Chapter 9: The New Englishes (337-374)

1. Chapter 9:The New Englishes (337-374) The New Englishes/ Epilogue: Next Year’s Words 29

2. The Story of English By Don L. F. Nilsen Based on The Story of English By Robert McCrum, Robert MacNeil and William Cran (Penguin, 2003) 29

3. George Bernard ShawMan of Destiny • “You will never find an Englishman in the wrong. He does everything on principle. He fights you on patriotic principles; he robs you on business principles; he enslaves you on imperial principles.” (McCrum 338) • NILSEN NOTE: Many Americans also believe in “manifest destiny.” 29

4. Contact Languages: Patois, Pidgins, Creoles, Ships Jargon, Maritime English, Nation Language, Talki-Talki, etc. • Contact languages can be found in the slave triangle. • They can also be found throughout the Carribean, Melanesia, Hawaii, the Philippines, Papua, New Guinea, and the Australian Northern Territories. 29

5. Jamaica Talk (Patois)Nation-Language • Di kuk di tel mi mi faamin, bot it nat so. • The Cook told me I was shamming sick, but it’s not so. • “bockle” (bottle), “duppy” (ghost), “form” (pretend), “nyam” (eat), “ninyam” (food), “tacko” (ugly, tacky) • (McCrum 340-343) 29

6. English in the Caribbean:Jamaica, Barbados and Trinidad 29

7. Jamaican Reggae & Jamaican Dub Poetry:Louise Bennett/Miss Lou • So yuh a de man, me hear bout! • Ah yuh dem sey dah-teck • Whole heap o’ English oat sey dat • Yuy gwine kill dialect! • Meck me get it straight Mass Charlie • For me now quite undastan • Yuh gwine kill all English dialect? • Or jus Jamaica one? 29

8. Ef yuh kean sing “Linstead Market” • An “Wata come a me y’eye,” • Yuh wi haffi tap sing “Auld lang syne” • An “Comin thru de rye.” • Dah language we yuh proud o’, • Weh yuh honou and respeck, • Po’ Mass Charlie? Yuh noh know sey • Dat it spring from dialect! • (McCrum 341-342) 29

9. E. K. Braithwaite • “All Caribbean people partake in multiple cultures. • They partake in the American culture. • Some of us partake in the Latin American culture. • Then there’s the European culture • And the Caribbean culture. 29

10. “We are at the stage Chaucer was in his time. That’s my assessment of it. • Chaucer had just started to gel English, French and Latin. • We are doing the same thing with our creole concepts, our Standard English, our American, and our modernisms.” • (McCrum 343) 29

11. Nation English in Jamaica • NO RIGHT TURN  NO TON RAIT • SCHOOL ZONE BEGINS  SKUUL ZUON BIGIN • NO ENTRY  NO ENTA • KEEP LEFT  KIP LEF • NO PARKING BETWEEN THESE SIGNS  NO PAAK BITWIIN DEM SAIN YA • NO OVERTAKING OR PASSING  NO OUVATEK NAAR PAAS • (McCrum 346) 29

12. Jamaican English is now spoken in • Toronto, Ontario in Canada • New York in the United States • London in England • One Jamaican schoolgirl living in London “explains the complicated social pressures that frowned on Jamaican English in Jamaica, but made it almost obligatory in London.” • (McCrum 348) 29

13. English in East and West Africa 29

14. English in East and West Africa • “In the East African states of Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, the lingua franca tends to be Ki-Swahili, • but English is the main language of all secondary and tertiary education.” • “In West Africa, English has official status in Sierra Leone, Gambia, Ghana and Nigeria…, • and pidgin English is widely used as a lingua franca.” • This pidgin English is called “Krio.” The word comes from “Creole.” (McCrum 351) 29

15. Krio • Krio “is the language of the descendants of Sierra Leonean settlers in Gambia, and it was brought by traders and missionaries to Nigeria and Cameroon.” • “At least 80 per cent of Krio is derived from English.” • Like Chinese and many African languages, Krio has a system of tones. • (McCrum 352-353) 29

16. Krio-English Counterparts • Man klos = man’s clothes • Man pawa = strength (manpower) • Manpus = tomcat • A kam fala yu? = • May I go with you? • (McCrum 353) 29

17. India and Malaysia (McCrum not in earlier edition/323) 29

18. Indian English (also Burmese, Bangladesh & Pakistani English) • 16th Century Words: brahmin, calico, curry, rajah • 17th Century Words: coolie, juggernaut, bungalow, cheroot, pundit, chintz • 18th Century Words: bandana, jungle, jute, toddy, veranda • 19th Century Words: chutney, guru, cummerbund, purdah • NOTE: Women in purdah wear a “burka” (Pashtoon word) or “chaderie” (Farsi word) • (McCrum 357-358) 29

