New Englishes by Platt, Weber and Ho

New Englishes

• Coined by Platt, Weber, and Ho to describe varieties of English developed in different countries through government administration, education, and media
• Exist alongside local languages and serve as a common medium for communication (lingua franca)
• Each variety has developed its own lexis, pronunciation, and syntax

Language Imperialism

• Described by Robert Philipson as the dominance of one language over another
• Causes the imperial language to gain control over a country's political, economic, and social institutions
• Leads to the decline and death of a native language, resulting in cultural impoverishment

Conversational Maxims (Paul Grice, 1975)

• Underlying principle of cooperative conversation
• Four maxims:
  • Quantity: Be informative, but not too informative
  • Relation: Be relevant
  • Quality: Be truthful and have evidence
  • Manner: Avoid ambiguity, be brief, and be polite

Conversational Face (Erving Goffman, 1967; Brown and Levinson, 1987)

• Central to the cooperative principle of conversation
• Sense of one's own linguistic image and worth
• Positive politeness: Being complimentary to make the listener feel good
• Negative politeness: Mitigating a request or situation to avoid restricting someone's freedom

Politeness Principle (Robin Lakoff)

• Three maxims for polite speech:
  • Don't impose
  • Give options
  • Make the receiver feel good

Theories of Language and Thought

• Historical Background Theory (Descartes): Language acquisition is part of general reasoning ability
• Behaviourism Theory (John Watson, 1913): Language acquisition is through observation and imitation
• Empiricism (John Locke, 1690): Language and self-identity come from experience, not innate ideas
• Innatism (Plato, ~300 BCE; Descartes, ~1620): The mind is born with ideas, including language
• Nativism (Noam Chomsky): Genetic abilities enable language development

The Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis

• Language directly shapes thought and influences worldview
• Criticisms: flawed data collection, Whorf's reasoning, and the idea that language only reflects thought
• Boas-Jakobson Principle: Every thought can be expressed in every language, with differing required information

Other Theories

• Communication Accommodation Theory (Howard Giles, 1973): Individuals change speech to accommodate others
• Genderlect Theory (Deborah Tannen, 1990): Men and women have different conversational styles
• Standpoint Theory (Harding and Wood, 1970s-1980s): Studies on women should be from a woman's point of view
• Muted Group Theory (Shirley and Edwin Ardener, 1975; Cheris Kramarae, 1975): Dominant groups silence minority voices### Language and Gender
• The Difference Approach suggests that men and women have different lifestyles and communication styles, leading to different modes of communication and language use.
• The Deficit Approach, proposed by Otto Jespersen, suggests that women's language is inferior to men's language, citing differences in vocabulary, grammar, and syntax.
• According to Jespersen, women's language is characterized by:
  • Using half-finished sentences
  • Linking sentences with "and"
  • Using adjectives like "pretty" and "nice"
  • Using adverbs frequently
  • Having a smaller vocabulary than men
  • Being more fluent in speaking but less hesitant than men
• The Dominance Theory, proposed by Robin Lakoff, suggests that language is fundamental to gender inequality and that women's language is weaker and less certain than men's language.
• Lakoff's theory suggests that women's language is characterized by:
  • Speaking less frequently
  • Using minimal responses like "mm" and "yeah"
  • Speaking more quietly and using a higher pitch range
  • Using hyper-correct grammar and pronunciation
  • Using question intonation in declarative statements
  • Overusing qualifiers like "I think" and "sort of"
  • Apologizing more frequently
  • Using tag questions like "You're going to dinner, aren't you?"
• The Diversity Approach, proposed by William O'Barr and Bowman Atkins, suggests that language differences are situation-specific and depend on who has the authority and power in a conversation, rather than gender.

Theories of Power in Language

• There are three types of power: personal, political, and social group power.
• Power behind discourse refers to how the current situation of speakers affects their power asymmetry.
• Power in discourse refers to how language used reflects the power relationships between speakers.
• Discourse communities refer to groups of people who share a set of values and specialist knowledge, and acquire language features of the group.

Language and Culture

• New Englishes refer to varieties of English that have developed in different countries through government administration, education, and media.
• Language Imperialism refers to the dominance of one language over another, which can lead to the decline and death of a language and its culture.

Conversational Maxims and Conversational Face

• The cooperative principle is the underlying principle of conversation, where speakers wish to express relevant information in a clear manner.
• Conversational maxims include:
  • Make your contribution to the conversation as informative as necessary
  • Be relevant
  • Do not say what you believe to be false
  • Avoid obscurity of expression
  • Avoid ambiguity
  • Be brief
  • Be orderly
• Conversational face refers to each speaker's sense of their own linguistic image and worth, and how it can be threatened or supported in conversation.

Theories of Language and Thought

• Theories of language and thought suggest that language shapes our thoughts and perceptions of the world.
• The Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis suggests that the words and grammar of a language directly shape the thoughts of its speakers.
• Other theories of language and thought include:
  • Historical Background Theory
  • Behaviourism Theory
  • Empiricism
  • Innatism
  • Nativism### Linguistic Relativity and Determinism
• The Sapir-Whorf Language and Thought Hypothesis suggests that language influences thought and perception.
• There are two main ideas: linguistic determinism (language determines thought) and linguistic relativity (language influences thought, but does not determine it).

Criticisms of Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis

• Whorf's examples of language differences were flawed, and his reasoning was later disputed.
• The Boas-Jakobson principle states that every thought can be expressed in every language, but languages differ in the information they require speakers to mention.

Alternative Theories

• Universalism: language is a reflection of human thought, and all languages are similar with shared patterns and concepts.
• Communication Accommodation Theory: individuals adjust their speech to accommodate others.
• Genderlect Theory: men and women have different conversational styles, with men being more assertive and women being more cooperative.

