Visit https://ebookgate.

com to download the full version and

explore more ebooks

The Amazing World of Englishes A Practical

Introduction 1st Edition Peter Siemund

_____ Click the link below to download _____

https://ebookgate.com/product/the-amazing-world-of-
englishes-a-practical-introduction-1st-edition-peter-
siemund/

Explore and download more ebooks at ebookgate.com

Here are some recommended products that might interest you.
You can download now and explore!

World Englishes A Resource Book for Students Routledge

English Language Introductions 2nd Edition Jennifer
Jenkins
https://ebookgate.com/product/world-englishes-a-resource-book-for-
students-routledge-english-language-introductions-2nd-edition-
jennifer-jenkins/
ebookgate.com

Amway Forever The Amazing Story of a Global Business

Phenomenon 1st Edition Kathryn A. Jones

https://ebookgate.com/product/amway-forever-the-amazing-story-of-a-
global-business-phenomenon-1st-edition-kathryn-a-jones/

ebookgate.com

Amazing Animals Q A David Burnie

https://ebookgate.com/product/amazing-animals-q-a-david-burnie/

ebookgate.com

Critical Reasoning A Practical Introduction 1st Edition

Anne Thomson

https://ebookgate.com/product/critical-reasoning-a-practical-
introduction-1st-edition-anne-thomson/

ebookgate.com
A Practical Introduction to Index Numbers 1st Edition
O'Neill

https://ebookgate.com/product/a-practical-introduction-to-index-
numbers-1st-edition-oneill/

ebookgate.com

The Medieval World 1st Edition Peter Linehan

https://ebookgate.com/product/the-medieval-world-1st-edition-peter-
linehan/

ebookgate.com

Practical Doomsday a user s guide to the end of the world

1st Edition Michal Zalewski

https://ebookgate.com/product/practical-doomsday-a-user-s-guide-to-
the-end-of-the-world-1st-edition-michal-zalewski/

ebookgate.com

Languages of the World An Introduction 1st Edition Asya

Pereltsvaig

https://ebookgate.com/product/languages-of-the-world-an-
introduction-1st-edition-asya-pereltsvaig/

ebookgate.com

Changing Behaviour at Work A Practical Guide Peter J.

Makin

https://ebookgate.com/product/changing-behaviour-at-work-a-practical-
guide-peter-j-makin/

ebookgate.com
The Amazing World of Englishes
The Amazing World
of Englishes
A Practical Introduction

by
Peter Siemund
Julia Davydova
Georg Maier

De Gruyter Mouton
ISBN 978-3-11-026645-0
e-ISBN 978-3-11-026646-7

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

A CIP catalog record for this book has been applied for at the Library of Congress.

Bibliographic information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek

The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie;
detailed bibliographic data are available in the Internet at http://dnb.dnb.de.

쑔 2012 Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co. KG, Berlin/Boston

Printing: Hubert & Co. GmbH & Co. KG, Göttingen
⬁ Printed on acid-free paper
Printed in Germany
www.degruyter.com
Table of contents

Introduction 1

1 English as a global language 7

Inner circle varieties of English

Inner 2 Irish English 33

circle 3 Scottish English 59
4 British and American English 89
5 Australian English 115

Outer circle varieties of English

Outer 6 Indian English 153

circle 7 Nigerian English 187
8 South African English 209

Expanding circle varieties of English

Expanding 9 English in Europe 243

circle

Conclusion and outlook 267

Glossary of linguistic terms 273
IPA tables 283
Introduction 1

Introduction

The amazing world of Englishes

This book is the result of an academic lish, Nigerian English, Irish English,
enterprise undertaken by three people South African English, etc. in addition
fascinated by the English language, its to the standard varieties of British and
diverse forms, histories, and cultures. American English – that over time have
We believe that anyone taking their first become the object of extensive academ-
step into the ever-growing world of Eng- ic enquiry. These diverse forms of Eng-
lishes is likely to ask the question: “Why lish have been shaped by local cultures
is it important to study English?” and languages and, of course, the people
This question may be answered in who adopted it. In other words, English
different ways. Firstly, English boasts has been localised.
a fascinating history going back to the Another consequence of the global
5th century AD, when some of the Ger- spread of English is that it has become
manic tribes crossed the North Sea to a means of communication amongst
set foot on what is now known as Great people who do not share a common lan-
Britain. Secondly, English has incorpo- guage. As people need to get their mes-
rated many structural properties from sage across irrespective of their linguis-
other languages that make it difficult to tic and cultural background, they need
recognise its Germanic origin. Thirdly, a form of English that is understood by
English has made itself at home almost everyone. It is in this sense that English
everywhere in the world – in the New has been globalised.
World of North America, on the buzz- Moreover, English spoken in dynam-
ing streets of Lagos, Cape Town, New ic metropolitan areas is often different
Delhi, Mumbai, Hong Kong, Manila or from English spoken in traditional rural
Singapore, in the never-sleeping cities areas. English spoken by native speak-
of Beijing, Shanghai or Moscow, and ers is not the same as English spoken by
along the scorched vistas of Australia. non-native speakers. Furthermore, there
Thus, it is not surprising that English is are distinct forms of English spoken by
one of the most widely distributed lan- specific social or ethnic groups. Finally,
guages in terms of its speakers. we can single out Pidgin and Creole
One of the repercussions of this ex- Englishes that emerge in contact situa-
tensive spread of English is that it has tions when people do not share a com-
diversified into a variety of different mon language.
forms – Indian English, Singapore Eng-
2 Introduction

Structure of the book

The diversification of English into many those regions where English is spoken
different – and sometimes even mutu- as the dominant native language – the
ally unintelligible – forms raises some so-called ‘inner-circle’ varieties (Chap-
important questions: Who are native ters 2–5).
speakers of English? Who are non-na- The second part discusses the Eng-
tive speakers of English? How can a dis- lishes in countries where English was
tinction between native and non-native adopted as an official or co-official lan-
speakers of English be plausibly drawn guage and is used as a link language for
and maintained given that English today interethnic communication. This group
is acquired in a variety of different con- is referred to as the ‘outer-circle’ (Chap-
texts? Who speaks standard varieties of ters 6–8).
English? To what extent are regional va- Finally, the third part focuses on
rieties of English different from stand- forms of English in countries where
ard dialects and what exactly are these English plays an important role in in-
differences? Our book addresses these ternational communication, but not for
important questions by drawing on an historical or administrative reasons.
empirical-inductive approach, offering a This is the so-called ‘expanding circle’
wide range of activities and an extended (Chapter 9). The book is rounded off by
set of exercises. an introductory chapter (Chapter 1) and
Following Kachru’s (1985) concen- a concluding section in which funda-
tric circle model, this book is divided mental concepts are introduced and the
into three major parts, marked by dif- major issues are summarised.
ferent colours. The first part deals with

Target audience

In view of the fact that English has de- of secondary school and undergraduate
veloped so many different forms spoken university students demonstrating up-
all around the world, the question arises per-intermediate and advanced levels of
as to how the astounding linguistic het- proficiency in English. The textbook is
erogeneity inherent in modern English also of interest, however, to a more gen-
can be made accessible to those audi- eral public interested in issues related
ences that have no training in linguistics to the expansion of English, English di-
and are perhaps only intuitively aware versity, and varieties of English. While
of the contemporary diversification of assuming a sound command of English,
the English language. This textbook has the textbook does not require previous
been specifically designed to address this knowledge of linguistics or linguistic
issue. In so doing, it caters to the needs terminology.
Introduction 3

