LINGUISTICS 16 VARIETIES OF ENGLISH What is Language Variation? Language is described as a product of social conventions and cultural traditions. Changes in language occur with the changes that appear in these conventions and traditions. Social class, gender, regional and cultural groups can cause changes in the structure of a language. A particular social group may speak a particular variety of language and another social group of the community may use a slightly different variety of the same language. Variation in language may also occur if the speakers live in different geographical regions. Changes begin to appear slowly and such changes finally lead to the evolution of a linguistic variety. There are numerous varieties of the English language. Accordingly we have regional dialects, social dialects and non-native varieties. The same language is spoken differently in different regions, in diverse cultural contexts and in different social situations at different times. Linguists study this phenomenon both descriptively and historically. Standard English (SE) Standard English is that variety of English, which stands above the local or regional dialects and is spoken by the educated class of people. This is also called King’s English. -202- Scanned with CamScannerLINGUISTICS Daniel Jones defines Standara Pape SCS _ ard Englich ac speech most usually heard in ee of hie on . Southern England who have been educated in Public sehean Standard English has grown and developed from the East Mi \ land dialect spoken in and around London. By the end of the sixteenth century, the language had become st andardised j the form it still remains. Thig ee variety was used in the Universities and it was comprehensible to the North. Thus it gradually gained of different regions. The invention ersion of the Bible and Dr. Johnson's currency amongst speakers of printing, the authorised ve e standard English use received ronunciation. However, it is to be remembered that standard nglish does not imply standardisation or complete fixation. It has a lot of flexibilty with a good range of variation. Standard English is not rigid and unchanging. It allows riety and growth. ceived Pronunciation (RP) In England there is no uniformity in the pronunciation of nglish. It is pronounced differently in different Parts of England the people of different social classes. Yet one variety of onunciation has gained social prestige. It is an accerit typical the educated speakers of the South East of England. It is sociated with speakers from the upper and upper middle class ‘ople of England. It is termed as the Received Pronunciation f English. It has become more widely known and accepted ith the advent of radio and television. The BBC used to “ommend this form of pronunciation for its announcers. This. onunciation is most commonly described in books on netics as the standard pronunciation of British English. It is -203- Scanned with CamScannerLINGUISTICS n ‘The En; n that we find h Pr i this pronuni Pr Onouncing Dictionary’ of Daniel Jones. There exist different regional pronunciations; Many of these popular forms of pronunciations are tending to-be modified in the direction of RP. which is equated with the ‘correct’ pronunciation of English. Speakers of RP are becomin, increasingly aware of the fact that their type of pronunciation is one, which is used by only a small part of the English speaking world. Still RP continues to be the model for non. native users of English. 5 English as an International Language English now enjoys the prestigious status of an International Language. It was since the time of Shakespeare that English began to spread outside England. The colonization spearheaded by Britain from the seventeenth century onwards paved the way for the spreading of English beyond the boundaries of England. The growth of International trade and commerce, the developments in science and technology and the growth of a world order have helped English to gain its present status. Non-native varieties of English, under the influence of the mother tongues of the non-natives, developed in several countries, English has taken deep roots in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and several African countries. There are such national varieties of English as first language in countries like the USA, Canada. Australia and New Zealand. Each of these has dialectal varieties within it. The American variety of English is the most prominent among these varieties. In these days of travel and global communication, English functions effectively as the most important International Language. In the present context of Information Technology: no other language can replace English. ‘ -204- — Scanned with CamScanner> AMERICAN ENGLISH LINGUISTICS ish language as used in the United States ot generally referred to as American English. It is s|so called United States English. The vital role the US ernment plays in world affairs has given American English bal importance. a glob was the Pilgrim Fathers who brought English to the soil in the 17th century. In the centuries that followed, can English and British English developed in divergent en though the literary American English is not very much nt from British English, there are a number of differences © in vocabulary, spelling and pronunciation. Pronunciation far as pronunciation is concerned, there are some widespread features that are typical of American English. 