Monday 29 September 2008

The linguistic character of New Englishes 4

English as a Global Language by David Crystal

-Other domains-

New Words
-The symptoms of the disease manifested themselves ten days later.
-The prisoner was subjected to systematic torture.
-Notwithstanding the bad weather, the event was a great success.
-The newspaper gave prominence to his statement.
-You can cruise from Cairo to Aswan or vice versa.
-She is competent to teach Spanish.
-Nomenclature is a system of terms used in a specialized field.
-Phoneme is the smallest contrastive unit in the sound system of a language.
-Linguistics is in my particular domain.
-Pragmatics is the study of the factors influencing a person’s choice of language.
-He lived in the Highlands as a constituency home.
-The singer surprised people in the street with a rendition of his new song.


Summary
Pragmatic and discoursal domains are also important in New Englishes. English is basically stress-based speech, which is having a regular rhythm of primary stresses. On the other hand, the majority of New Englishes is syllable-based speech, which is having a regular rhythm of syllables. Syllable-based speech cannot be ignored because it has widespread in Africa, South Asia, South-East Asia and the Caribbean. It has also caused problems when both speakers communicate. Individual words, grammatical patterns and lexical items can be misunderstood. Studies in this domain are limited. Attention should be paid more.

Sunday 28 September 2008

The linguistic character of New Englishes 3

English as a Global Language by David Crystal

-Code switching-

New Words
-Africaan is a language that has developed from Dutch and spoken in South Africa.
-‘Latte’ is a loanword from Italian.
-The student tried to give utterance to her thoughts in the seminar.
-Syntax is the study of word combination or sentence structure.
-A compound word is usually contrasted with a simple word.
-She still retains a passion for studying English.
-The name was used as a scornful appellation.
-The suspect sneered at the police and suddenly pulled out the gun.
-I decided to try a more subtle approach.
-New mothers usually draw upon child care books.
-A New English is not a homogeneous entity.
-The price of gold is in flux.
-The twins are indistinguishable from one another.
-Contact language is used in close geographical or social proximity, which thus influence each other.
-Hybrid is a word composed of elements from different languages (television, from Greek and Latin).
-Creol is a language that has become the mother tongue when a European language is mixed with a local language.
-Flames radiated in eight directions.
-It is fun working there at first but the novelty soon wears off.
-He tends to blur the distinction between his friends and colleagues.


Summary
Code switching is the use by a speaker of two or more languages during a conversation. Varieties mixed with English and a language start to be found in the situation where New Englishes are emerging. The varieties are called using a compound name such as Tanglish and Singlish. It used to be though that they were used by unintelligent people, but they have achieved the status. Standard English has influenced a great number of languages and has emerged many kinds of English. As a result of this, complexity and confusion has been brought in communication.

Thursday 25 September 2008

The linguistic character of New Englishes 2

English as a Global Language by David Crystal

-vocabulary-

New Words
-Morphology is the study of word structure, especially in terms of morphems.
-Morpheme is the smallest contrastive unit of grammar such as de-, -tion and -s.
-The kangaroo is indigenous to Australia.
-Vocabulary borrowings are usually known as loan words.
-Many words have become obsolete or survived only in local dialects.
-We coexist with the naturally occurring bacteria.
-He pointed out the salient features of the new design.
-Hana anglicizes her name to Hannah.
-Urdo is the official language of Pakistan and also widely used in India.
-The shopping centre is very convenient because it is adjacent to the tube station.
-The car has its little idiosyncrasies.
-A nonce word is one that is invented for one particular occasion.
-Although the theory is widely accepted, this has never been substantiated.
-The ceremony had no religious overtones.


Summary
When a language meets other languages, vocabulary borrowings from indigenous languages start to be used. The borrowings have achieved the status especially in multilingual countries such as South Africa and Malaysia. Two types of borrowings are found in New Englishes. One is word-formation. Distinctive affix and word-class conversion are identified in Pakistani English. The other is lexicon which has a different meaning or use from the original one. In Jamaican English, beverage means only ‘lemonade’. These borrowings are used in only one country or nearby countries. Therefore, they usually cause a problem outside the area.

