Zoya Proshina The abc and Controversies of World Englishes ббк 81

East Asian Englishes

East Asian Englishes include China English / Chinese Englishes, Japanese English, and Korean English. There are three factors that they have in common: geographical area, Chinese cultural legacy (all of them are the countries of the so called “Chinese cultural circle” (Маевский 2000: 34), i.e. the Chinese culture had a great impact on Korean and Japanese cultures - religion, characters, arts, martial arts, and so on), and common linguistic deviations despite the fact that their indigenous languages relate to different language families. The Mongolian variety of English,⁷ as a rule, stands separately and the area of its diffusion is referred to Northern Asia.

Contacts of the English language with East Asian vernaculars started in the 17^th century when the first missionaries and traders came to South China and Japan. Korea, ‘the Hermit Kingdom”, saw the expansion of English much later – in the late 19^th century. It was a difficult “hate-and love” history of language and social contact (Прошина 2001; Adamson 2004; Stanlaw 2004; Honna 2006) that in the end resulted in the boom of English in these countries. Of particular interest is the story of Japanese-English contact. James Stanlaw argues that “there is no non-Anglophone nation where English is so pervasive” as in Japan (Stanlaw 2004: 8).

As a language of intercultural communication in the Expanding Circle, English performs restricted functions in China, Japan, and Korea. It has an instrumental (in education) and a culture-spreading, or “transculturation” function (Brutt-Griffle 2002:177) and very restrictively regulative, interpersonal, and creative functions. Fig. 11. A Japanese textbook in English

I
n East Asian countries, there is a trend to start early teaching English as a subject - from Grade 3 in China (Wen & Hu 2007) and South Korea with the plans to start in Grade 1 in South Korea in 2008 (Choi 2007) and Grade 7 in Japan, though starting English in elementary school is in project in the country and now supplementary English activities are offered in 90% of Japanese primary schools (Koike 2007: 107, 112). In 2002 the Japan's Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) publicized a strategic plan to cultivate "Japanese with English Abilities" aimed at improving Japanese abilities to speak, read, write, and comprehend English. MEXT primarily requires that all Japanese high school graduates acquire simple conversation skills to be able to use English at offices and in the international community of college graduates (Takeshita 2003-2004). New high-school textbooks were introduced, containing more Japanese topics (e.g., J-Talk) (Honna 2006).

Private schools and some universities teach all classes in English, especially in Hong Kong where English is no longer a second language but it has not become a foreign one either (Evans 1996: 36).

In China’s tertiary education there is difference between college English and university English. University English is for majors in English who will become teachers or translators (2000 hours’ classroom instruction in four years), while college English is the so called service English, English for special purposes, and English for science and technology (300 hours’ classroom instruction in two years) (Pride & Liu 1988; Wen & Hu 2007). A system of graded teaching has been introduced, i.e. students can take their English courses according to their proficiency levels. Considerable attention is paid to computer-based English teaching geared toward self-learning and tutoring. It is stipulated that a college student must work individually in a computer lab for nine hours before having one hour face-to-face teaching (Wen & Hu 2007: 17, 25).

Korea also makes emphasis on the use of computer and Internet for English education in classrooms (Choi 2007). Classes seem to be downsized enough to have small group activities. In today’s Korean tertiary schools English is the main medium of instruction (Choi 2007: 58). One of a few significant changes in English education was opening an English village in Geyonggi Province (2004) to promote English education in natural and authentic contexts and to build students’ international awareness (Park & Ahn 2004; Choi 2007: 58; see also Cho 2006).

Both in Korea and Japan native speakers are invited to work as assistant teachers in classrooms. However, currently the Japanese education system is getting more and more geared to teaching/learning communication with non-native speakers and relies on well-qualified local teachers, since “the native speakers have been no magic pill towards fluency” of students (Sakai & D’Angelo 2005: 324). The major concerns with inviting native English speakers (NES) for teaching are the following: their low ELT expertise and experience; marginalizing NES and non-native English speaking teachers (NNEST); the wrong concept of the ownership of English to NES (Park 2006: 128-131).

