese, Italian,
Yiddish, Hindi, Africaans, ..

large-scale immigration form

the Caribbean and
South Asia > new
creoles (London
Jamaican)
history of merging,
hybridity, creolization
1. Linguistic variety:
indigenous languages
10 indigenous languages spoken today in the BI: English, Scots, Welsh, Gaelic, Irish,
Cornish, Manx, Angloromani, Shelta, British Sign Language
1. Linguistic map of the British Isles
Phonology, grammar & lexicon of traditional dialects show division north & south of
the river Humber
Clear historical background: Danelaw (placenames: -by,-berg, - breck, -clihh, -dale, -
ham, housa, ..)
Dialect areas not fixed, discrete, but continuum
Variety exists within communities & also within individuals (idiolects - contexts)
Model used to describe other varieties in British Isles: ‘unmarked’, ‘default’ Standard
English English (SEE)
SEE (written) can be pronounced with localised accents. SEE is often (in EFL
teaching) linked to RP, which has a southern bias, but is more social than regional
RP, like all other accents is not static, but always changing, and today influenced
by nearby dialects: Cockney & Estuary E,...
1. Main regional accent differences
/ʌ/ - /ʊ/: putt-put, cud-could
- homophone pairs in North, Midlands, some accents of Ireland all rhyme
Wales, Scotland, Southern English accents
/a/ - /ɑ:/: pat-path, lap-laugh
1. pat, bad, cap, can, gas, land,..
2. path, laugh, grass
3. dance, grant, demand
4. part, bar, cart
5. half, palm, banana, can’t
South-East & RP: /a/ - 1; /a:/ - 2 to 5
North & Midlands: /a/ - 1, 2, 3; /ɑː/ - 4 , 5
/ɹ/:
• Pronounced before vowel in all accents (rat, trap, carry)
• Post vocalic /ɹ/: (bar, bark, firm, butter)
- RP (Australia, New Zealand,
South Africa, West Africa, New York, New England, Caribbean, ....)
Scottish & Irish accents (North American)
Final /ɪ/ - /i:/: city, money, coffee, me, he, we
/ɪ/ most Northern England
/i:/ Southern England
/h/ dropping in most regional dialects & urban accents of England and Wales (art-
heart, arm-harm), except for RP
/ŋ/ -ing > /n/ in most non RP speakers of English, especially in informal
styles
1. Spread of English in the British Isles
Minority language: not languages spoken by small number of people, but
‘subordinated to a dominant one’. Tolerated languages, 2nd languages/additional
languages (learnt by middle class, universities), … Survived in small rural areas as
vernaculars
English vs. minority languages: English as a language of authority & high social
status, social aspiration, economic advancement (useful & effective but impersonal
& cold) vs. minority languages which are related to the everyday, the familiar
feeling, etc (warmth, sincerity & dignity)
History: Aggression & expansionism since Norman times (1066), (colonization): 12thc
buttressed Wales with castles & reached Ireland; 13thc Welsh finally defeated &
Ireland became a colony; 18thc English dominated Scotland. Not oral vernaculars:
Wales, Ireland & Scotland languages as developed as English by Middle Ages
(literature, legal functions, ..)
How?: Early plantations (‘foundations’) of English settlers in Ireland & Wales: land
was confiscated & resources plundered > English was imposed (superstratum).
Administration, education, law (from Tudors 16thc >) + 1870 ‘Anglocentric
universal primary education. Students punished for using minority languages,
judged inarticulate, sons of Irish, Welsh & Scottish nobility were ‘weaned’,
educated in England
Consequences: breaking of local prose tradition by using English in law,
administration. Minority Languages were reduced to local folk practises. Breaking
of cultural & linguistic links between Celtic speakers > unintelligibility > death.
Loss of sense of historicity, cultural community, identity. Minority communities are
forced to move into centres of economic development > depopulation (migration
to English speaking areas). Psychological consequences, people are ashamed of
their origins, language, identity, .. Until 20thc when these Languages are promoted
again
How to promote minority languages: teaching them as second language & medium
courses (Basque, Galician, Catalan vs. Chinese, German, French, English..).
Maintaining them as community languages. Giving them wider functions (mass
media, TV, press, Internet, social media..). Language Societies: Scots Language
Centre, Welsh Language Society, Gaelic Language Plan, …
TOPIC 6. ENGLISH IN AMERICA
1. Introducing AE
Inner-Circle variety, one of two major reference accents of English in world
Greatest number of L1 users: 240 mil (75%) / 331,4 mil inhabitants (2021) / 337 Ls:
Hispanic varieties (12.5%)
African AmE (12.3%)
Asian varieties (4%)
Indigenous Ls (1%): Navajo, Yup’ik, Dakota, Western, Apache, Keres, Cherokee,
Central Alaskan, ..
AmE first of BE’s colonial offspring
 Same process of linguistic & cultural ‘appropriation’ & imposition as other
postcolonial-outer-circle varieties (Australia, New Zealand, & South Africa):
plantation, weaning children..
Inhabited 10.000 years before the arrival of the Europeans
1492 (10mil) > 2020 (2.6mil) native Americans
Place names (Kalamazoo ’boilingpot’, Mississippi ’the father of the waters’,
Tennessee ‘winding river’...) + many lexical borrowings (moccasin, hickory..)
1. Dialectal history
Nature & varieties of E in North America = product of historical settlements
Heterogeneity:
characterized by continuous process of mixing & blending of people and languages
from British Isles & European cultures (17th-19thcs) + Europe, Asia , South &
Central America (20thc) + worldwide today
Irish, Scots, German, Scandinavian,...Italians, Asians, South-Central Americans,...)
> pidginization effects
By 1848 linguistic map similar to today
Migrations within the USA have a ‘band-like’ character > dialect areas run
horizontally as original settlers moved westwards
1. Regional varieties
3-fold distinction: North, Midland & South
AmE highly heterogeneous at regional, social & ethnic levels. East shows richest
regional variety
Inland-Northern region (western New England to Great Lakes) closest to ‘unmarked’
accent or ‘typical American accent’
The North (New England)