Tuesday 23 September 2008

The linguistic character of New Englishes 1

English is a Global Language by David Crystal

-grammar-

New words
-It is difficult to differentiate between the twin sisters.
-Sporadic gunfire could be heard in the town.
-It may well be that children younger than seven years lack the ability to explain.
-Intranational dialects are bound up with issued of local identity.
-Corpora will provide us with data that reveal what is usual and typical about the language.
-The inversion of word order is identified in New Englishes.
-I count him as one of my best friends.
-Poverty is pervasive in Africa.
-The author of the article has a biased opinion.
-His research was fuelled with government grants.
-This sentence is incorrect prescriptively.
-The country has started exploratory drilling for oil.
-This watch is expensive. Accordingly, it should keep the correct time.
-Colligation is a kind of lexical collocations in specific grammatical contexts.
-The student read a multiplicity of books for her essay.
-This report is about a contrastive analysis of British and American English.
-Global warming may be the cumulative effect of human activity on the world environment.
-The teacher offered him impressionistic criticism.
-The police succeeded in eliciting a confession from the criminal.
-Variant is a linguistic form from that is one of a set of alternatives in a given context, as in the plural forms /s/, /z/ and /iz/.
-People living with AIDS were stigmatized in society.
-He told anecdotes about his film work.
-The man intrigued the authority.
-Historical linguistics is the study of the development of language and is also called diachronic linguistics.
-Typology is the study of the system of dividing something into different types.
-Synchronic linguistics is the study of language at a particular point in time.
-The book is written in a colloquial style.
-We saw a constellation of Hollywood talent.
-Code switching is the use by a speaker of more than one language, dialect, or variety during a conversation.
-He is very susceptible to crying women.


Summary
The grammar of the written English has been focused in schools. However, new varieties of spoken English, which is called New Englishes, cannot be ignored because they are linked to local identities. The differences between British and American English are much smaller than those of New Englishes. Especially in a multilingual country, English has been influenced by other languages. Take, for example, why + you construction is identified in colloquial Singapore English. Why you eat so much? implies that you should not eat so much unless there is a good reason. In British and American English, Why eat so much? suggests that I do not think you should and Why do you eat so much? means that I really want to know. Such studies are limited. Further diachronic typological research is needed.

Monday 22 September 2008

New Englishes

English as a Global Language by David Crystal

New Words
-Diamonds that have fewer inclusions are rarer, hence being more valuable.
-American English has diverged from British.
-Pottery and porcelain are markedly dissimilar in a lot of respects.
-She is so beautiful that she is prominent in this picture.
-Japanese language has three types of orthography.
-The book gives details on the endangered flora and fauna.
-Japan developed its own distinctive culture.
-The media reinforces the female’s sense of body dissatisfaction.
-He is preserving and activating the various indigenous languages in Africa.
-Web-based work is embedded in the company.
-The robbery and burglary has been remorseless in this area.
-The law privileges wealthy people.
-Her performance generated a lot of response from the audience.
-The books are Japanese myths and legends for children.
-“Lord of Rings” is the saga of Frodo.
-Loss of identity became a social problem of global dimensions.

Summary
English has spread all over the world and new varieties of English, which is called New Englishes, has emerged. The varieties consist of four groups; English speaking countries, South Asian countries, the former British colonies in West Africa and, Caribbean and parts of South-east countries such as Singapore. Even in the English speaking countries, there are a great number of differences in the words, pronunciation, spelling and forms. Especially, New Englishes have unique vocabulary of collocations and word formations. Take, for example, biographical words and words for literature, technology and lifestyle. The varieties are important to show identities and nationalities.

Friday 19 September 2008

Stoke-on-Trent

Stoke-on-Trent is in the heart of England and there are a lot of famous pottery manufactures such as Wedgwood and Spode. The manufactures have factory shops selling slightly imperfect items at huge discount. Visitors can enjoy factory tours and decorate their own pottery in some of the factory shops.

Dove Cottage

The poet William Wordsworth (1770-1850), who is known of the Romantic Poets, lived in Dove Cottage. The beautiful landscape in Grasmere inspired him and he produced a lot of poems. In the Wordsworth Museum, which is next to Dove Cottage, watercolour landscapes of the Lake District were displayed.