In 2000, an advisory board to the then Prime Minister of Japan Keizo Obuchi proposed that English be promoted to the position of the second official language in Japan. This fact ignited hot controversies as to whether this policy should be implemented or not. This time again the opponents of the proposition won. As a matter of fact, that was not the first attempt to change the status of English in Japan. In the 19^th century, the first Minister of Education of Japan, Mori Arinori, made the proposal to abolish Japanese and adopt English (Stanlaw 2004: 65).

Regulative function of the English language can be found in Xianggang (in law court and administration) and in huge transnational corporations (Samsung, Daewoo, LG, Toyota, Mitsubishi, a.o.) that keep their documents in English. It is not infrequently that the employees of such companies have to take training courses in English, organized by the company (Morrow 1995; Jordan 1997; Crocetti 1999).

In China, Japan, and Republic of Korea, the language of some mass media is English, which is aimed at both international and national readership. According to the 1880s statistics, in Japan the rate of subscribers to English-language newspaper was 60 and 40 % correspondingly (Morrow 1987: 39). Today, the latter figure can be expected much bigger. China has 19 English-language newspapers and magazines, one English TV channel and one English radio service (Jiang 2002: 15). Almost all bookstores sell English-language books published in the country. These are the books by English authors as well as translations of local writers and especially country-study literature (travel guides, culture descriptions, encyclopedias, like, for example, the 9-volume Encyclopedia of Japan published by the Kodansha International Publishers.) After taking the policy of internationalization, the government of the Republic of Korea aims to express the traditional national culture in an up-to-date form, which is actualized by the English language (Korea in the 21^st century 1995: 94)

Radio, TV, especially with the emerged genre of “language entertainment” (Moody 2006: 212), and movies play a significant role in spreading English in East Asia. For instance, in 1994, 41 out of 55 movies that were on in Nagoya were shown in English (Tanaka 1995: 48). Pop culture, with its intensive code mixing, is another vast domain for the English language (discussed in Pennycook 2003; Stanlaw 2004; Moody 2006; Lee 2006). For example, about 75 % of the song titles in the Japanese hit parade have English loanwords in their titles (Stanlaw 2004: 5). 62 % of Japanese pop-songs contain both English and Japanese lyrics (Moody 2006: 218).

English is extensively employed in creating brand names (Крыкова 2004) and in advertisement. According to the data of the 1990s, the number of Korean product names in English surpassed other languages (Jung 2001: 262). In the 1980s the term “decorative English” emerged in Japan to denote the ornamental function of English (words, sentences, letters) of decorating clothes, toiletries, bags, umbrellas, and stationery (Dougill 1987: 33; Morrow 1987; Takashi 1990; McArthur 1998: 14; Searjeant 2005: 315-317).
“Decorative English is meant to be seen rather than read, eye appeal taking precedence over accuracy and appropriateness.” (McArthur 2003: 369)
The interpersonal function of English is manifest in Xianggang (Hong Kong). After the city became a Chinese city (in 1997) some Hong Kongers prefer to use English when communicating with mainland Chinese, since the latter do not know Cantonese and the former are not proficient in Mandarin (Boyle 1998).

Creative function is observed in mass media (newspapers and magazines) and cultural literature. It is also characteristic of fiction created by authors immigrated to the Inner Circle countries (see in The Asian Pacific American Heritage 1999). The first generation of immigrant authors includes Mine Okubo, Kyoki Mori, Louis Chu, Han Syuin, Ha Jin, Frank Chin, Younghill Kang, Ko Won, Lee Chang-Rae, and others. Many Asian authors of the second generation return to their cultural roots and depict the traditions, customs, history, and life style of their people (Maxine Hong Kingston, Amy Tan). There are also creative writing works, though not very numerous, in Hong Kong: poetry by Anita Cheung, Loise Ho, Agnes Lam, Mani Rao, and Wong Ho-yin (Ho 2002; Lam 2002)⁸

East Asian Englishes, like any other Englishes of the Expanding and Outer Circles are not homogeneous. They represent a continuum of acrolect, mesolect, and basilect. Chinese linguists (Zhang 1997: 40) insist on differentiating the lectal varieties by giving them the following terms:

