World Englishes

Unit 6 (AF)

Asian Englishes in the

Outer and Expanding
Circles

The British first arrived in India in the early 1600s

and soon established trading posts in a number of
English
Indian
Subcontinent
cities underin
thethe
control
of The East
India Company.
Origins
Historyinfluence had grown to such
By 1765 and
the Companys
an extent that the British were effectively controlling
most parts of the country.
This date is often taken as the start of what is
referred to as The Raj a period of British rule in
India that lasted until Independence in 1947.

English in the Indian Subcontinent

Origins and History

A large number of Christian schools imparting an English

education were set up by the early 1800's.
The earliest English language policy for India was
enshrined in Macaulays famous Minute (2 Feb.1835)

We must at present do our best to form a class who may be interpreters

between us and the millions whom we govern, --a class of persons
Indian in blood and colour, but English in tastes, in opinions, in morals
and in intellect. To that class we may leave it to refine the vernacular
dialects of the country, to enrich those dialects with terms of science
borrowed from the Western nomenclature, and to render them by
degrees fit vehicles for conveying knowledge to the great mass of the
population.

Macaulays Attitude toward Indian

Languages and Educational Policy
I have no knowledge of either Sanscrit or Arabic. But I have
done what I could to form a correct estimate of their value. I
have read translations of the most celebrated Arabic and
Sanscrit works. I have conversed, both here and at home, with
men distinguished by their proficiency in the Eastern tongues. I
am quite ready to take the oriental learning at the valuation of
the orientalists themselves. I have never found one among
them who could deny that a single shelf of a good European
library was worth the whole native literature of India and
Arabia. The intrinsic superiority of the Western literature is
indeed fully admitted by those members of the committee who
support the oriental plan of education.

English in 20th Century India

English had become the official and academic language of India by

the early twentieth century. English was increasingly accepted as the
language of government, of the social elite, and of the national press.
In 1947 India became an independent nation state. English was
supposed to be gradually replaced by Hindi as the language of
administration. But, in a country with hundreds of languages, it was
difficult to choose a single national language, as mother tongue
speakers of that language would automatically enjoy greater social
status and have easier access to positions of power and influence . So,
although English was not an indigenous language, it became an
Associate Language, alongside Hindi, the Official Language of the
Union of India and eighteen 'National Languages', such as Bengali,
Gujurati and Urdu, that have a special status in certain individual
states.

English in India today

Despite continued pressure from nationalists, English

remains at the heart of Indian society. It is widely used in
the media, in Higher Education and government and
therefore remains a common means of communication,
both among the ruling classes, and between speakers of
mutually unintelligible languages.
Role of English as a neutral language of wider
communication.
Despite being a three percent minority, the English
speaking population in India is quite large: that three
percent puts India among the top four countries in the
world with the highest number of English speakers .

Indian English
It

is a linguistic variety with its own grammatical,

lexical, phonological and discoursal norms.
It has developed its own varietal characteristics
through the interaction of Indian languages and
social behaviours with those of English.
The Indianisation of English involves
adaptations of existing features of British English
and the use of transferred mother-tongue items
where British English is deficient.

Indian English: Phonology

V~W merger: many speakers do not differentiate

between the sounds <v> and <w>.
TH-stopping: they sometimes replace <th> in words like
think and this with a <t> and <d> sound, as no Indian
languages contain these consonants.
Rhoticity: the <r> sound is pronounced after a vowel in
words like hard, corn and nurse .
Unaspirated <p>: there is no release of air when <p>
precedes a vowel in words like pin and pot

Indian English: Grammar

Under the influence of traditional Hindi grammar, speakers often use

progressive tenses in statements, such as I am believing you or she
is liking music.
Zero article: the indefinite article, a or an, or the definite article, the,
are often omitted.
Zero past tense marker: verbs are left unmarked for tense, although
other signals (adverbs of time, such as yesterday, last week etc.)
often give linguistic clues about the timing of an event.
Declarative word order in interrogative construction: normal subject
+ verb word order is retained in statements using the question words
who, what, when, where, why, how etc. .
Plural uncount nouns: litters, luggages, furnitures, woods .

Indian English: Lexis

Code-switching: the occasional or even frequent use of a Hindi (or

Urdu, Punjabi, Gujurati etc.) word or expression within an English
sentence can communicate a great sense of shared identity or
solidarity with other speakers.
Extensive compound formation: English-speaking classes, cousinbrother / cousin-sister, chalk-piece, key-bunch, meeting notice, age
barred, pindrop silence, time-pass.
Shortening of words: enthu for enthusiastic/enthusiasm or fundas for
fundamentals
Acronyms: MCP = Male Chauvinist Pig - FOC = Free Of Charge
MPK = Maine Pyar Kiya (a popular movie)
ILU = I Love You (from a song; pronounced ee-lu)
ABCD = American Born Confused Deshi (native of India)
FOB = Fresh Off the Boat

Indian English: Usage

Whats your good name?

Dear sir, with reference to your above see my below - popular
opening line in official letters.
Pritam Singh has left for his heavenly above - a death notice.
Hue and Cry notice - title of police missing person newspaper
advertisement.
She freaked out last night - she had a good time.
Kindly please advise me.
Thank youji, Doctor Sahib.
Namaste, how are you?
"Will you take tea?
To give a test

English in China
History

1637: first contact between English speakers and Chinese when British
expeditionary mission arrives in Macau and Canton.
A century later, Chinese Pidgin English develops as a lingua franca
between natives and foreigners on the coast of South China.
Growth and diffusion of CPE enhanced by its extensive usability.
1862 : Treaty of Tientsin opens many other places to Western interests.
Western missionaries establish schools, where either English is formally
taught or adopted as a medium of instruction.
1949: establishment of the Peoples Republic of China. English
disappears from the school curriculum and Russian becomes the main
foreign language.
After the collapse of the Cultural Revolution (196676), English recovers
its importance and popularity as the country shifts to modernization and
economic development.

English in China today

A primary school English textbook adopted in Tientsin starts with this preface:
English is usually used at international settings, and it is also a tool to grasp
advanced scientific and technological information. In accordance with our countrys
reform and open-door policies, it is essential that we learn English properly.
English is recognized as an indispensable language for international exchange and
better-paid employment.
English is a very important subject at all levels of formal education. TV and radio
stations popularize ELT programs across the country.
The national College English Test (CET) promotes English language learning at the
tertiary level. The certificate of CET Band 4/6 has attained such a high social value
that a majority of universities adopt the policy of no CET 4/ 6 certificate, no
graduation diploma, with the result that 6 million students take the tests annually.
English-language training in China is an industry worth around 15 billion yuan a
year, or about 1.3bn, and there are more than 50,000 English-training
organisations in China.

China English
A definition

English language specialists in China tend to refer to

local features of English as China English instead of
Chinese English since they claim that the latter
characterization sounds derogatory to them, associated
with Chinese Pidgin English or Chinglish.
China English is an educated variety of English that
Chinese speakers of the language are expected to
employ at international encounters, expressing their own
cultural norms, behavioral patterns, and value systems.
Jiang, 2002

China English
Phonology

[s]

(Deterding et al., 2006)

instead of [th] sounds

avoidance of weak forms for function words
stressing of final pronouns
no voiced fricatives
many multisyllabic words pronounced with
syllable-timing
insertion of final schwa

China English

Syntax & Pragmatics

Topicalization

of adjuncts: adverbials or adverbial

clauses placed in front of main verb of a sentence.
Null subject parameter.
English texts are often organised in a deductive
manner (main topic at beginning, supporting
material postponed). China English texts share the
Chinese inductive discourse structure (most
significantpoints are delayed until sufficient
background info is given).

China English

Intercultural communication
Several

years ago, when Hong Kong was still a colony of

Britain, I was sitting in the office of a superintendent of the
Hong Kong Police Force. The superintendent was English.
In those colonial days, almost all the police officers were
expatriates and the sergeants and constables were all
locals. I was there because I worked for a company who
had been asked to explain the communication problems that
were common in the police force at that time. There was a
quiet knock at the door and in came a young Chinese police
constable . . . (Honna, Kirkpatrick, and Gilbert, 2001:1617)

China English

Intercultural communication

Yes?, enquired the superintendent.

My mother is not very well, sir, started the constable.
Yes?, repeated the superintendent, a frown appearing on his brow.
She has to go into hospital, sir, continued the constable.
So?
On Thursday, sir.
The superintendents frown was replaced by a look of exasperation. What is it that you
want?, he asked sternly
At this direct question, the constables face fell and he simply mumbled, Nothing,
sir. Its all right, and turned and left the room.
As soon as the door had closed the superintendent turned to me and said:
You see. A classic case. They cant get to the point.
So, what would you want him to say?, I asked.
Well, instead of beating around the bush, he should come straight to the
point. He obviously wants some leave so he can look after his mother. He should
ask for leave and not waste my time going on about his poor mother.
You want him to say something like, Can I have some leave please, sir?
Yes, exactly, replied the superintendent

China English
Lexis

China Daily, Shanghai Daily, or the Beijing Today weekly

are full of expressions coined to refer to Chinese ways
and experiences of life, such as:
barefoot doctor, peoples commune, great leap forward,
paper tiger, ideological remodeling, reform through
physical labor, red guard, red rice, one country, two
systems, the higher authorities have policies and the
localities have their countermeasures, planned commodity
economy, enterprise contracted production system, safety
first and prevention first, outstanding deeds and advanced
persons, one-family-one-child policy, family contracted
responsibility system.

English in Japan

The English language was first introduced into Japan in March,

1600. It was when William Adams, the English pilot of a Dutch ship,
reached the western part of the country after a shipwreck. Later
renamed as Miura Anjin in the Japanese fashion, he soon acquired
Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasus personal trust and worked as an
intermediary between the Japanese ruler and Great Britains King
James I, delivering translated messages back and forth across the
seas.
At the time of Meiji Restoration (1868), Japans new enlightened
leaders came to realize that English would be essential for the
countrys modernization and development. The Government soon
established a national educational system in 1872 and introduced
English language teaching in five-year secondary schools, often
even in six-year primary schools, in major cities.

English in Japan

English language teaching was reinvigorated as peace was restored

after the end of World War II in 1945. Two years later, the
government set up six-year primary school and three-year junior high
school education as compulsory, with English introduced nationally
as a subject from the first year of the secondary curriculum to
continue into the three-year senior high school and then to college.