19. More Indian English • Indian English is variously known as “Hobson-Jobson,” as “Babu English,” as “Butler English,” as “Bearer English,” and as “Kitchen English.” • Educated or standard Indian English, which is very scholarly and bookish is known as “Pukkah.” 29

20. Indian English Words • Box wallah = businessman • Demise = death • Eve Teaser = someone who harasses women • Godown = storage area of a house • Godown space = warehouse • Gunny bag = sack • Lathicharge = police baton charge • Mixy Grinder = food blender • Newspaper wallah = person who sells newspapers • Out of station = away • Time piece = wristwatch • (McCrum 362-363) 29

21. Indian English Syntax • I am doing…. = I constantly do…. • I am doing it = I have been doing it. • When I will come…. = When I come…. • You will do this? = Will you please do this? • Sympathetic consideration, = Sincerely, • (McCrum 361) 29

22. Indian Code Switching • “Indian speakers will switch backwards and forwards between their mother tongue and Indian English, in the course of conversation, often in the course of a sentence.” (McCrum 363) 29

23. Indian English as a Literary Language • Indian English is the language of Rudyard Kipling, who writes about Kim and the Khyber Pass (in Afghanistan) and Peshawar (now in Pakistan), and Rikki Tikki Tavi. • Indian English is often in the writings of E. M. Forster who writes about the English colonization and the Raj. • Indian English, like Sanskrit (the holy language) and Persian (the language of the Persian empire), like Irish English, Australian English or American English, is its own special dialect of English. (McCrum 364) 29

24. Singapore English • I like hot hot curry—very shrink = It’s terrific, beyond description. • Big bluff, man, he! = He’s just a show-off. • You can drop here = You can get out here. • My name, you write it with three alphabets not four = three letters not four • Stop shaking legs and do some work = “Shake legs” is a direct translation from Malay, and it means “to be idle.” (McCrum 369) 29

25. The Pacific Rim • “The Pacific Rim, from Singapore and Malaysia in the west, to Japan, Hong Kong and Korea to the north, Hawaii and California toward the east, and Australia to the south, has become the fastest-growing community on the planet, representing one-third of the world’s population.” (McCrum 368) 29

26. Papua New Guinea’s “Tok Pisin” • “Tok Pisin helps unite a people once divided by tribal war, headhunting and cannibalism.” (McCrum 372) 29

27. Beli = stomach • Bik fella = big • Bilong = belong to • Go long = went • Good fella tru = friend • Longtime bipo = a long time ago (before) • Maski = It doesn’t matter • Meri = woman (Mary, mother of Jesus) • Mot = Mouth • Os = House • Pela = fellow • Pickanninny = child • Savvy = understand (cf. French “savoir”) • Su = shoe 29

28. Repetitions, Transitive Verbs & Simplified Syntax • Big big = very big • Good good = very good • Kai kai = food • Lik lik = little • Talk talk = chat • Buyum, sellum, wantum • Me sellum good good beads. • Long time no see. 29

29. !Global English, Spanish or Chinese • Right now English is in the lead as a National language, but Spanish and Chinese are close behind. • “The economic power of Latin America, many experts believe, has yet to be fully deployed.” 29

30. !Global Chinese? • “Chinese is widely spoken throughout the Far East.” • “A decline in American power might encourage a country like Singapore [or other countries in the Pacific Rim], whose children are bilingual in Mandarin and English, to switch its support to Mandarin as the medium of Far East Asian business.” • (McCrum 374) 29

31. !!English, Spanish & Chinese as Global Languages(McCrum 339 [not in later edition]) 29

32. !!!H. C. NarangWill English remain the global language? • “Those countries which have strong groundings in English—like India, or Pakistan, or Bangladesh, or the countries of East Africa and West Africa—share in the task of teaching English to other countries who do not have any English but who do need English. • In that sense we are helping the cause of English in a big way. This is no more the cause of England or America. It’s the cause of the world.” • (McCrum 368) 29

33. Works Cited • McCrum, Robert, William Cran, and Robert MacNeil. The Story of English. New York, NY: Penguin, 1986. (source of map citations) • McCrum, Robert, William Cran, and Robert MacNeil. The Story of English: Third Revised Edition. New York, NY: Penguin, 2003. (source of text citations) 29