Asian Englishes in the Outer and Expanding Circles World Englishes Unit 6 (AF)

English in the Indian Subcontinent Origins and History The British first arrived in India in the early 1600s and soon established trading posts in a number of cities under the control of The East India Company. By 1765 the Company’s influence had grown to such an extent that the British were effectively controlling most parts of the country. This date is often taken as the start of what is referred to as The Raj — a period of British rule in India that lasted until Independence in 1947.

English in the Indian Subcontinent Origins and History A large number of Christian schools imparting an English education were set up by the early 1800's. The earliest English language policy for India was enshrined in Macaulay’s famous Minute (2 Feb.1835) “We must at present do our best to form a class who may be interpreters between us and the millions whom we govern, --a class of persons Indian in blood and colour, but English in tastes, in opinions, in morals and in intellect. To that class we may leave it to refine the vernacular dialects of the country, to enrich those dialects with terms of science borrowed from the Western nomenclature, and to render them by degrees fit vehicles for conveying knowledge to the great mass of the population.”

Macaulay’s Attitude toward Indian Languages and Educational Policy “I have no knowledge of either Sanscrit or Arabic. But I have done what I could to form a correct estimate of their value. I have read translations of the most celebrated Arabic and Sanscrit works. I have conversed, both here and at home, with men distinguished by their proficiency in the Eastern tongues. I am quite ready to take the oriental learning at the valuation of the orientalists themselves. I have never found one among them who could deny that a single shelf of a good European library was worth the whole native literature of India and Arabia. The intrinsic superiority of the Western literature is indeed fully admitted by those members of the committee who support the oriental plan of education.”

English in 20 th Century India English had become the official and academic language of India by the early twentieth century. English was increasingly accepted as the language of government, of the social elite, and of the national press. In 1947 India became an independent nation state. English was supposed to be gradually replaced by Hindi as the language of administration. But, in a country with hundreds of languages, it was difficult to choose a single national language, as mother tongue speakers of that language would automatically enjoy greater social status and have easier access to positions of power and influence. So, although English was not an indigenous language, it became an ‘Associate Language’, alongside Hindi, the ‘Official Language of the Union of India’ and eighteen 'National Languages', such as Bengali, Gujurati and Urdu, that have a special status in certain individual states.

English in India today Despite continued pressure from nationalists, English remains at the heart of Indian society. It is widely used in the media, in Higher Education and government and therefore remains a common means of communication, both among the ruling classes, and between speakers of mutually unintelligible languages. Role of English as a neutral language of wider communication. Despite being a three percent minority, the English speaking population in India is quite large: that three percent puts India among the top four countries in the world with the highest number of English speakers.

Indian English It is a linguistic variety with its own grammatical, lexical, phonological and discoursal norms. It has developed its own varietal characteristics through the interaction of Indian languages and social behaviours with those of English. The “Indianisation of English” involves adaptations of existing features of British English and the use of transferred mother-tongue items where British English is ‘deficient’.

Indian English: Phonology V~W merger: many speakers do not differentiate between the sounds and. TH-stopping: they sometimes replace in words like think and this with a and sound, as no Indian languages contain these consonants. Rhoticity: the sound is pronounced after a vowel in words like hard, corn and nurse. Unaspirated : there is no release of air when precedes a vowel in words like pin and pot

Indian English: Grammar Under the influence of traditional Hindi grammar, speakers often use progressive tenses in statements, such as I am believing you or she is liking music. Zero article: the indefinite article, a or an, or the definite article, the, are often omitted. Zero past tense marker: verbs are left unmarked for tense, although other signals (adverbs of time, such as yesterday, last week etc.) often give linguistic clues about the timing of an event. Declarative word order in interrogative construction: ‘normal’ subject + verb word order is retained in statements using the question words who, what, when, where, why, how etc.. Plural uncount nouns: litters, luggages, furnitures, woods.

Indian English: Lexis Code-switching: the occasional or even frequent use of a Hindi (or Urdu, Punjabi, Gujurati etc.) word or expression within an English sentence can communicate a great sense of shared identity or solidarity with other speakers. Extensive compound formation: English-speaking classes, cousin- brother / cousin-sister, chalk-piece, key-bunch, meeting notice, age barred, pindrop silence, time-pass. Shortening of words: ‘enthu’ for enthusiastic/enthusiasm or ‘fundas’ for fundamentals Acronyms: MCP = Male Chauvinist Pig - FOC = Free Of Charge MPK = Maine Pyar Kiya (a popular movie) ILU = I Love You (from a song; pronounced ee-lu) ABCD = American Born Confused Deshi (native of India) FOB = Fresh Off the Boat

Indian English: Usage “What’s your good name?” “Dear sir, with reference to your above see my below” - popular opening line in official letters. “Pritam Singh has left for his heavenly above” - a death notice. “Hue and Cry notice” - title of police missing person newspaper advertisement. “She freaked out last night” - she had a good time. “Kindly please advise me.” “Thank youji, Doctor Sahib.” “Namaste, how are you?” "Will you take tea?“ “To give a test”

English in China History 1637: first contact between English speakers and Chinese when British expeditionary mission arrives in Macau and Canton. A century later, “Chinese Pidgin English” develops as a lingua franca between natives and foreigners on the coast of South China. Growth and diffusion of CPE enhanced by its extensive usability : Treaty of Tientsin opens many other places to Western interests. Western missionaries establish schools, where either English is formally taught or adopted as a medium of instruction. 1949: establishment of the People’s Republic of China. English disappears from the school curriculum and Russian becomes the main foreign language. After the collapse of the Cultural Revolution (1966–76), English recovers its importance and popularity as the country shifts to modernization and economic development.

