LING 115 Midterm 2

conditions that cause pidgin languages to arise

• speakers of more than two languages need to communicate and have no shared language

• there is an imbalance in the power relations of the language groups

  • large workforce of migrant laborers and supervised by a small group of managers

  • must find a way to communicate

• there is often limited contact between members of the dominant group and the subordinate group

vertical and horizontal contact

• vertical contact: contact between workers/employees/laborers and managers/bosses

  • less frequent because workers have limited interactions with their superiors

• horizontal contact: contact between workers/employees/laborers

  • more frequent

new pidgin languages

• have vocabulary mostly drawn from the superstrate (dominant) language

• very little grammar

  • don’t have enough contact to absorb the grammatical system

• are restricted in how they can be used

• are not developed well enough for much social interaction

superstrate vs. substrate languages

• superstrate: language of the dominant group

• substrate: languages of subordinate groups

hawaiian pidgin english

• developed on plantations in hawaii in interactions between english-speaking managers and immigrant workers speaking japanese, chinese, portuguese, and philippino languages

workplace pidgins

• laborers from different language backgrounds working on plantations such as migrant laborers and in (coal, diamond) mines

• hawaiian pidgin english

• fanakolo (south africa) mining community

trading pidgins

• traders interact with groups speaking different/other languages

• chinook jargon (pacific, nw, usa)

• bazaar malay (se asia)

maritime pidgins

• crews working on ships from different language backgrounds

• sabir (mediterranean)

wartime/occupation pidgins

• foreign soldiers interacting with local people

• pidgin evolves

• bamboo english (asia)

global distribution of pidgins/creoles

• coastal areas of west africa, caribbean, southeast africa

pidgin/creole superstrates

• many lexified by english, french, spanish, portuguese, dutch

• pidgins with non-european lexifiers:

  • nubi (east africa) = arabic lexifier

  • fanakolo (south africa) = zulu lexifier

  • chinook jargon (pacific nw) = chinook lexifier

stage 1 of life cycle: early pidgin

• spoken as a L2

• simplification of superstrate input: grammar, sounds, vocabulary, morphology

• very basic language and form of communication

• much variation in the way people speak the new pidgin

  • little to no grammar

  • very variable word

• meaning is communicated only through words and gestures, often ambiguous

• restricted in what can be communicated– work-related information but not social interactions

development of early pidgins

• elimination of functional words

• simplification of superstate morphology

• reduction of superstrate vocabulary size

• renalaysis of words

• adjustment of pronunciation of words borrowed from superstrate phonology/sounds

• word order

elimination of functional words

• substrate speakers simplify the grammar of the superstrate language and eliminate words such as

  • auxiliary verbs: will, have, did, is

  • determiners: the, a

  • complementizers: if, whether

• superstrate english: the doctor is a good man

• early pidgin english: doctor good man

simplification of superstrate morphology

• on verbs: walked → walk, walks → walk

• on nouns: many cats → many cat

reduction of superstrate vocabulary size

• early pidgin vocabulary has 200-300 words

• superstrate english vocabulary has 50,000 words

reanalysis of words

• words from superstrate are given new meanings

• examples from tok pisin (new guinea)

  • long → long = in, at, on, for

  • belong → bilong = of, belonging to

  • haus bilong john = on john’s house

  • on top of → antap = on

  • mary → female

  • hos meri = female horse

  • pik meri = female pig

adjustment of pronunciation of words borrowed from superstrate: phonology and sounds

• superstrate english: 14 different vowel sounds

• early pidgin english: 5-7 vowel sounds

• principle of convergence: if the same sounds occur in both the superstrate and substrates → substrate speakers retain these in pidgin

  • pidgin sound system converges on sounds common in both superstrate and substrates

  • levelling = getting rid of sounds which aren’t shared

    • th → d or t

    • sh → s

    • f → p

    • nd → n

word order

• “sara cooked yams” could be expressed as

  • sara yam cook

  • yam cook sara

  • sara cook yam

  • cook sara yam

stage 2 of life cycle: stabilized pidgins

• spoken as L2

• word order stabilization

  • speakers establish regular ways of ordering subjects, objects, and verbs

  • SVO, SOV, VSO, etc.