New England, New York, Hudson Valley area

(formerly) prestigious variety, still closest to BEng
non-rhotic (‘colonial lag’)
low ‘Boston’ [a] bath, glass, aunt (a: / æ)
New York a dialect region in its own right (51% speak only English; 49% Ls spanning
the whole world)
800 Queens, more languages than anywhere in world
The South

Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, N & S Carolina, Georgia, Gulf States (Florida, Alabama,
Mississippi, Louisiana, eastern Texas
most distinctive American accent, strong regional identity, stigmatized
southern drawl: lengthening & breaking of vowels (diphthongization): have /aӘ/;
bed /ɪə/; fancy /ea/
non-rhotic (now recessive)
monophthongization /ai/ > /a:/ time, all right
second person plural: y’all
double modals: might could
ing > in; t > d(lidle)…..
1. Social and ethnic dialects
regional accents carry less stigma than social
social & ethnic stigma go together: multiplenegation, ain’t, no copula verbs, specific
vocabulary, …
immigration still shapes linguistic map: many pidginization/creolization situations in
USA today (AAE, Spanglish, Chinglish,…)
1. British/American (lexical differences)
 1. Same word, different meaning
 2. Same word, common + additional meaning in one variety
 3. Same word, difference in style, connotation, frequency
 4. Same concept, different word
 TOPIC 7. PIDGINS AND CREOLES
1. Definitions
“A pidgin is a language with no native speakers; it is no one’s first L but is a contact
language. That is, it is the product of a multilingual situation in which those who
wish to communicate must find or improve a simple language system that will
enable them to do so.
“In contrast to a pidgin, a creole is often defined as a pidgin that has become the
first language of a new generation of speakers ... A creole, therefore, is a ‘normal’
language in almost every sense”
A pidgin arises to fulfil specific communicative needs between people who do not
share a common language..... usually as a result of European expansion into Africa
and Asia during colonial period (XV - XX), …. in which contact between speakers of
‘dominant’ European Ls & speakers of mutually unintelligible indigenous Ls takes
place
1. The difference
In the earlier stages of contact, communication, pidgins are restricted to basic
transactions: small vocabulary & little need for grammatical redundancy
As the creole arises (mother-tongue), communicative needs increase: vocabulary
expands & grammar increases complexity
Difference: matter of functions not linguistic features
1. Origins (theories)
Independent parallel development theory: pidgins & creoles arose and developed
independently, but developed in similar ways because they shared a common
ancestor (European Ls) + West African Ls. + Formed in similar social conditions
Theory of monogenesis: all pidgins derive from one proto-pidgin, a Portuguese pidgin
used in the world’s trade routes during XV & XVI cs. From Sabir, which
incorporated the lexis of the proto- pidgin (savi/sabi < saber; pikin/pikinini <
pequeno)
Baby-talk theory: similarities between early child speech and early stages of pidgins
(great number of content words, lack of structural words, lack of morphological
markers, ..). > Imperfect learning which is petrified when speakers are no longer in
contact with base language
A synthesis: there are universal patterns of behaviour in all contact situations which
account for pidgins, L1 & L2 learning, language change processes, etc.
1. Life-cycle
Three types of English colonies:
Substantial settlement by L1 speakers of English ‘displaced’ the precolonial
population
Sparser colonial settlements maintained the precolonial population in subjection &
allowed a proportion of them access to English as SL or additional Language
Precolonial population was replaced by new labour from elsewhere
English: From Foreign Language > Second Language > Foreign Language
5 stages: transportation > indigenization > expansion of functions >
institutionalization of new variety > replacement by new variety > transportation
>…..
English is transported: After colonial settlements, English becomes the dominant