Guidelines for students

The approach of the book is empirical- Many activities follow a distinct pat-
inductive. This means that we aim to fa- tern consisting of pre-X exercises, while-
miliarise you with the characteristics of X exercises, and post-X exercises. This
the different varieties of English with the aims to provide a target-oriented intro-
help of authentic audio, video, and text duction to and discussion of the presented
materials from the regions discussed in variety-specific features. In general, our
the textbook in order for you to discover exercises allow for a step-by-step training
the specifics of these varieties yourselves. of particular lexical and morphosyntactic
Each chapter is introduced by a gen- features.
eral Introduction, which provides you Vocabulary-building exercises ac-
with the necessary background informa- company texts and transcripts. Building
tion on the given variety. on the learners’ knowledge of academic
In the individual chapters, all materi- language, the exercises introduce basic
als deal with different sociocultural and terminology used in academic discourse
linguistic aspects of the variety at hand. to talk about language and linguistics.
The individual source materials are pre- These exercises also intend to familiarise
sented in the form of various activities students with culture-specific notions and
such as Reading Comprehension, Lis- variety-specific lexis. All lexical items
tening Comprehension, and Viewing appearing under Vocabulary and Defini-
Comprehension. Listening and Viewing tions are typically set in bold face in the
Comprehension activities are accompa- texts.
nied by references to websites on which For reviewing vocabulary and varie-
the corresponding sound and video files ty-specific content, we included Memory
can be found or alternative instructions and Taboo games. They may be copied
on how to find them. from the book and then cut into individ-
Each text, video or audio file is ac- ual cards.
companied by a number of Comprehen- Finally, all materials exhibit varying
sion and Analysis Exercises, and most levels of difficulty. Reading Comprehen-
of them also by Discussion or Creative sion materials can be generally regarded
Writing tasks. In addition to this, the text- as most straightforward in terms of de-
book features Role-Playing Games and livering the message about the diversity
Self-Study exercises. The Role-Playing of English. Listening and Viewing Com-
Games deal with issues related to society prehension activities are often more de-
and culture and are aimed at triggering manding, as here the learner is asked to
and facilitating in-class discussions on rely largely on their auditory perception
the role of English and the specific fea- in order to reconstruct variety-relevant
tures in the respective variety. features.
4 Introduction

Acknowledgements

The book has grown out of a research mund, Peter Trudgill, and Florian Zieg-
project on the teaching of varieties of er. The overall quality of the book ben-
English in undergraduate university efited greatly as a result of their thought-
courses and high school classroom set- ful comments and suggestions.
tings. The project ran from 2007–2010 We are grateful to all authors, pub-
as part of the Collaborative Research lishers, archives, libraries, and other
Centre on Multilingualism (Sonder- copy­right holders who granted us per-
forschungsbereich 538). The financial mission to reproduce their material.
support of the German Research Foun- A special word of gratitude goes to
dation and the University of Hamburg is Isabel Peters, who designed the layout
herewith gratefully acknowledged. of the book. Leonie Fölsing and Audrey
We also benefited substantially MacDougall proved indispensable
from the advice given by the Hamburg proofreaders. We also appreciate the
Teacher Training Institute (especially technical support rendered by Pagona
Christiane Fraedrich) and the feedback Nassery and Maria Schröder at various
we received from the many teachers and stages of the project.
instructors who used and tested a proto- Last but not least, we would like to
type of our book. acknowledge the technical support we
We are especially thankful to Kirk received from Mouton de Gruyter’s edi-
Hazen, Martina Hoffmann, Larisa M. torial team: Birgit Sievert, Julie Miess,
Khokhlova, Ute Niemeyer, Katrin Sie- and Jens Lindenhain.

Disclaimer

Every effort has been undertaken by the and the publisher so that necessary ac-
authors to obtain and supply all copy- tions can be taken and corrections made.
right information and clearances for the The contents from the external sources
texts, pictures, images, and other media do not necessarily reflect our own point
included in this book. In the case that the of view. We do not assume any respon-
information provided should be incom- sibility for the contents provided by the
plete or erroneous, the copyright own- external Internet links contained in this
ers are requested to contact the authors book.
Introduction 5

Accompanying website

We offer some of our contents for download at the following website:

www.awe.uni-hamburg.de
userid: awe2012
password: amazing

references and further reading

Kachru, Braj B. 1985. Standards, codification and sociolinguistic realism: the English
language in the outer circle. In: Quirk, Randolph and Henry G. Widdowson (eds.),
English in the World. Teaching and Learning the Language and Literatures.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press and the British Council.
Kachru, Braj B. 1988. The sacred cows of English. English Today 4:4, 3–8.
Kachru, Braj B. 1997. World Englishes and English-using communities. Annual Review of
Applied Linguistics 17, 66–87.
Circles of English

Chapter 1

English as a global language

circles of english 9

Introduction

Within the past few decades, English has features that stem from those languages.
become a truly global language. A quick For example, the discourse particle lah
glance at the world map makes it clear in Singapore English, as in I mean you
that there are few places on this planet can choose lah [#i], is of Chinese origin.
where English is not spoken. Many words are borrowed from local
Great Britain, North America, and languages into a newly emerging variety
Australia are places where English is the of English. Masaala, daal, and goshth
mother tongue of the vast majority of are all Hindi words that people feel com-
people living there. fortable using while speaking English.
In South and Southeast Asia, as well English is also the official language
as in many parts of Africa, English has or one of the official languages in these
established itself as a link language be- countries. To give an example, there
sides the indigenous languages. Having are nine official languages in Nigeria,
been introduced during the colonial era of which English is one: Edo, Efik, Ad-
by missionary schools or in face-to-face amawa Fulfulde, Hausa, Idoma, Igbo,
encounters, English plays an impor- Central Kanuri, Yoruba, and English.
tant role in education and administra- [#ii]
tion in countries like India, Singapore, English is also used for creative
Sri Lanka, Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, and writing in countries where it has a sec-
Tanzania. In these countries, English ond-language status. Vikram Seth is one
developed in an environment where notable example: The author received an
indigenous (or local) languages were advance worth £250,000 for his 1,350-
dominant. page long epos A Suitable Boy; he col-
For instance, India boasts 22 nation- lected £1.4 million for publishing Two
al languages, many of which belong to Lives. [#iii]
different language families. Thus, Hindi, In large parts of Europe, China and
Bengali, and Punjabi are Indo-European Russia, and in countries of South Amer-
languages, whereas Kannada, Malay- ica, English is taught as a first foreign
alam, and Tamil are Dravidian languag- language in school because it is be-
es. In this highly complex linguistic situ- lieved to be an important international
ation, English is used as a glue stick, a language. English is not an official lan-
language link that unites all. guage in these countries; it is not used
As English emerged in situations in administration, although its role in
where local languages prevailed, it has education has started to increase.
acquired some lexical and grammatical
 10 EnglIsh as a glObal languagE

Inner circle Expanding circle

Outer circle Pidgins and Creoles

Newfoundland
Quebec English
North English
American English spoken
English in Europe

African American
Chicano English Vernacular English

Bahamian Creole

Hawai’i Creole Jamaican Bajan

Creole Trinidadian Creole
Belizean Nigerian
Guyanese Creole
Creole Sierra Leone Krio English
Englis h

Liberian Ghanaian
Settler English
English
English spoken
in Brazil

Scottish
English

Ulster
Scots

Hiberno- Welsh
English English English
English

Map of World Englishes

 cIrclEs Of EnglIsh 11

English spoken in Russia

English spoken
in China
English spoken
in Japan
Indian
English Hong Kong English
Pakistani
English Burmese Philippine
n English English
Malaysian
Cameroon
English
English Singapore
English Tok Pisin Solomon
East African English Islands
Pijin

Australian English Bislama

South African Indian English

South African English
New Zealand
English

braInstOrMIng
discuss the role of English as a global language in pairs or in groups. make sure
to answer the following questions:
1. Who speaks English today? Where is English spoken today?
2. When do you speak English?
3. Why do we call English a global language today?
4. What is standard English? Who speaks standard English?
12 EnglIsh as a glObal languagE