ACROLECT = China English

 

MESOLECT = Chinese English

BASILECT = Chinglish

The terms ‘Japanese’ and ‘Korean Englishes’ are applied to both acrolectal and mesolectal levels of the languages.
“Every coutry is unique to some extent. In China, for example, we have China-specific things to express when we speak or write in English, such as Four Books (Si Shu), eight-legged essay (baguwen), May Fourth Movement (Wusi Yundong), xiucai (xiucai), Mr. Science (sai xiansheng), baihua (baihua), ideological remoulding (sixiang gaizao), and four modernizations (sige xiandaihua). All these translated terms are words of China English rather than Chinese English or Chinglish” (Ge Chuangui 1980; cited in Jiang 2002: 7)

Basilects of other varieties are also termed in a hybrid way: Japlish, Janglish, and Konglish.

• 
  epenthetic vowels in consonant clusters and in the word-final position after a consonant: bullu < bull; act > [xkqtq] ; stand > [sqtxndq]
  
• 
  non-differentiation of voiced and voiceless consonants: bulgogi = pulkoki = pulgoki; garden > [kRtqn]; cheap > jeap
  
• 
  substitution of [l] for [r] (in Chinese English) and [r] for [l] (in Japanese and Korean Englishes): JapE ofisu redi < office lady; Engrish < English; ChE Bogulaniqinei < Pogranichny
  
• 
  substitution of fricative [v, f] for stops [b, p]: Buradibosotoku < Vladivostok
  
• 
  substitution of the interdental [T, D] for [s] or [d]: thin > sin, then > sen/den, Smith > Sumisu
  
• 
  affricatization of consonants: root > rutsu; radio > rajio; limousine > rimujin
  
• 
  monophthongization of diphthongs: joking [GokINgV]
  
• 
  syllable-timed rhythm (equal stress on all syllables)
  

• 
  replacing non-count nouns by count one: equipments, furnitures; much sweets
  
• 
  avoiding the plural ending of nouns: the proceeding of the Legislative Council. I love peanut.
  
• 
  the use and non-use of articles: giving customers the full redress; in strictly legal sense
  
• 
  interchange of the pronouns he and she
  
• 
  reducing the 3d person ending of a verb: He give all de picture to you. My friend work as a waitress.
  
• 
  using the present tense instead of the past: I don’t learn at secondary school.
  
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  substituting the Past Simple for the Present Perfect: I became better at English since last year.
  
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  substituting voice forms: Xiangjun was still lived in the House of Enchanting Fragrance… He was congratulated his student.
  
• 
  combining affirmative and negative structures: No, I like it. Yes, he is not here.
  
• 
  reduplication: I join join you in encouraging her….
  
• 
  lack of a link verb: English main language of instruction.
  
• 
  lack of the sentence subject: Here is not allowed to stop the car.
  
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  lack of object: I understand she said. Let’s listen to Brither Liu tell a story.
  
• 
  prepositions: I venture to request for your kind permission. I care only Cheng Siu Chau.
  

• 
  new coinages from English stems: (KorE) handphone < cell phone; skinship < close friendship; eye shopping < window shopping; JapE Camcorder, home stay, salaryman, Walkman
  
• 
  semantic and phraseological calques: (JapE) pillow “sex”, stable “place where sumo fighters live and train”; capsule hotel; ChE work unit, barefoot doctor; one-family-one-child-policy
  
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  “returned” loans: anime < animation; beddo < bed; pidgin < business
  
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  loans: dazibao, qigong; tamagochi, judo; taekwondo, kimchi
  
• 
  half-hybrids: karaoke = Jap. kara “empty” + orchestra; chopstick < Ch. Pidgin chop “quick” + stick
  

• 
  It has been found that Asian learners (Chinese in particular) seldom use ‘general-particular pattern’ which is preferred by native speakers, that is why their writing is characterized as indirect (Jiang 2002: 10): Chinese English learners normally come to the point at the end of their writing rather than put a thesis in the beginning paragraph.
  
