Riassunto World English, Sintesi del corso di Lingua Inglese

Scarica Riassunto World English e più Sintesi del corso in PDF di Lingua Inglese solo su Docsity! Black English During the early years of American settlement, a highly distinctive form of English was emerging in the islands of the West Indies and the southern part of the mainland, spoken by the incoming population. This was a consequence of the importation of African slaves to work on the sugar plantations. The slaves were shipped in barbarous conditions to the Caribbean islands and the American coast, where they were in turn exchanged for such commodities as sugar, rum and molasses. The policy of the slave-traders was to bring people of different language backgrounds together in the ships, to make it difficult for groups to plot rebellion. The result was the growth of several pidgin forms of communication, and in particular a pidgin between the slaves and the sailors, many of whom spoke English. 
 Once arrived in the Caribbean, this language continued to act as a major means of communication between the black population and the new landowners, and among the blacks themselves. Then, when their children were born, the pidgin gradually began to be used as a mother tongue, producing the first black creole speech in the region. It is this creole English which rapidly came to be used throughout the southern plantations, and in many of the coastal towns and islands. 
 At the same time, standard British English was becoming a prestige variety throughout the area as a consequence of the emerging political influence of Britain. Creolized forms of French, Spanish and Portuguese were also emerging in and around the Caribbean, and some of these interacted with both the creole and the standard varieties of English. The Caribbean islands developed a remarkably diverse range of varieties of English, reflecting their individual political and cultural histories. However, there are now major differences between the speech of those living in London and their counterparts in the Caribbean. The Colonial Legacy There are other languages such as French and Spanish in particular, which came to the Caribbean as a result of colonialism and left their mark on the English of the region. The growth of African-American English The history of vernacular varieties of Black English is complex, controversial and only partly understood. Records of the early speech forms are sparse.
 According to some linguists, generations of close contact resulted in the families of the slave- owners picking up some of the speech habits of their servants, gradually developed into the distinctive southern “drawl” which is a slow way of speaking. Information about these varieties is clearer from the mid-19th century when the abolitionist movement focused national attention on blacks’ civil rights and sympathetic representations of Black English began to appear in literary works. In the late 19th century, black culture became known throughout the country, especially for its music. 
 The linguistic result was a large influx of new, informal vocabulary into general use, as whites picked up the lively speech patterns of those who sang, played and danced (rapping, soul music, breakdancing). At the same time, there was a growth in educational opportunities for black people, and an increasing involvement in political and professional roles. 
 In addition, the civil rights movement in the 1960s had its linguistic as well as its politics successes, with school being obliged to take account of the distinctive character of Black English Vernacular. In the 1980s, the public use of many expression in the language for talking about this group of people was radically constrained (ristretto) by those maintaining a doctrine of political correctness. The current respectability of African-American (which dates from the 1860s) has replaced such forms as Afro-American, Africa-American, Afro (all in evidence from the 1830s), coloured (preferred in the period after the Civil War), negro (preferred after the 1880s, and with a capital N some 50 years later) and black/Black (which became the preferred form during the 1960s, and is still the commonest use). Black is now often proscribed (vietato, abolito). Old and new attitudes The African-American presence in the USA has made a substantial impact on English vocabulary. Until 19th century, most of this lexicon reflected the status and conditions of slavery: a great deal of it consisting of insult and invective. 
 Then, the language showed the efforts to move towards a better order. slave driver: an overseer of slaves; later used for any harsh or demanding employer; Uncle: white term of address for an elderly black male;
 negro thief: someone who helped a slave escape;
 nigger lover: white slang term for an abolitionist; poor white trash: slave term for whites willing (volontari) to do slave work;
 free papers: a document given to freed slaves as proof of their status.
 By contrast much of the vocabulary of the 1960s has a positive or confident ring: black power, freedom march, soul brother. Sitting in The term (sit-in) became popular in the early 1960s when black students sat at places reserved for whites in restaurants, bus stations, theaters and other public locations. Other terms were soon formed on analogy, such as pray-in in support of the movement, play-in and swim-in (in segregated leisure areas). By the end of the decade the -in suffix was being used in all kinds of contexts, extending well beyond the protest movement (love-in, teach-in, be-in). The Southern Hemisphere Towards the end of the 18th century, the British world exploration established the English language in the southern hemisphere. 
 with an ethnically mixed background; and it was also adopted by the many immigrants from India, who arrived in the country from around 1860. South African English has thus come to comprise a range of varieties, but from a social point of view they can be grouped together in contrast to the use of Afrikaans, and they do display certain common features.
 English has always been a minority language in South African. Afrikaans which was given official status in 1925, is the first language of the majority of whites, including those formerly in power, and acts as an important symbol of identity for those of Afrikaner background. It is also the first language of most of the Coloured population. 