English is traditionally not consid- lects, sociolects, immigrant Englishes,

ered to be the language of literature in language-shift Englishes, and jargon
the countries of the expanding circle. Englishes (Mesthrie and Bhatt 2008:
Vladimir Nabokov is an exception to 3–6).
that rule. He abandoned writing in Rus- The following chapter starts out with
sian, his native tongue, during the last a Brainstorming exercise and a Listen-
years of his life. His world famous Loli- ing Comprehension on the role of Eng-
ta was written in English. lish as a global language. After that,
Last but not least, in Jamaica, Trini- you can find two Reading Comprehen-
dad, Guyana, in the Pacific Islands, sions (a text from David Crystal’s book
and in large parts of Africa, English English as a Global Language and the
emerged in situations characterised by Newsweek article Not the Queen’s Eng-
spontaneous, non-instructed language lish). The text excerpt from Jennifer
acquisition. These were situations in Jenkins’ textbook World Englishes: A
which people needed to communicate Resource Book for Students looks at the
with each other but did not share a lan- role that English plays in Europe. The
guage common to all of them. This is ensuing Project and Listening Com-
why they resorted to English, which, prehension (Learn English by learning
however, they had only very limited ac- other people’s stories) tackle the issue
cess to (through sporadic contact with a of the native speaker in the World Eng-
socially dominant group, for example). lishes debate. There is also one Mini
These sociolinguistic contexts gave rise Project that focuses on those words that
to so-called English-based Pidgins and recently came into English from other
Creoles. languages. Self-Study I, Self-Study II,
The field of World Englishes is high- and the Project dealing with McArthur’s
ly heterogeneous, but we can single out (1987) model of Englishes are helpful in
the following forms: metropolitan Eng- consolidating your knowledge about the
lishes, colonial Englishes, regional dia- role of English as a global language.

LISTEnInG ComPREHEnSIon

1. Explore the website of the International dialects of English archive (http://

web.ku.edu/~idea/) and listen to speakers from different parts of the English-
speaking world!
2. on youTube you can find video clips featuring the current heads of state of
Great Britain, the United States, australia, and Ireland. Who in your opinion
speaks standard English?
 circles of english 13

reading comprehension

The circles of English

The following text describes the gradual emergence of English as an international

lingua franca. Read the text and pay close attention to the graphic presented below.

The present-day world status of English

Expanding circle
is primarily the result of two factors:
the expansion of British colonial
power, which peaked towards Outer circle

5 the end of the nineteenth cen-

tury, and the emergence of
the United States as the lead- Inner circle
ing economic power of the e.g. USA, UK
twentieth century. It is the 320–380 million

10 latter factor which continues

to explain the world position
of the English language today e.g. India, Singapore
300–500 million
[…]. The USA has nearly 70 per
cent of all English mother-tongue e.g. Russia, China
15 speakers in the world (excluding cre- 500–1,000 million

ole varieties). Such dominance, with Circles of English

its political/economic underpinnings,
currently gives America a controlling
interest in the way the language is likely The inner circle refers to the tradi-
20 to develop. tional bases of English, where it is the
How then may we summarize this primary language: it includes the USA,
complex situation? The US linguist Braj UK, Ireland, Canada, Australia and New
Kachru has suggested that we think of Zealand. 35

the spread of English around the world The outer or extended circle in-
25 as three concentric circles, representing volves the earlier phases of the spread
different ways in which the language of English in non-native settings, where
has been acquired and is currently used. the language has become part of a coun-
Although not all countries fit neatly into try’s chief institutions, and plays an 40

this model, it has been widely regarded important ‘second language’ role in a
30 as a helpful approach. multilingual setting: it includes Singa-
 14 english as a global language

pore, India, Malawi and over fifty other tus. It includes China, Japan, Greece,
territories. Poland and (as the name of this circle
45 The expanding or extending circle in- suggests) a steadily increasing number
volves those nations which recognize of other states. In these areas, English is 55

the importance of English as an interna- taught as a foreign language.

tional language, though they do not have
a history of colonization by members [David Crystal 2003: 59–60. #1; bold
50 of the inner circle, nor have they given face added]
English any special administrative sta-

Vocabulary
Look up the following words in a monolingual English dictionary: expansion, emer-
gence, underpinnings, concentric, approach, and primary.

Definitions
Try to find definitions for the terms “creole varieties” and “multilingual setting”.

comprehension

Now that you have read the text about the expansion of English as a
global language, answer the following questions:

1. Why has English become a global language? Give two possible

explanations.
2. Braj Kachru, an American linguist, talks about the three circles of
English. What are they?
3. Which role does English play in each of the characterised circles?
4. Which circle could your home country be placed in and why?

analysis and discussion

1. Describe the differences and similarities be-

tween the inner and outer circles of English.
2. Discuss the advantages (or disadvantages)
of being a native speaker of English.
cIrclEs Of EnglIsh 15

Good To KnoW!

David Crystal is one of the best known contemporary linguists and

an expert on English as a global language. Born in Northern Ireland
and educated at University College London, he is an honorary pro-
fessor of Linguistics at the University of Wales, Bangor. He lives in
Holyhead, North Wales, and works as a writer, editor, lecturer, and
broadcaster. He is the author and co-author of more than 100 books,
many of which have been re-published several times. He wrote two
encyclopaedias for Cambridge University Press: The Cambridge En-
cyclopaedia of Language and The Cambridge Encyclopaedia of the
English Language. In addition to his interest in linguistics, David
Crystal is the patron of the International Association of English as a
Foreign Language. In order to find out more about his views on the
development of English as a lingua franca of international communi-
cation, you may consult the following websites:

http://www.davidcrystal.com/
http://www.whichenglish.com/interviews/david_crystal04.html

CREaTIVE WRITInG

Imagine that you spend your

summer holidays in a sum-
mer school in England
where you share rooms
with students from france,
Spain, nigeria, and Singa-
pore. Comment on the
English they use in an
email to your friends
at home. Give exam-
ples of the language you
heard.

Summer school
 16 english as a global language

reading comprehension

The rapid growth of English around the globe has recently been highlighted in some
important mass media outlets. In her feature Not the Queen’s English, Carla Power,
a Newsweek correspondent, provides some lively images of the ever-expanding
world of English.

Not the Queen’s English

by Carla Power

The name – Cambridge School of Lan- millions of people are learning English,
guages – conjures images of spires and the planet’s language for commerce,
Anglo-Saxon aristocrats conversing in technology – and, increasingly, empow-
the Queen’s English. But this Cambridge erment. Within a decade, 2 billion peo- 30

5 is composed of a few dank rooms with ple will be studying English and about
rickety chairs at the edge of a congest- half the world – some 3 billion people –
ed Delhi suburb. Its rival is not stately will speak it, according to a recent report
Oxford but the nearby Euro Languages from the British Council.
School, where a three-month English From Caracas to Karachi, parents 35

10 course costs $16. “We tell students you keen for their children to achieve are
need two things to succeed: English and forking over tuition for English-lan-
computers,” says Chetan Kumar, a Euro guage schools. China’s English fever
Languages manager. “We teach one. For – elevated to epidemic proportions by
the other” – he points to a nearby Inter- the country’s recent accession to the 40

15 net stall – “you can go next door.” World Trade Organization and the com-
The professors back in Cambridge, ing 2008 Olympics – even has its own
England, would no doubt question the Mandarin term, Yingwen re. And gov-
schools’ pedagogy. There are few books ernments from Tunisia to Turkey are
or tapes. Their teachers pronounce “we” pushing English, recognizing that along 45

