STANDARD ENGLISH AND WORLD ENGLISHES
English has now acquired the title of the world’s leading “global language”. Readers may think that it must
mean British Standard English or American Standard English because the English that exists in such places as
Africa, Asia, the West Indies, the Philippines and Singapore is not real or standard English. Readers may also
think that teachers of English as a second language (ESL) must be teaching British or American Standard English
because that is what their learners want to learn. In fact, the issue is not as straightforward as we may think;
there is neither an agreed-upon definition of Standard English, nor is there agreement on what students of ESL
need or want to learn.
★ Standard English. The term Standard English suggests that we all share a similar understanding of
exactly what this means, yet it is not easy to define. One reason for this is that there is no world recognized
governing body that dictates what should and should not be included in such a standard. However,
McArthur (2003, 442) maintains that Standard English has at “least three identifying characteristics: 1) It
is easiest to recognize in print because written conventions are similar worldwide. 2) It is usually used
by news presenters. 3) Its usage relates to the speaker’s social class and education.”
★ World English. If Standard English is supposed to be an example of only one norm of the English
language, then the term World Englishes would be the norm that includes all varieties of the language.
Kachru (1985) categorizes the usage of English into three concentric circles: the inner circle, the outer
circle, and the expanding circle. Many speakers of World Englishes use English in their own way as an
expression of their identity and their cultural values because language is “a major means (some would
say the chief means) of showing where we belong, and of distinguishing one social group from another”
(Crystal 2003, 22).
Based on Kachru’s (1992) classification there are three circles among three groups of ENL (English as a native
language), ESL (English as a second language), and EFL (English as a foreign language).
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FEATURES OF HUMAN LANGUAGE BY HOCKETT
Hockett’s design features are a set of features that characterize human language and distinguish it from
communication with animals. They were identified by linguistic anthropologist Charles F. Hockett in the 1960s.
He called these characteristics the design features of the language.
★ Voice-auditory channel. This refers to the idea that speech/hearing is the way people speak. When
Hockett first identified this feature, he did not take into account sign language, which reflects the prevailing
ideology of spoken language at the time(see, for example, Anne-Marie Christine’s argument, 1995). This
feature has since been modified to include other language channels such as tactile-visual.
★ Broadcast and Directed Reception. When people speak, sounds are transmitted in all directions;
however, listeners perceive the direction the sounds are coming from. Likewise, signers broadcast to
potentially anyone within line of sight, while those who watch can see who is signing. This is typical for
most forms of communication between humans and animals.
★ Fleetingness. Transience, also called rapid extinction, refers to the idea of a temporary quality of
language. Language sounds exist only for a short period of time, after which they cease to be perceived.
Sound waves quickly disappear when the speaker stops speaking. The same is true for signs.
★ Interchangeability. This refers to the idea that humans can transmit and receive identical linguistic
signals; people are not limited in the types of messages they can say/hear. You can say “I’m a boy” even
if it’s a girl. This should not be confused with lying (evasion). The important thing is that the speaker can
physically create any messages regardless of their veracity or relationship to the speaker. In other words,
whatever can be heard can also be said.
★ Full feedback. Native speakers can hear their own speech and can control and change what they say
when they say it. Likewise, signers see, feel, and control their signature.
★ Specialization. The purpose of language signals is communication and not any other biological function.
When people speak or sign, it is usually done on purpose.
★ Semantics. Specific audio signals are directly related to specific meanings
★ Free. Languages usually consist of arbitrary and signed characters. In spoken languages, iconicity takes
the form of onomatopoeia (for example, in English “murmur”, in Mandarin “mao” (cat), in ASL “cup”, “I”
“up / down”, etc.). For most other symbols, there is no internal or logical connection between the sound
form (signal) and what it refers to. Thus, almost all the names that human language ascribes to an object
are arbitrary: the word “car” does not look like a real car. The words spoken do not really resemble the
objects they represent. This is further supported by the fact that different languages give the same object
very different names
★ Discreteness. Linguistic representations can be broken down into small discrete units that are combined
with each other according to rules. Perceived categorically, not constantly. For example, in English, a
number is denoted by the plural morpheme / s /, which can be added to the end of any noun. The plural
morpheme is perceived categorically, not continuously: we cannot express smaller or larger quantities
by varying how loudly we pronounce / s /.
★ Bias. This refers to the idea that people can talk about things that are physically absent or don’t even
exist. Speakers can talk about the past and future, express hopes and dreams. Human speech is not
limited to the here and now. Displacement is one of the features that separate human language from
other forms of primate communication.
★ Productivity. This refers to the idea that language users can create and understand new utterances.
People can make an unlimited number of statements. Also related to performance is the concept of
grammar templates, which makes the language easier to use and understand. The language does not
stand still, but is constantly changing. New idioms are created all the time, and the meaning of the signals
can vary depending on the context and situation.
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★ Traditional transmission. Also known as cultural transmission. Traditional transmission is the idea that
although people are born with innate language abilities, language is better absorbed after birth in a social
environment. It differs sharply from the idea of Chomsky’s Universal Grammar and rather implies the
concept that people learn to speak by interacting with experienced users of the language. Remarkably,
language and culture are intertwined in this construct, functioning as a concept of language acquisition.\
★ The duality of patterning. Significant messages are composed of separate smaller meaningful units
(words and morphemes), which themselves are composed of separate smaller meaningless units
(phonemes).
★ Prevarication. Prevarication is the ability to lie or cheat. Using language, people can make false or
meaningless statements. This is an important difference between human communication, i.e. language
versus communication with animals. While communication with animals may reflect several other
designs, features proposed by Hockett, communication with animals is incapable of lying or inventing
things that do not exist or have no referent.
★ Reflexivity. People can use language to talk about language. Reflexivity is also a hallmark of human
language, a trait that is not present in communication with animals. At its core, reflexivity means that
people can describe what language is, talk about the structure of a language, discuss the idea of
language among others using language.
★ Learnability. The language can be taught and learned. Just as a speaker learns his first language, the
speaker can learn other languages. It should be noted that young children learn the language easily and
competently; however, language acquisition is constrained by a critical period, which makes it more
difficult for a child to reach a certain age.
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