Sociolinguistics
Chapter 4
Linguistic Varieties and
Multilingual Nations
Learning Objectives
 Vernacular languages
 Standard languages
 World Englishes
 Lingua francas
 Pidgins and creoles
Vernacular
A language which has not been
standardised and does not have official
status.
Vernacular
Three components:
1. It is an uncodified or unstandardised variety
2. It is acquired at home as a first variety.
3. It is used for relatively circumscribed
functions.
Exercise 1
Standard language
A standard variety is one:
 which is written and has gone some
degree of regularisation or codification
 which is recognised as a prestigious
variety
 which is used for H functions
World Englishes
The term World Englishes is used to
emphasise the range of different
varieties of English that have
developed since the nineteenth
century.
Kachru’s Three Concentric Circles
The Expanding Circle
China, Egypt, Indonesia,
Israel, Japan, Korea,
Nepal, Saudi Arabia,
Taiwan, Russia,
Zimbabwe, South Africa,
Caribbean Islands
(EFL)
The Outer Circle
Bangladesh, India
Ghana, Kenya,
Nigeria, Malaysia,
Pakistan, Philippines,
Singapore, Sri Lanka,
Tanzania, Zambia
(ESL)
The Inner
Circle
USA
UK
Canada
Australia
New Zealand
5 phases of World English
Phase 1
Foundation and consolidation
English becomes generally dominant, a
standard form evolving with the arrival of the
printing press and the spread of organised
education.
5 phases of World English
Phase 2
The adventurers
English-speaking settlers emigrate to North
America (the United States and Canada),
Australia and New Zealand, where they
establish English-speaking colonies.
5 phases of World English
Phase 3
The independent colonies
Beginning with the breakaway of the Thirteen
Colonies in America, the phase covers the
increasing emancipation from the mother
country of Australia, New Zealand, Canada,
and so forth.
5 phases of World English
Phase 4
The colonial subjects
English is deliberately taught, especially from
about 1925 onward, to colonial peoples
through English-medium education systems
in Africa, South Asia, East Asia, the Pacific
and elsewhere.
5 phases of World English
Phase 5
Cultural independence
In previous phases, the centre of gravity of
English had been culturally ‘nativist’ and in
the Phase 4 had been taught paternalistically,
‘embedded’ in the matrix of English (or
America) social and cultural ideas.
5 phases of World English
Example:
School textbooks in English fixated on the
behaviour and attitudes of a mythical Mr. and
Mrs. Smith, their son John, their daughter
Mary, and their dog Spot.
5 phases of World English
In Phase 5, the nativist approach was
increasingly dismissed and disdained, as
various countries developed English ‘for
national unity, for international
communication, as a window on world
events.’
McArthur’s Circle of World English
The Circle of World English
Highlights the broad three-part spectrum that
ranges from the ‘innumerable’ popular
Englishes through the various national and
regional standards to the remarkably
homogenous but negotiable ‘common core’ of
World Standard English.
Activity 4.1
1.
Does English English make sense?
2.
Is it likely that a uniform standard will emerge for
English in East Asia?
3.
Is Canadian English sufficiently distinct from
American English to merit a separate section?
4.
Can’t the English of Scotland be separated out as
having its own national standard?
5.
Isn’t Tok Pisin an entirely different language?
Nativised variety of English –
The case of Singapore English
The local aspirations and identities are
reflected in linguistics characteristics such
as:



stress patterns
grammatical features which reflect the
influence of local languages
vocabulary from local languages
Activity 4.2
Watch a clip from the Singapore film
production ‘I Not Stupid’小孩不笨, and
identify features of Colloquial Singapore
English.
Lingua franca
A language serving as a regular
means of communication between
different linguistic groups in a
multilingual speech community.
Pidgins and creoles
Pidgins develop as a means of
communication between people who do
not have a common language.
A pidgin is no one’s native language.
Pidgins and creoles
A pidgin language has three identifying
characteristics:
1. It is used in restricted domains and
functions
2. It has a simplified structure
3. It generally has low prestige
Exercise 5
Pidgins and creoles
A creole is a pidgin which has acquired
native speakers.
Exercise 7
Case study – Chinese Pidgin English
Chinese Pidgin English is one of the
oldest varieties of English-lexicon pidgin.
Activity 4.3
Watch the video and answer the
questions.
Case study – Chinese Pidgin English
Phonology
 Avoidance of difficult sounds (e.g.
consonant clusters)
 Simple syllable structure (CV)
Case study – Chinese Pidgin English
Phonology
1. Consonant clusters broken up by the
insertion of vowels
2. Clusters are simplified by losing one of
the consonants
Case study – Chinese Pidgin English
Semantics
 Maximum use of a minimum lexicon
 Extension of meanings
Case study – Chinese Pidgin English
Tense
The context alone indicates tense.
Adverbials like before, day after
tomorrow provide necessary clues.
Case study – Chinese Pidgin English
Negation
The negator is always a separate word
and invariant in form. It occurs before
the verb. This may be because of a
universal preference among languages
with SVO word order for preverbal
modification.
Case study – Chinese Pidgin English
Use of classifier
Wun
One
一
NUM
piece
piece
個
Cl
wifoo
wife
妻子
NOUN