The English languages?

In recent years there have been suggestions that English could break up into mutually
unintelligible languages, much as Latin once did. Could such a break-up
occur, or are we in need of a new appreciation of the nature of World English?

hen Winston Churchill TOM McARTHUR globalism. By doing this, it suggests

W wrote The History of the

English-Speaking Peoples
(1956-8), the language that these This quotation is from English in
that any discussion of whether there
is one 'English language' or many
'English languages' is not a question
peoples shared was widely perceived the World, edited by Quirk and so much of British English against the
as an emanation from England and Widdowson, and published in 1985 rest, as of a re-examination of what we
the peoples themselves, however by Cambridge University Press for believe the entity called 'English'
varied, as in some sense offspring of the British Council. It consists of really is.
'the mother country'. papers read at a conference in 1984,
However, in the years since that held in London to celebrate the 50th The Latin fallacy
history appeared, both the World and anniversary of the British Council.
the attitudes of the English-speaking The book's subtitle is 'teaching and Between a thousand and two
peoples have changed. The roots of learning the language and literatures'. thousand years ago the language of
the language remain unaffected; they This mix of singular and plural hints the Romans was certainly central in
are in an island off the west coast of the development of the entities we
Europe. But the centre of gravity of now call 'the Romance languages'. In
English, in terms of population and W If there are now English some important sense, Latin drifted
economics, is now in North America, literatures, can the English among the Lusitani into 'Portu-
and the varieties of English around languages be far behind? J guese', among the Dacians into
the world are legion. As a result, 'Romanian', among the Gauls and
linguists and other commentators are Franks into 'French', and so on. It is
compelled by circumstances to seek at a direction: If there are now certainly seductive, therefore, to
for greater accuracy and sensitivity in 'English literatures' (by 1987 a wonder whether American English
their descriptions of English. This is well-established phrase), can the might become simply 'American',
necessary for many reasons, not the 'English languages' be far behind? and be, as Burchfield has suggested,
least of which is the anxiety among Finally, in the fourth and last an entirely distinct language in a
many that the great historical mono- volume of the Supplement to the century's time from British English.
lith of the English language has begun Oxford English Dictionary, Robert There is only one problem. The
to crack. Burchfield notes in the preface that language used as a communicative
present-day OED editors do not have bond among the citizens of the
The Latin analogy the freedom and right (as James Roman Empire was not the Latin
Murray may have believed he had, a recorded in the scrolls and codices of
In January 1985, in the first issue of century ago) to fend off overseas the time. The masses used 'popular'
ET, Alan Maley called English 'the items of English not yet canonized (or 'vulgar') Latin, and were
most chameleon of languages'. In into British usage. 'At a time when,' apparently extremely diverse in their
pointing to this versatility, however, he says, 'the English language seems use of it, intermingled with a wide
he felt the need to consider one to be breaking up into innumerable range of other vernaculars. The
possible future for this chameleon, clearly distinguishable varieties, it Romance languages derive, not from
that 'English as an international seemed to me important to abandon the gracious tongue of such literati as
language . . . will succumb to the Murray's insular policy and go out Cicero and Virgil, but from the
same fate as Latin'. and find what was happening to the multifarious usages of a population
About the same time that Maley language elsewhere' (written in 1985, most of whom were illiterati.
made this point, Randolph Quirk published in 1986). 'Classical' Latin had quite a
observed that in recent years there The doyen of the historical and different history from the people's
has been 'fresh talk of the diaspora of descriptive lexicographers of English Latin. It did not break up at all, but as
English into several mutually in- made the right choice. His aim in a language standardized by manu-
comprehensible languages. The fate doing so may well, however, have script evolved in a fairly stately
of Latin after the fall of the Roman been underpinned by a desire to see fashion into the ecclesiastical and
Empire presents us with such distinct the centre hold against all the technical medium of the Middle
languages today as French, Spanish, centrifugal tendencies at work, but Ages, sometimes known as 'Neo-
Romanian, and Italian. With the growth by means of the intriguing device of Latin'. As Walter Ong has pointed
of national separatism in the English- re-locating the centre somewhere out in Orality and Literacy (1982), this
speaking countries, linguistically en- beyond Britain. In the process, an 'Learned Latin' survived as a mono-
dorsed not least by the active Oxford dictionary of the English lith through sheer necessity, because
encouragement of the anti-standard language shifts away from parochial- Europe was 'a morass of hundreds of
ethos . . ., many foresee a similar ism - however justifiable in terms of languages and dialects, most of them
fissiparous future for English.' past states of affairs - towards never written to this day'. Learned