20 as “ve” and “primary” as “primmry.” with computers and mass migration,

And yet such storefront shops aren’t the language is the turbine engine of
merely the ragged edge of the massive globalization. As one 12-year-old self-
English-learning industry, which in In- taught English-speaker from China’s
dia alone is a $100 million-per-year southwestern Sichuan province says, “If 50

25 business. They are the front lines of a you can’t speak English, it’s like you’re
global revolution in which hundreds of deaf and dumb.”
 circles of english 17

Linguistically speaking, it’s a whole In post-apartheid South Africa, many

new world. Non-native speakers of Eng- blacks have adopted their own ver-
55 lish now outnumber native speakers 3 to sion of English, laced with indigenous 95

1, according to English-language expert words, as a sign of freedom – in contrast

David Crystal, whose numerous books to Afrikaans, the language of oppres-
include “English as a Global Language.” sion. “We speak English with a Xhosa
“There’s never before been a language accent and a Xhosa attitude,” veteran
60 that’s been spoken by more people as actor John Kani recently told the BBC. 100

a second than a first,” he says. In Asia All languages are works in progress.
alone, the number of English-users has But English’s globalization, unprec-
topped 350 million – roughly the com- edented in the history of languages,
bined populations of the United States, will revolutionize it in ways we can only
65 Britain and Canada. There are more Chi- begin to imagine. In the future, suggests 105

nese children studying English – about Crystal, there could be a tri-English

100 million – than
there are Britons.
The new
70 English-speakers
aren’t just pas-
sively absorbing
the language –
they’re shaping it.
75 New Englishes are
mushrooming the
globe over, ranging
from “Englog,” the
Tagalog-infused
80 English spoken in
the Philippines,
to “Japlish”, the
cryptic English Multilingual society
poetry beloved of Japanese copywriters world, one in which you could speak
85 (“Your health and loveliness is our best a local English-based dialect at home,
wish,” reads a candy wrapper. “Give us a national variety at work or school,
a chance to realize it”), to “Hinglish”, and international Standard English to 110

the mix of Hindi and English that now talk to foreigners. With native speakers
crops up everywhere from fast-food ads a shrinking minority of the world’s
90 to South Asian college campuses. “Hun- Anglophones, there’s a growing sense
gry kya?” (“Are you hungry?”), queried that students should stop trying to em-
a recent Indian ad for Domino’s pizza. ulate Brighton or Boston English, 115
 18 english as a global language

and embrace their own local versions. Cambridge dons who insist on speak-
Researchers are starting to study non- ing the Queen’s English could be met
native speakers’ “mistakes” – “She look with giggles – or blank stares. British or
very sad,” for example – as structured American business execs who jabber
120 grammars. In a generation’s time, teach- on in their own idiomatic patois, with- 160

ers might no longer be correcting stu- out understanding how English is used
dents for saying “a book who” or “a per- by non-natives, might lose out on deals.
son which.” Linguist Jennifer Jenkins, To achieve fluency, non-native
an expert in world Englishes at King’s speakers are learning English at an ever-
125 College London, asks why some Asians, younger age. Last year primary schools 165

who have trouble pronouncing the “th” in major Chinese cities began offering
sound, should spend hours trying to say English in the third grade, rather than
“thing” instead of “sing” or “ting.” In- middle school. A growing number of
ternational pilots, she points out, already parents are enrolling their preschool-
130 pronounce the word “three” as “tree” in ers in the new crop of local English 170

radio dispatches, since “tree” is more courses. For some mothers-to-be, even
widely comprehensible. that’s not early enough; Zhou Min, who
Not everyone is as open-minded hosts several English programs at the
about English, or its advance. The Web Beijing Broadcasting Station, says some
135 site of the Association for the Defence pregnant women speak English to their 175

of the French Language displays a “mu- fetuses. At Prague’s Lamea children’s

seum of horrors” – a series of digital pic- English-language school, 3-year-olds
tures of English-language signs on Pa- sing songs about snowmen and chant
risian streets. But others say such defen- colors in English. Now 2-year-olds have
140 siveness misses the point. “This is not a class of their own, too. 180

about English swamping and eroding For the traditional custodians of

local identities,” says David Graddol, English – the British and, more recently,
author of the British Council report. the Americans – this means money. The
“It’s about creating new identities – and demand for native English-speakers is
145 about making everyone bilingual.” so huge that there aren’t enough to go 185

Indeed, English has become the around; China and the Middle East are
common linguistic denominator. starting to import English teachers from
Whether you’re a Korean executive on India. The average price of a four-day
business in Shanghai, a German Euro- business-English course in London for
150 crat hammering out laws in Brussels a French executive runs 2,240 euro. 190

or a Brazilian biochemist at a confer- Despite – or perhaps because of – all

ence in Sweden, you’re probably speak- the new Englishes cropping up, it’s the
ing English. And as the world adopts an American and British versions that still
international brand of English, it’s na- carry prestige, particularly with tuition-
155 tive speakers who have the most to lose. paying parents. Australia and Britain, 195
 circles of english 19

in particular, have invested heavily in dinary citizens. For lower-middle class-

branding themselves as destinations for es in India, English can mean a ticket
learning English. More than 400 foreign to a prized call-center job. “With call
English-teaching companies are trying centers, no longer is speaking English
200 to break into China. On a visit to Beijing one of the important skills to get a good 240

last week, British Chancellor Gordon job,” says Raghu Prakash, who runs
Brown said the Chinese thirst to acquire an English-language school in Jaipur.
the language was “a huge opportunity “It is the skill.” At the new Toyota and
for Britain,” which already boasts a 1.3 Peugeot plant in the Czech Republic,
205 billion pound English-teaching industry. English is the working language of the 245

Says Jenkins, “Owning English is very Japanese, French and Czech staff. Says
big business.” Jitka Prikrylova, director of a Prague
To see big business in action, one English-language school: “The world
need only walk down London’s busy has opened up for us, and English is its
210 Oxford Street, where ads hawk in- language.” 250

stant access to the language of success: Governments, even linguistically

DOES YOUR ENGLISH EMBAR- protectionist ones, are starting to agree.
RASS YOU? BUSINESS ENGLISH Last year Malaysia decided to start
FOR BEGINNERS; LEARN ENGLISH teaching school-level math and sci-
215 IN JUST 10 WEEKS! Above cloth- ence in English. In France, home of the 255

ing stores, bustling English-language Academie Francaise, whose members

schools are packed with eager twenty- are given swords and charged with de-
somethings from around the world. Ben fending the sanctity of the French lan-
Beaumont, a buoyant 28-year-old Brit- guage, a commission recommended last
220 on, presides over a class that includes a fall that basic English be treated like ba- 260

South Korean business manager, a nurse sic math: as part of the mandatory core
from rural Japan and an Italian law stu- curriculum beginning in primary school.
dent. “Do you want a lot of homework As it turns out, the minister of Education
or a little?” he asks. The class is une- didn’t agree. No matter; French school-
225 quivocal: “A lot!” children are ahead of their government: 265

Why such enthusiasm? In a word, 96 percent of them are already studying

jobs. A generation ago, only elites like the language as an elective in school.
diplomats and CEOs needed English Technology also plays a huge role
for work. “The ante on what’s needed in English’s global triumph. Eighty
230 is going up year by year,” says Graddol. percent of the electronically stored in- 270

