PERSPECTIVES
OF WORLD ENGLISH PHONOLOGIСAL SYSTEM (ON THE
EXAMPLE OF AFRICAN AMERICAN ENGLISH VERNACULAR AND GENERAL INDIAN ENGLISH)
Globalization
of English leads to the process of losing cultural and linguistic identity by
its speakers. The fear that speakers of English are deprived of the most
valuable component of their existence that is their national identity may have
double nature. Native speakers are supposed to be far away from the language as
English is subordinated by so many languages and cultures in the world that
there is a great difficulty to identify it in the sense of separate and unique
linguistic phenomenon. English exists in multitude of varieties; some of them
are official standards such as American English, Canadian English, and
Australian English etc. But we can’t forget about different countries where
English is used as second or third whatever but it got widespread character in
these countries.
As it is
well-known language is constantly changing. For instance,
changes on the lexical level are connected with the progress of our lifestyle
and development of human consciousness in the world of high technologies, as
for phonological level, in the history the development exists but here we
discuss an unusual phenomenon for history as one language provides
communicative purposes and cultural mentality of absolutely different and
unique nations with their ways of pronunciation sounds and grammatical
structures of language.
Due to the
analysis and comparison of the varieties of English as for their phonological
peculiarities, this article will be useful for teachers and researchers while
presenting phonological system of modern Global English as the one under
influence of its own varieties and showing their students common tendencies and
perspectives of its development.
The aim of
our article lies in revealing transformation of World English phonological
system from the point of its varieties, complex description of the phonological
features of African American Vernacular English and General Indian English and
draw conclusions on the common tendencies in the phonological systems of the
varieties. In order to realize the idea of changes in language we’ll provide
information about World language and its features and the contribution of the so
called peripheral nations to the language creation.
The problem
of World English transformation is presented in the works of the following
researchers: Brutt-Griffler J., Millrood R., Milroy J., Lotbiniere M., Varshney
R.L. So the question of norm and its character in Global English has arisen and
can’t find the proper answer which is highly significant for teachers of
English in many countries. Recent research of the authentic discourse and
culture proves that communicative competence, with its standardized native
speaker norms, is utopian, as well as the notion of the idealized native
English speaker, existing above regional varieties and cultures. An idealized
native speaker talking Standard English is a non-existent abstraction. A real
native language user demonstrates a lot of language diversity and definite
sociocultural self-identification.
The
conventional model of communicative competence, adhering to the British and
American target culture, doesn’t seem valid in cross-cultural settings that
have become the milieu of global English. A new perspective of English is
needed in order to teach and learn the language as means of communication
across borders and cultures by the people representing their national and
cultural identities [1, 57-64].
A major
concern today is that 60% of Europeans fear the damage that English can do to
national languages and the cultural identity of language users [2] rather than
being concerned with the English language being used with violations of
standard discourse norms. The prevailing tendency has so far being to tailor
English for the purpose of communication, rather than “to weed the garden” of
social discourse.
Regarding the
relationship of global English and regional cultures one can admit that
sociocultural identity of African Americans, Hispanics, Asians and Europeans
has not withered away because of using English for global communication [3,
71].
In 1992
Phillipson’s work “Linguistic Imperialism” proclaimed the idea that the spread
of English represents a culturally imperialistic project which necessarily
impacts English language culture to its second language learner. Agents of
spread are the USA and the UK but at the same time Africans, Asians have their
roles though it is obscured by linguistic imperialism. World English isn’t
simply made through them but made by them (it is a binary process: the
postcolonial in the colonial). Non-western nations are not “peripheral” but
take equal part in the creation of the World econocultural system and its
linguistic expression, World English [4,107].
The most
important questions are why English tended to replace local languages; threat
to linguistic rights of other languages has become a topical one. World
language should possess number of features:
1.
Econocultural functions of the language;
2.
The transcendence of the role of an elite lingua franca;
3.
The stabilization of bilingualism through the coexistence of world
language with other languages in bilingual/ multilingual contexts ;
4.
Language change via the processes of world language convergence and
world language divergence [4, 110].
World
language thereby becomes a meaningful unit of analysis as much as national
language. It allows an understanding of how English has changed as a result of
its becoming a world language and how language change can now be as much driven
by processes outside the mother tongue English nations as within them.
Two
fundamental processes of language change are identified:
1.
world language divergence (creation of new varieties of English);
2.
world language convergence (the maintenance of unity in the world
language).
Now we would
like to stop on Standard English which in fact is far from real linguistic
situation. Mostly it is supposed to be the result of ideological efforts by
linguists and politicians [5, 530-555]. Actually, native speakers of English
varieties have always neglected these rules imposed on the language and have
suggested their own culturally loaded regional varieties of discourse. In such
a way they identified themselves as representatives of the particular cultural
and social community.