Wednesday 17 September 2008

Lake District

I drove along the beautiful lake, Ullswater, and went to Windermere. There were some places called –mere such as Grasmere and Buttermere in Lake District. Mere means a small lake and Lake Windermere is the largest mere in England. Windermere is known for Beatrix Potter (1866-1943) and her books with Peter Rabbit. There are a few attractions about her and her works in Windermere.

Tuesday 16 September 2008

Edinburgh Castle

The whole town of Edinburgh was like a castle. Most of the buildings looked old and there were a lot of dignified houses. Edinburgh Castle was standing on an extinct volcano. I had to go up the stairs and slopes before the entrance of the castle. There were a lot of visitors in spite of the bad weather. I couldn’t enjoy a beautiful view from the castle because it was rainy and foggy.

Warkworth Castle

The ruins of the castle were situated by the Northumberland coast. There were lot of rooms such as a great hall and chapel. There was Warkworth Hermitage near the castle. Religious person lived a very simple life there. I wanted to see it, but it was closed because of flooding.

York Minster

According to the pamphlet, York Minster is the spiritual home of the Archbishop of York and the principal church of the Church of England Diocese of York. The Minster is the largest Gothic building in northern Europe and is famous for the beautiful medieval stained glass. I like Chapter House in the Minster because of the solemn atmosphere. Religious meetings are held by the priests there.

Sunday 14 September 2008

Castle Howard

Castle Howard is the home of the Howard still now. Collection of pottery and porcelain in the House was great. A lot of vegetable was grown in the vegetable garden and products such as cakes and jam were sold at a farmer shop. As the premises were too large, we rode on a transport to move from the House and Exit.

Fountains Abbey

It is one of the world heritage sites. We saw an exhibition of medieval folk dances in front of the abbey. It was cute and interesting. The ruins of the abbey were large and beautiful. We took a walk for more than one hour to see the beautiful lake and park.

Bolsover Castle

I went to Bolsover castle with my family yesterday. It took about 3 hours from London by car. Nobody has lived in this castle and it was dark inside. But the area was quiet and the view from the top of the castle was really wonderful.

Sunday 7 September 2008

Gerund-Infinitive

http://www.learn-english-today.com/lessons/lesson_contents/gerund_infinitive_ex.html

-Anne couldn’t find a taxi so I offered to drive her to the station.
-A lot of people dislike driving at night.

Saturday 6 September 2008

Cost of living

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/radio/specials/144_6minute/page3.shtml

Answer: b) £13,400 (about US$26,800)

My Idea
Cost of living in this country is really expensive. I’m surprised at the cost of accommodation, transportation and nursery. The cost is three times more than that in Japan. I hope that the value of yen will be increased.

Friday 5 September 2008

Verb tense

http://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/verbs30finaltest.htm

final test-62%

I don't know a few answers still now. I need to study verb tenses more.

-We were late because we had some car problems. By the time we got to the train station, Susan (wait) for us for more than two hours.
-Sam (try) to change a light bulb when he slipped and (fell).
-Right now, Jim is reading the newspaper and Kathy is making dinner. Last night at this time, they were doing he same thing. She was cooking and he was reading the newspaper. Tomorrow at this time, they will also be doing the same thing. She will be preparing dinner and he will be reading. They are very predictable people!
-By this time next summer, you will have completed your studies and will have found a job. I, on the other hand, will not have accomplished anything. I will still be studying and you will be working in some new high paying job.
-The students are usually taught by Mrs. Monty. However, this week they (teach) by Mr. Tanzer.
-I'm going to make dinner for Frank.
/ I'm making dinner for Judy. / I'll make dinner for Mary. / I make dinner for Ted. / I will be making dinner for Tony.
Who are you offering to make dinner for? Mary
-Jane left when Tim arrived. /
Bob left when Tim had arrived. / Tim arrived when Mary was leaving. / John had left when Tim arrived. / After Tim arrived, Frank left.
Who did not run into Tim? John

Modal Verb

http://www.englishpage.com/modals/interactivemodal8.htm

final test-72%

-You don’t have to be rich to be a success. Some of the most successful people I know haven't got a penny to their name.
-You couldn’t do the job if you didn't speak Japanese fluently.
-You have to be kidding! That can't be true.
-If I had gone white water rafting with my friends, I would be floating down the Colorado River right now.
-I can't stand these people - I have got to get out of here. I'm going to take off for awhile while you get rid of them.
-We shall no longer suffer the injustice of oppression! Freedom shall be ours!
-If I had gone to the University of Miami, I could have participated in their Spanish immersion program.

