Global English

11 Key excerpts on "Global English"

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  Handbook of Language and Communication: Diversity and Change

  • Marlis Hellinger, Anne Pauwels, Marlis Hellinger, Anne Pauwels(Authors)
  • 2008(Publication Date)
  • De Gruyter Mouton

    (Publisher)

  Linguistic imperialism? English as a global language 333 11. Linguistic imperialism? English as a global language Andy Kirkpatrick 1. Introduction It is impossible to make an accurate assessment of the number of people who use English in today’s world. It is possible to say, however, that English is spoken in more countries than any other language and that it is used more often internationally and in more domains than any other. It is impossible to know with any accuracy the relative levels of proficiency in English that people use when they are communicating in English. “No inter-national language can be applied to the question of who counts as a speaker of English” (Görlach 2002: 5). It is possible to say, however, that there are more users of English who have learned it as a second or foreign language than those who have learned it as a first language. Rather than being a global language, therefore, English is the global language, used nationally and internationally by more people in more domains than any other language. In this chapter, I will first briefly outline the way English developed and spread as a language within England and illustrate that variation and change are both normal features of language development, as this can provide a source of comparison with the way that Englishes have developed and spread elsewhere. Linguistic variation and change tend to result from comparable stimuli, but the effect of English upon local languages depends very much on context. I shall then discuss the models and theories that have been presented to account for the current international and global spread of English. This discussion will include the national and international use of English and highlight the fact that new var-ieties of English have developed in many countries. I will then consider the im-plications for English language teaching of the existence of so many varieties of English.

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  Global Englishes for Language Teaching

  • Heath Rose, Nicola Galloway(Authors)
  • 2019(Publication Date)
  • Cambridge University Press

    (Publisher)

  In this book, we posit Global Englishes as an umbrella term to unite the shared endeavours of these interrelated fields of study in sociolinguistics and applied linguistics. We use it to consolidate research in World Englishes, English as a lingua franca and English as an international language, while drawing on scholarship from translanguaging and multilingualism in second language acquisition. Thus, we define Global Englishes as an inclusive paradigm that embraces a broad spectrum of inter- related research that has come before it and emerged alongside it. Thus, to fully understand Global Englishes, one needs to examine more closely the inter- related fields of World Englishes, English as a lingua franca, English as an international language and translanguaging. World Englishes World Englishes as a discipline began as both a linguistic and a sociolinguistic school of study in the 1970s and 1980s, largely informed by the theoretical work of Braj J. Kachru and Larry Smith. It was primarily concerned with recording and codifying linguistic variation in English, with special interest in the Englishes of former British colonies. The oft-cited model of World Englishes is Kachru’ s (1992) groundbreaking Three Circle model, consisting of the Inner Circle, Outer Circle and Expanding Circle. The Inner Circle includes countries where English serves as a first language and spread to the country as a direct result of English-speaking colonisation and migration. Illustrative Inner Circle countries include the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the United States. Although it is an additional language for many speakers in these countries from other linguistic backgrounds, the predominant official language is English. The Outer Circle includes countries of the former British Empire where English operates pre- dominantly as a second language alongside other national languages (although 6 Introducing Global Englishes for Language Teaching

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  Language, Society and Power

  An Introduction

  • Annabelle Mooney, Betsy Evans(Authors)
  • 2018(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  Chapter 10Global Englishes

  10.1 INTRODUCTION 10.2 WHAT DOES Global English MEAN? 10.3 LEARNING ENGLISH 10.4 INSIDE THE INNER CIRCLE 10.5 ‘SINGLISH’ 10.6 INDIAN ENGLISH 10.7 PIDGINS AND CREOLES 10.8 LINGUISTIC MARKETPLACE 10.9 LINGUISTIC IMPERIALISM 10.10 WHAT DO LANGUAGE VARIETIES MEAN IN THE GLOBAL CONTEXT? 10.11 SUMMARY

  10.1 Introduction

  This chapter explores language and power by considering the use of Englishes around the world. It is important to note that we use the term in the plural form (English es , not English). While there have been some efforts to identify a single variety of English which would be known as ‘Global English’ that is capable of functioning as an international ‘lingua franca ’, linguists don’t believe there is one variety of English that could or should be labelled as ‘Global English’. There are, nevertheless, strong opinions among non-linguists about which variety of English used around the world should be called ‘Global English’ or a ‘lingua franca’. This chapter explores what different perceptions of Global English means and how society negotiates these ideologies.