English in China today A primary school English textbook adopted in Tientsin starts with this preface: “English is usually used at international settings, and it is also a tool to grasp advanced scientific and technological information. In accordance with our country’s reform and open-door policies, it is essential that we learn English properly”. English is recognized as an indispensable language for international exchange and better-paid employment. English is a very important subject at all levels of formal education. TV and radio stations popularize ELT programs across the country. The national College English Test (CET) promotes English language learning at the tertiary level. The certificate of CET Band 4/6 has attained such a high social value that a majority of universities adopt the policy of “no CET 4/ 6 certificate, no graduation diploma,” with the result that 6 million students take the tests annually. English-language training in China is an industry worth around 15 billion yuan a year, or about £1.3bn, and there are more than 50,000 English-training organisations in China.

China English A definition English language specialists in China tend to refer to local features of English as China English instead of Chinese English since they claim that the latter characterization sounds derogatory to them, associated with Chinese Pidgin English or Chinglish. “China English is an educated variety of English that Chinese speakers of the language are expected to employ at international encounters, expressing their own cultural norms, behavioral patterns, and value systems.” Jiang, 2002

China English Phonology (Deterding et al., 2006) [s] instead of [th] sounds avoidance of weak forms for function words stressing of final pronouns no voiced fricatives many multisyllabic words pronounced with syllable-timing insertion of final schwa

China English Syntax & Pragmatics Topicalization of adjuncts: adverbials or adverbial clauses placed in front of main verb of a sentence. Null subject parameter. English texts are often organised in a deductive manner (main topic at beginning, supporting material postponed). China English texts share the Chinese ‘inductive’ discourse structure (most significantpoints are delayed until sufficient background info is given).

China English Intercultural communication “ Several years ago, when Hong Kong was still a colony of Britain, I was sitting in the office of a superintendent of the Hong Kong Police Force. The superintendent was English. In those colonial days, almost all the police officers were expatriates and the sergeants and constables were all locals. I was there because I worked for a company who had been asked to explain the communication problems that were common in the police force at that time. There was a quiet knock at the door and in came a young Chinese police constable...” (Honna, Kirkpatrick, and Gilbert, 2001:16–17)

China English Intercultural communication “Yes?”, enquired the superintendent. “My mother is not very well, sir,” started the constable. “Yes?”, repeated the superintendent, a frown appearing on his brow. “She has to go into hospital, sir,” continued the constable. “So?” “On Thursday, sir.” The superintendent’s frown was replaced by a look of exasperation. “What is it that you want?”, he asked sternly At this direct question, the constable’s face fell and he simply mumbled, “Nothing, sir. It’s all right,” and turned and left the room. As soon as the door had closed the superintendent turned to me and said: “You see. A classic case. They can’t get to the point.” “So, what would you want him to say?”, I asked. “Well, instead of beating around the bush, he should come straight to the point. He obviously wants some leave so he can look after his mother. He should ask for leave and not waste my time going on about his poor mother.” “You want him to say something like, ‘Can I have some leave please, sir?’” “Yes, exactly,” replied the superintendent

China English Lexis China Daily, Shanghai Daily, or the Beijing Today weekly are full of expressions coined to refer to Chinese ways and experiences of life, such as: “barefoot doctor,” “people’s commune,” “great leap forward,” “paper tiger,” “ideological remodeling,” “reform through physical labor,” “red guard,” “red rice,” “one country, two systems,” “the higher authorities have policies and the localities have their countermeasures,” “planned commodity economy,” “enterprise contracted production system,” “safety first and prevention first,” “outstanding deeds and advanced persons,” “one-family-one-child policy,” “family contracted responsibility system.”

English in Japan The English language was first introduced into Japan in March, It was when William Adams, the English pilot of a Dutch ship, reached the western part of the country after a shipwreck. Later renamed as Miura Anjin in the Japanese fashion, he soon acquired Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu’s personal trust and worked as an intermediary between the Japanese ruler and Great Britain’s King James I, delivering translated messages back and forth across the seas. At the time of Meiji Restoration (1868), Japan’s new enlightened leaders came to realize that English would be essential for the country’s modernization and development. The Government soon established a national educational system in 1872 and introduced English language teaching in five-year secondary schools, often even in six-year primary schools, in major cities.

English in Japan English language teaching was reinvigorated as peace was restored after the end of World War II in Two years later, the government set up six-year primary school and three-year junior high school education as compulsory, with English introduced nationally as a subject from the first year of the secondary curriculum to continue into the three-year senior high school and then to college.