“Throughout organizations, more peo- formation in the world is in English; 66

ple need more English.” In China, the percent of the world’s scientists read in
Beijing Organizing Committee for it, according to the British Council. “It’s
the 2008 Olympics is pushing English very important to learn English because
235 among staff, guides, taxi drivers and or- [computer] books are only in English,” 275
 20 english as a global language

says Umberto Duirte, an Uruguayan anchorwoman. Shyly, in broken Eng-

IT student learning English in London. lish, Chun responds: “Yes, I do. I am
New technologies are helping people very handsome.” The audience of other
pick up the language, too: Chinese and students collapses in giggles.
280 Japanese students can get English-usage While courses like Gyeonggi’s 320

tips on their mobile phones. English- sound simple, English and its teaching
language teachers point to the rise of are inexorably becoming more com-
Microsoft English, where computer us- plex. Ilan Stavans, an Amherst College
ers are drafting letters advised by the professor, recently finished a transla-
285 Windows spell check and pop-up style tion of Cervantes’s “Don Quixote” into 325

guides. In the temple town of Varanasi, Spanglish, the English-Spanish hybrid

India, Sanjukta Chaterjee says she’s as- spoken in the United States and Mexico.
tonished by the way her 7-year-old son Writing in the journal English Today
learns the language, through CDs and last spring, Hu Xiaoqiong argued for
290 video. “Our teachers were strict that we reorientating China’s English curricu- 330

should practice, and speak the language lum toward China English, incorporat-
till we were near-perfect,” she says. ing Chinese phrases like “pay New Year
“Now there’s an additional technologi- calls,” a Spring Festival tradition, and
cal finesse to learning English.” “no face,” to be ashamed – as Stand-
295 Schools are becoming more and ard English. In countries like Germany, 335

more creative. Last August, South Korea where most kids begin English as early
set up its first English immersion camp. as the second or third grade, the market
The Gyeonggi English Village, built on for English studies is already shrinking.
a small island in the Yellow Sea and sub- German language schools no longer tar-
300 sidized by the provincial government, get English beginners but those pursu- 340

comes complete with a Hollywood-style ing more-expert niches: business Eng-

fake bank and airport, where students lish, phone manners or English for pres-
must conduct all transactions in English. entations. Beginning-English classes
“Through the camp, we want to train ca- are filled with immigrants from places
305 pable global citizens, who can help Ko- like Turkey and Russia, eager to catch 345

rea win international competition in this up with the natives. As with migrants
age of globalization,” says Sohn Hak the world over, they’re finding that their
Kyu, governor of Gyeonggi province, newfound land is an English-speaking
who started the program. In one class, one.
310 eighth grader Chun Ho Sung, wearing
a long black wig and posing as British [From Newsweek March 07, 2005. ©
heartthrob Orlando Bloom, sweats un- 2005. The Newsweek/Daily Beast Com-
der the lights of a mock television studio pany LLC. All rights reserved. #2; bold
as he prepares to be interviewed. “Do face added.]
315 you think you are handsome?” asks the
cIrclEs Of EnglIsh 21

Vocabulary
Look up the following words and expressions in a monolingual English dictionary:
conjure images, dank rooms, rickety chairs, congested suburb, storefront shops,
ragged, cryptic, laced with, indigenous, unprecedented, shrinking minority, emulate,
erode, don, execs, jabber, hawk instant access to, buoyant, sanctity, elective, col-
lapse in giggles, inexorably, and catch up with.

Definitions
1. find definitions for the following terms and expressions: mandarin, ‘Hungry
kya?’, apartheid, afrikaans, xhosa, anglophones, Brighton English, Boston Eng-
lish, patois, and broken English.
2. In the text, the author talks about “a German Eurocrat hammering out laws in
Brussels”. Who does the word ‘Eurocrat’ refer to? Which pattern of word forma-
tion is this new coinage built on?

ComPREHEnSIon

1. What is implied by the article’s title?

2. Look at the first paragraph of the text. describe in your own words what the
Cambridge School of Languages in new delhi looks like.
3. describe the ways in which non-native speakers of English transform this
language.
4. according to jennifer jenkins, “owning English is very big business”. Explain
how this is the case. Give examples from the text.
5. describe the factors contributing to the importance of English. Give exam-
ples from the text.

analysIs

1. Read the text one more time. What is the

main message of the text?
2. How many parts can you identify in its struc-
ture?
3. assign a number of key words to each part
that you identified.
4. analyse how the author develops her argu-
ment to support the idea of English becom-
Flags ing a truly global language.
22 english as a global language

word analysis

1. Take a look at line 47. How do you understand the

expression “the turbine engine of globalization”?
2. In your own words, try to explain the meaning of “com-
mon linguistic denominator” in line 147.

discussion

1. Why, do you think, are there so many countries willing

to promote the idea of a global language?
2. Do you think that English is predestined to play the role
of a global language in the future? Explain.
3. Do you think some other language might become an
international lingua franca? Explain.
4. Jennifer Jenkins suggests that it is not necessary for
non-native speakers of English to learn how to pro-
nounce the difficult th-sound. Do you agree? Explain.

project i

1. Try to identify all countries in which English has the status of an official or
co-official language.
2. Assign the countries you found to the inner circle and the outer circle, as
defined by Braj Kachru’s concentric circles model.

project ii

1. Investigate the major grammatical properties of English (word order, tenses,

aspects, morphology, phoneme inventory, …).
2. Compare English to your mother tongue.
3. Do you think that the grammar of English makes this language particularly
suitable as a global language?
 circles of english 23

reading comprehension

The changing role of English in Europe

by Jennifer Jenkins

Despite the linguistic richness of the notes that European English appears
European Union (EU), and the eleven to be developing the scope to ‘express
languages given official status (Danish, “emotional” aspects of young people’s 35

Dutch, English, Finnish, French, Ger- social identities’ by means of phenom-

5 man, Greek, Italian, Portuguese, Span- ena like code switching and code mix-
ish and Swedish), three languages domi- ing (e.g. the use of half-German half-
nate – English, French and German. English hybrid compounds such as Tel-
Europe has become, in Graddol’s (1997: efon junkie and Drogenfreak in German 40

14) words, ‘a single multilingual area, youth magazines).

10 rather like India, where languages are House (2001), whose position is for
hierarchically related in status. As in In- the most part diametrically opposed to
dia, there may be many who are mono- that of the ‘Phillipson camp’, finds the
lingual in a regional language, but those EU’s language policy hypocritical and 45

who speak one of the “big” languages ineffective. Rather than having several
15 will have better access to material suc- working languages and making heavy
cess.’ By the end of the twentieth cen- use of a translation machinery, she ar-
tury, however, a single one of the three gues, the EU should opt officially for
‘big’ languages, English, had become English as its lingua franca or, as she 50

the ‘biggest’, the de facto European lin- puts it, the ‘language of communica-
20 gua franca. And for the time being at tion’. On the other hand, House does
least, it seems, those who speak English not appear to consider the possibil-
will have the best access to such mate- ity that English can express the ‘social
rial success, hence, in part, the current identities’ of its European non-native 55

popularity of learning English among speakers. Instead, she believes that in-
25 Europe’s young that Cheshire (2002) dividual speakers’ mother tongues will
documents. remain their ‘language for identification’
Some scholars, most vociferously (House 2001: 2–3).
Phillipson (1992, 2003), but including The positioning of English (or Eu- 60

Cheshire herself, believe it is critical for ro-English as it is increasingly being la-

30 all Europeans to learn each other’s lan- belled) as Europe’s primary lingua fran-
guages rather than for everyone to learn ca is so recent that it is too soon to be
English. Nevertheless, Cheshire (2002) able to say with any certainty whether it
 24 english as a global language