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 Latin derived its power and authority scriptures), and the development of buted among educated people, and so
from not being an ordinary language. an educational system couched in that the distinctness of American Stan-
'Devoid of baby talk' and 'a first dialect. dard English from British Standard
language to none of its users', it was What follows from this 'elevation' English is, though significant, hardly
'pronounced across Europe in often can however be ambiguous. Every- a question of non-intelligibility.
mutually unintelligible ways but one, for example, agrees that present- At the present time, various other
always written the same way' (my day Standard English developed his- 'Englishes' are developing such in-
italics). torically from the courtly, scholarly stitutions as their own dictionaries
The Latin analogy as a basis for and literary aspect of a dialect used and grammars, powerful markers of
predicting one possible future for at one time in the south-east of autonomy. Some, like Canadian and
English is not therefore very useful, if England. Insofar as Standard English Australian English, share in the
the assumption is that once upon a is non-accentual (and to exist as a common text-linked tradition of a
time Latin was a mighty monolith worldwide medium it must, standard; others, like Tok Pisin in
that cracked because people did not apparently, be unbounded by any Papua New Guinea and Krio in Sierra
take proper care of it. That is particular accent), it is a system of Leone are bafflingly far removed
fallacious. Interestingly enough, grammar and vocabulary well estab- from the standard language, and are
however, a Latin analogy might serve lished in text, a state of affairs that most patently distinct languages.
us quite well if we develop the idea of makes it suspiciously similar to Ong's We do not know the details of the
a people's Latin that was never at any Learned Latin. The ambiguity arises 'Latins' of the Roman Empire, but
time particularly homogeneous, when we can all say, at one and the we do have before us the living
together with a text-bound learned same time, that 'proper' English is laboratory of World English. In the
Latin that became and remained enshrined in the standard, while such accompanying panel is a possible
something of a monolith because other varieties as Brooklynese, model for the diversity of World
European society needed it that way. Texian, Jamaican Creole, Perthshire English, but no model can do justice
Scots, Black English Vernacular and to the personal variations among
One language or many languages? Indian English are not. Yet they all around a billion native and other
belong within the ambit of something users of the total complex.
In talking about any speech system that correlates quite well with the Within such a model, we can talk
there is always a risk that we might popular forms of Latin in the Roman about a more or less 'monolithic'
close off further thought by deciding Empire long ago. core, a text-linked World Standard
that it is definitely 'a language' or negotiated among a variety of more or
categorically 'a dialect'. The simple One language and many languages less established national standards.
act of saying 'the English language' Beyond the minority area of the
predisposes us to think no further, If a standard language can emerge interlinked standards, however, are
and perhaps to feel unsettled if the from one of a number of dialects (all the innumerable non-standard forms
stability of the phrase and the in some sense 'English') on one - the majority now as in Roman
language is threatened. occasion, another standard language times, with all sorts of reasons for
For centuries, though, people can emerge from another dialect (or being unintelligible to each other.
talking about English have lived Creole, or hybrid form) on another There is nothing new in this, and it is
comfortably with the phrase 'the occasion. This nearly happened with a state of affairs that is unlikely to
English dialects' (however they have the King's Scots in the 16th century, change in the short or even the
chosen to interpret the word dialect). but was socioculturally aborted when medium term. In the distinctness of
They have also generally been aware the King of Scots became in 1603 the Scots from Black English Vernacular,
that under certain conditions a King of England too. To a limited Cockney from Krio, and Texian from
'dialect' can be elevated into a degree it happened after 1776, when Taglish, we have all the age-old
'language'. The conditions under the American colonists broke away criteria for talking about mutually
which this may happen relate to from Britain. By that time, however, unintelligible languages. Nonethe-
power politics, the existence of an the text-linked standard language was less, all such largely oral forms share
orthography (and perhaps a set of well established and widely distri- in the totality of World English, and
can be shown to share in it, however
bafflingly different they may be. This
TOM MtAftWUM was bormn Glasgow is a paradox, but it is also a fact.
in 1938, A graduate of both Glasgow
and Edmljureh umwRttTes. he-has been Many of us operate along con-
in turn an © f k f r-lostructw In the British tinuums from a viable standard to
Atmy, a xhool-tetanr » The Midlands fluent non-standard kinds of English,
of EngbiNff. Head tfi frgUsh at the
Cathedral School, ftnribay, organizer or
code-switching or style-drifting
COUTH*ferJWBOWI students * t the according to circumstances. Educa-
Uniwnfty df Edinburgh, and allocate tional systems can either live with,
professor of ftgbh. at the -Unhwrsltt du encourage and gain from such
QLibec. He has written for The flexibility, or can be so organized as to
Birmingham Mat, The Tunes at India.
and The Scatsman. His publications
make it seem shameful. Whatever
include the tongmtH Lexicon of they do, they cannot alter the
Contemponuy Otgkstt, A foundation demographic realities of the popular
Count fot language Teachers, The Englishes on one side and the core of
Wntten Won*,ttwtthctfrfingof negotiable standards on the other.
Languages of Scotland, and Wbrfcfc of
Reference. Kq Is foamed with three Those realities are as relevant today as
chi dren they were in the Rome of the Caesars.

