Question: Which Englishes have “norm providing” status?

Standard (Southeast) British and General American (and, in the South Pacific, Cultivated Australian) enjoy “norm providing” status, aAccording to Braj Kachru (1992) – a scholar of different varieties of World English in the field of English linguistics- who classified many varieties of English found across the globe. ¶ Kachru conceived the idea of three concentric circles of English language (Inner circle, Outer circle and Expanding circles).

The “inner circle” includes all countries where English is the official language. They all theoretically have “norm providing” status and they are: -- UK, USA, Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, Malta, South Africa and some Caribbean territories – but only the first two or three actually influence how English is spoken and written in other countries.

The “outer circle” encompasses countries where English is not the first language, but it is important because it is an official national language and is linked to them for historical reasons (for example “British Empire”, American influence, etc.). In these countries English plays a fundamental role in the institutions. They have traditionally taken their linguistic norms from the first circle and but now have started to become “norm developing”. To the extent that they create and homologate their own lexical items and rules of grammar, they are also called “New Englishes”. This circle includes India, Nigeria, the Philippines, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Malaysia, Tanzania, Kenya, etc.

The last circle, the “expanding circle” gathers includes those countries (much of the rest of the world) where English is used as a foreign language and it hasn’t has no historical or governmental role. It includes China, Russia, Japan, most of Europe (Italy), Korea, Egypt, Indonesia, etc. In these countries English is used for specific aims: business, informatics, formal learning.

These countries have “norm dependent” status because they depend on the standard norms by native speakers in the inner circle.

So, after this classification we can tell says that many varieties of English exist in different countries around the world, each with a particular status and use.

OK