  We begin by considering how Global English might be defined and the issues and ideologies that play a role in that definition. Different models for describing the multiple Englishes around the world are explored and the ramifications of these models, especially with regard to teaching and learning are considered. Examples of UK, Singlish and Indian English are presented to illustrate differences that exist among them. We then explore how different varieties of English play a role in social capital in the global linguistic marketplace, and perspectives on the position of English as a global language as active linguistic imperialism

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  The SAGE Handbook of Sociolinguistics

  • Ruth Wodak, Barbara Johnstone, Paul E Kerswill, Ruth Wodak, Barbara Johnstone, Paul E Kerswill(Authors)
  • 2010(Publication Date)
  • SAGE Publications Ltd

    (Publisher)

  Global Englishes A l a s t a i r P e n n y c o o k 34 34.1 INTRODUCTION It is not hard to make a case that English is inti-mately involved with processes of globalization. From its wide use in many domains across the world, or the massive efforts in both state and private educational sectors to provide access to the language, to its role in global media, international forums, business, finance, politics and diplomacy, it is evident not only that English is widely used across the globe but also that it is part of those processes we call globalization. What this means for English, other languages and cultures, and processes of global change, however, is much harder to determine. Much work over the past 20 years has been done under the label of world Englishes (WE), a term that has been employed with various meanings (Bolton, 2004). It may be used as an umbrella term to cover all varieties of English across the world (analysed from a diversity of perspectives), to refer more narrowly to new varieties of English that have developed, particularly in former British colonies, or more narrowly again to the particular framework devel-oped by Braj Kachru and his colleagues to analyse such Englishes. The focus of this chapter is considerably broader than this world Englishes focus: it looks critically not only at this Kachruvian school but also at linguistic imperialism and English as a lingua franca (ELF). Most important, it does so within a focus on globalization (hence Global Englishes). In order to address such concerns, it is important first of all to establish what is meant by globalization. As with all socio-linguistic ques-tions, mapping relations between language and society depends not only on robust understandings of language but also on strong conceptualizations of the social. I therefore sketch out some of the major concerns around globalization in an attempt to clarify what is at stake when we con-sider English globally.

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  Language in Context in TESOL

  • Joan Cutting(Author)
  • 2014(Publication Date)
  • EUP

    (Publisher)

  35 3 Global EnglishES Nicola Galloway and Eleni Mariou INTRODUCTION The English language no longer has traditional assumed linguistic boundaries: it is used by speakers all over the world from diverse lingua-cultural backgrounds. This unprecedented diversification of the language on a global scale makes English unlike other lingua francas. This chapter sets the scene of English in the world. It begins with a look at the spread of English and the way that people from different parts of the globe use English in a wide variety of settings. It explores how English is used by people from different linguistic and cultural backgrounds. A large number of terms have been used to describe the worldwide spread of English including ‘English as a Global Language’ (Crystal 2003), ‘English as a World Language’ (Mair 2003), ‘International English’ (McKay 2002), ‘Global English’ (Crystal 2003), ‘English as a Medium of Intercultural Communication’ (Meierkord 1996) and ‘English as an International Language’ (Holliday 2005; Sharifian 2009; Alsagoff et al. 2012). This volume uses the term World Englishes (WE) and the English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) research paradigm, which form part of a larger research paradigm, Global Englishes (GE). The volume defines GE as a research paradigm and a theoretical approach for exploring the worldwide spread of English, and the way that English is now used by people from different language backgrounds for a wide range of purposes and in a wide range of contexts. GE is an inclusive paradigm that incorporates WE and ELF and, therefore, the English spoken in the Inner Circle, Outer Circle and Expanding Circle, as well as the use of English between and across these ‘circles’ (see Section 3.1 for an explanation of these terms). The GE approach also involves practice, and emphasises the relevance of WE and ELF to ELT. In this chapter you are introduced to the pedagogical implications of such research for English Language Teaching (ELT).

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  Language, Society and Power

  An Introduction

  • Annabelle Mooney, Betsy Evans(Authors)
  • 2023(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  CHAPTER 10 Global Englishes

  DOI: 10.4324/9781003120957-10

  CONTENTS

  10.1 INTRODUCTION

  10.2 WHAT DOES Global English MEAN?

  10.3 LEARNING ENGLISH

  10.4 ‘SINGLISH’

  10.5 INDIAN ENGLISH

  10.6 LINGUISTIC MARKETPLACE

  10.7 LINGUISTIC IMPERIALISM

  10.8 WHAT DO LANGUAGE VARIETIES MEAN IN THE GLOBAL CONTEXT?

  10.9 SUMMARY

  10.1 INTRODUCTION

  This chapter explores language and power by considering the use of Englishes around the world. It is important to note that we use the term in the plural form (Englishes, not English). While there have been some efforts to identify a single variety of English capable of functioning as an international ‘lingua franca’, which would be known as ‘Global English’, linguists don’t believe there is one variety of English that could or should be labelled ‘Global English’. This chapter explores what different perceptions of ‘Global English’ mean and how society negotiates these ideologies.

