Varieties of EnglishVarieties of English

websites: www.uni-due.de/SVE www.uni-due.de/SHE

Raymond Hickey, Campus Essen, WS 2012/13Raymond Hickey, Campus Essen, WS 2012/13

The anglophone world todayThe anglophone world today

Dark blue regions: English as first languageDark blue regions: English as first languageLight blue regions: English as second languageLight blue regions: English as second language

Part I:Part I: The Spread of English in the ColonialThe Spread of English in the ColonialPeriod (1600Period (1600--1900)1900)

Part II:Part II: English in the CaribbeanEnglish in the Caribbean

Part III:Part III: English in North AmericaEnglish in North America

Part IV:Part IV: English in AfricaEnglish in Africa

Part V:Part V: English in AsiaEnglish in Asia

Part VIPart VI:: English in Australia/New Zealand and theEnglish in Australia/New Zealand and thePacificPacific

Note: This presentation contains information about where English is tobe found today, but not about how it is spoken around the world.

Part IPart I

The Spread of English in theThe Spread of English in theColonial Period (1600Colonial Period (1600--1900)1900)

Scenarios for the English language overseasScenarios for the English language overseas

Several factors are responsible for the types of English which havearisen outside Europe during the colonial period, roughly from the early17th to the late 19th century. Early settlers went to the New World, firstto the Caribbean then to eastern Canada and the later United States(to form the original 13 colonies). Some people left the British Isles oftheir own free will, some were forcibly deported, some served asindentured labourers.

At the new locations, settlers sometimes mixed with indigenouspeoples, with other settlers or with slaves from Africa. This mixture hadan effect on the forms of English which arose at the new locations.

The northern hemisphere was settled first (after 1600) while thesouthern hemisphere was settled much later (after 1800). This meansthat forms of English there are closer to English in south-east Englandtoday, e.g. in not having syllable-final /-r/ in words like car or card.

Division of the anglophone world by hemisphereDivision of the anglophone world by hemisphere

Division of the anglophone world by regionDivision of the anglophone world by region

‘‘NewNew EnglishesEnglishes’’Second languageSecond languagevarieties of Englishvarieties of English

Spread of English in the colonial periodSpread of English in the colonial period

A New and Accurate Map of the World (1627) by theA New and Accurate Map of the World (1627) by theEnglish cartographer John SpeedEnglish cartographer John Speed

The colonial world in the late 18th century

The colonial world in the late 19th century

The British Empire after World War I (1918)

Part IIPart II

The English Language in theThe English Language in theCaribbeanCaribbean

The Caribbean Sea and its IslandsThe Caribbean Sea and its Islands

• Pre-Columbian Period

• The Spanish Period

• British Involvement

Main periods in the history of the CaribbeanMain periods in the history of the Caribbean

English in the Caribbean areaEnglish in the Caribbean area

The first Carribean island to be settled by the British was Barbados(1627) in the east. When this island filled up, English-speakers left forother locations, especially for Jamaica after it was taken by the Britishin 1660.Initially, the Carribean was populated by whites, later by blacks takenfrom West Africa as slaves and transported across the Atlantic in theinfamous Middle Passage.Many other smaller islands were populated by English-speakers andmany changed hands between the colonial maritime powers, namelyEngland, France, Spain, Portugal and the Netherlands. Most of theseislands gain their independence in the mid 20th century.In the late 17th century a number of Caribbean slaves were transportedto the south-east of the United States to work on the large cottonplantations. Later slaves were transported directly. The system ofslavery lasted until the end of the American Civil War (1860-65).

Major EnglishMajor English--speaking Caribbean islandsspeaking Caribbean islands

Jamaica Barbados

Anglophone locations in the CaribbeanAnglophone locations in the Caribbean

The trade triangle from the period of slaveryThe trade triangle from the period of slavery

Groups of anglophone pidgins and creolesGroups of anglophone pidgins and creoles

Part IIIPart III

The English Language inThe English Language inNorth AmericaNorth America

Emigration to the United StatesEmigration to the United States

During the 18th century upwards of a quarter of a million Scots andUlster Scots emigrated to the east of America. They settled in statesalong the coast from Pennsylvania down to South Carolina. Many ofthem also settled in the Appalachian mountains and the speech ofthis region shows many traces of Scots input to this day.