1. Except in certain places, r is pronounced in all contexts in American English. In British English, it is not pronounced unless a vowel follows it. In other words in American English, pronunciation is rhotic, ie, r that comesaftera vowel is pronounced, e.g. - car /Ka:r/ and post vocalic /r/ being pronounced in such words as part, four, motor 2. The Americans pronounce words like class, path, laugh ete, with a front vowel as in cat. i.e, /@/ instead of /a:/, e.g. British path /pa:6// American /pe0/ 3. Americans prefer a /u:/ instead of /ju:/ in words like news and Duke, eg. news /nju:z/ British, /nu:z/ American. er combination, pronounced /a:/ in British English, is vunced /a/ in American English, e.g., clerk. tk/ Britsh —/kla:k/ American. -205- Scanned with CamScannerS Pronounced as / in British English. It is pornounced /a:/ in Ametican English. 2 e.g. dog /dog/ in Brit. English. /da:g/in Ameri. Engi 6. Nazalization of vowels is common in American English Vocabulary Differences in vocabulary are very striking. Americans use their own favourite words to describe things, which are different from the words that Englishmen use in similar situations. They use railroad (railway), railroad depot (railway Station), baggage (luggage), creek (estuary), gasoline (petrol), elevator (lift), muffler (silencer), and fall (autumn). In American English clerk means a s words like beautician, h ise, know-how, Set-together, and fine catch. They have many peculiar phrases like face the music, which means accept the consequences of one’s actions, and paint the town red which means go out and enjoy life in bars. A few words given below will show the variety and significance of the contribution of American English to English at large: Airline, checklist, disco, inner city laser, mass meeting, pan wholehearted, Xerox and radio. Changes have appeared in spelling too. The American spelling tends towards simplification. American spellings honor, color, program, center, catalog are examples. Grammar In grammar, American English is not very much different from British English. The Americans use do have where 35 English people say have got, e.g, Do you have enough ti American English. Have you got enough: time?, is British Ee Americans substitute the pronoun one with his or her, e.g f° studies well, he will pass. For the Americans ‘Government 15} ~206- —— Scanned with CamScannerLINGUISTICS yhere as for the British ‘Government are pleased’. In the use of repositions too, difference between the two Englishes ari n Englishman lives in Oxford street, where as the Ame fives on Howard street. ‘Talk to some one’ is British and ‘talk : someone’ is American. ‘A group of students have’ is American nd ‘A group of students has’ is British English. . LACK ENGLISH Black English is a term used indiscriminately for ihe nglish of the people of African origin or for the English in lack Africa. To distinguish the English used by the US citizens f Black African background from the English used by the eople of Black Africa William Labov coined the term Black nglish Vernacular (BEV). The Black English Vernacular is so called because it refers to the vernacular of descendants of Black African Slaves in the US. This is also called American Black English. American Black English was born of slavery between the 16th century and 19th century and followed black migration om the southern states to racially isolated ghettos throughout e US. Many modern linguists hold that the origins of BEV lie in the use of a creole English by the first blacks in America. This language, originally very different from English as a result of its African linguistic background, has been progressively influenced by American English so that it retains only a few creole features. About eighty percent of Black Americans speak BEV. A number of distinguishing features may be noted in the pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary of BEV. Pronunciation 1. Speakers of BEV drop / from word-final consonant clusters with labials, e.g., help is pronounced hep and self as sef. /n/ replaces /1)/ in -ing forms, e.g., walking is pronounced as walkin, -207- Scanned with CamScannerMS” gives . ~ Bives sl ase types, 8 ea i thousand wort of these types, which are frequen ned an English. y used in Canadi Grammar As far as grammar is concerned, Canadians follow British tain occasions and American English us, English usage on cert * on other occasions. In the place of tag questions, they use “eh?’