65 will remain so, how it will develop, and the label European English identifies
whether it will expand to become fully those uses of English that are not Brit- 95

capable of expressing social identity as ish (and not American or Canadian or

well as performing a more transactional Australian or any other native variety)
role in politics, business and the like. but are distinctly European and distin-
70 The linguistic outcome of European guish European English speakers from
political and economic developments is speakers of other [English] varieties. 100

predicted by some scholars to be a na-

tivised hybrid variety of English, in ef- In her view, it is possible that British
fect, a European English which contains English will eventually be considered
75 a number of grammatical, lexical, pho- merely as one of a number of European
nological and discoursal features found varieties of English alongside nativised 105

in individual mainland European lan- varieties such as French English, Dutch

guages along with some items common English, Danish English and the like.
to many of these languages but not to European speakers are, nevertheless,
80 standard British (or American) English. as Berns (1995: 10) concludes, ‘in the
Berns (1995: 6–7), for example, midst of an exciting, challenging, and 110

characterises the nativisation process creative social and linguistic phase of

that English in Europe is undergoing as their history’ in which ‘they have the
follows: ‘In the course of using English potential to have significant influence on
85 to carry out its three roles [native, for- the spread of English’. The situation is,
eign and international language], Euro- as she puts it, one of ‘sociolinguistic his- 115

peans make adaptations and introduce tory-in-the-making’ and one which will
innovations that effectively de-Ameri- therefore need to be reviewed regularly
canize and de-Anglicize English.’ She as empirical evidence becomes increas-
90 talks specifically of a ‘European Eng- ingly available.
lish-using speech community’ who use
English for intra-European communica- [Jennifer Jenkins 2003: 42–43. #3; bold
tion, and for whom face added]

Explanations
lingua franca: a means of international communication; Euro-English: the English
spoken in Europe; de-Americanize: to lessen the influence of the traditions and
culture of the United States on something; de-Anglicize: to lessen the influence of
the traditions and culture of Great Britain on something; nativised varieties: distinct
forms of English that originated in the countries in which English is not spoken as a
native language. These varieties have developed specific linguistic features of their
own.
circles of english 25

comprehension

What role does the English language play in Europe?

analysis

1. Why has the English language achieved such enormous pre-

dominance in the countries of Western Europe? Start with the
arguments given in the text and add others you consider to be
relevant.
2. Analyse the positions that are proposed by the scholars Phillipson
and House. Which of the two positions do you consider more
convincing and why?

comment writing

Comment on the pros and cons of English spreading around

the globe and penetrating into different spheres of social life
in countries where it is not spoken as a native language.

project

In this project, we propose a debate on World Englishes: Who is the native speaker
of English?

1. On the following page, read the stories about different people learning Eng-
lish in different contexts.
2. Who, in your opinion, is a or the native speaker of English? Explain your
choice.
26 EnglIsh as a glObal languagE

Santvana was born in mumbai. Her parents moved to

London when she was twelve years old. Since her father
is a businessman, Santvana visited a private school for
girls, where she did her a-Levels. She is now studying
biology at the University of Cambridge.

Jenny was born in Baltimore, md (USa). Being rather

well-off, her parents were able to send her to a prestig-
ious high school, after which she studied journalism at
yale University. jenny is currently looking for a job and
applying to various English-speaking newspapers and
magazines all over the world.

Sebastian started learning English at the age of seven

when he went to primary school. Because his parents
wanted him to have a very good command of English,
they hired an English tutor when the boy was ten. Sebas-
tian is now fifteen. He enjoys reading English novels and
watching american films in English. He has already been
to England, Scotland, and new Zealand. next year, he is
going to participate in a student exchange programme
and spend one year in the United States.

Bidisha was born in Kolkata, West Bengal. Her father was

a Bengali, whereas her mother came from new delhi. Her
father started teaching her English when she was six. He
would explain to her the meanings of different English
words in Bengali. When Bidisha became older, her par-
ents sent her to a convent, a private school for girls, where
classes were taught in English. Bidisha studied Languages
and Linguistics at jawaharlal nehru University in new del-
hi. She is now married and works as a translator for a
company in new delhi. Bidisha has a three-year-old
son. Because her husband comes from Gujarat, they
speak English in their family.
Drawings of students
cIrclEs Of EnglIsh 27

LISTEnInG ComPREHEnSIon

Learn English by learning other people’s stories

Listen to the sound files you can find at the links listed below. you will hear dif-
ferent people telling stories about their lives. Some of them are native and some
of them are non-native speakers of English. moreover, they come from different
regions in the world.

» http://web.ku.edu/~idea/europe/england/england42.mp3
» http://web.ku.edu/~idea/australiaoceania/australia/australia16.mp3
» http://web.ku.edu/~idea/europe/italy/italy4.mp3

1. Listen to the sound files and retell each of the stories in your own words!
2. Which story do you find most fascinating? Explain.
3. Listen to the speaker’s language one more time. decide what helps you to
indentify whether a given speaker is a native speaker of the language or not.
Explain.

mInI PRojECT
English has spread all
over the world. The infl
mutual. many words hav uence, however, has
e recently come into En been
Here are some examp glish from other langua
les: ges.

language Word Meaning Example

Italian spaghetti a type of pasta spaghetti served with
meat
french café au lait a type of coffee café au lait to go
German pretzel a bread roll a Bavarian pretzel
russian sputnik satellite launch a sputnik

Think of words that hav

e come into English fro
m your native language.
28 english as a global language

self-study i

Write an essay about why it may or may not be important to learn English. Give at
least three arguments. In addition, describe the role that English plays as a global
language today.

The following statements about English may help you to get started:

1. English exerts influence on different cultures and different languages all over
the world.
2. English mixes with other languages (for example Chinese, Japanese, Hindi,
etc.) and thus develops into new forms.
3. English is destroying other peoples’ cultures and languages.
4. English is the medium of Internet communication.
5. English is the language of youth culture.
6. English is taught as a foreign language in schools much more often than
other languages such as French, Spanish, Italian, etc.
7. English is important because it will help you to get a well-paid job.
8. English is the language of the global media and pop culture.
9. English not only shapes but is also shaped by other cultures and languages.
10. The languages of the major trade blocs (such as Arabic, Malay, Chinese,
Russian, Spanish, and German) are likely to replace English as means of
international (business) communication in the future.

self-study ii

Take a look at the mind map given below. Expand the list of the Englishes belong-
ing to the inner, outer, and expanding circles. Don’t forget to explain your choice.

Inner circle English as a Global Language Outer circle

British English Indian English
American English Nigerian English
Australian English Singapore English
... Expanding circle ...
Russian English
French English
German English
...
circles of english 29

project

McArthur’s model of Englishes

Tom McArthur is the author of a much discussed model of World Englishes pub-
lished in the July issue of English Today in 1987. In his model, he proposes that
Englishes should be organised into three different circles. At the very centre of
the model there is World Standard English, which is an idealised variety of written
English. The second circle of the model is allotted to those regional varieties of
English that have developed or have started to develop their own standards. The
third circle of the model is occupied by those forms of English that are not codified
in grammatical and lexicographic descriptions. In other words, these Englishes
are not standardised. You can find an adaptation of McArthur’s model in the table
below.

1. Learn more about McArthur’s model by reading the article ‘The English lan-
guages?’ published in English Today (1987:3, 9–13).
2. Do you think the notion of World Standard English as elaborated on by McAr-
thur (1987) is a useful term? Explain!
3. Discuss advantages and disadvantages of the model proposed by McArthur
in pairs.
4. Write down all of your pros and cons and write an essay in which you argue
for or against the model of World Englishes suggested by McArthur.

