What is a global or world language?
Why English?
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What is a ‘global language’?
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What are some global languages?
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Why are they considered global languages?
Number of people who speak it?
 Aesthetic qualities of ‘beauty, clarity of
expression’?
 Literary tradition and power?
 Religious standing?
 Ease of learning?
NO!!! POWER!
 Political
 Military
 Economic
 Technological
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Greek
 Latin
 Arabic
 Spanish
 Portuguese
 French
 English
 Chinese?
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Linguistic power – Will those who speak a global
language as a mother tongue automatically be in
a position of power compared to those who have
to learn it as a second or foreign language?
Linguistic complacency – Will a global language
eliminate the motivation for adults to learn other
languages? (“I’m not good at languages.”)
Language death – Will the emergence of a global
language hasten the disappearance of minority
languages and cause widespread language
death? “80% of the world’s 6,000 or so living
languages will die out within the next century.”
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In what domains had English become a world language by 1986? Has anything
changes in the last 27 years?
How did Public School English (Received Standard) come to be? What kinds of
attitudes do some people have toward it? Do similar attitudes exist in the U.S.
toward other varieties? Other languages?
Why was English maintained as an official language in India after independence?
In what domains is it used? Do you know of other areas of the world where
English is an official language for the same reason?
Why did Creole English establish itself in Africa? What is the role of English in
Africa? Are there situations that you are familiar with in which one variety is used
for interpersonal communication and another is taught in school?
When did American English (AE) begin to become influential in the world? What
are some varieties of AE mentioned in the film that have influenced world English?
Can you think of other examples?
Because the movie was made in 1986, there are a number of references and
images that today seem out of date, for example, the Soviet Union, Pan Am, the
World Trade Center, the Super Sonic Transport (SST), the use of typewriters, the
mention of old slang and the individual currencies of the countries of Europe. Did
you notice any others?
In these assignments, you will write the responses after viewing
videos, followed by class discussions. You papers should include
each of the following levels of response:
1) Descriptive – After viewing the video, prepare a detailed summary
of the highlights of the video.
2) Personal/Interpretive – What new insights did you acquire as a
result of the content of the video? How did you feel viewing the
video? Was it easy? Difficult? Fun? Frustrating?
3) Critical/Analytical – What evidence in the video seemed to
support or dispute concepts or knowledge that you already have?
4) Creative/Application – What insights did you gain which may be
applied to your interactions with your fellow students, in your
future work environment, and/or as a citizen of the world?
Total: 5% of final grade: See the grading criteria on the
course web site.
Introduction: English as a world language
 The history of English
 Your personal linguistic heritage & journey
 Standard languages, dialects, accents
 Language and culture
 Language and politeness
 Language and intelligibility
Native & non-native varieties: sounds, words, sentences
 Conversational interaction
 Bilingualism & code switching
 Pidgins & creoles
 Language & gender
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Abridged version
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Extended version
(Based on David Crystal, English as a Global
Language, Chapter 2)
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5th c. CE – Old English arrives in England from
Northern Europe, displaces Celtic languages of
Wales, Cornwall, Cumbria, Scotland
Germanic
Beowulf
◦ Epic poem, authorship unknown, written in Old English
in England circa 8th-11th c. C.E., set in Scandinavia
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The Lord’s Prayer
◦ Written in the 11th c. C.E.
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1066 C.E. - Norman Invasion
Middle English – 1066-1470
Considerable borrowing from French
Nobles from England fled north to Scotland
12th c. Anglo-Norman knights sent to Ireland
1380s-1400 – Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales
1420s-30s – Chancery Standard
1470 – Printing press brought to England
Here begins the Book of the Tales of Canterbury / When April with his showers
sweet with fruit / The drought of March has pierced unto the root
And bathed each vein with liquor that has power / To generate therein and sire
the flower; / When Zephyr also has, with his sweet breath, / Quickened again, in
every holt and heath, / The tender shoots and buds, and the young sun / Into the
Ram one half his course has run, / And many little birds make melody / That
sleep through all the night with open eye / (So Nature pricks them on to ramp
and rage)- / Then do folk long to go on pilgrimage, / And palmers to go seeking
out strange strands, / To distant shrines well known in sundry lands. / And
specially from every shire's end / Of England they to Canterbury wend, / The holy
blessed martyr there to seek / Who helped them when they lay so ill and weak /
Befell that, in that season, on a day
In Southwark, at the Tabard, as I lay / Ready to start upon my pilgrimage