. eg.. You are interested in modern poetry, eh? . AUSTRALIAN ENGLISH The English language as used in Australia is referred to as Australian English. It has a short history, reflecting some 200 years of European settlement and even a shorter period of recognition as a national variety. The term Australian English was first recorded in 1940. It is only since then that the features of Australian English have been regarded as distinctively Australian. The most remarkable feature of Australian English is its homogeneity. There are no regional differences in it as in the case of British English or American English, The major features of Australian English are the following: Prounciation 1. It is non-rhotic. 2. _ Its intonation is flatter than that of R. P. 3. Speech rhythms are slow. Stress is more evenly spaced than inR.P 4. Consonants do not differ much from those in R. P with // 5. inR Vowels are closer and more frontal than in R. P i ané and /u/ (as in tea and two) diphthongised to /¥/ /av/ respectively. -212- Scanned with CamScannerET | LINGUISTICS and ‘-ed’ are not pronounced as /iz / and /id/ but as the more weak /z/and /d/. The unstressed endings ‘- o. >. Acentral vowel /2/ often replaces /1/ in an unstressed Hable, e.g., hospital /hospitl/in RP becomes /hvspatl/ in Australian English. Vocabulary The difference in vocabulary is a matter of additions from Australian names and words from Australian languages, e.g., Kangaroo (animal) boomerang (a weapon) and corroboree (a ceremonial dance). New words have been coined from existing English elements like outhack, tuckerbox and stockman. Old words have been given new meaning, e.g., wattle bush (rural area) paddock (fenced land) etc. The word robin is used for various birds seen only in Australia.Australian slang words are more numerous and more difficult for others to understand. Grammar Australian English generally follows the grammar of Standard British English. There are no syntactic features that differentiate Australian English from Standard British English, | though, there are hints of Irish influence in some colloquial forms. AFRICAN ENGLISH In principle; African English refers to the English language used anywhere from the Mediterranean to the Cape of Good Hope. It may, hence, refer to the English language that is used in Egypt, Nigeria, South Africa and other African countries. But in practice, the term is used to denote the English used in Black Africa, especially in former British colonies. It has three sub-categories: -213- Scanned with CamScannerLINGUISTics African English (Cameroon, Gambia, Ghana and Liberia). nglish (Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and we ' Nigeria Sierra Leone ; East African E Sudan) South Afri Namibia, Swaziland, Zam’ Africa). Trade and colonizatio nv can English (Botswana, Lesotho, Malaw; bia, Zimbabwe and Sout wo n brought English to the soil of Africa ‘African English evolved out of the formal teaching of English as a second language during the colonial era. Multilingualism and the difficulty of establishing a single national African language in each of the countries concerned helped the emergence of English as the language for education, administration and communication. African creative writers of English have found it necessary to adapt and indigenise certain aspects of the language for accommodating the cultural experience. It is also to be noted that English continues to be the official language of sixteen African countries. It has also proved to be a very effective lingua franca among the different communities in these African countries. Pronunciation There are a few differences between African English and British English in pronunciation. 1. By and large, there is a reduced system of five to seven vowels /i, e, a, 0, u/ and perhaps /9, &/ with such homophones (words spelt differently but pronounced alike) as bit/beat as /bit/ (sometimes distinguished by length), had/hard as /heed/ full/fool, as /fo1/ and cut/courl caught as /kot/. Individual items may be variously realized: bed as /bed/or /bed/, bird as /bed/ of /pod/- The consonants /8/ and /0/ are realised as /t/ and ia in West Africa, e.g, three of them as tree of dem. In East an -214- N Scanned with CamScannerLINGUISTICS ion African English is non-rhotic (i.e. r is not pronounced) and syllable timed, e.g., hard as ha:d he nasal /1/ is often pronounced as /nn/. They ounce ing as singging. Ll and /r / are often exchanged, e.g. for | » load for road, rolly rry, and fright for flight. In places like Nigeria, there is an exchange of /I/ and /n /, e.g., for number one Nigerians say, wan. Vocabulary se nw w Several words have their origin in local languages, e.g., oga (master), pombe (beer). Many words from Africa