• vocabulary starts to grow

  • allows pidgin to be used to talk about a wider range of topics

  • vocabulary is increased in a variety of ways

  • polysemy: a word can be used for more than one meaning

    • mole, crane, hia (kamtok pidgin)

development of stabilized pidgins

• multifunctionality: a word used with different functions– verb, noun, adjective, etc.

• further reanalysis of superstrate words

• compound words are created

  • novel combinations of 2+ existing words to create a word with a new meaning

stage 3 of life cycle: expanded pidgin

• spoken as L2

• more complexity

stage 4 of life cycle: creole

• spoken as L1

• new native L1 speakers

• rapid expansion of grammar, vocabulary, and domains of use

creolization

• creole: when a pidgin becomes the L1/a mother tongue of speakers

  • used in all domains of life to talk about everything a person experiences

  • grammar becomes more complex

  • vocabulary increases considerably

vocabulary size increases significantly

• by compounding and other word formation processes

• reduplication: repeating a word, often to form an intensified version

  • enormous → bigbig

  • stare at → lukluk

  • walk fast → gogo

  • party → singsing

development of new grammatical words

• “been” past tense in may creoles

  • mi bin kaekae wan krab → i ate a krab

• future tense “bae” in tok pisin

  • bae hem i go → he will go

• aspect markers arise specifying how an event unfolds over time (continuously, instantaneously, etc.

  • hem i stap tok-tok → he is talking

  • mi go finis → i have gone

• determiners are created/reintroduced

  • determiners: word equivalents for “the” and “a”

• classifiers are developed

• predicate markers arise in some creoles

  • especially in creoles in south pacific

• particle “i” is used between subjects and verbs

  • jim i bin go long singing → jim went to the party

development of classifiers

• many languages of asia use special words when nouns occur with numbers

• classifiers/CLs: words used to help count nouns in english

  • chinese, japanese, and korean: ben, satsu, kwon

  • like english two head of cattle

faster speech causes sound changes

• when people are confident L1 speakers of a language, they speak it faster than L2 speakers and learners

significance of creolization

• children developing creoles create all kinds of sophisticated grammatical elements

• creole speakers spontaneously recreate types of grammar found in older languages

• creoles can express the same kinds of complex thoughts and propositions that older languages can, and can be used in all areas of life

• creoles diverge more and more from the superstrates they are related to

a single-origin theory of pidgins

• hypothesis: all pidgins lexified by european-languages related to a single, early source

• sabir: a maritime-trading language spoken in the mediterranean during the middle ages

• relexification: words from one language A gradually replace the words in another language B, without affecting the grammar in language B

  • language B comes to be spoken mostly with words from language A

relexification examples

• nw china: uyghur has been relexified with mandarin chinese– now has chinese words used with original uyghur grammar

• saramaccan pidgin, spoken in suriname

  • originally a portuguese pidgin

  • later become an english pidgin, as english words were substituted for portuguese after british took over the portuguese territory

• christopher taylor

  • relexified english with words from other languages

repeated lexification of sabir

• suggestion: the trading pidgin sabir was lexified with portuguese words

  • spread as portuguese pidgin around the world

  • later relexified with words from english, french, dutch, and spanish by other traders

• result: new english/french/dutch pidgins with some remaining portuguese words

hypothesis 2

• many pidgins and creoles arise from the same mental processes of language acquisition that all children make use of when trying to develop language

• could account for the similarities in pidgins

  • all created by same processes of analysis and reproduction

universal grammar approach

• noam chomsky: all humans are born with part of their brain dedicated to understanding and producing language

  • general design principles of language are hard-wired in the brain in all humans in a fully parallel way

• universal gramma: we are genetically pre-programmed to develop languages structured in the same basic way, because of the brain structures we are all born with

• there is a special window of opportunity to make the best use of univeral grammar

• access to UG is much stronger in children than adults (critical period hypothesis)

  • children are better, faster language learners than adults

  • it becomes increasingly difficult to learn new languages as we get older

universal grammar (pidgins and creoles)