To Canterbury, full of devout homage, / There came at nightfall to that hostelry /
Some nine and twenty in a company / Of sundry persons who had chanced to fall
/ In fellowship, and pilgrims were they all / That toward Canterbury town would
ride. / The rooms and stables spacious were and wide, / And well we there were
eased, and of the best. / And briefly, when the sun had gone to rest, / So had I
spoken with them, every one, / That I was of their fellowship anon, / And made
agreement that we'd early rise
To take the road, as you I will apprise. / But none the less, whilst I have time and
space, / Before yet farther in this tale I pace, / It seems to me accordant with
reason / To inform you of the state of every one / Of all of these, as it appeared
to me, / And who they were, and what was their degree, / And even how arrayed
there at the inn; / And with a knight thus will I first begin. /
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16th-17th c. C.E. – Early Modern English
Great English Vowel Shift
Shakespeare & King James Bible
Shakespeare’s Sonnet No. 18 (published
1609)
17th c. – the first settlements
◦ 1607 – Jamestown (VA) settlement
◦ 1620 – Plymouth (MA) settlement
18th c. – immigration from northern Ireland, but
also
◦ Spanish, French, Dutch, German, Africa
19th c.- massive increase in immigration
◦ Irish (famine of 1840)
◦ Germans, Italians (failed 1848 revolutions)
◦ Central European Jews (1880 Pogroms)
2000 – Over 80% of Americans speak only English
at home
1497 – John Cabot to Newfoundland
1520 – J. Cartier to Nova Scotia, Quebec
18th c. – French defeated
◦ Queen Anne’s War (1702-13)
◦ French & Indian war (1754-63)
◦ 1750s – French expelled from Nova Scotia
 Louisiana – Cajun Creole, Cajun food
1776 – U.S. Independence
◦ British loyalists flee to Canada
21st c. – French a co-official language
1517 – Spanish bring first African slaves to the
West Indies
17th c. – start of the ‘Atlantic triangle’ of slave
trade
◦ 1619 – first 20 slaves brought to Virginia
◦ 1776 – half million slaves in N.A.
◦ 1865 – 4 million slaves in N.A.
Rise of pidgins
◦ Gave rise to creole English, but also
◦ Creole French, Spanish, Portuguese
Australia
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1770 – James Cook to Australia
By 1838 – 130,000 prisoners sent to Australia
By 1850 – 400,000 ‘free’ settlers in Australia
2002 – Australian population at 19 million
New Zealand
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1769-70 – Cook explores N.Z.
1840 – Official colony established in N.Z.
2002 – N.Z. population at 3.8 million
South Africa
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1652 – Dutch colonists to South Africa
1820 – First British settlement
1822 – English made the official language
1993 – English, Afrikaans, 9 indigenous languages are ‘official’
 English spoken by less that 10% of pop.
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Afrikaans seen as language of repression
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1652 – Dutch colonists to South Africa
1820 – First British settlement
1822 – English made the official language
1993 – English, Afrikaans, 9 indigenous
languages named as ‘official’
English spoken by less that 10% of pop.
Afrikaans seen as language of repression
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India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal,
Bhutan
1612 – First trading station at Surat, India
1765-1947 – the Raj (period of British
sovereignty)
◦ 1835 – English education system in India
◦ 1857 – Universities of Bombay, Calcutta, Madras
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1960s – ‘Three language’ formula
◦ English an ‘associate’ official language
21st c. – 200 million speakers of English(?)
Pakistan – English an ‘associate’ official
language
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18th c. – only Dutch had a permanent settlement
in Africa
By 1914, Britain, France, Germany, Portugal,
Italy, Belgium had colonized almost all of Africa.
After WWII – realignment of colonial powers in
Africa
1960s – most gain independence
West vs. East Africa
The rise of English-based creoles - Krio
 Sierra Leone
 Ghana (formerly Gold Coast)
 Gambia
 Nigeria
 Cameroon
 Liberia
◦ Founded in 1822 as homeland of former slaves
◦ Republic since 1847
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From 1880s – European powers vie for
influence/ colonies in East Africa
English as a Language of International
Communication in
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Botswana
Kenya
Lesotho
Malawi
Namibia
Tanzania (formerly Zanzibar & Tanganyika)
Uganda
Zambia (formerly Northern Rhodesia)
Zimbabwe (formerly Southern Rhodesia)
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Spanish-American War
◦ Guam, Northern Marianas, (Puerto Rico)
◦ The Philippines
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Hawai’i
1940s- Trust Territories of the Pacific
◦ Palau, the Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia
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Malay Peninsula
◦ Malaysia, Singapore
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Hong Kong
Papua New Guinea
Other Pacific former colonies
◦ Fiji, Kiribati, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, The Solomon Islands
◦ American Samoa
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World status of English is due to:
◦ Expansion of British colonial power, beginning in the
17th century and peaking at the end of the 19th
century
◦ Emergence of U.S. as leading economic & military
power in the late 20th century
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The spread of English as three concentric circles
◦ Inner circle
◦ Outer / extended circle
◦ Expanding circle
Inner Circle
Outer Circle
Expanding Circle