Social stigma and grammatical autonomy in nonnative varieties of English

Bibliographic Data

ID2860970
AuthorsBao Zhiming (National University of Singapore, corresponding author)
Year2003
Volume32
Issue1
Pages23-46
Publication date2003-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueLanguage in Society (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0047-4045 • E-ISSN: 1469-8013
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0047404503321025
OpenAlexW2150911639
LanguageEN
Citations received13
References cited28

The spread of English has created a rich array of varieties, which are often grouped into a tripartite division: the ENL, ESL, and EFL of Quirk, or the inner-circle, outer-circle, and expanding-circle of Kachru. These varieties, especially ESL, differ among themselves in both form and function. It is often assumed in the literature that these varieties are autonomous systems of communication. This article challenges this assumption by showing that the innovative phonological features of one ESL variety, the vernacular English spoken in Singapore, cannot be analyzed without reference to native English. These change-in-progress features fall into two types: those that originate in phonemes, and those that originate in words. Social stigma associated with them poses a formidable barrier to their stabilization and diffusion, and consequently to their autonomization. Nonnative English is grammatically dependent on native English

American English · Autonomy · British English · Linguistics · Political science · Sociology · Varieties of English · Variety (cybernetics) · Vernacular · Artificial Intelligence · Computer Science · History · Language, Discourse, Communication Strategies · Linguistic Variation and Morphology · Multilingual Education and Policy · Philosophy · Psychology

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