David Crystal informs us the word “Englishes” came into being about ten to fifteen years ago, to reflect the reality of what happens when English becomes a global language..
As you look around the modern English world, you see English developing in almost all countries in the world. All countries of the world have English either as a first language or a second language. And it doesn’t take long for a country to take the English that wherever it came from whether it’s Britain, America or Australia and then start to adapt it to make it their own. Everywhere in every part of the world there is a new variety of English growing which is culturally influenced (David Crystal). Crystal explains that some expressions used in a particular place are related to the country itself and its culture. In Britain for example, a famous expression is “it was like Clapham Junction in there”. This is a very common expression in Britain. “We understand the grammar, the vocabulary as well except the name, and the pronunciation. But not knowing the name doesn’t allow us to understand the sentence” Crystal explains. Clapham Junction is the name of the most chaotic railway station in London. So it has become an idiom meaning “it was chaotic in there, it was terribly busy”. So when you come out of a room and you say it was like Clapham Junction in there you mean that it was very busy and chaotic in there. That is British English.
To sum up then, the English language will keep on gaining status and importance around the globe and new varieties of English will result. We will have more World Englishes indeed. Yes with that “es” ending at the end there.
References
David Crystal, World Englishes, retrieved from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_q9b9YqGRY
As you look around the modern English world, you see English developing in almost all countries in the world. All countries of the world have English either as a first language or a second language. And it doesn’t take long for a country to take the English that wherever it came from whether it’s Britain, America or Australia and then start to adapt it to make it their own. Everywhere in every part of the world there is a new variety of English growing which is culturally influenced (David Crystal). Crystal explains that some expressions used in a particular place are related to the country itself and its culture. In Britain for example, a famous expression is “it was like Clapham Junction in there”. This is a very common expression in Britain. “We understand the grammar, the vocabulary as well except the name, and the pronunciation. But not knowing the name doesn’t allow us to understand the sentence” Crystal explains. Clapham Junction is the name of the most chaotic railway station in London. So it has become an idiom meaning “it was chaotic in there, it was terribly busy”. So when you come out of a room and you say it was like Clapham Junction in there you mean that it was very busy and chaotic in there. That is British English.
To sum up then, the English language will keep on gaining status and importance around the globe and new varieties of English will result. We will have more World Englishes indeed. Yes with that “es” ending at the end there.
References
David Crystal, World Englishes, retrieved from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_q9b9YqGRY
1 comment:
English has been working its way to the top. It became a globe uniting language. Many countries around the world had adopted the English language as a first or second language. People use it to, communicate with people from different countries, to surf the internet and for travelling. World Englishes are still developing and expanding to reach places no language has ever reached before.
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