24 on the Origin and Nature of Standard English 3890

8/8/2019 24 on the Origin and Nature of Standard English 3890

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On the origin and nature of Standard English

Tom McArthurA focus on the nature of Standard English & ELT


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The King

s Standard

In 1138, The battle of the flags (standards)between the English and Scots

Extension to non-military, peaceful meanings (standard pound, standard yard, gold standard, etc)

The term was introduced into literature andlanguage by the early 18th c. ( Henry Fulton)


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Classical and Neo-classical Norms The First primer of a Western language ( he grammatike

tekhne, Dionysius Thrax, 2nd C BC, Alexandria)

His main treatise was that the spoken word can bejudged in terms of the written word.

Kione : a spoken dialect ( Ciceros De oratore )

Ciceros categorisation of Latin: ( rbanitas, rusticitas andpereginitas)


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In Britain, the courtly and literary level of theEast Midland dialect ascended over other

dialects . Reasons Politics: the nation-state

Communication: the Greco-Latin heritage

Literature: vernacular genre

Religion: translating the bible Technology: the invention of movable types

Industrialisation: standard processes and products


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High English: the best and the rest A dictionary of the English Language ( Samuel

Johnson, 1775) & The Royal Standard EnglishDictionary, William Perry, Edinburgh)

Baily, 1991: OUR standard vs. others

Two models: SE & dialect vs. Standard English

Third Model recently emerged: English as a groupof dialects, all equal.


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An Assured Standard: the Kings English,Henry W & Francis G. F. ,OUP, 1906:

Responses:

The authoritarian response

The Libertarian response

The egalitarian response The uncertain response

The eclectic response


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Perceptions of Standard English:

social & geographical criteria

The strong traditionalists

The mild traditionalists

The liberal progressives The uncertain


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McArthur

s Conclusion on Standard English.

Sociolinguistic

National-cum-international issue

Contentious


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Literature Review on the topic According to the theory of concentric circles (Kachru, 1985), English being used

around the world is divided into three groups: inner circle, outer circle andexpanding circle.

The inner circle refers to the countries where English is a native language: theUSA, UK, Ireland, Canada, Australia and New Zealand;

the outer circle denotes EFL countries (e.g. former English colonies), such asIndia, Singapore, Malaysia, South Africa;

the expanding circle involves EFL countries like China, Japan, Israel, Greece,Poland, etc.

McArthur divided English as native language, second language and foreignlanguage (McArthur, 1998).

General Interpretation of Concentric Circles Terminology

Expanding circle

Outer circle

Inner circle


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Kachrus Concentric (=Overlapping) Circles of

English (fromK

achru 1997: 213)


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Standard English & Linguists Peter Trudgill, 1999, argues that SE is a language that has

been characterised and hence standardised.

SE is not an accent, 9%-12% of the population of Britainspeaks Standard English with some form of regional accents

(Trudgill &Cheshire, 1989). Received Pronunciation RP is acommon accent, but it is a standardised accent, but not SEitself.

Crystal states that What is called now SE is one variety ofEnglish but not the English Language

Crystal (1995) also gives his opinion that Standard English is a

minority variety (identified chiefly by its lexical, grammar andorthography) which carries most prestige and is most widelyunderstood


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Standard English & ELT We, teachers, may consider our main mission as to only teach

correct language without realizing that, even for educatednative speakers, natural and correct language includes avariety of language forms, not a single variant (Beebe, 1988;Milroy, J. & Milroy, L.,1985)

According to Trudgills theory, Standard English does nothingwith accent; the accent can be chosen when we learn Standard

English. teachers can become developers of sensitivity toward many

varieties of language rather than pedantic linguistic enforcers(Mckay & Hornberger,1996)

SE, ELT &Culture: As LIU (1998) says, the point of learning

culture in teaching EFL is to make target language learners becapable of using English appropriately according to thecontexts and necessity.

English as CLOCAL language (Pakir, 1999)


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Conclusion There is fixed Standard English Apart from the heating linguistic, sociolinguistic and political

debate, we, ELT teachers need to be, to some extent,aware of the controversy, but not to involve our studentswith the many varieties of English that might confuse them.

However, we need to send clear messages to our studentsthat they need to expose themselves as much as they canto authentic materials, spoken mainly, in order for them tobe acquainted with the language they want to learn atlarge.

In my experience in classroom, students in general like toexplore beyond what teachers give in class, but they feel

worried of making mistakes. This might be one of thereason that they might feel secure with one norm.

Because Arabic has a linguistically rigid standard language,I think Arab students tend to prefer one norm to learn.


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Questions: Reflect on your (former) students

reaction and outcome when taught by

NS and NNS teachers in terms of SEand dialect?

Do most published course books takedialect variety into consideration?

Why? why not?

24 on the Origin and Nature of Standard English 3890

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