Different Models of English - Essay Example

? Different Models of English Introduction English is the first language of the countries such as England, Canada, Australia and USA. Traditionally, all new learners of English language were expected to follow the grammar and pronunciation rules as formulated in these countries. With the passage of time, the rules of language have taken many strides and a lot of variance in English is now found among these native speakers. Moreover, due to globalization and spread of science and technology English is no more a language of these elite countries; it has spread all around the world. English has become the second language in most part of the world with an increasing interest to learn it by masses. Currently, a large number of the users and speakers of the English language are located globally, outside the main heartland where the language originated and flourished. People use the language for variety of purposes such as tourism, business, finance, entertainment, academic and interpersonal relationships and that is the only media of communication which is understood by most of the people to a certain extent. In the above perspective, the paper attempts to study the various available linguistic models for the learning of English with a special reference to Lingua Franca as the suitable model for the English learners in the China. Native-Speaker Model Kachru (2005) propounded his Three Circles Model for English learning. What he described as Inner- Circle that comprises of the countries, which are native developers of the English language such as Britain, U.S., Australia and Canada. Countries such as China, Japan who according to Kachru (2005) fall under Expanding – Circle do not have matured version of their own English obviously look at native speakers for their English language programs unlike the Outer-Circle countries. Kirkpatrick (2007) is of the view that Inner-Circle norms are not necessary for countries like China and they need not follow the pattern of pronunciation prevailing in Inner-Circle countries. He is of the clear view that the distinction between native and nativised varieties of English can easily be questioned. American English is a nativised version when compared to British English because some other languages were spoken there before English from Britain arrived there. So taking the grasp of local cultures of America, English got nativised in the American context. Same is also true for Australian English which got nativised through the influence of local cultures. Kirkpatrick (2007) is of the view that all languages routinely influence each other and evolve. Even current native English language is a mixture of so many other languages such as Greek, Latin, Germanic, French, and other Anglo-Saxon forms. Thus, it is difficult to classify any form of English as native version rather it is easy to classify them as nativised. Nativised Model Roger Anderson (1983) propounded the theory of nativization of language. According to him, the learner of a second language (English) nativises the language input in reference to their first language norm. Learners of the second language failing to identify them with the culture of the target language reject its linguistic norms and tend to nativise it. This has been confirmed by Kachru (2005) when he classifies his theory about The Outer-Circle. He classifies those countries in Outer-Circle, which have been either British or U.S colonies in the past such as India, Kenya, Africa, Pakistan, Singapore, Philippines, Bhutan, and Bangladesh. These countries have successfully developed and adopted to own version of pronunciation of English depending upon their culture and linguistic style and most of them have culminated into mature varieties as described in detail by Schneider (2007). Globish Model Globish is a simple form of English devised by Jean Paul Nerriere, an Ex-vice president of IBM. It has short sentences, no idiomatic expressions and uses basic syntax. It has vocabulary of 1500 words. This was devised by Nerriere to help non-English speakers so that business meetings could be conducted successfully. Globish was designed for small jobs and Nerriere advised even British and Americans to learn it. It takes out the grammatical complexities and tough phrases from the language. Even native speakers need to make efforts to learn it. And this will certainly help them to become popular among non-English speakers. Purists may not agree with his ideas but there is a substance in his talk that business meetings are organized for doing business and not a platform to show English skills and power. Orthodox forms of languages are to be preserved for studying literatures and classic essays but for doing a steel contract in China one needs to know only Globish. (The Australians, 2006) Lingua Franca Model There is another model called Lingua Franca for English learning. Many scholars such as Jenkins (2007) and Seidlhofer (2001) suggest that English should be taught based on Lingua Franca. Jenkins (2000) argues that there is no need to teach all sounds as some of the sounds of English create breakdowns in communication. In view of this, there is no need to master sounds that are not causing any problem. She suggested certain features that are essential for international communication and understanding. Some of the suggestions can be listed as per the following. 1. All the consonants are important but dental fricatives such as /?/ is not important. 2. Stress-based rhythm is not essential; syllable-based rhythm serves the purpose. 3. Vowel reduction is not essential such as /?/ in unstressed syllables. 4. The precise quality of vowels is not important barring mid-central vowel /з:/ 5. The finer details of pitch movement to highlight various intonation patterns are not essential. 6. Vowel quantity, that is, long and short vowels is essential. 7. Stress to identify the key word is essential. 8. Initial and medial consonant clusters are essential allowing for a simplification to final consonant. (Jenkins 2007, 23-24) She proposed that certain features of pronunciation as uttered by native speakers of English are not required for learners of English. They are vowel quality, stress-based rhythm, final consonant clusters, dental fricatives, pitch movements as per intonation and reduced vowels. Lingua franca will have certain implications from the view point of a learner from China. The Difference Between /n/ and /l/ In Southern China, initial /n/ and /l/ are merged while speaking and this is quite common in Hong Kong. This is also true from the provinces of Jiangxi and Sichuan. As Deterding (2006) mentions person from Jiangxi pronounced law and last with an initial [n]. Initial sounds of /n/ and /l/ both are important in English and Lingua Franca does not allow these sounds to get mixed up. Learning process on these sounds for a Chinese learner requires extra efforts and the teacher must emphasize on that. Final /n/ Nasalization of a vowel is quite common in the English spoken in China. This leads to the omission of consonant as is found in the pronunciation of word sun that is pronounced as [s?] with a nasalized vowel but final consonant /n/ is omitted during speech. LFC emphasizes for the clear articulation of /n/ consonant for the greater understandability of English. Vowel Quantity and Quality The learners from China use materials either from UK or USA and they do not distinguish between long and short vowels as found in feast (long vowel) and fist (short vowel) and LFC emphasizes that learners work on this issue and vowel quantity should not be compromised with. Regarding quality part LFC is not much emphatic as found in the word hot; speakers may have either /?