Theories of Gender and Language

• Standpoint Theory: studies of women should be practiced from a woman's point of view.
• Muted Group Theory: minorities have less power and are silenced, and women are often dominated by male status and power.

Dominance and Difference Approaches

• Dominance Approach: men are naturally more dominant than women, and women act in a less dominant way around men.
• Difference Approach: men and women have different lifestyles and communication styles, and language is used for different outcomes.

Deficit Approach

• Otto Jespersen's theory: women speak more, but men have a larger vocabulary and are more precise in their language use.

Dominance Theory

• Robin Lakoff's theory: language is fundamental to gender inequality, and women's language use is characterized by features such as hedges, empty adjectives, and super-polite forms.

Diversity Approach

• William O'Barr and Bowman Atkins' theory: language differences are situation-specific, and power relationships between speakers affect language use.

Theories about Power in Language

• Language and Power: there are three types of power - personal, political, and social group.
• Power behind Discourse: the current situation of speakers affects power asymmetry.
• Power in Discourse: language used reflects power relationships between speakers.
• Discourse Communities: language is used to construct and maintain professional communities.

New Englishes

• The term "New Englishes" was coined by Platt, Weber, and Ho to describe varieties of English developed in different countries through government administration, education, and media.
• Each variety of New English has its own lexis, pronunciation, and syntax.

Language Imperialism

• Language Imperialism is the dominance of one language over another, as described by Robert Philipson.
• This dominance leads to the control of a country's political, economic, and social institutions.
• The decline and death of a language also results in the impoverishment of its culture and those who speak it as their mother tongue.

Conversational Maxims

• Paul Grice established the cooperative principle in 1975, which involves expressing relevant information in a clear manner.
• The maxims of conversation are:
  • Quantity: Be as informative as necessary, but not more.
  • Relation: Be relevant.
  • Quality: Be truthful and have evidence.
  • Manner: Be clear, polite, and respectful.

Conversational Face

• The concept of conversational face, introduced by Erving Goffman in 1967, refers to each speaker's sense of their own linguistic image and worth.
• Face-threatening acts can be managed through strategies such as positive politeness (e.g., compliments) and negative politeness (e.g., mitigating requests).

Theories of Language and Thought

• Main theories:
  • Historical Background Theory (Descartes): Language acquisition is part of a person's general ability to reason.
  • Behaviourism Theory (John Watson): Language acquisition is directly related to the child's observation and imitation of those around them.
  • Empiricism (John Locke): Our sense of self-identity and knowledge of language come from our senses and experiences.
  • Innatism (Plato and Descartes): The human brain is born with innate ideas and the ability to master language complexities.
  • Nativism (Noam Chomsky): The Language Acquisition Device enables the initial development of language, which interacts with childhood experiences to produce language and a sense of self.

The Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis

• The hypothesis, developed by Edward Sapir and Benjamin Lee Whorf, suggests that the words and grammar of a language directly shape the thoughts of its speakers.
• Criticisms of the hypothesis include flaws in data collection and conclusion-drawing.

Other Theories of Language and Thought

• The Boas-Jakobson Principle: In theory, every thought can be expressed in every language, albeit with differing required information.
• Universalism: Language is a reflection of human thoughts, and all languages share patterns and concepts.
• Communication Accommodation Theory: Individuals change their speech to accommodate others during interactions.
• The Genderlect Theory: Men and women have different conversational styles, with men focusing on giving and receiving information and women focusing on building relationships.

Theories of Gender and Language

• Standpoint Theory: Studies about women should be practiced from the point of view of women.
• The Muted Group Theory: Certain minorities in a society have less power and are silenced as a result.
• Dominance Approach: Men are naturally more dominant than women, and women acquiesce.
• Difference Approach: Men and women have fundamentally different lifestyles and modes of communication.
• Deficit Approach: Women's language is perceived as inferior to men's language.

Other Theories

• Robin Lakoff's Dominance Theory: Language contributes to gender inequality, and women's language is perceived as weaker and less certain than men's language.### Language and Gender Stereotypes

• Women tend to use declarative statements as questions, expressing uncertainty.

• They often use qualifiers (e.g., "I think that…"), and hedge with phrases like "sort of" and "kind of".

• Women use super-polite forms (e.g., "Would you mind…"), and apologize more frequently.

• They often use tag questions (e.g., "You're going to dinner, aren't you?").

Lexical Features

• Women tend to use more words for colors, while men use more sports-related terms.
• They use empty adjectives (e.g., "divine", "lovely", "adorable") and make more emotional evaluations.
• Women use more intensifiers (e.g., "especially so" and "very"), and describe approximate amounts with adjectives (e.g., "around", "about").

Speech Patterns

• Women tend to use more euphemisms, diminutives, and reduplicated forms (e.g., "itsy bitsy", "teeny weeny").
• They use direct quotation more often, and prefer modal constructions (e.g., "can", "would", "should", "ought").
• Women use indirect commands and requests (e.g., "My, isn't it cold in here?"), and avoid slang and coarse language.

The Diversity Approach

• O'Barr and Atkins (1980) challenged Lakoff's theory that language differences are solely due to gender.
• They found that language differences are situation-specific, relying on power and authority in a conversation.
• The researchers observed that "women's language" components (e.g., hedges, empty adjectives, super-polite forms) are not unique to women, but rather to those who are powerless.

Theories about Power in Language

• Wareing proposes three types of power: personal, political, and social group power.
• Norman Fairclough's "Power behind Discourse" suggests that the current situation of speakers affects their power asymmetry.
• "Power in Discourse" examines how language reflects power relationships between speakers.
• Swales' "Discourse Communities" highlights the importance of language in professional communities, where members acquire language features and specialist knowledge.