Thursday 4 September 2008

Making a presentation

Academic Vocabulary in Use

-I’d like to focus on English language in this presentation.
-I will begin by giving an overview of the topic.
-I will try to leave time for questions at the end.
-I will present the results of some studies done recently.
-Moving on, I’d like to look at the results in more detail.
-To sum up, globalization has caused the loss of identity.
-That’s all I have to say.
-Thank you for listening.
-I will now take questions.
-Are there any questions or comments?

Conclusion & References

7 Conclusion (105 words)
Globalisation has spread to various areas and affected our society. Economic integration and communication technology has brought wealth in advanced countries. English has established the world status and now is a dominant language in the world. However, globalisation has caused the gap between the rich and the poor as well as the loss of identity due to language invasion. With regard to English language teaching, globalisation has caused diverse and complex in schools because of the emergence of New Englishes, though the resources for teaching materials are available through the Internet. Preserving the uniqueness may be important to establish the existence in the integrated society.


References
Crystal D., 2003, English as a Global Language, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press

Crystal D., 2003, The Cambridge encyclopedia of the English language, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press

Block D. and Cameron D., 2002, Globalization and Language Teaching, London, Routledge

Finch G., 2003, How to Study Linguistics: A Guide to Understanding Language, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan

Minasyan A., 2008, the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization, viewed 2 September 2008,
<
http://www.unesco.org/culture/ich/index.php?lg=EN&pg=00136>

Randerson J., 2006, ‘World’s richest 1% own 40% of all wealth, UN report discovers’, The Gurdian, 6 December, viewed 29 August,
<
http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2006/dec/06/business.internationalnews>

Reith Lectures, 1999, Radio 4, <
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/reith1999/>

Rodrik D., 2008, ‘No cheers for globalisation’, The Guardian, 31 July, viewed 28 August 2008, <
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/jul/31/economy.globalisation>

Stiglitz J., 2007, ‘Globalisation fails to help the poorest’, The Times, 19 February, viewed 28 August 2008,
<
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/economics/article1403536.ece>

Schifferes S., 2007, ‘Globalisation shakes the world’, BBC NEWS, 21 January, viewed 28 August 2008, <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6279679.stm>

Schifferes S., 2008, ‘Globalisation splits rich and poor’, BBC NEWS, 7 February, viewed 28 August 2008, <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7230202.stm>

Schifferes S, 2008, ‘World poverty ‘more widespread’’, BBC NEWS, 27 August, viewed 29 August 2008, <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7583719.stm>

Wednesday 3 September 2008

Draft of second part of my essay

4 Language (219 words)
English is used as a global lingua franca in a lot of fields. The world status has been caused by the expansion of British colonial power and the emergence of American economic power (Crystal D., 2003). Now it is dominant in communications, science, business, media, diplomacy and so forth. Acquisition of the English language leads to access a great deal of knowledge of broader world. However, local languages such as Welsh in Wales and Maori in New Zealand are likely to disappear. According to the study of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the experts estimates that “one language disappears on average every two weeks” (2008). People tend to suffer from the loss of identity and uniqueness due to the language loss. In addition, languages influence each other and change gradually. English speakers may feel threatened by the considerable growth of an immigrant language and English may be controlled by its words and phrases. New varieties of English, which is called New Englishes, started to emerge by the end of the 19th century. They are going to different directions from Standard English. Standard English users may become worried about the spread of that kind of English. In conclusion, both English and a local language are important as a global language and as a symbol of identity.


