1. U214 A / BOOK 2 ENGLISH IN THE WORLD CHPTER THREE A Colonial Language

2. INTRODUCTION This chapter will examine the relationship between colonization and the spread of English language, starting by the British Isles, then America, Africa, Australia. It will also consider the notion of language contact, between English language and other languages and cultures. Finally, it will consider the role played by colonization in the political and cultural associations that English has now around the world.

3. The Colonial Experience Between the end of the reign of Elizabeth 1 (1603) and Elizabeth 11 (1952) the number of mother-tongue English speakers in the world increased from 5-7 million to 250 million, of whom four-fifths lived outside the British Isles. This due to the colonial expansion of English to overseas territory which began in the C16th However, colonization started earlier within the British Isles themselves. When English became the main language of the Celtic-speaking territories of Ireland, Scotland, Wales.

4. English emerged as the main language: Colonization: whereby an original settlement were made by English speakers. Political Incorporation: the colonized territory was under control of the British government. Nationalist Reaction: which resulted in independence. 1-Colonization There are 3 distinct types of colonization, each with its own linguistic consequences: a-Displacement : first-language speakers of English displaced the pre-colonial population, e. g. North America, Australia.

5. b-Subjection (domination): colonizers kept the pre colonial population under their control, allowing some of them to learn English as a second or additional language, e.g. Cameroon, Nigeria, India. This type of colonization is called Direct Rule which was widely adopted in the British colonies. c-Replacement: a pre-colonial population was replaced by new labour from elsewhere, principally West Africa (e.g. Barbados and Jamaica)

6. 2-Political Incorporation Celtic territories (Scotland, Ireland, Wales) were the first to experience political incorporation. Wales and Scotland were included where they formally joined as ‘Great Britain’ in 1707. Ireland was formally incorporated in 1800 as part of what had become to be called the ‘United Kingdom’. After the administration of the remaining colonies Britain became the ‘British Empire’ The economy of these territories depended on and controlled by ‘the mother country’. Then, English became to be identified as the language of the State, and it remained a powerful model.

7. 3-Nationalist Reaction The political incorporation of communities that feel they have distinct cultural identity resulted in the nationalist reaction. National reaction appears in different forms in particular the language, i.e. the use of the pre-colonial language which provide a separatist identity. For instance, by the end of the C19th the newly emergence nationalism in Ireland, Scotland and Wales began to fear for the survival of Celtic languages which became taught languages, even in literature.

8. Overseas nationalist reaction began in North America in 1776, motivated by concerns over taxation. USA took it’s independence by force, a matter which made the British government offered Canada self-government, fearing that Canada might do the same. Then, Australia in 1901, New Zealand in 1907, South Africa 1910. Movements of political independence emerged in India and many of African colonies during The C20th. The language of these movements was also English (a second or additional language)

9. THE LINGUISTIC CONSEQUENCES OF COLONISATION Colonisation resulted in social, economic, and political inequalities which privilege the colonial language and those who spoke it. Those colonial conditions of language contact played an important role in shaping anew varieties of English that emerged. Schneider (2007) identifies five broad stages of historical development for new varieties of English resulted from language contact between different speech communities brought by colonisation.

10. 1-Foundation: in which English is brought to a territory where it had not been previously spoken At this initial stage, the indigenous community (the owners of the territory) and the newly arrived settlers (British) see themselves as distinct groups. 2-Exonormative Stabilisation: English begins to be regularly spoken in contexts such as administration, education and legal system. The variety is one modelled on norms from the settlers country, Britain (exonormative variety, i.e. doesn’t look to external norms) and thus has no distinct identity of its own.

11. 3-Nativisation: the stage at which the cultural and political loyalty that had existed precolonialisation is no longer relevant to the new situation. Then territory is developing its own cultural practices and ways of doing things including the development of a localized or indigenised variety of English. 4-Endonormative Stabilisation: in this stage, the local variety of English begins not only to be accepted as legitimate by its own, but also gets actively promoted as an important part of the territory’s culture. This usually follows political independence for the territory.

12. 5-Differentiation: the local variety is well established and the process of internal Linguistic variation occurs in the territory, where different sectors of society begin to establish their own variety of English which can be considered as separate dialects of the variety now used in the territory. Dialect Leveling and Internal Variation In all the colonies, first form (Ireland in the C12th) to (Australia in the late C18th) the English speaking settlers formed a diverse group of people

13. The restructuring of social identity is a typical colonial process and applies both to the incoming community (in this case Britain) and to the members of the precolonial population who become incorporated into the colonial system. The new settlers who come from different social and language background, start to adopt a new uniform variety. This process is called Dialect Levelling. Nationalist reaction (considering differences between speakers) and the seeking of independent political and cultural identity, lead to the promotion of a different standard model, by encouraging the identification and codification of a local variety of English (nativisation)

14. As colonies expanded and became more established, different areas and groups usually develop a sense of local and cultural linguistic identity. This might be reinforced by contact with local languages. The most complex linguistic situation was found in those colonies where speakers became bilingual in English and local language, e.g. India, West Africa, where a number of Europeans imposed political and economic control over precolonial population.