Standard(ising)
Non-standard varieties
Englishes

British and Irish English English, Scottish English, …

American Northern, Midland, Southern, …

Canadian Quebec, Newfoundland, Athabascan, …

World Caribbean Jamaican, Barbadian, Trinidadian, …

Standard
English African Nigerian, Ghanaian, South African, …

South Asian Indian, Pakistani, …

East Asian Hong Kong, Singapore, …

Australian, New Zealand Australian, Aboriginal, New Zealand, …

30 english as a global language

Sources

texts
[1] Crystal, David. 2003. English as a Global Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 59–60. © David Crystal, 1997, 2003, published by Cambridge University Press,
reproduced with permission.
[2] Power, Carla. 2005. “Not the Queen’s English”. Newsweek, March 07, 2005, 63–67. ©
2005 The Newsweek/Daily Beast Company LLC. All rights reserved. Used by permission
and protected by the Copyright Laws of the United States. The printing, copying,
redistribution, or retransmission of the Material without express written permission is
prohibited.
[3] Jenkins, Jennifer. 2003. World Englishes: A Resource Book for Students. New York:
Routledge, 42–43. © 2003 Reproduced by permission of Taylor & Francis Books UK.

pictures and figures

Map of World Englishes: © Isabel Peters. Hamburg, 2011.
Circles of English: Crystal, David. 2003. English as a Global Language. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 61. © David Crystal, 1997, 2003, published by Cambridge University
Press, reproduced with permission.
Summer school: © Isabel Peters. Hamburg, 2011.
Multilingual society: Linguistic Diversity Management in Urban Areas (LiMA), University of
Hamburg. Hamburg, 2011.
Flags: © Isabel Peters. Hamburg, 2011.
Drawings of students: © Isabel Peters. Hamburg, 2012.

references and further reading

Crystal, David. 2003. English as a Global Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press.
McArthur, Tom. 1987. The English languages? English Today 3:3, 9–13.
Mesthrie, Rajend. 2006. World Englishes and the multilingual history of English. World
Englishes 25:3/4, 381–390.
Mesthrie, Rajend and Rakesh M. Bhatt. 2008. World Englishes. The Study of New
Linguistic Varieties (Key Topics in Sociolinguistics). Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 3–6.
circles of english 31

[i] The International Corpus of English. Singaporean Component. Spoken Texts. S1A-
004.
[ii] Lewis, M. Paul (ed.). 2009. Ethnologue: Languages of the World. Dallas, Tex.: SIL
International. Online version: http://www.ethnologue.com/.
[iii] Flood, Alison. 2009. “Vikram Seth writes Suitable Boy sequel”. The Gurdian Online,
July 03, 2009. <http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/jul/03/vikram-seth-suitable-
boy-sequel>, September 01, 2011.
Inner circle

Chapter 2

Irish English
irish english 35

Introduction

Irish English, also known as Hiberno- munity, the Great Famine of the late
English, is one of the so-called Celtic 1840s, and the emigration to the New
Englishes, i.e. varieties of English spo- World. The first event led to the estab-
ken in the regions originally inhabited lishment of an educational system in
by the Celtic population. These areas in- which instruction took place in English.
clude Ireland, Scotland, the Isle of Man, The Great Famine decimated the Irish-
and Cornwall. speaking population, which died from
The variety of Irish English is the starvation, and caused massive poverty
result of contact between English and in Ireland. Those who could afford to
Irish Gaelic, the history of which can left Ireland for North America and Aus-
be traced back to the 12th century, when tralia.
the country was invaded by a joint force English thus was adopted as a second
comprising Anglo-Normans, English, language by large parts of the popula-
Welsh, and some Flemish (Hickey 2007: tion. Many people did not learn English
30). English did not really gain ground at school but acquired it spontaneously
at that time, though. Rather, the colonis- from native speakers or more proficient
ers became proficient in two languages peers. The immediate repercussion of
gradually shifting to Irish (Mesthrie and this sociolinguistic situation was that the
Bhatt 2008: 14). English, however, con- English of these speakers retained many
tinued to be spoken in the area around grammatical, lexical, and phonological
Dublin and its hinterland up until the features associated with the direct influ-
16th century. Vernaculars of English ence of the Celtic mother tongue.
spoken in these parts of Ireland may This chapter introduces some of
even today still bear traces of the lan- these features in the Reading Compre-
guage associated with the first English hension activities The Great Famine, A
settlement (Hickey 2007: 432). letter from home, and Janey Mac!. The
It was not until the beginning of the editorial Irish English from Spotlight
17th century that English steadily began Magazine introduces you to the differ-
to gain ground throughout Ireland. The ences between standard English and
19th century was marked by an increas- Irish English. Finnegan’s Wake, a tradi-
ing shift towards English and a con- tional Irish song, broadens your knowl-
comitant decline of Irish. Three events edge of Irish English and Irish culture
in particular account for these processes: as does A quick guide to Ireland at the
The emancipation of the Catholic com- outset of the chapter.
36 InnEr cIrclE varIEtIEs Of EnglIsh

A quick guide to Ireland Shamrock

What languages do people speak?

according to the Irish constitution, Irish is the first What kind of country is
and English only the second official language of Ireland?
the country.
However, the everyday language of most Shortly after World War I,
people is actually English, and Irish is spoken by the southern part of Ireland
only a small proportion of the population as a first gained independence from
language. nevertheless, it is a compulsory school the United Kingdom. Ireland
subject and some proficiency of it is a require- has changed enormously
ment for some posts in the public service. since it joined the European
Within Ireland, we can further distinguish two Economic Community in
important Hiberno-English dialect boundaries: 1973. from a rather less
There is a marked north-south divide resulting developed European coun-
from the influence of Scottish settlers arriving in try with a largely agricultural
northern Ireland mainly in the 17th century. Within society, Ireland evolved
the South, an east-west division can be observed, into a modern, high-tech
as English gained ground much quicker in the economy with a rather high
East of Ireland, and Irish standard of living.
remained more stable in
the West. Leprechaun

ULSTER
(Ireland) ULSTER
Flag of Ireland (Northern Ireland)

Belfast
What are shamrocks and leprechauns?
CONNACHT
ULSTER
(Ireland)
They are both symbols traditionally associ-
Roscommon
ated with Ireland. The shamrock is a small Tuam Dublin
green plant that has three leaves. Shamrocks
Galway LEINSTER
with four leaves are normally extremely rare Kildare
and thus considered to be a symbol of luck.
a leprechaun is a small male creature
with magical powers believed to inhabit the Wexford
MUNSTER
lonely parts of Ireland. Leprechauns usually Dingle
take the form of old men who engage in shoe- Cork
making and playing tricks. Map of Ireland
IrIsh EnglIsh 37

What about Irish culture?

although Ireland is quite small, it has produced

many world-famous authors such as George Ber-
nard Shaw, William Butler yeats, Samuel Beckett,
and Seamus Heaney, all of whom won the nobel
Prize for Literature.
apart from literature, the Irish tradition of folk
music and folk dance is known worldwide.
furthermore, Ireland is also the home of many
internationally successful pop and rock bands
and singers such as U2, Enya, Bob Geldof, The
Cranberries, and Rory Gallagher, many of whom William Butler Yeats
incorporate elements of traditional Irish music and
culture into their work.
What is the Water of Life?

It is an Irish specialty and is com-

What was the Great Famine? monly known as whiskey. The word
Whiskey derives from the Irish Gael-
the Great Famine (1845–1849), also ic phrase uisce beatha which means
called the Irish Potato Famine, was ‘water of life’.
a time of hunger, misery, and mass Whiskey is just one
emigration originally caused by a example of the group of
potato disease, and which ultimately English words which are
had dramatic effects on the popula- of Irish or Gaelic origin.
tion and demographic development others include such well-
of Ireland. during this time, approxi- known terms as slogan,
mately one million people died from bog, clan, and Tory.
hunger and diseases and between
one and two million people emigrated
from Ireland. although the underlying
potato disease affected the whole of
Europe, the consequences in Ireland
were much worse due to the political,
social, and economic circumstances. Whiskey bottle

The Great Famine [Based on #i – #vii]

38 inner circle varieties of english

introductory exercise for a letter from home

The Great Famine

Put the verbs in brackets into the correct tense.