Nowadays the
following varieties of English are distinguished: British, East Anglian, English English, Estuary, Euro-English, Guernsey English, Hiberno-English (Ireland) ,
Highland, Manx, Mid Ulster, Midlands, Northern, Received Pronunciation, Scottish, Welsh, West Country dialects
(Europe); United States, African American
Vernacular, Appalachian, Baltimorese, Boston, California, Chicano, Cajun, General American, Maine, Maine-New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York City, North American, North Central American, Inland Northern
American , Pacific Northwest, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Southern American, Tampanian, Utah, Yat, Yooper, Canadian, West/Central Canadian, Maritimer, Newfoundland, Quebec (North America); Bermudian, Bahamian, Caribbean , Jamaican (West
Indies); Australian ,New Zealand, Australian Aboriginal, Hawaiian Pidgin (Oceania); Burmese, Hong Kong, Indian, Manglish, Philippine, Singlish, Sri Lankan
(Asia); Liberian, Malawian, South African (Africa).
We’ll analyze
phonological peculiarities of 2 regional varieties: African American Vernacular
English and General Indian English.
Phonological features of African American English:
1. Reduction of certain diphthong forms to monophthongs, in particular, [aɪ] to [a] and [ɔɪ] to [oː]. For example, "boy" pronounced
as [boː].
2. Pronunciation of the dental fricatives voiceless dental fricative [θ]
(as in SE thing) and voiced dental fricative [ð]
(as in SE then) changes depending on position in a word. Word-initially,
they become alveolar stops [t] and [d] and elsewhere they become labiodental fricatives [f] and [v]. Examples: then
[ðɛn] is pronounced den [dɛn], smooth [smuːð] is pronounced smoov
[smuːv], then [θɪn] is pronounced den
[dɪn], and tooth [tuːθ] is pronounced toof [tuːf]. This contrasts with West African-based
English creoles and pidgins where [d] instead of the SE [ð] occurs regardless of placement, e.g., "brudda" for
"brother."
3.AAVE is non-rhotic, so the alveolar approximant [ɹ] is usually dropped if not followed by a
vowel. However, intervocalic [ɹ] may also be dropped e.g.
"story" realized as "sto'y" i.e. [stɔi]. A number of rhotic AAVE speakers do exist, however.
4. Realization of final ng [ŋ], the velar nasal, as the alveolar nasal [n]
in function morphemes and content morphemes with
two syllables like -ing, e.g. "tripping" as
"trippin". This change does not occur in one-syllable content morphemes, that is sing
is sing [sɪŋ] and not sin [sɪn], but singing is singin [sɪŋɪn] wedding can be weddin [wɛdɪn], morning is often mornin [mɔɹnɪn], something is somefin [sʌmfɪn], nothing is nufin [nʌfɪn]. Realization of /ŋ/ as [n] is a feature of many English dialects.
5. More generally, reduction of vocally homogeneous final consonant
clusters. That is, test becomes tes (they are both voiceless), hand
becomes han (they are both voiced), but pant is unchanged, as it
contains both a voiced and a voiceless consonant in the cluster.
6. Pronunciation of /ɛ/ and /ɪ/ both as /ɪ/ before nasal consonants,
making pen and pin homonyms. Pronunciation of /ɪ/ and /iː/ both as /ɪ/ before 'l', making feel and fill homonyms.
7. Dropping of /t/ at the end of contractions, e.g., the pronunciation
of don't and ain't as /doʊn/ and /eɪn/. Dropping of word initial /d/, /b/, and /g/ in tense-aspect markers,
e.g., the pronunciation of don't like own.
8.Lowering of /ɪ/ to /ɛ/ or /æ/ before /ŋ/ causing pronunciations such as theng/thang for thing, thenk/thank
for think, reng/rang for ring, etc [Varshney 2005].
Phonological
features of General Indian English:
1.
Morphing of alveolar English /d/, /t/,
and /ɹ/ sounds to more retroflex variants ([ɖ], [ʈ], and [ɻ] respectively). South
Indians tend to curl the tongue more for /l/ and /n/, while Bengalis (from both India
and Bangladesh) and Biharis often substitute [dʒ] for /z/(as in 'jero' instead
of 'zero'). Subcontinentals, especially those from the Sindh (of both India and Pakistan), have the habit of changing /w/ to /v/ (as in 'ven' instead
of 'when') or vice versa ("I will pay with Weeza" for
"...Visa").
2.
All native languages of India (including Hindi
itself) lack the voiced postalveolar
fricative (/ʒ/). Typically, /z/ or /dʒ/ is substituted, e.g. treasure.
3.
Standard Hindi and most other vernaculars do not
differentiate between /v/ (voiced labiodental fricative) and /w/ (voiced labiovelar
approximant). Instead, most Indians use a
frictionless labio-dental approximant for words with either sound. So wine is pronounced like
vine.
4.
All consonants are distinctly doubled in
General Indian English wherever the spelling suggests so. E.g. drilling /dril.liŋg/.
5.
Inability to pronounce certain (especially word-initial) consonant clusters by people of rural backgrounds. This is usually dealt with by
epenthisis. e.g., school /is.kuːl/.
6.
All native languages of India lack interdental fricatives
(/θ/ and /ð/; spelled with th).