have become part of Standard English, e.g., apartheid, commando Hybrids from English and Local languages are commonly used, e.g., kwvela music which means penny-whistle music is a hybrid of an African word kivela which means to get moving and the English word music. African English abounds in loan translations from local languages, e.g., chewing stick (a piece of wood used as a tooth brush) and fight friend (intimate friend). Semantic shift may be noticed in several common usages, e.g., bottle store (liquor store), bad friends (not on talking terms). Grammar In usages too, there are certain variations. Many uncountable nouns are treated as countables. e.g., firewoods for bits of firewood, furnitures for pieces of furniture. -215- Scanned with CamScanner| Mphy mall, small Meaning yo rhetorical purposes, slowly, bil by bil. Mt 3. A common use of resumplive pronoun subje datghter she is allending thal school is an oxample, he is very tall, is another example. ely, My Y My Ith INDIAN ENGLISH The English language as used in Bangladesh, Bhutan, india the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka is together called South Asian English, English is their main link language, Though these countries are linguistically and culturally ives there is a general educated South Asian va iely of English used for pan-regional and international purposes. Ils 1 n characteristics in all the countries are those of Indian English, with slight national variations. The English language as used in India may be called Indian English. The term ‘Indian English’ isa subject of controversy. Some scholars argue that a particular variety of English, different from British English, has already evolved in India, Others are of opinion that the kinds of English used in India are too varied and too deviant to be lumped together as one variety. They therefore, argue that the term is misleading and ought not to be used. However, the length of time that English has been in India, its importance and its range make the term essential for an adequate discussion, More than forty million Indians regularly use English, making India the third largest English speaking country in the world, Beyond this number is a large number of people in India who can use this language with limited competence. English is the associate official language of India, the state language of Manipur, Meghalay® Nagaland and Tripura, and the official language of cight ue territories. It is one of the languages of the three-language form! Proposed for educational purposes. It servers as the link langue that connects the complex multilingual societies of India. -216- (Be Scanned with CamScanner> oo the variety at the upper end of the spectrum, which has: w nations LINGUISTICS h is discussed the term refe Generally Engl j currency and intelligibility and increasingly provides y standard tor the media, education and pan Indian ammunication, pronunciation English are given below: 1 a The general characteri: ics of the pronunciation of Indian Indian English is rhotic, /r / being pronounced in all positions. It tends to be syllable-timed, weak vowels being pronounced as full vowels in such words as photography is used primarily for emphasis. Suffives are stressed as in readiness. and student. Word stres: ‘The fricatives, /0/ and /0/ are aspirated /t / and /d/ so that three of those sounds like tree of d ose. /f / is often pronounced as aspirated /p/ as in plod for food. Among northern speakers, consonant clusters like /sk, sl, sp/ do not occur in initial position, e.g., school is pronounced as iskool. The distinction between /v/ and /w/ is generally neutralized to /w/, e.g., /wam/for both ‘wine’ and ‘vine’. Southern Indian speakers of English often tend to geminate, eg, the word summer is pronounced like sum-mer and silly is pronounced like sil-lee. . The mother tongue often influences the English pronunciation of Indians. Bengalis use /b/ for /v/, pronouncing vowel as bowel. The Gujarathis pronounce the intial sound in zero as /d3/ instead of /z / . Malayalees use / b / sometimes in the place of/p/, e.g., ‘temple’ is pronounced like /tembl /. -217- | "Scanned with CamScanneraa | LINGUISTICS Vocabulary 1 w A good number of w ‘ords of Indian origin are frequenthy lish used in Indian Eng Loan words and loan translations from languages outside India are also common in Indian English eg. caste, peon (Portuguese), durbar, mogul (Arabic) Words taken directly from Sanskrit, usually with religious or philosophical implications, ¢.g. ananda, ahimsa, yoga, chakra Calques (a word formed by translating from another language) from Indian languages are frequently used c.g. cousin brother (a male cousin), co-brother (brother-in- law) Hybrid usages are commonly found in Indian English e.g. bralminhood, goonda ordinance, grameen bank, tiffin ber. Some general English words are adapted to generate new