World Englishes

• Engels
• HBO
• Studiejaar 2

World Englishes

By Ymke & Esmée

Learning objectives

• You can explain what is considered to be a world English
• You can connect the text "Listen Mr. Oxford Don" to the themes

What do you think about when you hear the term "world Englishes"?

Esmée (1-3)

Match the following terms with their definition.

British Received Standard English

Supposedly the language of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa

A particular regional area, and tend to be more distinctive the

longer the settlement

Emerge when variations within a region based on class and ethnicity occur

Metropolitan standard

Colonial standard

Regional dialects

Social dialects

Ymke

Match the following terms with their definition.

Fully developed speech forms

Rudimentary languages that have no native speakers and arose commonly in colonial contact

Spoken in former colonies where English is taught at school, where national élites are bilingual and where English remains the language of government and commerce

Is spoken in European countries or those outside the British Empire where the influence of the language has been external

Creole

Pidgin

ESL

EFL

Ymke

How do you think these terms are connected to world Englishes?

Ymke

Discussion

• Only varieties of English that belong to the metropolitan standard  can be considered as a World English. 
• RP is a better example of a world English than the variety of English spoken by people in India.  
• A pidgin cannot be considered a world English yet. 

• What varieties of English are there? 

And are one of these more world Englishes than others? 

Ymke

So what are world Englishes?

• Abstract Term 
• Three concentric circles: The UK (Metropolitan standard), colonized and formerly colonized societies (Colonial standard), developed and developing nations 
• Pidgin, creole 
• Different reasons to learn English- does it matter? 

• The United States compared to India 
• Our view: 'Every type of English is to be considered a type of world English' 

Term is not completely accurate --> abstract. Different views

Developed & developing countries: pragmatic reasons 

Esmée

"Listen Mr. Oxford Don" 

• John Agard
• British Guiana --> Britain

Esmée

Connecting the text to 'World Englishes'

• Pick one passage and discuss why you have chosen this

Esmée

Connecting the text to 'World Englishes'

• me not no Oxford don --> What is an oxford Don? An Oxford don is a lecturer/professor and member of the college. Generally only Oxford & Cambridge universities use this Term.  --> Stands for acedemia and dictionaries. Speaker: uneducated immigrant. First stanza: only difference between them is their use of the English language. 

• I didn't graduate/ I immigrate --> difference between the educated & uneducated, but as the speaker himself also showing you can be an immigrant and a highly respected poet. 
• he uses correct grammar sometimes: the story of my life & I don't need ... I'm a wanted man ....... and in other sentences he uses 'de' this shows that he wants to mock with the idea mr. Oxford Don has about people who are not british talking in English. This man wants to show that his variety of English is also good enough and not less than the variety of English spoken by Mr. Oxford Don.  

•  expression “on de run” refers more to a state of instability and change. As an immigrant in the UK, the speaker belongs neither to his native country nor to his new one, a problem aggravated by language. This evokes the contradictions of colonialism, as Agard seems to be highlighting how the colonizers would arrive in a foreign country with its own existing cultural identity, including a language, and attempt to impose a new culture and language upon the people. The poet is showing how ridiculous it is to expect that people who already have an identity will adopt a new one easily and without error. Agard recognizes this problem and the frustration it provokes on both sides. His solution is to establish a new identity as an immigrant, an identity that comprises this mix of cultures and languages. And since we express ourselves and define our reality through our words, he will establish this new identity in a language which is English, but including the natural variations which come about from its expression by a non-native speaker.

• Agard will impose this new identity through the words of his poem. He uses violent imagery: “gun”, “knife”, “axe”, “hammer” in order to violently and effectively establish it. Words are converted into weapons to emphasize their power and to show that a verbal rebellion is much more effective and long-lasting than a physical one.

In the sixth stanza, the speaker references his literary rebellion, which is a marked contrast to a physical one since it is carried out by “a concise peaceful man like me”. He is pointing out how ridiculous it is to accuse him of “assault on de Oxford dictionary” (while cleverly making a spelling error) by making comparisons with physical violence. His poetic crimes involve not using standard English, irregular verse forms and erratic spelling and punctuation. However, Listen Mr. Oxford Don deliberately breaks the rules in a protest against the use of language as a system to oppress and control minorities. While the Oxford don would claim that correct use of the English language is a signifier of education, Agard refutes this with his beautifully crafted poem, which demonstrates a subversive manipulation and subtle mastery of the flexible and powerful tool of wor

In this way, with Listen Mr. Oxford Don John Agard democratizes language, seeming to say that the “Queen’s English” is not the exclusive property of the Oxford Don and whatever the “offence”, it can be an “accessory” for all, regardless of a person’s cultural heritage.

Connecting the text to other themes

• Other 
• Third world 

• Pick one passage that you believe connects to these themes and discuss this together. 

Learning objectives 

• You can explain what is considered to be a world English
• You can connect the text "Listen Mr. Oxford Don" to the themes