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 The circle of World English

< Australian,
New Zealand
Standardizing and South Pacific
English Standard
English
South Asian
British and
Standard(izing)
Irish Standard
English etc
WORLD English
Burmese English etc.
African English
STANDARD American English
Nigerian English | West, East and ENGLISH American
South(ern) African Standard
Standard(izing) English

Caribbean Canadian
Standard Standard
English English

•f

There can be many quibbles (even quarrels) about the precise o Within the circle of British English, the English of Scotland
arrangement and content of a model like this. We could, for might be separated out as having its own 'national' standard,
example, argue about whether the expression 'English English' comparable to the Irish Republic. In relation to this standard,
makes sense, about whether it is likely that a uniform standard such forms as the traditional Scots dialects, the 'Norn' dialects of
will emerge for English in East Asia, or assert that Canadian Orkney and Shetland, Glaswegian and Highland English are all
English is not sufficiently distinct from 'American' English to variably non-standard.
merit a separate section. Because of such likely disputes, and o In Papua-New Guinea, it might be reasonable to assert that
because of the fluidity and fuzziness wherever the language is Tok Pisin (or Melanesian Pidgin English) is so distant from the
used, the demarcation lines are all discontinuous, and at the root stock of English as to constitute an entirely distinct language
outer limits of the 'circle' the circumference is open to to be listed (if listed at all) on the outermost fringes of the circle of
intermingling with other languages in the Spanglish/Janglish/ World English.
Hindlish phenomenon. o With regard to the relationship between English and other
The purpose of the model is to highlight the broad three-part languages, it might be best to create a separate category for the
spectrum that ranges from the 'innumerable' popular Englishes continuum of other languages influenced by English, and kinds
through the various national and regional standards to the of English influenced by other languages. For Puerto Rico, Rose
remarkably homogeneous but negotiable 'common core' of Nash has drawn attention to a continuum with English at one
World Standard English. end, then Spanglish, then englanol, then espanol (Spanish). In
The present model may serve as a basis for further refinements Quebec, I have myself worked on an English/Frenglish/
in depicting the complex web of relationships among the franglaislfrangais continuum, and another such range has been
elements of World English. In addition to the three areas of confirmed by Isagani Cruz in the Philippines: English/Taglish/
contention mentioned in the first paragraph, it is possible to look Engalog/Tagalog.
for further fine-tuning in the following areas:

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 On editing ET — and matters of usage
Let me start by repeating part of the simply photocopy what came in and and the media notoriously do/does not
opening to 'Smoothing out the wrink- print it like that (We have the escape censure. Although it is broad-
les', my editorial comment in ET$ (Oct technology). Few people, however, casting that bears the brunt of angry
86), in which a London subscriber took would be likely to buy the inelegant and comment (I regularly receive material
the magazine to task: inconsistent mass that would result. castigating both British and American
So there is an enormous amount of broadcasters for their accents, their
standardizing in a magazine like this, mispronunciations, their abuse of fine
'My impression from what I have seen so the kind of uniformity that George Racz old words, and very nearly their
far,' writes George Racz from London, asks for. The trouble is that he asks for it qualities as human beings), books and
'is that you are holding up a mirror to the all the way, right through to the bone. periodicals are in the front-line too. And
English language, so that we can see all And what editor exists who has the rightly so. Being an Aunt Sally goes with
the wrinkles in it - but I have not found ability or the right to do that to the territory.
advice on how to smooth them out. contributors, to lecture the world, and As regards attitudes to English, Paul
'I am concerned with the lack of still be editor of a magazine called 'the Thompson went on in his letters: 'Good
uniformity in English: Different spell- international review of the English English is that which does efficiently its
ings, pronunciations, constructions are language'? At about the same time that job as a medium of communication and
heard and/or seen and there is noone Paul Thompson commented on my rare self-expression. To do this it must be
[sic] who has the authority to say which use of 'sic', F H G Percy of the Whitgift clear, unambiguous, comprehensive,
is right, inquire or enquire, dispatch or School in South Croydon, England, and expressive. This is most evident
despatch, differentfrom or different to . . . wrote in with seven pages of magisterial where there is a certain level of
Until someone is authorised to rule on comment. In them he enumerated education, which in turn is most evident
these matters the language will continue thirty-two faults of grammar, style and in places which are prosperous.' He goes
to lack uniformity and one day will culture in 'Linguicidal tendencies?', the on to argue that 'snobs' end up
become unteacheable [sic].' editorial of £76 (Apr 86), and ended: condemning anything else as 'ignorant',
There it is, in a nutshell, a theme in 'Dr McArthur, why do you have these 'lower-class', or 'bad English'; 'their
many of the letters that come to ET, and linguicidal tendencies?' snobbishness cannot be condoned,
a particular theme among those corre- however it is an uncomfortable fact that
spondents - all of them older males Clearly, an editor with such tenden-
cies is in no position to reorganize (and they are right! Good Lord I sound
living in or linked with England - who pompous!'
have announced that they are not debauch?) the writings of others,
renewing their subscriptions or at best beyond perhaps the nicety of a comma We often do sound pompous when we
have been giving ET one more year to added here, a spelling slip amended argue for standards andfindthat there is
get it right. And getting it right appears there. Indeed, such an editor needs an elitism historically built into the argu-
to mean appointing ourselves as the editor, and behind that another editor, ment. And we often do feel guilty when
arbiters at least of the standard language in an infinite regress of editors . . . a defence of excellence in language flows
if not crusaders for the standardization All of which originally related not just into what looks like a defence of the class
of all 'deviant' forms of English to George Racz and the question of good status quo or of scholarly superiority. It
wherever they are. The gist of the usage, but my invitation in ETS to is a problem built into the dichotomy of
complaint is that ET has not been set up readers for constructive suggestions the popular Englishes and Standard
as the new Academie Anglaise, and about how we could develop the English that I have discussed in the
should have been so set up. While this is discussion and help offered in the preceding article. Many of us are indeed
a relatively rare response, it does magazine on matters of confusing and anxious that the world of our literate
represent in a more extreme form the disputed usage. Is it more or less peers shall perceive us as literate too.
hope expressed by other - usually sufficient, and if not how can it be This centrality of literacy comes out
enthusiastic - readers that ET should improved? David Crystal and I had no clearly in reminiscences sent in by Sybil
offer guidance about a wide range of idea of the quality and quantity of the Sarel, a retired teacher of English living
usage issues. responses that might come in as a result in Orkney:
of that invitation. ' "What made you good at English?" I
As it happened, in relation to the large asked myself, thinking about ET
Not long after the publication of ETS, mail that comes to ET from all over the articles and the current agonisings over
Paul Thompson of Shrewsbury in world, there was almost no response at the teaching of English. In the first
England wrote: 'I always feel that it is a all. Ten letters came in relating to the place, before school-days, I had learnt to
little unfair of editors to add "sic" after invitation (often among other things); of read from Chick's Own comics, which
obvious slips of the pen in correspon- these, nine came from addresses in the had the words under the pictures split
dents' letters, as if to say: "Get a load of United Kingdom, and one from a Briton into syllables. I learnt to write cursively,
the live one we've got here!" Doubly so in Germany. Of these, only one before I learnt to print. My mother
in the case of the quotations from contained a practical suggestion for the taught me. I was fascinated by printing
George Racz's letter. . . , as the letter is magazine. This, out of the 10,000-plus on specially-lined pages, when I went to
a plea for uniformity in English!' people who read ET each quarter. One school at five, and saved my "other
Quite so. In my own experience, in a thousand. writing" for home use. I was bored by
when editors use 'sic' it is largely It is clear, however, from these and the cards matching pictures, because I
defensive, so that other writers won't other letters that the editorial style of could already read well. At Prep, school
accuse them of perpetrating the offences ET, and the techniques as well as the we learnt Grammar, and lots of
in question. It is a distancing technique messages in its features, interest readers poetry-by-heart. I loved that, being a
as much as a highlighting technique. In just as much as usage at large. In fact, quick memoriser. Repetition of well-
this particular instance, it was necess- the one cannot be separated from the strung words is very beneficial. There
arily both. As editor of ET, I walk a fine other, because ET is part of the was plenty of written work in other
line between leaving contributors to be phenomenon (or the problem, if you subjects, including French, which was
themselves in their idiosyncrasies and believe the language is going to the dogs, taught the traditional way, even to 9/10
applying an editorial yardstick. To get and that linguistic scholars have shares year-olds, verbs, etc. No "audio-visual"
the language in the raw, one would in dog-food). ET is part of the media, aids, 1925-30! Only very good, edu-