/ or /a/ and that is perfectly fine with Lingua Franca. Vowel Reduction In native English there is a schwa /?/ used in the unstressed first syllable of the words as found in confess and considered and in the function words such as to or of. This use of schwa is known as vowel reduction. Speakers from China always use a full vowel in words such as of with lesser number of speaker use full vowel in words like confess and considered. LFC says that it is not necessary to teach vowel reduction. Many speakers from China assume that using a reduced vowel in words such as of or than is a lethargic way of speaking. In Singapore (Deterding, 2007 p29-30) including south-east Asia, speaking reduced vowels is avoided. LFC is of the view that if speakers from China can speak fluently with full vowels in all function words there is no need to make them change their this pattern of pronunciation. Rhythm That is a common observation that Outer-Circle English has more syllable-based rhythm than most Inner-Circle English. This has been reported in India (Sailaja, 2009 p 34), Singapore (Deterding, 2007 p 31) and West Africa (Wells, 1982 p639). Absence of reduced vowels creates perception of syllable-based rhythm. Crystal (1995) is of the view that syllable-based rhythm may become a norm even in Inner Circle Englishes and he is against to foster norms of rhythm. Speakers such as Kofi Annan, and Nelson Mandela, well known international figures, had full vowels and more syllable-based speech than most speakers from Inner-Circle countries. Syllable-based rhythm is quite widespread in World English and increases comprehensibility. The speakers of English in China use syllable-based rhythm and this is certainly encouraged in the LFC. There is no need to change this pattern and style of speech. Final Consonant Clusters In Inner-Circle English, it is quite common to omit /t/ or /d/ from consonant clusters, if they are found at the end of the word and with the next word beginning with a consonant. Examples are last chance, just one, left turn, old man where pronunciation of /t/ or /d/ is omitted. Speakers from China are reluctant to do this considering this a lethargic way of speaking. As such, Omission of these does not increase comprehensibility. ELF aims at increasing intelligibility of the speech and does not promote such patterns of Inner-Circle English. According to Roach (2009), it is important for a person to understand the colloquial speech and no need to imitate the style and pattern of UK and USA English in their speech. The TH Sounds Sound at the start of word thin is known as voiceless TH while in case of that is referred as voiced TH. Speakers in China have a tendency to use [s] for voiceless TH. Some sounds are not found in standard Chinese and that causes problems with dental fricatives (Duanmu, 2007). Though speakers from outer-circle Englishes invariably use [t] and [d] for the TH sound and quite common in countries like India (Sailja, 2009 p 21), Singapore (Deterding, 2007 p 13) and it is also found that [?] sound is avoided by the people from London and Ireland (Wells, 1982 p328, 428). According to LFC, dental fricatives is not essential for the TH sounds and not necessary to teach as different people throughout the world use different sounds. Final Word Stressing Speakers from China have a tendency to put emphasis on the final word as an indication to the end of the utterance. This is quite common in the East Asia including Singapore. LFC gives importance to nuclear stress; however, stressing of final word could be an issue so far international intelligibility is concerned and that needs correction. Issues with Lingua Franca Teaching Though English learning based on lingua franca model for the countries like China is encouraging, achievable and fun; nevertheless it does pose certain issues. There is not enough ELF-based teaching material that includes reference materials and dictionaries. Currently, most of the English teaching in China is based on Inner-Circle norms as huge resources have been invested in such materials. In the absence of some fixed target, teachers feel that it is difficult to implement an assessment criterion. Also, a clear cut national policy is needed in favor of ELF model in China. Conclusion Thus, it is quite clear that some features of the pronunciation of English are quite important for speakers from China from intelligibility point of view and others can be discarded with. ELF stresses on accommodative skills on the part of speaker to adapt to the needs of listeners. The purpose is to increase the intelligibility for successful communication. That is why native-speaker model of pronunciation cannot always be helpful and many speakers from Inner-Circle are not understood properly in international arena. Jenkins (2009a) suggests that native speakers should not use idioms when they speak in international contexts. The key point is to speak that which can be easily understood by the international audience. Though it may seem that the language spoken without idioms is bland but then key lies in eliciting idioms from the different languages and cultures so that the listeners feel at home. References 1. Anderson, Roger W.,(1983), Nativization and Hispanization in the Papiamentu of Curacao, N.A: A sociolinguistic study of variation, Univ. Microfilms Internat 2. Crystal, D. (1995). Documenting rhythmical change. In J. Windsor Lewis (ed.), Studies in General and English phonetics: Essays in Honour of Professor J. D. O'Connor, 174-179. London, UK: Routledge. 3. Deterding, (2007), Singapore English. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. 4. Deterding, D. (2006), The pronunciation of English by speakers from China. English World-Wide, 27, 175-198. 5. Duanmu, S. (2007). The Phonology of Standard Chinese (2nd ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press 6. Jenkins, J. (2000), The Phonology of English as an International Language. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. 7. Jenkins, J. (2007), English as a Lingua Franca: Attitude and Identity. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. 8. Kachru, B. B. (2005), Asian Englishes: Beyond the Canon. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press. 9. Kirkpatrick, A. (2007), World Englishes: Implications for International Communication and English Language Teaching. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. 10. Roach, P. (2009), English Phonetics and Phonology (4th ed.). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. 11. Sailaja, P. (2009), Indian English. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. 12. Schneider, E. W. (2007), Postcolonial Englishes: Varieties Around the World. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 13. The Australian (2006), Globish now the lingua franca of the world travelers, online from October 20 2011, http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/globish-now-the-lingua-franca-of-world-travellers/story-e6frg6so-1111112672356 14. Wells, J. C. (1982). Accents of English. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Read More