The Trends of Dialect Leveling and Internal Variation in the Process of English Development
Explain the trends of dialect leveling and internal variation in the process of development of new varieties of Englishes.
"Dialect differences are reduced as speakers acquire features from other varieties as well as avoid features from their own variety that are somehow different. This may occur over several generations until a stable compromise dialect develops."(Siegel, 1997) The writer here is referring the linguistic accommodation made by speakers with different dialects to eventually converge and resemble a new dialect. Especially during the period of British Colonisation/Colonialism, this happened in many countries in Asia, Africa and even America and Australia. English was introduced to these areas where the indigenous race/s had their own language/s. In Africa and Asia for example, in any one country, they had different people speaking many different dialects and/or languages. With the many varieties of dialects and languages, the introduction of English was firstly a language that could have been used for trading purposes, in Singapore. A variety of Pidgin was necessary to allow for communication between the locals and the English traders, with English as a superstrate and Malay, Chinese or Tamil as a substrate. This is referred to by Edgar Schneider as the first stage or the Foundation stage, where English is brought over to a non-English speaking country (Swann), where the locals and the English Settlers continue to communicate in their own separate groups except with some small contact with interpreters and those with high status in the community. Through this effort, a small level of bilingualism develops.
As the English communities get further settled in and are more stabilized in the country, English language is spoken and heard more regularly. At this point, it becomes established as the lingua franca of administration, education and legislation. Alastair Pennycook suggests that in many colonies, English was not seen as the language for
"Dialect differences are reduced as speakers acquire features from other varieties as well as avoid features from their own variety that are somehow different. This may occur over several generations until a stable compromise dialect develops."(Siegel, 1997) The writer here is referring the linguistic accommodation made by speakers with different dialects to eventually converge and resemble a new dialect. Especially during the period of British Colonisation/Colonialism, this happened in many countries in Asia, Africa and even America and Australia. English was introduced to these areas where the indigenous race/s had their own language/s. In Africa and Asia for example, in any one country, they had different people speaking many different dialects and/or languages. With the many varieties of dialects and languages, the introduction of English was firstly a language that could have been used for trading purposes, in Singapore. A variety of Pidgin was necessary to allow for communication between the locals and the English traders, with English as a superstrate and Malay, Chinese or Tamil as a substrate. This is referred to by Edgar Schneider as the first stage or the Foundation stage, where English is brought over to a non-English speaking country (Swann), where the locals and the English Settlers continue to communicate in their own separate groups except with some small contact with interpreters and those with high status in the community. Through this effort, a small level of bilingualism develops.
As the English communities get further settled in and are more stabilized in the country, English language is spoken and heard more regularly. At this point, it becomes established as the lingua franca of administration, education and legislation. Alastair Pennycook suggests that in many colonies, English was not seen as the language for
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