• UG is used by adults to create pidgin languages

  • children develop pidgins into much more complex creoles

• pidgins and creoles resemble each other around the world because all humans have the same UG

  • same specialized tools to develop language

• creoles are much more complex than pidgins because children have stronger access to UG and an early window of opportunity

• adults struggle harder with limited UG access and create simpler pidgin languages

comparison of single-origin and language acquisition hypothesis

pidgin/creole sign language

• in nicaragua during the 1970s, new schools for the deaf were set up

  • tried to teach lip-reading and spoken language

• outside of class, young teenaege students innovated signs to communicate with each other

  • very basic and varied, like an early pidgin

  • younger children spontaneously developed this into a much more complex system with a larger vocabulary and shared signing conventions (creation of new grammar)

• creation of a signed creole was possible because younger children still had strong access to UG

further outcomes

• stable (extended) diglossia

• decreolization

• promotion into NL or OL

• recreolization

stable (extended) diglossia

• situation: an OL of a country where a pidgin/creole is widely spoken is not the superstrate of the pidgin

• can lead to stable extended diglossia: pidgin/creole used for L functions, the OL for H functions

decreolization

• situation: a creole and its superstrate language are spoken by members of a single population

• over time, creole speakers and superstrate speakers come into contact more than in the past

• creole words and grammar gradually get replaced with words and grammar from the standard form of the superstrate language

• continuum of variation is found

  • some varieties closer to creole (basilect)

  • others closer to superstrate (acrolect)

• guyanese creole has a range of varieties from the acrolect to the basilect

• with de-creolization, a creole can “hide its tracks” over time so that its origins and identity as a creole are lost

promotion into NL or OL

• some extended pidgins/creoles may be promoted into NL or OL roles and used in education

• pidgin/creole may become standardized and used in newspapers and official documents

• in new guinea, the pidgin tok pisin has been made into an OL

  • most widely used language in new guinea as an L2

bislama in vanuatu

• workforce pidgin created on australian plantations and then brought back to vanuatu by returning laborers

• vanuatu was jointly administered by the colonial powers britain and france

• struggle for independence created nationalism and unity among the 100+ language groups

independent vanuatu

• independence in 1980 = bislmama was made NL and OL alongside english and french (OLs)

• bislama was not promoted for use in formal domains unlike english and french

  • no support for use of bislama in education at any level

  • studies showed that children school with bislama got higher grades and learned english better

  • teachers admitted it would be easier to teach in bislama

  • prejudices against value of pidgins are deep adn strong when compared with older european languages

recreolization

• people sometimes switch from speaking a standard variety of english, french, etc. to the regular use of a creole language

  • referred to as recreolization of a person’s speech

  • a switch in the opposite direction to decreolization

• recreolization = standard → creole

• de-creolization = creole → standard

• jamaican creole and gullah

english as a global language

• total number of speakers: ¼ of the world’s population have some proficiency in english

• global distribution of knowledge of english is across all continents

• recognized as an OL in 55 states and used in OL functions in 11 more states

  • english is effectively an OL (or co-OL) in 1/3 of the world’s 195 states

• widespread learning of english more than any other language

  • new young generations are able to speak some english

three circles of english

• inner circle: english is the L1 of the majority

  • few countries but large combined populations

  • USA, UK, ireland, canada, australia, new zeland

• outer circle: english is mostly an L2 and used in formal domains

  • english is often an OL and include many former british colonies in africa, asia

  • new distinctive forms of english are emerging in over 50 countries

  • india, malaysia, singapore, ghana, etc.

