Over the course of the past 10 to 15 years and, even long before that, the English language has experienced a monumental degree of change. We can attribute much of this change to its gradual globalization and standardization over time. Although many have attributed its globalization primarily to British colonial conquest—even though it may be true in some sense—the English language has established itself also as a Lingua Franca to be used to cross socioeconomic and even cultural boundaries. This has made the language extremely appealing to non-traditional English speakers (i.e. those who do not use the language as a primary means of communication). Its spread is due largely to the fact that many non-traditional speakers now use it as a second language. This spread, consequentially, has produced a diverse variety of blended or hybrid languages which non-native speakers use to communicate amongst each other, but—more importantly—with the native English speaking community. Such varieties include Chinglish, Nigerian English, Trinidadian English, and Hinglish (or Indian English). This essay, however, will focus only on Hinglish. It will attempt to provide an image of who uses this hybrid English, how it is used, how it developed, how it differentiates from Standard American English (SAE), and finally what kind of reputation it has in the world. As the Western world began to spread its influence on the rest of the planet, its language found its way into the most unlikely hands. Foreign countries, like India, (i.e. populations of non-native English speakers) began to accept the English language as an attempt to communicate with the native-speaking population and amongst themselves. The need to speak the language amongst them arose from ... ... middle of paper ... ... ProQuest. Web accessed: 20, Nov. 2013 Kachru, Braj. B. “Models of English for the Third World: White Man’s Linguistic Burden or Language Pragmatics?” Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages Incorporated: Quarterly, Vol. 10, No. 2 (Jun. 1976), pp. 221 – 239. Keniston, Kenneth. Politics, Culture, and Software. Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 33, No. 3 (Jan. 17 – 23, 1998), pp. 105 – 110. Ladousa, Chase. “Disparate Markets: Language, Nation, and Education in North India.” American Ethnologist, Vol. 32, No. 3 (Aug. 2005), pp. 460 – 478. American Anthropological Association. Parveen, Nazima. “Hindi Cinema and South Asian Communities in UK.” Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 38, No. 36 (Sep. 6 – 12, 2003), pp. 3753 – 3754. Morris, Rachel. “Mind Your Language.” Australian Quarterly. Pub: Australian Institute of Policy and Science. Jstor.
Language has been said to effect culture and a person’s way of thinking; in addition to culture effecting language. Throughout the last 100 years there have been apparent and subtle changes in the English language. The changes an English speaking person may see throughout their life time are different catchphrases, the way language is written, the type of formality used, and how deeply English is affected by cultures; as well as how it effects other cultures around the world.
Sharing the commonality of punctuation and sounds with Southern American English, African American Vernacular English (AAVE), also known as Ebonics, has become one of the leading means of speech for people descended from black Africans, and has since asserted its independence from standard English through influences such as age, status, topics, and setting. Many linguists, those that study the art and diversity of language find nothing intimately wrong with African American Vernacular English since, like any other language, it is used to convey thoughts and ideas. However non specialists’ attitudes lean more toward the negative with African American Vernacular English, especially amongst African Americans themselves, as its usage can be misconstrued as ignorance and/or laziness. As a result of these negative connotations that derive from the usage of African American Vernacular English, many African American’sare now bidialectal, also known as code switchers, being that they are able to use both standard American English as well as African American Vernacular English.
In “Mother Tongue,” Amy Tan aims to reveal the cultural bias on types of language by appealing to her reader throughout the argument. Throughout the essay, she states that all forms of English are valid, proves that people with so-called broken English are treated poorly, and uses both personal experience as well as broad examples to prove her point, all the while utilizing both ethos and logos to appeal to her audience.
“Mother Tongue” is an essay that show the power of language and how Amy Tan uses the many forms of English and the different ways in which the language she knew impacted her life. I feel connected to Tan’s essay because I also come from a multilingual home. I have smart emigrant parents who are educated, but even though they are educated they still need my help with communicating with people occasionally. I believe the most important idea in Tan’s “Mother Tongue” is the limitation that an imperfect English can cause in a society and the richness that such English can bring to
Littlebear, R. (2000). TO SAVE OUR LANGUAGES, WE MUST CHANGE OUR TEACHING METHODS. Tribal College Journal, 11(3), 18.
