Global Englishes: Discussion

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Task: Share your personal answer to the question using  the comments section below.

The Question:

Why might there be more than one ‘correct’ way to speak English?

Note that the purpose of this exercise is for you to share your own opinion. Please try to refrain from asking AI what your opinion is; try to have a thought of your own. Thinking is very important.

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Comments (42)

  2. Since people all around the world are speaking in English, how English was used differs between countries:

    For example, British people use ‘biscuit’ and ‘lift’ (maybe), but American people use ‘cookie’ and ‘elevator’. Their writings are also different (‘colour’ and ‘color’).

    People speaks in different accents. The accents are usually affected by the environment around them. Like if everyone is speaking in British accent around you, you’ll be speaking in British accent. Look, you can’t just change the whole environment and let everyone speak in the exact same way. (unfinished 1/2)

  4. There are three main reasons for having multiple correct ways to speak English.

    A. accents and mixes in language. This is completely normal because the native language of people is naturally different and they can take their native language accent and put it into English which makes the accent different when spoken.

    Zarrelli 16 writes that: “det är awesome”, for example, means “it is awesome.” Popularly called Swenglish, this use of English in Sweden is a mix of the two languages;

    The article further writes that: There are estimated to be two billion people speaking dozens of varieties of English in the world, a number far beyond the estimated 340 million native English speakers.

    Therefore, mixes happen because people from around the world speak English so different variants exist but that doesn’t mean these mixes are not “English”. Just like in Chinese there is the simplified version and the traditional version on cantonese etc…

    Furthermore, research proves this. Research shows that new language speakers take influence from their native tongues when forming sentences in the new language; if this need continues, the mix might evolve further.

    B. history. As Britain invaded and colonized substantial swathes of the world, a slew of cultures were obliged to add English to their lexicon, with even more words and phrases added once the U.S. became influential in trade and business. For non-native English speaking countries aiming to communicate on a more global scale, or countries that house multiple major languages, English is sometimes used as a middleman; but it also grows into a widespread staple, changing with the cultures of those who use it.

    This means that the unique history of English and colonialism shape the dialects and varieties of English. As such I believe that Caliban must also have a unique dialect that is different from what Prospero taught him, but this doesn’t impede Caliban from cursing Prospero.

    C. Ultimately, English is a language used for COMMUNICATION and as long people can understand the difference is fine.

    For example, Olivia has a very British accent but this doesn’t mean American or Chinese accented people cannot talk with her.

    1. Accents
    2. Different regions often have a different use of English language
    3. In the end English is a language, its purpose is to convey meaning, and as long as the rough structure and grammar is the same, then it’s fine.
    4. Terret and Finch are both handsome, speak English-English, yet we American-English speakers talk with them fine.
    5. There is no “correct” way to use English, the grammatically correct way to use it is just the easiest, most straight forward, standard way to use it. it only serves as a guideline. if you can use it in some other way and some other person can understand it. it is a correct way.

      6. REPLY TO ME

    • I like your explanation in number 5 🙂

      How do you feel about prescriptive grammars? (These are the kind of ‘Grammar: Get it right’ sort of book where the author declares that if language isn’t used in the way described in the book, then it is wrong.

      You might also be interested to consider the comment I left in response to Eric yin below about Professor Higgins in Pygmalion/My Fair Lady.

    • Do you think that correct grammar is the easiest way?

      There are many English learners who struggle with correct grammar and even in the Uk itself poor use of grammar such as “me and my friend went to the cinema” or ” I should of done this” are quite common.

  7. This is my research about examples of non-standard English:

    A great example that I found was translanguaging, meaning switching or mixing languages. For example, Spanglish (English + Spanish)Analyzed in texts on Latino/a communication in the U.S. Non-standard usage: “I need to comprar milk” (Standard English: “I need to buy milk”); “She’s muy tired” (Standard English: “She’s very tired”). Features: Inserts Spanish verbs (“comprar”) or adverbs (“muy”) into English sentences, blending vocabulary without strict adherence to either language’s grammar.

    I think that there are many “correct” ways to talk English since English has been formed through globalization.