Usually, the aspirated voiceless dental plosive /tʰ/ is substituted for /θ/ and the unaspirated voiced dental plosive /d/
is substituted for /ð/. This can create confusions like themselves being heard by
native English speakers as damsels.
7.
Indian English speakers use the unaspirated voiceless
plosives /p/,
/t/, and /k/ although they may deal
with the allophones as separate phonemes, which is not as apparent to native
speakers.
8.
The use of retroflex plosives [ʈ] and [ɖ] instead of the
corresponding alveolar plosives of English [t] and [t]. In Indian languages there are two
entirely distinct sets of coronal plosives: one dental and the other retroflex. To the
Indian ears, the English alveolar plosives sound more retroflex than dental.
The so-called retroflexes in Hindi are actually articulated as apical post-alveolar plosives, sometimes even with a tendency to come down to the alveolar
region. So a Hindi speaker normally cannot distinguish the difference between
their own apical post-alveolar plosives and English's alveolar plosives.
However, languages such as Tamil have true retroflex plosives, wherein
the articulation is done with the tongue curved upwards and backwards at the roof of the mouth. This also causes (in
parts of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar) the /s/ preceding alveolar /t/ to allophonically
change to [ʃ] (/stɒp/ → /ʃʈop/). Mostly in south India,
some speakers allophonically further change the voiced retroflex plosive to
voiced retroflex flap, and the nasal /n/ to a nasalised retroflex
flap.
9.
Indian-English speakers regularly put the stress accents
at the wrong syllables, or accentuate all the syllables of a long English word,
since stress is not considered an essential part of pronunciation by them
(Indian native languages are actually syllable-timed languages like
Latin and French). Also, Indian English speakers speak English with a
pitch-accent, which makes Indian-English sound like a sing-song voice to
non-Indian English speakers. Indians also have problems with other
supra-segmental features of English.
10.
Sometimes, Indian speakers interchange /s/ and /z/, especially when
plurals are being formed. It suffices to note that in Hindi (but not Urdu) and
Sanskrit, /z/
is not a phoneme (as also any other voiced sibilant). So /z/ may even be pronounced
as /dʒ/ by people of rural backgrounds. Again, in
dialects like Bhojpuri, all instances of /ʃ/ are spoken like [s], a phenomenon which is
also apparent in their English. Exactly the opposite is seen for many Bengalis.
11.
In case of the postalveolar affricates /tʃ/ /dʒ/, the native languages
like Hindi have corresponding affricates articulated from the palatal region,
rather than postalveolar, and they have more of a stop component than
fricative; this is reflected in their English.
12.
While retaining /ŋ/ in the final position, Indian speakers usually add a [g] after it. Hence /riŋ.iŋ/ → /riŋ.giŋg/ (ringing).
13.
Syllabic /l/, /m/ and /n/ are usually replaced
by the VC clusters [əl], [əm] and [ən] (as in button /buʈ.ʈən/), or if a high vowel precedes, by [il] (as in little /liʈ.ʈil/). Syllable nuclei in
words with the spelling er (a schwa in RP and a r-colored schwa in GA) are also replaced VC clusters. e.g.,
meter, /miːtə(ɹ)/ → /miːʈər/.
14.
General Indian English has long monophthongs /eː/ and /oː/ instead of R.P. glided diphthongs /eɪ/ and /əʊ/; this variation is quite valid in General American English [6].
To conclude we distinguish the following common tendencies in the
varieties of World English:
1.
Monophthongization of the diphthongs;
2.
Tendency to replace clusters of consonants either
by reduction of vocally homogeneous final consonant clusters (AAVE) or
epenthesis (GIE) as well as replacing by the VC clusters;
3.
Replacing specific for English dental fricatives /θ/ and /ð/ by alveolar stops or
labiodental fricatives common for pronunciation habits of AAVE and GIE
speakers.
The framework of world language recognizes that English spread has
established bilingual/multilingual contexts. The development of World English
commences with the establishment of English alongside other languages without
replacing them. In understanding World English, it is necessary to consider how
bilingual contexts condition the development of varieties and the evolution of
the language [4, 121]. The perspectives of our research
lies in broadening the number of varieties in order to foresee further
development and changes in the phonological system of Global English.
Література
1. Alptekin C.
Towards Intercultural Communicative Competence in ELT// ELT Journal. Vol. 56/1,
2002; 2. Lotbiniere M. Global
English: the European Lessons// The Guardian Weekly. – 2001. – March, 30; 3.
Millrood R. English
Discourse and Culture: diversity and globalisation// Вестник МГУ. Сер. 19. Лингвистика и межкультурная коммуникация. – 2002. - №3; 4. Brutt-Griffler J. World English: a study
of its development. – Boston, 2002; 5. Milroy J. Language
Ideologies and the Consequences of Standardization// Journal of
Sociolinguistics. – 2001. – May 4; 6. Varshney R.L. An Introductory
Textbook of Linguistics and Phonetics: Student Store. – Bareilly, 2005// http://en.wikipedia.org.
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