5 Positive effects on English Language Teaching (164 words)
Demand for English teaching has increased because of the world status. English has been chosen as their main foreign language at schools and a great number of English language teachers have been required all over the world. As a result of this, a lot of universities in English native countries started to offer short-term teacher training courses as well as postgraduate courses such as teaching English for speakers of other languages (TESOL) and teaching English as a foreign languages (TEFL). There are a great number of English language schools and courses in the world and the market became one of the major industries all over the world. When it comes to materials for teaching English, good audio materials and various kinds of resources are available because of the spread of the Internet. Classroom activities and lesson plans can be used through websites such as BBC and British Council. In addition, giving attractive lessons using multimedia approach may give a great motivation to the learners.

6 Negative effects on English Language Teaching (146 words)
However, the presence of a global language has changed learning conditions and reduced opportunities to learn other languages. People will be lazy about studying other languages. In fact, only English has been taught as a foreign language at Japanese schools in recent years. In addition, globalisation has made language teaching more diverse and complicated. Teachers in non-English speaking countries have been worried about which English should teach because the word, pronunciation and spelling are different among English speaking countries such as America, Britain and Australia. Moreover, as the number of countries using English as a second language grows, the situation has been more and more complicated. Many unique words and forms are identified in Caribbean English and the former British colonies English. It may be difficult for English language teachers to judge them correct or incorrect, well-formed or ill-formed and acceptable or unacceptable (Finch G., 2003).

Tuesday 2 September 2008

Draft of first part of my essay

1 Introduction (188 words)
It is generally agreed that a lot of people, money and information have crossed international borders easily and quickly recently. The technology of transport has enabled us to visit other countries and modern communication has made it possible to send ideas all over the world. Thanks to information technology and multinational companies, different cultures and economic systems around the world have influenced each other. As a result of this, the economic integration of the world has spread and English has achieved the status of a world language. It is widely believed that globalisation has brought about profit and variety. However, the wealth has been distributed unfairly and some local cultures have been destroyed. The Times (2007) reported that the number of poor people in Africa has doubled in the last two decades. Crystal D. (2003) estimates that at least half of the languages in the world will die out within the next century. In this essay, I would like to review recent research into the effects of globalisation on economic, communications and language. Afterwards, I will discuss the benefits to my subject area, which is English Language Teaching.

2 Economic (166 words)
Multinational companies with production plants around the world have increased in recent years. Economic globalisation has enabled unprecedented levels of success in advanced countries. China and India started to enjoy the benefits of globalisation and they are likely to move out from poverty. However, the world wealth is concentrated in America, Europe and Japan. According to the global study from the United Nations, “the richest 1% of adults in the world own 40% of the planet’s wealth” (The guardian, 2006). The World Bank warned that world poverty is more widespread (BBC NEWS, 2008). It is argued that global market is now out of control. The Urguay Round, which is the last trade agreement in 1994, was so unfair that the poorest countries grew poorer and poorer. World Trade Organization (WTO) has been criticized for not considering labour standards or the environmental impact of trade. International Monetary Fund (IMF) has had difficulties in influencing the global capital markets or correcting the huge balances in the world trade.

3 Communications (142 words)
Improvement of communication systems have contributed to the rapid spread of globalisation. The communication technology such as telephones, radio, computers or roads and railways provides huge benefits to both individuals and multinational companies. It has enabled us to communicate people all over the world and transform money quickly and easily. Multinational companies take advantages of cheaper labour and achieve better access to local markets. Success of China and India is attributed to their education, communications technology and resources (The times, 2007). On the other hand, this improvement has caused the flood of migrants to cities in poor countries and outward flow of capital from advanced countries. According to poll by Deloitte (2006), 82% of the people in Britain believed that enough jobs have been sent abroad already, and “32% wanted to force companies to bring jobs back to Britain” (BBC NEWS, 2007).

Monday 1 September 2008

Standard English

The Cambridge Encyclopedia of The English Language

Summary
English has spread all over the world unprecedentedly. There are two chief issues to deal with responsibilities; internationalism and identity. The former is to promote English to access to knowledge of broader world. The latter is to preserve the uniqueness and to establish the existence.

New Word
-It is against all precedent.
-Views of the countryside are dull and anonymous.
-Passive investor fared better last year.

My Idea
According to the book, there are dozens of definitions about Standard English. The author hypothesizes that Standard English of an English-speaking country is a minority variety which supports most prestige and is most widely understood. I don’t understand well what Standard English is.