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 cated speech by our teachers, with nik Komik" kind, deliberately perpe- knitting and needlecrafts magazine
plenty of old-fashioned courtesy and trated by those who know better, is (Verlag Aenna Burda, West Germany).
discipline. No bad thing.' deplorable. The efforts of Plain English No, I am not suggesting you take up
Certainly, this is a description of the campaigners to simplify otherwise non- knitting instead of writing about
adventure of language, but it is other sensical official jargon are to be English, but in there you will find in the
and more than that. With its depiction commended. But heaven forbid that we centre a course for a particular craft.
of a world in which sound and letters are should reach the stage of trying to Could you not do the same in ET, and
interlaced, with emphasis on the letters, dictate to people the way they should use use a middle section like that (four pages
it is also, like Godfrey Talbot's following their native tongue. What's wrong with or so) to give the latest position on
article, an apologia for a certain kind of a bit of individuality anyway?' English usage? These pages could be
civilization. The language is not just a Fred Parrott, also of Sussex, adds: lifted out of the main magazine without
language; it is a vehicle of high culture, a 'Much of what used to incense and now damaging it and could be collected to
protection against Outer Darkness. We incenses purists is marginal to effective form a kind of "reference work" for
all need such protections, and it would language. The obstacles to good com- those who use English and encounter
be as well to appreciate how deeply the munication lie much deeper and require practical problems. The problems I am
idea of a 'standard' language is linked for their removal the kinds of self- thinking of are, for example, the use of
with the idea of a bearable life. knowledge and language sensitivity the apostrophe, where to close quotation
Here, Sandra Slade from Sussex in which are not obtained by focussing on marks (before or after the full stop),
England adds: 'George Racz's Orwellian lists of common errors. What is breaking words at the end of lines,
vision of total uniformity I find very fascinating about the common-errors American and English spelling, etc.,
unattractive, a sort of linguistic equiva- lists which I as an English teacher etc'
lent to everyone being forced to wear purveyed in the 1950s (having adopted Now that is a practical suggestion: a
Chairman Mao suits. One of the most them from my own teachers in the serialized usage book. It is, alas,
fascinating things about our language is 1930s) is not that forty years later a few unlikely that the economics and current
its diversity. An English deprived of its elderly people are excessively bothered production techniques of ET would
dialect words, local pronunciations, and by certain kinds of "abusage", but that allow such a procedure, and we would
regional differences, would be an so many expressions which were con- also have problems in finding the 'right'
English deprived of its vitality. Unfortu- demned authoritatively as proven errors people to cover the 'right' topics in the
nately for the supporters of an Academie have since gone from strength to 'right' way, but the suggestion is
Anglaise, Britons do not all belong to the strength in general usage.' stimulating. We believe that as it stands
educated upper middle or upper classes, What, finally, of the single practical ET as a whole is just such an on-going
nor do we all live somewhere in the suggestion for an international review guide, but in a less specific do-this/do-
South East of England. A language is a with limited resources but considerable that kind of way. If any other readers
living thing; no self-appointed arbiters reach? It comes from Mrs M F Cannell have further stimulating suggestions, I
will have any effect on its development. of Midlothian in Scotland: will [sic] always be happy to entertain
Bad spelling of the "Krankies Elektro- 'Have a look, if you will, at the Anna them. KB