Amy Tan becomes more conscious of her language use in this essay. At work, she uses sophisticated English. At home, she speaks choppy English so her mother, who has broken English, can understand her. Even though Tan possesses an extensive English vocabulary, she acknowledges her mother’s English skills. She shows this by telling her mother, “not waste money that way” when shopping for furniture. Tan is conscious of not only her own English skills, but also her mother’s English skills. This broken English shows that she acknowledges cultural diversity since she is also raising awareness that most immigrants struggle with knowing decent English in the process. According to Tan, language “suddenly seemed to me, with nominalized forms, past perfect tenses, conditional phrases, all the forms of standard English that I had learned in school and through books, the forms of English I did not use at home with my mother” (Tan, “Mother Tongue”). This English is the only English where she can successfully communicate with her mother. She could not speak this English to her husband or colleagues. As seen with Tan’s mother, is okay to live in the United States without extensive English knowledge. Tan did nor force her mother to match her own English. Rather than doing so, Tan was willing to communicate with her mother by speaking in choppy English. Tan concludes that language is a tool that changes
Sharma, B., 2008. “World Englishes, English as a Lingua Franca, and English Pedagogy”, Journal of NELTA 13 (2), pp. 121-130. Available from
In a sociolinguist perspective “the idea of a spoken standardized language is a hypothetical construct” (Lippi-Green, 2012, pp. 57). They are the form of Britain English and American English that are used in textbooks and on broadcasting. Giles and Coupland observe that “A standard variety is the one that is most often associated with high socioeconomic status, power and media usage in a particular community” (1991, p. 38). Both native speakers and learners of English, where English is taught as a second or foreign language (hereafter ESL/EFL), speak dialect of English in everyday conversation (Kachru, 2006, pp. 10-11; Owens 2012, p.
Communication is very important in our daily life. The emphasis all through is on individuals conveying. When we utilize language to convey, it is never language as a rule that we utilize, however dependably a particular dialect or dialect assortment, one that may have a relationship with a specific group, with high or moderate economic well-being, with work, with instruction and so on. English has a special spot in the contemporary world both as an official language of numerous nations and as the most generally utilized global language for business, trade, tact and the broad communications and this must be recollected in any record of how it is utilized. In this essay we'll be discussing the characteristics of everyday talk, structure and
As English governed the India , they used an efficient way to destroy the revolt from the Indian . They taught Indian English instead of their original language. Hindi is the traditional language in India, and it has thousands of the years ’ history. English gives Indian more opportunities on global business and makes Indian have higher status in the world, however, at the same time, it causes many problems. With Indian use English to communicate with foreigners, they forgot the original language. Most young people recognize that English is more fashionable. Our educational policies systematically discourage the teaching of Sanskrit, and one wonders again whether that is in deference to Macaulay, who found that great language (though he confessed ...
People live in the world of communication. According to the Oxford Dictionary of Current English (Moore, 1997), communication is defined as, “The activity or process of expressing ideas and feelings or of giving people information”. The significance of communication can be found within the context of a human existing as a social being. As a human being manages his or her life in the course of the interaction between other members of the entire society, communication is inevitable. Communication occurs through the medium of a language and it is presented in two different forms which are written and spoken (Brown & Yule, 1983: 1-10). The importance of spoken performance of a language is becoming more prominent over the written performance capability. It is because the ability to speak a language reflects a person’s personality, self image, knowledge of the world, ability to reason, skill to express thoughts in real-time (Luoma, 2004: ix). These days, due to the global trend of internationalisation, the ability to communicate in English is needed as an essential skill. Whenever the international exchange happens, the use of spoken English entails. However, it is not always an easy task for people who use English as a second language to be able to speak to the level of a native speaker. They have to perfectly understand the sound system of English, have almost instant access to proper vocabulary and be able to place words together intelligibly without hesitation. Moreover, they also have to perceive what is being said to them and need to be able to respond appropriately to acquire amiable relations or to accomplish their communicative goals (Luoma, 2004: ix). Therefore, non-native English speakers encounter these barriers and they are subject to make mistakes often. In relation to this matter, this essay argues that there are socio-cultural factors as well as linguistic factors that affect non-native speakers’ communication in English. It provides analysis of several different situations when the use of spoken English has generated miscommunication problems in regards to author’s personal experience.
Kachru, B. B. (1992). Teaching world Englishes. The other tongue: English across cultures, 2, 355-366.
As humans evolve, the English language may never be complete. It is a hope of mine that the human population are here to stay a long while into the future, along with English. So as long as we are on this planet, there’s always room for change in languages. There are several nations, along with different cultures, which are part of the English-speaking world. This creates a need for the Standard English, which helps with international communication. I believe Standard English is a tool which can navigate and benefit international conversations, when culture and context is difficult to include and explain. But, within countries and cultures Standard English should not hinder one’s interpretation of English, and standard English and one’s native English is usually not compatible with each other. A language should have the room to develop within individual cultures, but there
It can be seen that English has become a global language, which is determined by lots of factors like history, culture and daily usefulness. Because of these factors, the number of people who speak English is still increasing now. English, as a significant part of social life gradually exerted profound impacts on education, job hunting and international communication. Also, it provides the whole world with a chance to share ideas and communicate freely. We are quite curious to see the further development of English as a lingua franca in the
In order to visualize the “global” as an adjective in the collocation “global language”, a study has shown the numbers of people speaking the language. According to them, there are about 6000 languages in the world and not surprisingly English is at the top of the list of most dominant. In the world there are 375 million first-language speakers, approximately the same number of second-language speakers and about 750 million foreign-language speakers (David Graddol, The Future of English? A Guide to Forecasting the Popularity of the English Language in the 21st Century. British Council, 1997). According to magazine Economist, more than one billion people speak some form of English. These numbers could make people think that English is really conquering the world which can be both positive and negative.