    About the Kachru’s circles, there are inner and outer circles.
    The Inner Circle refers to countries where English is a native language (L1)—it developed historically as the primary language of the population, and these nations set the “norms” (grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation) for Standard English (e.g., British, American, Australian English).
    Historical background: English originated here or became the dominant language through long-term settlement (not colonization for exploitation).
    The Outer Circle consists of former British or American colonies where English was imposed during colonization and later retained as an official or co-official language. Here, English is a “second language (L2)” used for cross-community communication, and these nations often develop their own region-specific “New Englishes” (local variants of English).

    • That’s a very thorough answer 🙂

      I like this expression:  “since English has been formed through globalization”

      It suggests that my English ancestors just started the process of developing the language but that we modern English have no claim on ownership of English; it has become a global commodity.

    • Hi Olivia Your explanation of Kachru’s circles is clear, especially how you highlight the historical distinction between native English and Outer Circle contexts. The example of Spanglish shows how non-standard English emerges from language mixing. However, I think one limitation is that the Inner/Outer Circle model oversimplifies the fluidity of English today cause many Outer Circle countries (like India or Nigeria) now have large populations of native English speakers. It’s also worth noting that the model doesn’t fully account for the Expanding Circle ( for example China, Japan), where English is learned as a foreign language but still shapes local communication regularly. But I like  the info you gave~~~~by Katherine and Coco.y~

    • It’s interesting how global platforms are breaking down those old barriers. People from the Expanding Circle now set the tone for global English trends. Memes, music, and online slang spread quickly. English today might look more like a network that changes constantly, based on who has power and who knows someone.

  8. First of all, I think english is a global language, and different regions have developed their own standardaized versions, and they all recognize it as a “correct” way to speak.

    For example, some major regional varieties, including British english, American english, Australian English, Canadian english, and maybe even Indian english.

    The key differences show in vocab, pronunciation, grammar and spelling (“Lift” vs. “Elevator”, “dance” with /ɑː/ in UK vs. /æ/ in US, “I’ve just eaten” vs. “I just ate”, “Globalisation” vs. “Globalization”)

    Another “correct” vs. “correct” english are the adaptions to social situations.

    For example, formal english like essay writing, or presentations vs. informal english like texting messages or casual conversations. Both of them are correct ways to “speak” english.

    So in conclusion the multiple “correct” ways to speak english is a natural outcome of the “global spread” of english, and the social adaptability. No way of speaking english is universally “more correct”, each of them are correct considering their own regional standards and contexts. However if we consider the “originality”, British english is the origin of “english”. But as long as the communication is effective, then the form of english is “correct”.

      • I see you’ve found the method to switch fonts 😆

        You’ve also indirectly raised an important point: Is there the same range of different Englishes in writing as in accents and dialects? Typically writing is more standard and readers less forgiving of what they perceive as errors, but perhaps this has changed in the age of the internet. Are written English standards important? Are internet slang  and instant messaging genres ‘damaging’ the language?

        • I think that there isn’t really a standard way for English . English is a kind of language, we speak language so that other people can understand our thoughts and things(Blablabla, whatever) so I don’t think it really matters if as long as we can let others understand what we mean, using whatever language whether standard or not. Every place has their own culture and has their own language, we can’t force them to speak in a “standard” way we think. So there isn’t really a standard way for English. Also, when writing, writing in un-standard ways could also be a way of expressing, it can give a lot of information. (There are many examples, such as in some Chinese background books, in the Tempest, Caliban being able to speak standard and some others can’t…something like that). So in conclusion , I think it’s not really important using standard English as long others can understand, and it won’t damage the language, but make it more better.(I don’t know how to describe it)

  10.  
    People developed these “non standard English” for convenience. Basically, language is just made for us to understand more quickly and easily, right? So it’s determined that every language will eventually develop a non standard version, for more convenience.
    Why there might be more than one correct way to speak English? English is the one of the most common languages we speak nowadays, and you can see loads of different accents from different places, and countries. Being a huge language system, actually the dictionary didn’t require people to pronounce words in one certain way. The online dictionaries provided two ways of pronouncing a word: American pronunciation and British pronunciation, the most used by native speakers today. This also is not referring to we must follow one correct way to speak English. 

    • So do you think the two pronunciation systems in your dictionary are more valued than other regional ways of pronouncing English? Should students learning English aim to mimic one of those two pronunciation systems or doesn’t it matter?