Language of colonial administration (locals have to learn it)
English is indigenize: English becomes distinct from ‘parent’ imported variety
(SE). First, locals adopt native-like discourse features & communicative norms
(follow norm); they use English with Native speakers (classroom, job..). Next,
native members of the local colonial elite use English for communication
among themselves, NN speakers, as the lingua franca & there is transfer from
English into the native Languages & vice versa
Expansion in use and function: English extends from FL to SL (new domains:
colonial administration, education, the media, government services, .., > whole
population). English is used as a ‘neutral’, social leveller in a highly multilingual
context
 Institutionalization of new variety: New non-native variety becomes
institutionalized (University & Secondary School curricula). English education is
assumed by non-native teachers, speaking and teaching in new variety,
teaching materials, .. TV and radio handled by local people
Restriction of the use and functions for new English: As newly independent
nations need new independent languages > SE is displaced by the new local
official variety. Education, media, literature, religion... all functions now in new
indigenized English
Transportation: New official Language can be replaced by an external variety of
English to start life circle again (Malaysia, Singapore). Creoles change: in the
direction of standard language: decreolization; recreolized back towards the
creole (London Jamaican English/Street Talk; AAE)
TOPIC 8. SOCIAL, GENDER AND AGE VARIETIES
1. Social class and variation
2. Gender and variation
All speakers use more NS forms in informal contexts
Linguistic stereotypes linked to social stereotypes & vice versa (pitch, intonation
patterns, phonemes, pronunciations, words, syntax, gestures ...???) > gender is
construed, not innate
Different conversational styles?
Women speak a language of connection and intimacy
Men speak a language of status and independence
Their communication can be like cross-cultural communication > create
communicative problems & breakdowns
Some features of women’s talk: A large set of words specific to their interest
(colour terms); Empty adjectives (cute, nice, lovely, divine); Tag questions and
high rising intonation in statement contexts (state a claim, but ask for
reassurance, confirmation); Use of quotatives (It’s like, say, ..); Use of hedges (I
mean, you know, actually, sincerely ..); Use of intensifiers (so, very, really, …);
Hypercorrect grammar (women are not supposed to be rough – ‘conscious
changes’); Super-politeness strategies; Ask more questions / statements …;
Weaker expletives (jopé..)
1. Age and variation
Adolescent peer groups exert great pressure on each other > less susceptible to
social norms
Middle-aged more interested in improving status
Social class, gender & age interact in language choices of adolescents
1. Social class, gender and age interactions

2. Social networks
linguistic & social identity is dynamic
we belong to specific age, gender & social group, but as individuals we do not
display consistent speech patterns in all interactions, not even during day
we have variety of social networks (family, colleagues at work friends, fellow
students, member of clubs, organizations,…)
1. The logic of non-standard English
Labov:

dangerous theory diverts attention from ‘educational system’ to ‘family’

educational failure not related to social class but to children belonging to ‘urban
ghetto’, a ‘vernacular street culture & language’
Larry - Charles study
COMO HACER EL ANALISIS
Phonology:

- Vowel length. Are long & short vowels clearly

distinguished?

- Diphthongization and monophthongization.

- Realization of final consonants.

- Realization of fricatives in initial and interdental

(medial) position.

Lexis:

- Look for any words, particles which do not exist in SE.

- Words that exist in SE but with a different meaning

or use.

Grammar:

- Verbs: existence of copula verb, different

morphosyntactic forms? Levelling/simplification of
morphology?

- Nouns: differences in form and use of plurality with

SE?