• expanding circle: english is now strong in education and learned as the first foreign language

  • not an OL and not used domestically

  • most dynamic area of growth

  • total number of L2 speakers is equal to inner + outer circles

  • china, sweden, japan, germany, saudio arabia

3 main causes of the development of the english as a GL

• dominance of britain as a naval, trading, and industrial power from 17thC to 19thC

• 20thC growth of USA as the world’s dominant economic power and major force of cultural influence

• many late 20thC advances in technology spread knowledge and use of english further

first dispersal of english

• first international spreading of english involved settlement of english-speakers in north america, australia, new zealand, and south africa (inner circle countries)

• climate was more similar to europe = more appealing

• settlers in these areas could more easily return to their home countries

second dispersal of english

• to asia and africa

• smaller numbers of settlers

• india has 125 million speakers of english = second largest population of english-speakers in the world after the US

• climate of africa was inhospitable to european settlers

• english was used in government administration and trade

  • english kept as an OL in many countries after independence due to ethno-linguistic complexity

  • english felt to be ethnically-neutral (although foreign)

comparison of the spread of english and french colonial power and language

• english spread more globally than french

• raw materials produced in overseas colonies feed into the new industry developed in england

strengthening the position of english as an GL

• in the 20thC, the british empire went into decline

  • debt from wars

• usa emerges as world class super-power

• economic, political, and cultural influence of the usa helps english become stronger in the first half of the 20thC

new international organizations

• all multi-national organizations add english as an OL (one of a restricted number of OLs)

new technology

• from the 1950s onward, new developments in technology establish english as the world’s first global language

• help promote the international access to english and provide a motivation for people to learn english in even greater numbers

• english now pulls far ahead of french and other languages in its global use and understanding

growth of film and tv industry

• american and british films and tv shows become very popular with international audiences

short-wave radio use

• affordable, effective radios are developed that allow people all over the world to listen to international radio programming, globally broadcast in english

• international english broadcasts even made by non-english-L1 nations

  • use english because they can reach larger audiences

growth in the popular music industry

• development of records, cassettes, cds, digital music, helps spread the availability and demand for popular music

• american and british pop stars are very successful internationally, spreading english further

• pop music by english L1 and L2 singers

improvements in printing and dissemination of written materials

• international magazines and newspapers in english

• scientific research now heavily published in english

computers and the internet

• development of computers and the internet increases international communication

  • english is often used as a common language

• speakers of other languages (especially smaller languages) access information on the internet via english

expansion of air travel

• affordable, low-cost air travel boosts international tourism

• increases the need for an “international
  language, a lingua franca for use between travelers and local people

three additional areas of new growth

• rapid expansion of english in late 20thC has also stimulated more global demand for english

• marketing: use of english to promote the sale of products

• use of english as a lingua franca among L2 speakers

• education: new use of english as a medium of education in schools and universities around the world

marketing with english

• global growth of english has led to english being perceived as a desired language with positive associations: success, modernity, and internationalism

• english is now used extensively in advertising and fashion design, in countries where real knowledge of english may not be high across a population

• ornamentation use of english: english words on clothes and souvenirs

english as a lingua franca/ELF

• a more common language, useful for international commerce and other situations of contact

• english is frequently being selected as the OL of multi-national organizations and companies from non-L1 english countries

• the international language of air traffic

• international ship-to-ship communication at sea

EU translation

• in 1957, the EU had 6 member states

  • languages represented: french, dutch, italian, german

  • 6 interpreters needed

• in 2021, the EU has 26 members

  • total languages represented: 24

  • 552 interpreters needed

• to cut down costs, new pivot system adopted

  • speaker addresses the EU in german

  • german translated into english

  • english translated into all other languages

  • only 23 interpreters needed

english in education

• south korean “english fever”

• koreans spend $15 billion on english-learning each year

• english-immersion schools, evening/weekend cramming schools, english villages: have villagers that are native english speakers

english learning in china

• english is taught from elementary schol level

• bilingual education is becoming increasingly popular

growth of english learning in europe

• 90% of secondary school students in europe now have a proficiency in english

• universities are offering courses with “english as medium of instruction” (EMI)

value of EMI courses

• EMI courses help domestic students in europe develop the english skills necessary for study abroad programs

• young europeans who have studied abroad enjoy a much higher employment rate

• those with strong english are estimated to earn 30-50% higher salaries

• EMI programs also provide foreign revenue, as international students come to study in english

disadvantages of having a GL

• pressure on small languages → language endangerment

• L1 speakers of english stop learning other languages

• knowlewdge of english becomes a new social class marker, creates inequality

• challenges in the workplace relating to corporate english

english as a killer language

• growth of english as GL causing language death?