meanings te (class mate or fellow student), forty ing, four twenty (a cheat or a swindler), prepone (opposite of postpone) Words more or less archaic in British English are used Indian English eg, batcl e.g. dickey (boot or trunk of a car), needful, stepney. -218- Scanned with CamScannera Grammar In usage, seculiarities: Indian speakers of English pluralize many uncountable : nouns, &-8- equipments (Br. Eng. equipment); similarly Indians use evidences (evidence); improvements (improvement); informations (information); advices (advice); identities (identity); clarifications (clarification); intentions (intention). ‘Articles are unnecessarily used and sometimes omitted, eg., undertaken a research work instead of saying undertaken research work; with reference to above instead of to the above. Sometimes one is used in the place of an indefinite article, eg., He gave me one book instead of ..a book 4, Isn't it is a generalized question tag, ¢-8-r They are coming tomorrow, Isn't it? instead of aren’t they?. Present perfect is often used where simple past is to be used, e.g., He ‘has passed’ the examination in 1990 instead of He passed... LINGUISTICS Indian English shows a number of wo o Usually, educated Indians follow the grammatical rules of British English in their speech and writing. The Indians have been conservative in preserving correct grammar and spelling. ° GENERAL INDIAN ENGLISH (GIE) The pronunciation of English in one region of India is different from that in another region. The phonological features of the mother tongue of the speaker strongly influence his pronunciation of English. Hence the Gujarathi’s pronunciation of English is quite different from the Malayalee’s pronunciation of English. The regional features render the English speech of one part of India unintelligible to the people of another part of India. Linguists like Bansal, at the Central Institute of English -219- _— Scanned with CamScannerabad, have the English speech nt ths this . They have come to the onal features are removed fom these , and the common Phonologicat ere will emerge a variety of Engle General Indian English (GIE). On closer mes clear that this model, GIE, is not we very the variety of Standard English spoken by all over the country. only eleven pure vowels and six diphthongs. The GIE are /i:, 1, €:, €, @, a, D, 0:, G, Ut, a/and the é QI. O1. au. 18, €3, Ua /. GIE has twenty three ich are /m, , N, D, b, t, d, t, d, k, g, tf, ds.£5, j,r /. It must be noted that the qualities of some es are different from those in RP even when bols are used to represent them. The following Tences between the vowel systems of British RP nly one phoneme /2/ corresponding to /s, 3:/ GIE hes only one phoneme /p / corresponding to /n/ and /2./. GIE has monophthongs /e: /and /o: / in the place of RP diphthongs /eI/ and /au/ respectively. +. The qualities of some of the GIE vowels are different from those in RP, e.g., the /1/ and /U/in GIE are closer and less centralized than their RP counterparts. The GIE /e/ is opener than its RP counterpart. The important differences between the consonants of RP and of GIE are given below:- In the place of the RP dental fricatives /@/ and /0/GIE has dental plosives /t / and /d/. -220- Scanned with CamScannerLINGUISTICS In the place of RP alveolar plosives /t / and /d /GIE has only retro flex plosives /\/and /d/. In RP voiceless plosives are aspirated when they occur initially in stressed syllables; but in GIE the voiceless plosives are unaspirated in all positions. In GIE /1)/does not occur word finally. Indians introduce a /g/ after /n/. Words like sing, for example, are pronounced with a final /ng/. In GIE /r/is pronounced in all positions but in RP it has various phonetic realizations. 6. GIE has one phoneme /7/ in place of /v/ and /w /. GIE has dental plosives /t/ and /d/ instead of the RP dental fricatiives /8/ and /6/ 8. GIE has retroflex plosives /t/ and 4. in in place of the RP plosives /t/ and /d/. 9. GIE has one phoneme /v/ instead of RP phonemes /w/ and /v/. Indians do not differentiate between wine and vine. Many linguists are reluctant to accept GIE as a model to practise. They argue that we learn English for communication not so much with the people of our own country, state or region, but with people from other regions and other countries. A foreigner can understand GIE no better than any variety of English in any part of India. Hence there is no additional benefit in using GIE. What is more useful is to learn a native accent of English, i.e, RP. We, in fact, understand RPmore readily than an Indian accent of English from a distant part of the country. We should also remember that the best speakers of English in India model their speech on RP. It is true that Indians may not use RP like a native speaker, but an approximation to RP is enough for all practical purposes. . -221- — Scanned with CamScanner