      • Well British pronunciation is basically the original version of English, and the American pronunciation is probably the most common pronunciation beyond British pronunciation, due to the history of America (I‘ll not mention it since we all know). Also in Kachru’s three circle, British and American speakers are listed in the inner circle, which is the native speaker at the very beginning,  and they spread English everywhere. English doesn’t restrict you to use certain pronunciation, also pronunciation depends on your growing environment, your parents and neighbors speak what accent, you probably will speak the same one. But I noticed in China, cnc English has a strict pronunciation rule for every single word. Mr finch said it’s because Chinese has a strict pronunciation rule with four pitches, the meaning will change with the change of pitch. So, Chinese people take pronunciation very seriously, then they made cnc English serious about pronunciation. I think another reason is that for foreigners, there isn’t a language environment where they can hear and learn accents, so it might be difficult to correctly pronounce a certain word at first. So they need guidelines to help them get it correct.

  11. Like we said in class, there’s lots of cultures, and different cultures, when they get colonialised, they develop a new way of speaking English. The new modified English develops to become a new “correct” way of speaking it.

    I’m not so sure if the modified English is to be considered a dialect or not, in the online dictionary (Merriam Webster), it says “a regional variety of language distinguished by features of vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation from other regional varieties and constituting together with them a single language” I’m not sure if the regional stuff is like a country kind of big (or not).

  12. PART A – Non-standard English in literary / media texts
    1. Trinidadian Creole (earliest stage of English-lexicon creole)
    Text: Earl Lovelace, The Dragon Can’t Dance (1979)
    Extract:
    “All them years he spend up in that hill, he ain’t learn nothing else but to blow that flute, and when he come down, is only ‘play, man, play’ people shouting after him.”
    Features: zero copula (“he ain’t learn”), aspect marker “does” omitted, “them” as plural demonstrative, invariant “he” for “he’d / he has”.
    2. Nigerian Pidgin (modern urban variety)
    Text: Nollywood film Lagos Na Wa (2017) – dialogue transcript on IMDb
    Extract:
    “Wetin dey do you self? You no hear say dem don close that shop since last week?”
    Features: “wetin” < what-thing, “dey” progressive marker, “self” emphatic, “dem” 3-pl pronoun, zero past-tense inflection.
    3. Hawaiʻi Pidgin (creolised) – spoken poetry
    Text: Lois-Ann Yamanaka, Saturday Night at the Pahala Theatre (1993)
    Extract:
    “I no like go school, brah. The teachah, she always saying how I stay lolo, how my English all junk.”
    Features: “no like” for ‘don’t want’, “stay” continuative copula, “lolo” Hawaiian word for ‘crazy’, “junk” evaluative adjective.
    4. Chicano translanguaging (English / Spanish)
    Text: Sandra Cisneros, Woman Hollering Creek (1991)
    Extract:
    “Ay, Cleófilas, life is like a telenovela, ¿verdad? You got your good esposo, your mamacita waiting with the cafe when you come home.”
    Features: Spanish discourse marker “¿verdad?”, lexical insertions kept in original morphology, code-switching at clause boundary.
    5. African-American Vernacular English (AAVE)
    Text: Angie Thomas, The Hate U Give (2017)
    Extract:
    “I ain’t even finna lie—my moms be tripping when she think we out here wilding.”
    Features: negative concord “ain’t even finna”, habitual “be”, zero 3rd-singular –s, “moms” pluralised kinship term, “out here + V-ing” aspectual frame.
    6. Non-standard British dialect (Yorkshire)
    Text: Exam-board anthology (AQA, 2022) – spoken transcript
    Extract:
    “We was sat in t’ pub and this lad come in, proper mardy like, saying he don’t want nowt to drink.”
    Features: past-tense “was” with plural subject, “sat” for sitting, “t’” definite article reduction, “nowt” for ‘nothing’, “mardy” regional adjective.

      • Right, and in your examples you shared a British dialect where they do say ‘We was…’

        Do you think the stereotyping you have identified carries meaning? You could check out Pygmalion or My Fair Lady:

        It is impossible for an Englishman to open his mouth without making some other Englishman hate or despise him.