• global language endangerment is not just due to english, but all major regional languages

L1 speakers stop learning other languages

• more restricted cultural knowledge of world

• monolingual L1 speakers are less competitive in international business

• speakers of other languages now increasingly multilingual

• L1 speakers of english may get left behind

knowledge of english increases divisions in society

• helps privileged elites hold onto power and employment

• bottom line: a question of access to english learning

• if access is provided by public education there are advantages for all

  • access to learning english is restricted in some countries

challenges with use of corporate english

• adopting english as the OL of a multi-national company brings many advantages for business

• employees worry that promotions are tied to english proficiency and not because of business skills

• due to worries about job security, employees may not talk in meetings if their english is not good

some other languages can become the world’s new GL

• spanish as a future GL

• mandarin chinese as a future GL

spanish as a future GL

• 500 million speakers worldwide

• L1 of the majority of the population in more countries than english

• the OL in over 20 countries

• but a restricted global distribution

  • heavily concentrated in central and south americas

mandarin chinese as future GL

• could chinese become the world’s new GL in the next few decades

• two challenges: demographic and linguistic

  • large population of speakers of chinese is clustered in one area of the world (asia) and not widespread in africa, the americas, south pacific

• two major features of chinese are complex

  • chinese is a tone language

    • every syllable can be pronounced with a different intonation pattern/contour

  • chinese writing system is written using characters

    • to read a newspaper, you need to know over 3,000 different characters

    • most complex form of writing int he world

    • learning chinese requires a lot of time and personal commitment

• chinese is unlikely to replace english as GL

machine translation replaces english as a GL

• current forms of language software

  • substitution translation machines for english

  • programs like google translate work with written input and translate from one language to another

  • other software programs process spoken language and provide written representations (closed captions)

what is needed for a mobile translation device to replace english as a link language?

• example: translation of spoken french to replace english as a link language

• step 1: spoken french rendered into written form

• step 2: written french translated into written arabic

• step 3: written arabic input rendered into spoken arabic output

• complications: problems of accuracy may occur at every stage, especially in steps 1 and 2

challenges for machine translation

• accurate speech recognition

  • accuracy is only high when speech is relatively slow and clear pronunciation in the majority dialect

  • good quality, reliable results only in english and a few other major languages

  • progress with most of world’s english is poor

• accurate translations between languages

  • currently, accuracy of translation between major languages is acceptable for simple sentences, but gets worse with more complicated text

  • translation accuracy between other langauges is much less developed and will take a long time to achieve

• time lag problem

  • translation machines have to wait for speakers to complete their sentences before creating a translation into another language

  • will people be willing to accept a much slower form of communication?

  • additional concern about MT: how do we know if a machine has translated our words correctly?

english as a single global language could disappear

• could english experience regional divergence to such an extent that it loses its ability to serve as a shared world language?

  • like latin, fracturing into french, italian, spanish, etc.

• english is a pluricentric language: multiple geographic centers and standard forms

  • and many different non-standardized forms of english

  • nigerian english, singaporean english, india english

inner circle variation

• model for learning english in africa, europe, and traditionally in india/south asia is standard british english (SBE)

• model for learning english in south america and east asia is standard american english (SAE)

• main differences between SBE and SAE are in vocabulary and pronunciation

outer circle and new world englishes

• new distinctive forms of english in outer circle countries where english is spoken for a long time

• result: local differences in english vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation/accent

divergence and the future of english as a GL

• possible future scenario: english is no longer a single language with mutually intelligible local varieties, but many mutually unintelligible forms

  • a family of languages like latin fragmenting into the romance languages

• optimistic hope: stable bi-dialectism may develop and people around the world may speak 2 varieties of english

  • a distinctive local form and common global form

• pronunciation of sounds, stress patterns, and rhythm is also distinctive in new world englishes