  We begin by considering how Global English might be defined and the issues and ideologies that play a role in that definition. Different models for describing the multiple Englishes around the world are explored, and the ramifications of these models, especially with regard to teaching and learning, are considered. Examples of UK, Singlish, and Indian English are presented to illustrate the differences among them. We then explore how different varieties of English play a role in symbolic capital in the global linguistic marketplace, and perspectives on the position of English as a global language as active linguistic imperialism are presented. Finally, we consider variation and subjectivity in the meaning of English by considering English as it is used in linguistic landscapes around the world.

  10.2 WHAT DOES Global English MEAN?

  In the first chapter of this book, we examined the question ‘What is language?’ To that end, we considered how language is a structured system that speakers inherently understand and learn along with linguistic and communicative competence. We also raised the topic of politics and power in relation to how languages are defined. That is, whether a variety counts as a ‘language’ rather than simply a variety of another language is more a question of power and other ideologies than it is a question of linguistic structure or fact. These are key issues to keep in mind as we consider Global Englishes.

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  Language Ideologies in the Chinese Context

  Orientations to English as a Lingua Franca

  • Ying Wang(Author)
  • 2020(Publication Date)
  • De Gruyter Mouton

    (Publisher)

  https://doi.org/10.1515/9781501503702-002 2 China and the globalisation of English 2.1 The globalisation of English The term “globalisation” is often visible in the literature on the research of English. On the one hand, English is a principal language that enables and enhances glo-balisation due to its transactional function as a medium of international commu-nication. On the other hand, researchers tend to seek inspirations from the social studies of globalisation, which has yielded fruitful results, to understand English as a global phenomenon. In general, the term “the globalisation of English” is used in three ways in studies of the English language. First, the term is a met-aphor of the spread of English around the world, encapsulating the situation, process and outcomes of the spread. Second, the term provides a framework of local users’ responses to the global spread of English. Third, the term aligns with Blommaert’s (2010) notion of the sociolinguistics of globalisation to foreground the blurring boundary around English. What follows will take up each of the meanings and discuss different approaches to English to identify an appropriate approach to English in relation to China. 2.1.1 The spread of English The globalisation of English is used as a metaphor to describe English as a global phenomenon. As evident in Murray’s (2006) discussion, the globali-sation of English is used to describe the spread of English and its outcomes, which include linguistic imperialism and the diffusion of English varieties. She suggests three interpretations of the globalisation of English. In the first place, “it can refer to the increasing intrusion of the English language into the lives of town and city dwellers all over the world” (Murray 2006: 204). This interpretation resonates with Phillipson’s (1992) criticism of linguistic imperialism and shows a concern for multilingualism. In Murray’s (2006: 204) words, this – i.e. “the increasing intrusion” – is “worrying”.

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  Language Across Boundaries

  • Anne Ife, Janet Cotterill(Authors)
  • 2005(Publication Date)
  • Continuum

    (Publisher)

  5 Global Politics and the Englishes of the World T. RUANNI F. TUPAS National University of Singapore Introduction Studies on world Englishes are usually based on the following assumptions: • The phenomenal spread of English, which was carried mainly through globalisation, has resulted in the diffusion of the language. • Such diffusion has produced different Englishes through sociolinguistic processes usually referred to as nativisation, hybridisation, localisation, acculturation and/or indigenisation. • Such processes are part of the whole project of decolonisation among formerly colonised countries where 'owning' English or appropriating it according to their own needs and aspirations is one of the manifesta-tions of independence or self-determination. • Such post-colonial Englishes have been a legitimate medium through which various significations of nationalism, resistance, and local histo-ries and cultures, have been voiced. • Legitimised and institutionalised Englishes are, linguistically and socio-Imguistically, all equal with erstwhile 'old' varieties of English, such as American English and British English. The purpose of this paper is mainly to show that these assumptions are prob-lematic and need examination. Most studies on world Englishes rarely take up issues that concern much of the world. Scholars locate their studies in abstract apolitical and ahistorical contexts which are far from the complex and lived experiences of both speakers and non-speakers of such Englishes. With such studies, we will discuss how scholars celebrate these 'Englishes' but fail to confront the challenges of 'the world'.