• 
  In oral discourse small talk phatic phrases may include: What have you been doing these days? Where have you been recently? That might be regarded by an unprepared communicator as too inquisitive and nosy.
  

Hepburn system	Kunrei
shi	si
chi	ti
tsu	ti
fu	hu

Chinese words can be found predominantly in two Romanized systems. The earlier one was created by the British sinologists Sir Thomas Francis Wade and Herbert Allen Giles (1859-1892) and is now known as Wade-Giles (system). Wade-Giles was widely used until 2000. The second system of Chinese Romanization was adopted in China in 1958 and in 1977 the UN accepted it as a standard for geographical terms. It has the Chinese label – Pinyin, a Chinese phonetic alphabet. In 2000, the US Library of Congress transferred its catalogues of Chinese sources to Pinyin, and all Chinese loan-words have been written in Pinyin since. The major features of Wade-Giles and Pinyin are as follows:

Korean Romanization is known of two types. The first one, widely recognized in the West, was designed by two American scholars George M. McCune and Edwin O. Reischauer in the 1930s. Based on transcription, it was the official system for Korean in South Korea from 1984 to 2000, and its modification is still the official system in North Korea. It is characterized by diacritics and apostrophe (Ch’ŏngnyangni), as well as variations in writing voiced and voicelss consonants (bulgogi / pulkoki / bulkoki / pulgoki). The second system, Revised Romanization of Korean (also called South Korean or Ministry of Culture 2000) has been officially used in South Korea since 2000. It is based on both transcription and transliteration. All road signs, names of railway and subway stations on line maps and signs etc. have been changed. Romanization of surnames and existing companies' names has been left untouched; the government encourages using the new system for given names and new companies. Revised Romanization is similar to McCune-Reischauer, but uses neither diacritics nor apostrophes, which has helped it to gain widespread acceptance on the Internet. The comparison of the two systems can be seen in the following table:

In East Asia, there is

“the gradual acceptance of what was formaly known as ‘non-standard ‘English, as EFL speakers take the ‘new-English’ as their own. The huge volume of communication has simply swamped the former protocols, and increased sensitivity about the rights of other cultures has given ‘ethno-English’ an ethical base. Australia now has dictionaries of the ‘Australian’ language, India has a publishing industry that uses what traditionalists would call a very strange English, and learners in Japan are slowly realizing that communicating with improper grammar is less embarrassing than not communicating at all” (Koike 2007: 111).

Questions to discuss:

65. Study the map and show the areas of East Asian Englishes.

Fig. 11. Map of Asia

66. Why is it possible to speak of China Englishes rather than China English? How many dialects does China have?
67. In Chinese Mandarin the word tea sounds cha. The similar pronunciation has this word in Korean and Japanese. How can you explain the pronunciation of tea taking into consideration that the word was borrowed into English in the early 17^th century? With what Chinese dialects did the English tea traders have to deal with at that time?
68. What is the difference between the terms ‘China English” – “Chinese English” – “Chinglish”?
69. Choose the letter which gives the best definition of a word as used in Japan (source: Stanlaw 2004: 37-39)

1. 
   ron-pari < ‘London Paris’
   
   1. 
      a European vacation
      
   2. 
      a fashion boutique
      
   3. 
      being cross-eyed
      

2. 
   beteran < ‘veteran’
   
   1. 
      a former member of the armed forces
      
   2. 
      a retired company employee
      
   3. 
      a professional or export
      

3. 
   saabitsu < ‘service’
   
   1. 
      having an automobile fixed
      
   2. 
      being waited on at a restaurant
      
   3. 
      complimentary extras for customers
      

4. 
   bebii kaa < ‘baby car’
   
   1. 
      a compact automobile
      
   2. 
      a special car-seat for children
      
   3. 
      a stroller
      

5. 
   baajin rodo < ‘virgin road’
   
   1. 
      an uncharted trail
      
   2. 
      the main street in front of an all-girls high school
      
   3. 
      the church aisle a bride walks down
      

Now check your guesses with the correct answers in the key: