World Englishes

257 Pages·2019·5.012 MB·English

by  Gunnel Melchers, Philip Shaw, Peter Sundkvist

World Englishes
The third edition of World Englishes provides an engaging overview of the global variations
in vocabulary, grammar, phonology and pragmatics of English as it is used worldwide.
This book introduces the principles of linguistic variation and provides coverage on the
roots of English, the spread of English, variations of English as a second language and
trends for the future.
Thoroughly updated throughout in line with recent research, this third edition now
also includes:
• 43 audio examples of speakers of native (17) and of non-native (26) English reflecting
the global variety of the language, available to download from www.routledge.
com/9781138487659;
• descriptions of selected twenty-first-century developing varieties including Chinese
English, Russian English and Vietnamese English;
• greater linguistic detail on second-language English in many areas;
• improved and updated descriptions of first-language varieties;
• a new framework for describing lexical variation;
• full discussion throughout of English in social media.
Offering a thorough and detailed descriptive account of all the main varieties of English
across the globe, World Englishes provides a balanced discussion of political issues and the
sociolinguistic background to variation in English spoken and written, face-to-face, on
paper and online, in the twenty-first century. This book is essential reading for students
approaching this topic for the first time.
Gunnel Melchers is Professor Emerita in the Department of English at Stockholm
University.
Philip Shaw is Professor Emeritus in the Department of English at Stockholm University.
Peter Sundkvist is a Reader in the Department of English at Stockholm University.

World Englishes
Third Edition
Gunnel Melchers, Philip Shaw and
Peter Sundkvist
Third edition published 2019
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2019 Gunnel Melchers, Philip Shaw and Peter Sundkvist
The right of Gunnel Melchers, Philip Shaw and Peter Sundkvist to be identified as
authors of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with sections 77
and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any
information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the
publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered
trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent
to infringe.
First edition published by Hodder 2003
Second edition published by Hodder 2011
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record has been requested for this book
ISBN: 978-1-138-48766-6 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-138-48765-9 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-351-04258-1 (ebk)
Typeset in Bembo
by Deanta Global Publishing Services, Chennai, India
Visit the eResources: www.routledge.com/9781138487659
Contents
Preface vii
Acknowledgements ix
IPA chart x
1 The roots of English 1
2 The spread of English 6
3 Variation in English 11
3.1 Linguistic diversity and diffusion 11
3.2 Types of variation in form 13
3.3 Variation in historical origin and evolution 28
3.4 Dimensions of classification 29
4 The inner circle 40
4.1 England 42
4.2 Wales/Cymru 50
4.3 Scotland 55
4.4 Ireland 65
4.5 The United States 72
4.6 Canada 84
4.7 Australia 92
4.8 New Zealand/Aotearoa 99
4.9 South Africa 107
4.10 Liberia 111
4.11 The Caribbean 112
4.12 Some ‘lesser-known’ minor varieties of English 118
vi C ontents
5 The outer circle 125
5.1 S ocial and political issues surrounding the use of English in the outer circle 125
5.2 Some common features of the ‘New Englishes’ 128
5.3 South Asia: India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, etc. 134
5.4 Africa 142
5.5 South-east Asia 157
5.6 Others 171
6 The expanding circle 176
6.1 The Rise of English in the expanding circle 176
6.2 Domains for English 178
6.3 English in lingua-franca situations 185
6.4 The possibility of expanding-circle Englishes and some examples 190
6.5 How English might be affecting other languages 199
6.6 Implications for the choice of school variety 202
7 Beyond the circles 204
7.1 Cross-currents in attitudes to English in the world 204
7.2 What’s next? 207
Wells’ standard lexical sets 213
Glossary 214
References 223
Index 242
Preface
This book is intended for undergraduate students throughout the world, whether or
not they have English as their first language, use English as their medium of educa-
tion outside Europe or are like most of our own students and use English as a foreign
or international language. The Englishes of all three types of user are covered within
this third edition, which aims to present and describe global variation and change in
the vocabulary, grammar, phonology and pragmatics of English. We also try to set the
linguistic variation within its historical and social context. We have aimed to enrich
the presentation as much as possible with ‘language in use’ taken from fiction, popular
culture, newspapers and electronic media.
This third edition comes eight years after the second and sixteen years after the first,
and it is now one of many publications in a rich population of textbooks at various levels
and handbooks with various perspectives. Each of these textbooks and other publica-
tions aims to fill a different niche. One of our aims is to provide a descriptive knowledge
of a wide range of locally and socially marked phonetic, syntactic and lexical features.
Readers will be able to recognize these features in instances of language use they meet,
and thus understand what resources users are drawing on. Our characterizations of the
varieties are therefore balanced with recordings available online, and extracts from
online communications. These samples of language use exemplify users drawing vari-
ably on locally and socially marked features. The continuing rise of computer-mediated
social networking has increased the range of forms of English visible to outsiders and
made clear the nature of many of the form features we focus on here as resources to be
drawn on, rather than features of fixed varieties. Our second aim has been to point to
the historical context of use of English in the superdiverse modern world, basically as
a product, like all language spread, of conquest, technological change and economic
forces. To this end we give factual information about many of the countries discussed,
fearing that our readers may not be well-informed about regions far from their own.
Our third aim has been to remind our readers of the terms for linguistic description of
texts and sounds and give them practice in using these terms, to escape from the circu-
larity of popular and impressionistic language for describing varieties.
The specific phonetic, lexical and syntactic features drawn on in different locations
have not changed a great deal in 16 years, but the social trends driving change and the
spread of English have progressed and intensified. Even as English becomes more and
more an accepted lingua franca in Europe, the centre of gravity of the world has shifted
to Asia, and there too English seems to be the accepted medium of communication
between speakers of different languages. Geographical distance has been reduced as a
viii P reface
limiting factor on the spread and development of features, and at the same time pur-
ist attitudes have declined, so that a wider variety of native and especially non-native
usage is acceptable. These processes seem at present to have a dynamic that may make
the spread of English immune to the effects of populist isolationism in the traditional
anglophone countries.
This edition benefits from our own experience of use of earlier editions in teach-
ing and that of others. In relation to the second edition, we have updated Chapters 1
and 2 somewhat and simplified the discussion of lexis in Chapter 3. We have extended
Chapter 4 with more linguistic detail on ethnic varieties of US English and some updat-
ing of material on other inner-circle regions. Similarly, Chapter 5 has been brought up
to date factually, and some linguistic detail has been added. In Chapter 6, we have added
linguistic descriptions of Vietnamese and Russian English as examples of expanding-
circle varieties and extended the discussion of China English. There is a glossary of
linguistic terms in alphabetical order. There are focus questions at the beginning of
each section and review questions at the end, revised on the basis of our experience of
using the book. Suggested answers to all the review questions are provided online free
of charge at www.routledge.com/9781138487659 where there is now a wider range of
online recordings of English speakers from different backgrounds.
Gunnel Melchers
Philip Shaw
Peter Sundkvist
University of Stockholm
Acknowledgements
Gunnel and Philip welcome Peter Sundkvist to the team and express their appreciation
of his dedicated work. Peter thanks Gunnel and Philip for inviting him to contribute. We
would all like to express our gratitude to the 43 speakers of World Englishes who have
lent their voices to the recordings available at www.routledge.com/9781138487659,
and to the anonymous bloggers and chat-site contributors whom we quote throughout
the book.
We are grateful for comments and suggestions on one or more of the editions from
Beyza Björkman, David Britain, Jack Chambers, Rebecca Clift, Östen Dahl, Raphaël
Domange, Stanley Ellis, Gregory Garretson, Elizabeth Gordon, Man Gao, Elisabeth
Gustawsson, Albin Hillert, Nils-Lennart Johannesson, Clelia LaMonica, Dorte
Lønsmann, Robert Lawson, Magnus Ljung, Biljana Marković, Derrick McClure, David
Minugh, Margareta Olofsson, Reidunn and Joke Palmkvist, Mikael Parkvall, Caryl
Phillips, Chris Robinson, Shi Hui, Peter Trudgill, John Wells, and Annelie Ädel. We
are also grateful to the three anonymous users asked by the publishers to make sugges-
tions for the new edition.
We are also grateful to our students for many vital insights and for helpful comments
on the manuscripts.
The International Phonetic Alphabet is reproduced overleaf by permission of the
International Phonetic Association: IPA Chart, www.internationalphoneticassociation.
org/content/ipa-chart, available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0
Unported License. Copyright © 2015 International Phonetic Association.