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  English and Spanish

  World Languages in Interaction

  • Danae Perez, Marianne Hundt, Johannes Kabatek, Daniel Schreier(Authors)
  • 2021(Publication Date)
  • Cambridge University Press

    (Publisher)

  2 The Emergence of Global Languages Why English? Edgar W. Schneider 2.1 English Globalized: Some Baseline Facts It is a rather trivial truism to state that English is the leading global language today, by far. This is not a statement which should result in a triumphalist attitude, and it is a fact which clearly also meets with some opposition, predominantly on the side of so-called ‘critical’ linguists (e.g. Phillipson 1992). However, whether this is perceived as desirable or not, despite some efforts to the contrary and the need to recognize the importance of cultural and linguistic diversity, the pull toward English in many regions and contexts simply cannot be denied. This fact can be documented by various aspects, including speaker numbers, regional distribution patterns, and functional expansions of English, such as its default role as a lingua franca in trans- national and intercultural contacts or its leading role in various cultural domains such as cyberspace, media, etc. An obvious initial question is the one for speaker numbers: How many speakers of English are there around the globe today? For reasons to be discussed in a moment, this is actually a more complex question than one would expect at first sight. The most recent reasonable estimate suggests remarkably high figures: Crystal (2008) assumes that by now there are up to 2 billion speakers of English, divided into roughly 370 million native speakers, ca. 500 to 600 million second-language speakers in countries in which English functions as an important second language internally (ESL), and somewhere between 600 million and 1 billion of foreign language speakers in various countries (see also Mair, this volume). What is perhaps even more interesting and suggestive of the ongoing dynamics are two additional points which Crystal (2008) emphasizes.

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  Global Englishes in Asian Contexts

  Current and Future Debates

  • K. Murata, J. Jenkins, K. Murata, J. Jenkins(Authors)
  • 2009(Publication Date)
  • Palgrave Macmillan

    (Publisher)

  1 Introduction: Global Englishes from Global Perspectives Kumiko Murata and Jennifer Jenkins 1 The spread of English and its influence are unprecedented compared with other languages in that the diffusion is far-reaching globally. This volume explores the spread of English in the world or Global Englishes, and English as a lingua franca (ELF), also known as English as an inter- national language (EIL) from varying perspectives, focusing specifically, but not exclusively, on Asian Englishes as used in their local contexts. The volume is unique mainly in two accounts: first, its overarching theme seen, in particular, from Asian perspectives; and second, its divergent contributors across languages and cultures mostly from Asia but also from other parts of the world. Although there are now a num- ber of books which specifically focus on Englishes in Asian contexts, a volume which satisfies both of the above-mentioned points is a rarity. The book, accordingly, is of multi-perspective, and offers an invalu- able opportunity for language practitioners, scholars and students with differing perspectives and points of view on this issue to exchange opin- ions, participating in the discussions directly or indirectly, reflecting on differing views and contributing to enrich and deepen the discus- sions in the field. But first, we shall elaborate on these two perspectives in more detail. The use of English in Asian contexts We first need to discuss what is meant by ‘Asia’; the concept of Asia is ever-expanding, as Pennycook (this volume) points out, so that it some- times includes the countries of the Middle East, and even Australia and New Zealand (see also Y. Kachru and Nelson 2006). Even if we limit the region to the traditional, geographical Asian countries, it includes East Asia, which consists of countries such as China, Korea and Japan, and

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  Global Englishes

  A Resource Book for Students

  • Jennifer Jenkins(Author)
  • 2014(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  spread as a virtual language … When we talk about the spread of English, then, it is not that the conventionally coded forms and meanings are transmitted into different environments and different surroundings, and taken up and used by different groups of people. It is not a matter of the actual language being distributed but of the virtual language being spread and in the process being variously actualized. The distribution of the actual language implies adoption and conformity. The spread of virtual language implies adaptation and nonconformity. The two processes are quite different.

  (Widdowson 1997: 139–140; his italics)

  In this new paradigm in which English spreads and adapts according to the linguistic and cultural preferences of its users in the outer and expanding circles, many traditional assumptions about the language will no longer hold. The point is that if English is genuinely to become the language of ‘others’, then these ‘others’ have to be accorded – or perhaps more likely, accord themselves – at least the same English language rights as those claimed by mother tongue speakers. And this includes the right to innovate without every difference from a standard native variety of English automatically being labelled ‘wrong’. This is by definition what it means for a language to be international – that it spreads and becomes a global lingua franca for the benefit of all, rather than being distributed to facilitate communication with the natives. It remains to be seen whether such a paradigm shift does in fact take place.

  The language(s) of ‘others’ as world language(s)

  The other potential shift in the linguistic centre of gravity is that English could lose its international role altogether or, at best, come to share it with a number of equals. Although this would not happen purely or even mainly as a result of native speaker resistance to the spread of non-native speaker Englishes and the consequent abandoning of English by large numbers of non-native speakers, the latter could undoubtedly play a part. Because the alternatives to English as a world language are covered in detail in the first reading in D8

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