15. The Spread of English within the British Isles The global spread of English began within the British Isles, towards the end of the C12th. The Colonisation of Ireland The first colonies were established in south-east of Ireland (C12th). English law was introduced to protect the Colonist and disadvantage the Irish. By the C14th, many of the colonists had married Irish women and adopted the language of the enemies (Irish). By the late of C15th English was limited to a small area around Dublin known as ‘the Pale’

16. English control was reasserted during the C16th reflecting the monarchy’s preoccupation, declaring that the king’s subjects should speak English. Political incorporation and nationalist reaction in Ireland Irish were resettled in the poorer west of the country. There were Anti-English sentiment among Irish which support any cause that threaten the Britain state. It was after uprising in the 1798 that Ireland was incorporated into the United Kingdom by the Act of Union of 1800 where English became the first language of half population.

17. By the C19th, Irish was increasingly abandon for three reasons: 1-the famines in the 1840s (many Irish emigrated to USA) 2-introduction of universal English language education. 3-significance in the context of ideas linking nationalism and language. English became the language of two institutions: the Catholic Church, and the independence movements. In 1922 Ireland gained independence from UK Northern Ireland remained part of the UK.

18. The Spread of English Beyond the British Isles The establishment of English-speaking colonies in North America at the beginning of the C17th was the first sage in the colonial expansion of England that made English an international language. South America was the first to be discovered by Europe. In the late C15th, other European languages came into contact with English in the colonies and influenced its development.

19. English in North America: An Example of Displacement The pattern of colonisation southern areas differed slightly from that of the North. Huge plantation and estates developed in the South. These colonies were settled by a high of people from the south and west of England. Labour for the plantation were supplied by slaves who were transported from Africa. The variety of English which was implemented in North America was that of the early modern period

20. In North America, some dialect variations arose from contact with different indigenous languages, emerged one of the major modern dialect boundaries of the USA: that between northern and southern speech. Southern American English has a number of distinctive features (see p. 119 for examples).

21. English in West Africa: An Example of Subjection The first slaving expedition occurred in the C16th were in Sierra Leone. Then, Liberia was established by the USA for ex-slaves. Then, there was association of slaves with an African homeland based on the notion of decent from African tribes, which linked black people of America and Africa. This led to the existence of a shared language (English). New British colonies were established in Africa after 1880. In West Africa, the new colony was administered by a small number of British officials.

22. The population remained African with a select number receiving education in English from missionaries, and a large number using English-based Pidgins, a created language for communication between people who do not know each other languages. It has no mother tongue. But, when it becomes a mother tongue for the next generation It developed to be a creole (see p. 124) The precolonial populations were not given any right as far as the vote and compulsory education were concerned. They considered to be at a lower stage of cultural and Intellectual development than white Europeans.

23. The term colonialism first used in the C19th, it reflects changes in the relationship between Britain (British Empire) and its colonies. Pan-Negroism: a movement, based on shared ethnic identity, by ex-slaves in the USA, involved their struggle for freedom. Pan-Africanism: an anti-colonial struggle for blacks in Africa alone. Movement for African independence and the English language have been linked. Different languages spoken in Africa explain diversity as produced by ‘tribalism’.

24. Then, for independence, tribalism needs to be replaced by a different European concept: nationalism. English helps African to recreate their identities as members of nations rather than tribes. Britain colonialism helped African to modernise themselves by introducing them to the English language, and then, to new culture with concepts such as ‘freedom’ and ‘national identity’.

25. English in Jamaica: An Example of Replacement The long-term effect of the slave trade in the development of English language is immense. It gives rise to Black English in the USA and the Caribbean which has a big influence on the speech of young English speakers worldwide. It also provides extraordinary context of language contact, led to the formation of English pidgins and creoles. Portuguese-based pidgin was used widely when dealing with African slaves in the Caribbean colonised by the Spanish. Spanish-based pidgin; slave substituted Spanish words for the Portuguese ones in their pidgin, created Spanish-based pidgin

26. Pidgin was the only means of communication available to slaves on the new plantations where African languages were abandoned. In many parts of the Caribbean, the use of creole is linked firmly to a sense of local identity.

27. Language Education Policies and Colonialist Agendas English was reserved for the instruction of small ‘elite’ who would mostly fulfill key administrative role for the government of the colony. The language teaching practices that were developed in colonial times have also had an important influence on the practice and theories of the English language teaching industry.

28. Conclusion this chapter examined the spread of English from England to other parts of the British Isles and then to other areas of the world. The diversity of language around the world is a result of a various patterns of contact with other languages and cultures, and a product of linguistic diversity that existed around the British Isles and was exported abroad on colonial expansion. while the idea of standard being enforced inEngland, the native diversity of English was spreading around the Globe. (GO TO THE READINGS)