Later in the 19th century many millions fled Ireland as a result of famine(e.g. the Great Famine of 1845-8). These largely Catholic emigrantssettled in the cities of the north-eastern United States, such as NewYork and Boston. Because they were considerably later than theScots their speech did not have a comparable effect on AmericanEnglish, though locally there are traces of this Irish English input.

Dialect regions of the United StatesDialect regions of the United States

The two main ethnic groups in the present-dayUSA are:

1) African Americans (people of African plusAmerican descent). They originally camethrough the Caribbean in the 17th century andlater directly to the USA (18th century).

2) Hispanics (people of Central AmericanSpanish descent), these are largely speakersof Chicano English, but some are PuertoRicans (in New York) or Cubans (in southernFlorida) by origin.

Distribution of African Americans in the USADistribution of African Americans in the USA

Gullah (Sea Islands Creole)Gullah (Sea Islands Creole)

Location of Chicano EnglishLocation of Chicano English

Dialect regions of CanadaDialect regions of Canada

Part IVPart IV

The English Language inThe English Language inAfricaAfrica

The English language in AfricaThe English language in Africa

English in presentEnglish in present--day Africaday Africa

Pidgins in presentPidgins in present--day West Africaday West Africa

The early anglophone settlement of South AfricaThe early anglophone settlement of South Africa

The transportation of speakers from India to NatalThe transportation of speakers from India to Natal

Part VPart V

The English Language inThe English Language inAsiaAsia

The English language in AsiaThe English language in Asia

The main anglophone locations in Asia are:

1) South Asia consisting of the followingcountries: (i) India, (ii) Pakistan, (iii)Bangladesh, (iv) Sri Lanka. All of these areformer English colonies. To them one couldadd the smaller countries (i) Nepal, (ii) Bhutanand (iii) The Maldives.

2) South-East Asia consisting of the followingcountries (i) Malaysia, (ii) Singapore, (iii) ThePhilippines and (iv) Hong Kong (now a regionof China). All were English colonies exceptThe Philippines

English in South Asia and SouthEnglish in South Asia and South--East AsiaEast Asia

Part VIPart VI

The English Language inThe English Language inAustralia/New Zealand andAustralia/New Zealand and

the Pacificthe Pacific

Transportation to Australia / New ZealandTransportation to Australia / New Zealand

Both Australia (1788 - ) and New Zealand (1840 - ) had considerableIrish input (between 25% and 30% of the original settlers). However,their speech was not continued at either location, probably because ofthe dominance of English speech models, given that both countrieswere colonies of Britain.

Australia & New Zealand (Australasia)Australia & New Zealand (Australasia)

The Pacific OceanThe Pacific Ocean

Geographical divisions of the Pacific islandsGeographical divisions of the Pacific islands

Note: In the following three maps those islands where English is widely spoken– either through Briitish or American influence – are underlined in red.

MelanasiaMelanasia

MicronesiaMicronesia

PolynesiaPolynesia

Hawaii archipelagoHawaii archipelago

Varieties of English: recommended readingVarieties of English: recommended reading

References (brief selection)

Algeo, John (ed.) 2001. English in North America. The CambridgeHistory of the English Language, Vol. 6. Cambridge: University Press.

Burchfield, Robert 1994. English in Britain and Overseas. Origins andDevelopment. The Cambridge History of the English Language.Volume 5. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Hickey, Raymond (ed.) 2004. Legacies of Colonial English.Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Kortmann, Bernd, Kate Burridge, Rajend Mesthrie, Edgar W.Schneider and Clive Upton (eds) 2004. A Handbook of Varieties ofEnglish. Volume 1: Phonology, Volume 2: Morphology and Syntax.Berlin / New York: Mouton de Gruyter.

Literature on VarietiesLiterature on Varieties of Englishof English

Literature on VarietiesLiterature on Varieties of Englishof English

Conventional histories of EnglishConventional histories of English

More inclusive overviews of EnglishMore inclusive overviews of English

Literature on the spread of EnglishLiterature on the spread of English

Literature on World EnglishesLiterature on World Englishes