7. GLOBAL ENGLISH
English developed from the speech of the
Anglo-Saxon into a single, standard, 'Queen's English'. Standard British
English speech came to be known as RP or 'Received pronunciation'. Along its
way to becoming a standard language for England, English borrowed freely from
languages that its speakers came in contact with through trade, spread of
learning, new foreign invasions and so on. At first, the new words came mainly
from European languages:
· Latin-adapt, crisis, exist,
fact, skeleton, temperature, vacuum, virus...
· Spanish - apricot, banana, guitar,
mosquito, Negro, potato, tobacco
· Italian - balcony, ballet, design,
giraffe. Lottery, opera, rocket, violin...
· French - anatomy, chocolate,
detail, invite, muscle, passport, tomato..
This borrowing habit of English has made it
'the most gloriously impure language'.
By the 18th century, England had become a
very powerful nation. It was said that the sun never sets in the British Empire
because more than half the world, from Australia through Asia and Africa to
parts of America (both north and south) were all under British Rule.
As the British Empire grew, so did the
language, English. It absorbed words and phrases from the languages of all the
countries that were colonized by the British. Thus words began pouring into the
English language from all directions, giving it a more and more global shape.
There were two main effects of this worldwide
spread of English
· New national varieties of
English, like American English, Australian English, Canadian English, etc.,
came into being.
· 'New Englishes' (i.e., new
varieties of English) developed in countries where English was no a mother
tongue, e.g. Indian English, Nigerian English, etc.
NEW NATIONAL VARIETIES OF ENGLISH
As soon as English began to spread across the
world, it began to change. The first changes were seen in the different ways in
which English began to be used in America. After America became free of British
rule, the Americans were eager to show their distinct identity as a free country
and began to call their variety of English American English. Today, American
English, like British English, is recognised as a 'world language', though
there are many differences between them. Some of these differences are shown
below:
THE EMERGENCE OF NEW ENGLISHES
The second effect of the spread of English
was the development of 'new Englishes' like Indian English, Nigerian English,
etc.
Like American English, these varieties differ
in some respects from standard British English. However, they are closer to
British English than to American English. Indian English, for example, has
developed a distinct set of words and sentence patterns that do not exist in
British English. Some examples are given in the table below:
WORDS
Ø Family member: a member of
the family
Ø Match box: a box of matches
Ø Chalk piece: a piece of
chalk
Ø Moneybag: purse
Ø Key bunch: a bunch of keys
Ø Bandh: labour strike
Ø Godown: warehouse
Ø Lakh: a hundred thousand
Ø Stir: agitation
Ø Backward class: deprived
group
Ø Himalayan blunder: grave
mistake
Ø Military hotel:
non-vegetarian hotel
Ø Pin-drop silence: dead
silence
Ø Platform: pavement or
sidewalk
GRAMMAR
o I am owning two houses
(own)
o She is knowing the answer
(knows)
o Pay attention on (Pay
attention to)
o Who you have come to see?
(Who have you......?)
o What this is made of? (What
is...?)
o You like coffee, isn't it?
(....... don't you?)
o They are late, isn't it?
(.. aren't they?)
Nissim Ezekiel, a famous writer of English
poetry has given us a satirised version of Indian English in the poem Goodbye
Party for Miss Pushpa T.S.
GOODBYE PARTY FOR MISS PUSHPA T.S.
Friends,
our dear sister
is departing for foreign
in two three days,
and
we are meeting today
to wish her bon voyage.
You are all knowing friends,
what sweetness is in Miss Pushpa.
I don't mean only external sweetness
but internal sweetness.
Miss Pushpa is smiling and smiling
even for no reason
but simply because she is feeling.
Miss Pushpa is coming
from very high family.
Her father was renowned advocate
In Bulsar or Surat,
I am not remembering which place....
Exercises
1. Write T for true and F for false statements:
a) There
is no difference between American English and British English.
b) Indian
English is closer to American English.
c) Indian
English has developed a distinct set of words and sentences patterns that do
not exist in British English.
2. Answer these questions very briefly:
1. Which
speech came to be known as 'Received Pronunciation'?
2. What
has made English 'the most gloriously, impure language'?
3. Name
two effects of the worldwide spread of English.