-(FROM OUR FILES>

The statistics of book publication Below we reproduce, total for the 15 of 338,421 titles. The English-nation total
courtesy of the International Publishers Association Bulletin (Vol. represents 30% of the whole, while US publications make up
Ill, No 1, published in Switzerland), a table indicating book some 45% of the English-nation totals, and around 20% of the
publications in 15 non-Communist countries from 1983 to 1985. total for all the countries listed. Although not all books published
The grand total for the three English-using nations - Australia, in a country are necessarily in the dominant language of that
Great Britain and the United States - is 102,851 titles, while the country, most probably are. Such figures are a powerful
grand total for the 12 other nations is 235,570, making an overall indicator of the current state of affairs throughout the world.

BOOK TITLE PRODUCTION 1983 - 1985

Final
Titles New Titles New Editions & Reprints Change
Total
Years 1983 1984 1985 % Change 1983 1984 1985 % Change 1985 1984-85
Australia 2,323 2,417 2,725 + 12.7 2,659 2,830 2,869 + 1.4 5,594 + 6.6
Austria 7,638 8,093 7,525 —7.0 908 1,040 973 —6.4 8,498 —6.95
Brazil __ — 4,963 + 2.75* — — 7,378 + 27.2* 12,341 + 16.1*
Denmark 7,985 10,660 8,217 —23.0 1,475 1,596 1,337 —16.2 9,544 —22.2
France 11,823 12,100 13,080 + 8.1 15,525 16,874 15,988 —5.3 29,068 + 0.3
Germany (F.R.) 47,980 39,978 45,000 + 12.6 12,618 11,755 12,623 + 7.4 57,623 + 11.3
Great Britain 38,980 40,246 41,254 + 2.5 12,091 11,309 11,740 + 3.8 52,994 + 2.8
Italy 11,809 12,576 13,476 + 7.15 9,106 8,487 9,207 + 8.5 22,683 + 7.7
Korea 18,588 — 20,502 + 10.3** 14,733 — 13,987 —5.1** 34,489 + 3.5**
Netherlands 7,647 9,329 9,219 —1.2 4,499 3,880 3,410 —12.2 12,629 —4.4
Norway 2,226 2,159 2,231 + 3.3 1,203 1,261 1,420 + 12.6 3,651 + 6.75
Spain 21,482 22,394 24,742 + 10.5 8,002 8,360 10,010 + 19.7 34,752 + 13.0
Sweden 7,418 9,173 7,956 —13.3 979 1,200 1,576 + 31.3 9,532 —8.1
Switzerland 8,409 —0.3
U.S.A. 42,236 40,564 39,753 —2.0 7,309 6,691 6,510 —2.8 46,263 —2.1
* % Change from 1982 to 1985 *< % Change from 1983 to 1985

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