Zoya Proshina The abc and Controversies of World Englishes ббк 81
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South East Asian EnglishesThe regional varieties referring to South-East Asian Englishes include Singapore/Singaporean, Malaysian, Philippine/Filipino, and Brunei Englishes, which make up the Outer Circle, and Indonesian, Thai, Myanmar (Burman/Burmese), Vietnamese, Laotian, and Cambodian/Kampuchean Englishes of the Expanding Circle. English has been in South-East Asia since the 17th century (McArthur 2003: 332). The New Englishes (of the Outer Circle) emerged from their colonial histories: Singapore and Malaysia were British colonies, and the Philippines was under the American colonial government until 1946. In the group of Expanding Circle countries, Thailand has never been colonized by Europeans. The other countries were under the rule of either the French or the Dutch. In Singapore, which became an independent republic in 1965, English is a dominant language over the other three official languages, Chinese, Malay, and Tamil. It is the language of law courts and government administration. Today English is considered to be a first language by many Singaporeans. Its use is not restricted to the social elite. Here primary, secondary, and tertiary education is in English. English is used in its interpersonal function as a lingua franca in everyday life. It serves as an international medium and a means of uniting the country. It is used in all domains (educational, business, finance, domestic, religious, and entertainment) and by all ethnic groups. At home many Singaporeans drop the formal English code for an informal Singapore Colloquial English (Pakir 1991/2006: 359). Since 1976 Malaysia has taken the course of Malaysianization, with Malay being the only government language (Bautista & Gonzalez 2006: 131), so English is not an official language of the country any more and thus it may be regarded moving from the Outer Circle to the Expanding Circle (Ho 2005: 231). English is taught as a compulsory subject from Grade 1 to 12. However, being a language of science and technology and leading to modernization, English is a medium of instruction for technical subjects. It has become a path to better-paid and prestigious employment. About 25% of city dwellers are reported to use English for some purpose in everyday life (McArthur 2003: 335). Still, the main value of the language for Malaysians is for international communication. At the turn of the century, the Malaysian government adopted three plans that will enhance the role of English: 1) the development of Malaysia into an industrial nation; 2) the establishment of the multi-media super corridor, and 3) the establishment of Malaysia as a regional center of education (Gill 2005: 204). For Philippines, the bilingual (English-Tagalog) scheme was a compromise. English is a co-official language. Its role is still significant in all spheres, including education where it is a medium of acquiring knowledge in Science, Mathematics, and Communication Arts (Bautista 2005: 185). In the independent Sultanate of Brunei (Brunei Darussalam), Malay and English are co-official languages. Both languages are prominent in education, with English being the medium for 80% of class time (McArthur 2003: 336). English is widely used in the media in every country under discussion. Singapore and Philippine Englishes developed creative literature and are in the process of standardization. The first novel in Philippine English was A Child of Sorrow by Zoilo M. Galang (1921). In 1940, the first Commonwealth Literary Awards were given to Salvador P. Lopez for "Literature and Society" (essay), Manuel Arguilla for "How My Brother Leon Brought Home a Wife and Other Stories", R. Zulueta da Costa for "Like the Molave" (poetry), and Juan C. Laya for "His Native Soil" (novel). Writers in English who have received the National Artist award include Jose Garcia Villa (1973), Nick Joaquin (1976), Carlos P. Romulo (1982), Francisco Arcellana (1990), N. V. M. Gonzalez, Rolando Tinio (1997), Edith L. Tiempo (2000), F. Sionil Jose (2003), and Bienvenido Lumbera (2006). There is evidence of Singapore literature published as early as the 1830s. After declaring independence, most published works of Singapore writing in English have been in poetry. Edwin Thumboo is the leading figure in Singapore poetry. Some other notable poets include Boey Kim Cheng, Alvin Pang, Cyril Wong, Felix Cheong and Alfian bin Sa'at (also a playwright). Goh Poh Seng is a pioneer in writing novels. Catherine Lim is Singapore's most widely read author. Other prominent names are Rex Shelley, whose first novel The Shrimp People (1991) won a National Book Prize. Another National Book Prize winner is Su-Chen Christine Lim. The common feature of all these Englishes is that they are spoken as a second language. The English of each national community is a continuum showing acrolectal, mesolectal, and basilectal varieties. Basilectal varieties are often abbreviated as Malenglish / Manglish; Singlish, and Taglish/Engalog . There is code switching from one lectal level to another and back and from one official language to another depending on the situation. Highly educated English-knowing bilinguals are able to control a range of varieties and clines (Pakir 1991/2006: 362). The basilectal speech (the so-called lower varieties of English) are increasingly being used “in codified texts such as poems, short stories and plays by Singaporean writers” (Pakir 1991/2006: 352) The major deviant features of these varieties used by average, educated speakers include (Cane 1994; Trudgill&Hannah 1994; Othman & McLellan 2000; McArthur 2003; Melchers & Shaw 2003; Bautista 2005; Bautista &Gonzalez 2006; Kachru Y. & Nelson C. 2006): in phonology:
in grammar:
in lexis:
The lexical innovations have been gathered in Macquarie Dictionaries of Asian English. in discourse:
The attitude toward the indigenous varieties of English is different in different countries. There is no doubt about the existence of Singapore English as a variety (Gupta 1998/2006). The sociolinguistic research conducted by Maria Lourdes S. Bautista (2005) revealed that the general idea of Philippine English among its users (students and teachers) is acceptable but only in the areas of phonology and the lexicon and not in the area of grammar. Grammar is expected to follow exonormative standard. The attitude of Malaysians is described by Prof. Gill from University Kebanggsaan Malaysia: “We need to be aware that nativised English, which is perfectly acceptable for communicating socially and informally and gives one a strong sense of identity, is not the variety that is found acceptable by the business community, by many members of the society and the political leaders of the Government.” (Gill 2005: 209-210) Malaysia’s Prime-Minister articulated direct relationship of nationalism, as understood by Malaysians, and English learning: “Learning the English language will reinforce the spirit of nationalism when it is used to bring about development and progress for the country. … True nationalism means doing everything for the country, even if it means learning the English language.” (Mahathir Mohamad. The Sun, Saturday, September 11, 1999; quoted by Gill 2005: 205-206) However, David Crystal (1995: 104) suggests that, though the traditional prestige attached to English still exists in Malaysia, it is too early to speak about the permanent variety of Malaysian English because the general sociolinguistic situation in this country is in sharp contrast with that in other Outer Circle countries. This variety is not a norm-developing one but is a norm-dependent one. In the Expanding Circle cultures, English is used for international business and tourism. Schools incline to adopt an American model of English studied as the main foreign language. The educational systems of Cambodia, Laos, and Burma (Myanmar) are in slow revival, with English getting rather little attention yet. If taught in high school and universities, like in Laos, English is intended for developing reading skills mostly (Ho 2005: 225). The longest record of ELT is in Thailand where it is taught from Grade 1 as an elective subject (Sukamolson 1998: 81). About 99% of Thai students study English at school but, as it appears, not many succeed in acquiring proficiency (Bautista and Gonzalez 2006: 138). In Indonesia, English (American model, mainly) is taught from Grade 4 or 5 through high school, with the main objective being to provide reading skills (to read science-related materials). English is viewed as a linguistic resource to enrich Indonesian, especially in the field of terminology. Western pop-music is widely popular and broadcast by radio and TV. Significant is the influence of English magazines, paperback books, and movies. Tourism, especially on the island of Bali, makes the need of English particularly acute (Smith B. 1991/2006). Vietnam changed its education policy from French and Russian to English (American model), which is taught as a compulsory subject in Grades 10-12. Textbooks are written by Vietnamese authors. The main objective is to develop students’ reading skills in English (Denham 1992/2006). Ineffective communicative skills in most of these countries are accounted for by shortage of teachers, teachers’ inadequate command of English, large classes (up to 70 students), poorly designed teaching materials, and old methods of teaching (dominance of grammar-translation method). Generally, authors from the Expanding Circle begin to write in English after emigration. They are often referred to as the "1.5 generation" (those born in their mother tongue country, but who came to the United States at an early age). Lan Cao and Monique Truong are representatives of the 1.5 Vietnamese generation. Shirley Geok-lin Lim is an award-winning Malaysian-born American writer of poetry, fiction, and criticism who received the 1997 American Book Award. Thai literature knows a few Thai English bilingual authors – Kumut Chandruang, who is the first published Thai English author, Pongpol Adireksarn (Paul Adirex), a contemporary writer with many best-sellers, Somtow Sucharitkul (S.P.Somtow), Chamnongsri Ritnin, Karuvin Boon-Long, and Pira Sudham (Watkhaolarm 2005).
59. Find the countries of South East Asia in the map and color them in two different colors depending on the type of English in them – ESL (red) or EFL (yellow). F
61. Fill out the table regarding the English language functions in South East Asian countries. Discuss the content of your tables with your partner.
62. Analyze the dialogues between daughter and father, who are educated people with university diplomas and highly proficient in the language, and mark the linguistic features of Singaporean English (source: Pakir 1991/2006: 359-360) D.: Oh yes, Pa, now I know what I was going to ask you about. Why do you want to have your hair long again? F.: I need to change my image. D.: What image? F.: ...Change lah, I just want to change. F.: ...You know why or not? I just want to change my image lah. I just take a look and see how for a few months if not I just cut it off. D.: O.K. but you got to have the will and the guts to last ... to last through the whole time because ... because we are going to keep making criticism at you. F.: You know why, in our days, ah, in our days different lah. Studying is different lah. Studying is mixed with a bit of pleasure. Pleasure. Not nowadays. D.: Now no pressure? Are you telling me now no pressure? F.: No, ‘pleasure’, ‘pleasure’. Not ‘pressure’. ...Because that time that time nobody talked about this kind of thing. Competition or what. Yah. My colleague, myself, we never compare marks... Ya we heard people talk about wah this fella got 8 A’s. So what? Everybody still get a C. Go to Polytechnic or University or whatever. 63. Among the notable Filipino English-language fictionists of recent years are:
Search the Internet and find titles of some of their books. 64. Match the following Singaporean authors with their works. Use the Internet search or the Wikipedia on-line encyclopedia.
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