The Dynamics of New Englishes: From Identity Construction to Dialect Birth

Abstract

So-called NEW ENGLISHES, distinct forms of English which have emerged in postcolonial settings and countries around the globe, have typically been regarded individually, as unique varieties shaped by idiosyncratic historical conditions and contact settings, and no coherent theory to account for these processes has been developed so far. This article argues that despite all obvious dissimilarities, a fundamentally uniform developmental process, shaped by consistent sociolinguistic and language-contact conditions, has operated in the individual instances of rerooting the English language in another territory. At the heart of this process there are characteristic stages of identity construction by the groups involved, with similar relationships between the parties in migration contact settings (i.e. the indigenous population and immigrant groups, respectively) having resulted in analogous processes of mutual accommodation and, consequently, similar sociolinguistic and structural outcomes. Outlining a basic developmental scenario, I suggest that speech communities typically undergo five consecutive phases in this processÑFOUNDATION, EXONORMATIVE STABILIZATION, NATIVIZATION, ENDONORMATIVE STABILIZATION, and DIFFERENTIATION Ñand I describe the sociolinguistic characteristics of each one. This framework is then applied to case studies of seven different countries (Fiji, Hong Kong, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Australia, and New Zealand) which, I argue, are currently positioned at different points along the developmental cycle.

Gradient grammar: An effect of animacy on the syntax of give in New Zealand and American English

“…That these may exert different types of pressure on a language system is evidenced by these three changes, which appear to have reversed trajectory around the same time. That there should be a change around this time is also consistent with Schneider's (2003) model of the emergence of new Englishes. He considers the early part of the 20th Century in New Zealand to mark the transition from a 'phase 2' dialect (where speakers consider themselves an outpost of the colonizing nation, and accept the external norm), to a 'phase 3' dialect, where the 'mother country' is felt to be less of a 'mother'.…”

Indigenous Culture and Academic Discourse: A Critique of English Textbooks in Pakistan

“…As to non-native varieties, linguists such as, Moag (1992), Kachru (1992), and Schneider (2003Schneider ( , 2007 are of the view that they pass through a number of stages. In the start, they predominantly rely on varieties which are exonerative and prejudice exists against the local varieties in the minds of people.…”

An Investigation of the Complexity of Verb Phrases in the Ice of Four Asian Countries

“…its spread to different speech communities, and how development of its varieties takes place. One of these is Schneider, (2003Schneider, ( , 2007 who constructed the dynamic model which comprehensively describes how a language, i.e. post-colonial varieties of English (henceforth PCEs), evolves as a process and how certain linguistic features emerge.…”