 English is used by the remaining whites (of mainly British background) and by increasing number of the majority black population. There is thus a linguistic side to the political divisions which have marked South African society in recent decades: Afrikaans was perceived by the black majority as the language of authority and repression; English was perceived by the white government as the language of protest and self- determination: many black saw English as a means of achieving an international voice. The contemporary situation regarding the use of English is even more complex. 
 For the white authorities, too, English was important as a means of international communication, and many Afrikaners became increasingly bilingual, with a fluent English that often resembled the British-based variety.
 As a result, a continuum of accents exists, ranging from those which are strongly influenced by Afrikaans to those which are very close to Received Pronunciation (RP); and there are corresponding variations in grammar and vocabulary. 
 Such complexity is inevitable a country where the most important issue is social and political status, and people have struggled to maintain their national and ethnic identity in the face of opposition. Early words Many of the words which are distinctive to South African English appear very early in the history of the country. (dagga: “cannabis”; tronk: prison etc) South Asia In terms of numbers of English speakers, the Indian subcontinent ranks along with the USA and UK. Nowadays, it has been estimated that around 20 per cent of the people now make regular use of English. There are also considerable numbers of English speakers elsewhere in the region, which comprises six countries (India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan). 
 The variety which has emerged throughout the subcontinent is known as South Asian English and it’s already one of the most distinctive varieties in the English-speaking world. The origins of South Asian English took place in Britain. 
 The first regular British contact with the subcontinent came in 1600 with the formation of the British East India Company. During the 18th century, it overcame competition from other European nations, especially France. In 1858, after the Indian Mutiny, the Company was abolished and its powers handed over to the Crown. During the period of British sovereignty (from 1765 until independence in 1947), English gradually became the medium of administration and education throughout the subcontinent. 
 The language question attracted special attention during the early 19th century, when colonial administrators debated the kind of educational policy which should be introduced (they proposed the introduction of an English education system in India; Ram Mohan Roy, a religious and social reformer, argued that instruction in English was essential if Indians were to have access to European scientific knowledge). When the universities of Bombay, Calcutta and Madras were established (1857), English became the primary medium of instruction. The status of English In India, English is now recognized as an “associate” official language, with Hindi the official language.
 It is also recognized as the official language of four states (Manipur, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Tripura) and eight Union territories. In Pakistan, it is an associated official language. It has no official status in the other countries of South Asia, but throughout the region it is universally used as the medium of international communication. In India, the bitter conflict between the supporters of English, Hindi, and regional languages led in the 1960s to the “three language formula”, in which English was introduced as the main alternative to the local state language.
 English has retained its standing (status) within Indian society, continuing to be used within the legal system, government administration, secondary and higher education, the armed forces, the media business and tourism. Colonial Africa By 1914 colonial ambitious on the part of Britain, France, Germany; Portugal, Italy and Belgium had resulted in the whole African continent (apart from Liberia and Ethiopia) being divided into colonial territories. 
 After the two World Wars there was a repartitioning of the region. Most of the countries created by that, achieved independence in or after the 1960s, and the Organization of African Unity pledged (promised) itself to maintain existing boundaries. West Africa The English began to visit West Africa at the end of the 15th century, and soon after we find sporadic references to the use of the language as a lingua franca in some coastal settlements. By the beginning of the 19th century, the increase in commerce and anti-slave-trade activities had brought English to the whole West African coast.
 There were hundreds of local languages; a particular feature of the region was the rise of several English-based pidgins and creoles, used alongside the standard varieties of colonial officials, missionaries, soldiers and traders. East Africa 
 English interest began only in the 1850s with the expeditions to the interior of the area. 
 However, the Imperial British East Africa Company was founded in 1888, and soon afterwards a system of colonial protectorates became established.
 
 The kinds of English which developed in these countries were very different from those found in West Africa.
 A British model was introduced early on into school, reinforcing the exposure to British English brought by the many missionary groups. The result was a variety of mother-tongue English which has more in common with what is heard in South Africa or Australia than in Nigeria o Ghana. The South African connection is especially noticeable in the countries to the south and is presumably due to the influence of Afrikaans-speaking immigrants.
 The rapid emergence of a settled population who used British English as a first language had two important effects: • ✴ first, it provided a strong model for Africans to learn as a second language; 
 • ✴ secondly, with Standard English becoming widespread as a lingua franca there was little 
 motivation for the development of the pidgin varieties of English. 
 British English has played a major role in the development of six East African states, where it has come to be widely used in government, the courts, schools, the media and other public domains. It has also been adopted elsewhere in the region as medium of international communication.