The historical context (continued)

South Africa

1652 Dutch colonists 1795 British involvement (Napoleonic

Wars) 1822 English as the official language(law, education, most aspects of public

life) 1870s half a million immigrants (many

of them English-speaking) in search of gold and diamond

South African English

Accent that shares many similarities with that of Australia

2002 (Crystal, 2003)> 3.7 million speakers of English out of 43.5

million people

English is a minority language in South Africa

1925 > Afrikaans as the official language spoken by the majority of whites (Afrikaner) and the first language of the coloured population

> SYMBOL OF IDENTITY

English was spoken by the rest of whites (British) and by 70% of the coloured population

Apartheid (laws > 1948-1994)

www.sahistory.org.za http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/specials/1624_story_of_africa/ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/country_profiles/1071886.stm

“Apartheid” means separation in Afrikaans

Afrikaans: perceived as the language of repression by the black majority

English: language of self-determination> a means of achieving an international voice> uniting with other black communities

A complex situation

BUT English is important for white authorities too> complexity

1993: eleven South African official languages (including Afrikaans and English)

It’s difficult to manage this multilingual policy

1994: 87% of all Parliament speeches are in English

South Asia or Indian subcontinent

1999: in India 3-5% of the population speaks English> between 40 and 50 million people

radical revision of estimates in recent years due to the flexible notion of fluency

(30 million to over 330 million for comprehension)

English is also spoken in Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Nepal (map p. 48)

India

1612: British East India Company London merchants who were granted a trading

monopoly 1765: British sovereignty (the Raj) 1858: after the Indian Mutiny the BEIC was

abolished and its powers handed over to the crown

1947: independence of India> English: the medium of administration and education

(Medium of instruction since 1857 > universities of Bombay, Calcutta and Madras)

1960: ‘three language formula’> English:associate official language> Hindi (north)> local languages (south)

India

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/victorians/indian_rebellion_01.shtml

http://video.google.it/videoplay?docid=7168944543630219386&ei=7Y_lSayTHI782wKu8aWbCA&q=history+of+india&hl=it&client=firefox-a

http://www.pbs.org/thestoryofindia/

Former colonial Africa or West Africa

1914: colonial ambitions on the part of Britain, France, Germany, Portugal, Italy, and Belgium (except from Liberia and Ethiopia)

1950s: territories were confiscated to Germany and Italy

most West African countries achieved independence in the early 1960s

English in West Africa

commerce anti-slave-trade activities (mid 1800s)

> English-based pidgins and creoles

Liberia > American colonization

See p. 51-52

East vs. West Africa

East: English emigrants and African-born whites

(West less hospitable) British English played a major role

East: English variety closer to South African English or Australian English

South-East Asia and the South Pacific

mixture of American and British English 1898: Spanish American War

> US: Guam, the Philippines, and Hawaii 1940s: United Nations Trust Territories > US

invasion of Japanese- held Pacific Islands 1946: independence of the Philippines

> strong American influence 1996: 70 million people

British influence

1770s Captain Cook expeditions 1820s: London Missionary Society

(LMS) 1842: Treaty of Nanking (end of the

Opium War)> Hong Kong ceded to Britain

(from 1898 for 99 years) http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/1/newsid_2656000/2656973.stm

No “South-east Asian English”

English used in law and administration

British educational system English as the chief literary

language English as a prestige lingua franca See p. 57-59 Tok Pisin http://video.google.it/videosearch?q=tok%20pisin&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:it:official&client

=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&hl=it&tab=wv#

Homework

Read p. 43-59

Surf the websites reported here.