  • heavy divergence of english and malay, chinese, and tamil

deliberate divergence

• cockney rhyming slang: east london, UK

• originated by criminals to prevent outsiders from understanding them

• a rhyming pair of words or complex words

  • A+B=C where B rhymes with C

  • AB=C where B rhymes with C

• apples and pears → stairs

• we’re in deep barney → we’re in deep trouble

  • barney = barney rubble

global attitudes to english

• many outer circle countries were previously colonies dominated by britain

• english is now seen as a global, international language with multiple local forms, free of past connections

• major survey in india shows that english is now seen as a global, International language with multiple local forms, free of past connections

  • similar attitudes in west africa, nigeria, ghana, and sierra leone

attitudes to english in the expanding circle

• L2 speakers from outer circle countries often view english positively as an indigenized language now

• in expanding circle, no clear distinctive forms of english yet

• english is not used in special ways to project a local national identity

• however, the use of english may be involved in the projection of personal identity

creative use of english by L2 speakers

• increasingly positive attitudes to english in L2 populations + greater confidence in its use

• english is now being used by L2 speakers very successfully in new works of literature

• prestigious awards and prize for literature by L2 writers, especially from india, west africa, and the caribbean

• chinua achebe, woye solinka, arundhati roy, v.s. naipual, kiran desal, salman rushdie

attitudes to english among L2 writers

• english should be celebrated for its ability to capture different ways of life and thinking around the world, modified as necessary to suit local needs

• globalization with localization

historical population of north america

• first settlers in the americas came from asia via a land bridge which connected siberia to alaska

• established the indigenous population of north, central, and south america

• at the time of the arrival of the first europeans, there were 2 million native americans in north america speaking 300 different langauges

early european settlers 1500-1800s

• speakers of english, spanish, french

  • french speakers spread sparsely across a large region

• “anglos” speakers of english are the majority group

  • anglos don’t try to block other groups from using their own languages in territories they have settled as pioneers

• period of linguistic tolerance

anglo paranoia in the 19thC

• changes in patterns of immigrations

• previously, immigrants were heavily north european, protestant, english-speaking

• 19thC new immigrants increasingly from south and southeast europe and ireland

• catholic, orthodox christian, jewish

• asian– japanese and chinese

first defense of english

• new calls for restrictions on the use and teaching of languages other than english/LOTEs

• initiatives to close down schools offering other languages as mediums of education

• by early 20thC, LOTEs only taught as subjects, not used as languages of instruction

• world war i (1914-1918): attempts to prohibit all use of german in schools

  • meyer vs. nebraska

  • a teacher was charged with violating nebraska state law by teaching german to a student

  • supreme court ruled in favor of meyer, stating that attempts to forbid the teaching of LOTEs in schools violated the 14th amendment

19thC/early 20thC anglo pressure on native american/NA languages

• na children are sent to boarding schools, off-reservation, where no use of NA languages is allowed

• pressured to assimilate completely to anglo customs and language

19thC discrimination against asian americans

• from 1870 on, no us citizenship was granted to asian immigrants

• a ban on immigration 1882-1943 through the chinese exclusion act

warnings against learning LOTEs

• psychologists and educators tell the public that learning more than one language can cause negative effects on children’s progress in school

• claimed that learning LOTEs is nationally divisive, non-patriotic

• teaching of LOTEs is banned from elementary schools until the 1960s

changes from the 1960s

• a new tolerance for ethnic diversity and LOTEs

• caused by political events and situations in english

• in 1958, the soviet union launches te sputnik satellite

  • new attention drawn to the USSR

  • foreign languages and cultures studied by russians as part of attempts to extend soviet influence into asia/africa

national defense act 1958

• promotes the study of non-western languages and culture to compete better with russia

• establishment of peace corps in 1961

  • volunteers sent to 140 countries to help local people as teachers and technical advisors

  • young americans would go out and bring back potentially useful information to the us

1959 revolution in cuba

• large numbers of immigrants from cuba arrive in florida

• decision taken to educate young cuban children in both english and spanish to make them bilingual

• very successful to new bilingual education programs

1968 bilingual education act

• proposed by the governor of texas

• to deal with very high drop-out rate of mexican-american students from schools in texas (89%)

• inspiration: the bilingual education programs in florida