TASK 2 - Paludi Annarita - LS II anno - a.a. 2008/2009

IMPROVED!

CORRECT THIS STUDENT'S ANSWER TO A QUESTION ON AN IMAGINARY EXAM

Exam Question: Which Englishes have “norm providing” status?

A Student's Answer: Most people consider the English language to be a single thing but in reality it is many things, many Englishes. This is because there is no single variety that is both rooted in a geopolitical community and used as a universal standard. Thus, "English" is a fiction; only "Englishes" exist. Of all the Englishes born in Britain and in her former colonies, some have conserved Anglo cultural values and, in their respective communities, constitute the prestige models: General American, Cultivated Australian, R.P. English, etc. They are what Kachru calls the "norm providers". Others, especially those that use English words to express local cultural values (Indian, Singaporean, Philippine, Nigerian Englishes for example), have traditionally taken their linguistic norms from the first group, although lately they have started to become "norm developing" and many people already call them "New Englishes".

My answer:

Standard (Southeast) British and General American (and, in the South Pacific, Cultivated Australian) enjoy “norm providing” status, according to Braj Kachru (1992)¹ - 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.

First of all, the “inner circle” includes all countries where English is the official language. They all theoretically have “norm providing” status: 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.

Next, 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 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”². This last and recent term “New Englishes is introduced by Tom McArthur (1992) to indicate “the emerging and increasingly autonomous varieties of English, especially in a non-western setting, such as India, Nigeria, or Singapore. It refers to varieties of English in countries where English is an official, but not necessarily the first language of all inhabitants”. So, the outer circle includes India, Nigeria, the Philippines, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Malaysia, Tanzania, Kenya, etc.

Finally, the “expanding circle” includes those countries (much of the rest of the world) where English is used as a foreign language and has no historical or governmental role. It includes China, Russia, Japan, most of Europe (Italy), Korea, Egypt, Indonesia, etc. Most of these countries use English for specific aims, for example business, informatics and formal learning in an increasing number of institutions.

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

So, through Kachru’s classification it is evident that many varieties of English exist in different countries around the world, each with a particular status and use, but this is not enough.

Some further remarks,: although English language plays a fundamental role in every country encompassed in three circles already explained, I think the language must be joined is liked to the culture of that specific country and I agree upon that with what is maintained in Boylan (2009)³, that is to say “language is only a formal accommodation, because the cultural value system makes unique a country and its inhabitants such as to create its own “variety of English” and its own status. YOU USE QUOTES TO CITE ME BUT I DON'T RECOGNIZE THE SENTENCE AS MINE. (AND YOU DON'T CLOSE THE QUOTE, EITHER.) IN ANY CASE, I CERTAINLY AGREE WITH THE CONCEPT EXPRESSED!!