Although, Ireland __________(rule) by England for several centuries, it was only

in 1801 that it officially became a part of the United Kingdom. In the following
decades, however, the British rulers __________(have to) realise that governing
Ireland was extremely difficult. Enquiries of the British government __________
(reveal) that Ireland __________(be) in danger of starvation, and that despite
the extremely poor standard of living and the fact that three-quarters of the Irish
work-force __________(be) unemployed, its population __________(be) rapidly
increasing.

The census of 1841 __________(count) more than eight million people in

Ireland of whom the majority depended directly on agriculture for their living.
However, many farms were so small that the only crop that __________(can,
grow) to sustain a family on these tiny parcels of land was the potato.

The result was a major catastrophe between 1845 and 1849, when one po-
tato crop after the other failed due to a plant disease, called potato blight. Many
farmers __________(can) now neither feed their families nor pay the rent to their
landlord, who, in turn, __________(drive) them off their farms. Furthermore, as
the potato constituted the main or even the sole food for a substantial part of the
Irish population, hunger and disease were the inevitable consequence.

Today, it is estimated that about one million people __________(die) in Ire-

land between 1846 and 1851. In addition, between one and two million people
__________(emigrate) from Ireland to other countries during this period, particu-
larly to Great Britain and the United States. The areas that __________(suffer)
the most from the Great Famine __________(be) the South and the West of
the island, which by that time were the areas in which the native Irish Gaelic
language was still the dominant one. As a result, the Great Famine, together with
the British policy that clearly favoured and enforced the use of the English lan-
guage, was also responsible for the massive shift from Irish Gaelic to English that
Random documents with unrelated
content Scribd suggests to you:
William lovingly gathered up his stag beetle and woodlice and centipedes
and earwigs and took them downstairs, leaving his mother groaning over
the crumby marmalady drawer....
He put them into cardboard boxes and punched holes in the tops. He put
Albert, the gem of the collection, in a small box in his pocket.
Then it began to rain and he came back to the house.
There was nothing to do....
He wandered from room to room. No one was in. The only sounds were
the sounds of the rain and of his mother furiously scrubbing at the drawer
upstairs. He wandered into the kitchen. It was empty. On the table by the
window was a row of jam jars freshly filled and covered. His mother had
made jam that morning. William stood by the table, half sprawling over it,
resting his head on his hands and watched the rain disconsolately. There
was a small knife on the table. William took it up and, still watching the
rain, absent-mindedly “nicked” in all the taut parchment covers one by
one. He was thinking of Albert. As he nicked in the parchment, he was
vaguely conscious of a pleasant sensation like walking through heaped-up
fallen leaves or popping fuschia buds or breaking ice or treading on nice
fat acorns.... He was vaguely sorry when the last one was “nicked.”
Then his mother came in.
“William!” she screamed as she saw the jam jars.
“What’ve I done now?” said William innocently. “Oh ... those! I jus’ wasn’t
thinking what I was doin’. Sorry!”
Mrs. Brown sat down weakly on a kitchen chair.
“I don’t think anyone ever had a boy like you ever before William,” she
said with deep emotion. “The work of hours.... And it’s after time for you
to get ready for Miss Lomas’ class. Do go, and then perhaps I’ll get a little
peace!”

* * * * * *
Miss Lomas lived at the other end of the village. She held a Bible class for
the Sons and Daughters of Gentlefolk every Saturday afternoon. She did
it entirely out of the goodness of her heart, and she had more than once
regretted the goodness of her heart since that Son of Gentlefolk known to
the world as William Brown had joined her class. She had worked hard to
persuade Mrs. Brown to send him. She thought that she could influence
William for good. She realised when William became a regular attendant
of her class that she had considerably over-estimated her powers. William
could only be persuaded to join the class because most of his friends, not
without much exertion of maternal authority, went there every Saturday.
But something seemed to have happened to the class since William joined
it. The beautiful atmosphere was destroyed. No beautiful atmosphere was
proof against William. Every Saturday Miss Lomas hoped that something
would have happened to William so that he could not come, and every
Saturday William hoped equally fervently that something would have
happened to Miss Lomas so that she could not take the class. There was
something dispirited and hopeless in their greeting of each other....
William took his seat in the dining-room where Miss Lomas always held
her class. He glanced round at his fellow students, greeting his friends
Ginger and Henry and Douglas with a hideous contortion of his face....
Then he took a large nut out of his pocket and cracked it with his teeth.
“Not in here, William,” said Miss Lomas faintly.
“I was goin’ to put the bits of shell into my pocket,” said William. “I wasn’t
goin’ to put ’em on your carpet or anything, but ’f you don’t want me to’s
all right,” he said obligingly, putting nut and dismembered shell into his
pocket.
“Now we’ll say our verses,” said Miss Lomas brightly but keeping a
fascinated apprehensive eye on William. “William, you begin.”
“’Fraid I din’t learn ’em,” said William very politely. “I was goin’ to last
night an’ I got out my Bible an’ I got readin’ ’bout Jonah in the whale’s
belly an’ I thought maybe it’d do me more good than St. Stephen’s
speech an’ it was ever so much more int’restin’.”
“That will do, William,” said Miss Lomas. “We’ll—er—all take our verses for
granted this afternoon, I think. Now, I want to give you a little talk on
Brotherly Love.”
“Who’s Saint Valentine?” said William who was burrowing in his prayer-
book.
“Why, William?” said Miss Lomas patiently.
“Well, his day seems to be comin’ this month,” said William.
Miss Lomas, with a good deal of confusion, launched into a not very clear
account of the institution of Saint Valentine’s Day.
“Well, I don’t think much of him ’s a saint,” was William’s verdict, as he
took out another nut and absent-mindedly cracked it, “writin’ soppy
letters to girls instead of gettin’ martyred prop’ly like Peter an’ the others.”
Miss Lomas put her hand to her head.
“You misunderstand me, William,” she said. “What I meant to say was—
Well, suppose we leave Saint Valentine till later, and have our little talk on
Brotherly Love first.... Ow-w-w!”
Albert’s box had been accidentally opened in William’s pocket, and Albert
was now discovered taking a voyage of discovery up Miss Lomas’ jumper.
Miss Lomas’ spectacles fell off. She tore off Albert and rushed from the
room.
William gathered up Albert and carefully examined him. “She might have
hurt him, throwing him about like that,” he said sternly. “She oughter be
more careful.”
Then he replaced Albert tenderly in his box.
“Give us a nut,” said Ginger.
Soon all the Sons and Daughters of Gentlefolk were cracking nuts, and
William was regaling them with a racy account of Jonah in the whale’s
belly, and trying to entice Albert to show off his tricks....
“Seems to me,” said William at last thoughtfully, looking round the room,
“we might get up a good game in this room ... something sort of quiet, I
mean, jus’ till she comes back.”
But the room was mercifully spared one of William’s “quiet” games by the
entrance of Miss Dobson, Miss Lomas’ cousin, who was staying with her.
Miss Dobson was very young and very pretty. She had short golden curls
and blue eyes and small white teeth and an attractive smile.
“My cousin’s not well enough to finish the lesson,” she said. “So I’m going
to read to you till it’s time to go home. Now, let’s be comfortable. Come
and sit on the hearthrug. That’s right. I’m going to read to you ‘Scalped
by the Reds.’”
William drew a deep breath of delight.
At the end of the first chapter he had decided that he wouldn’t mind
coming to this sort of Bible class every day.
At the end of the second he had decided to marry Miss Dobson as soon
as he grew up....

* * * * * *
When William woke up the next morning his determination to marry Miss
Dobson was unchanged. He had previously agreed quite informally to
marry Joan Crewe, his friend and playmate and adorer, but Joan was
small and dark-haired and rather silent. She was not gloriously grown-up
and tall and fair and vivacious. William was aware that marriage must be
preceded by courtship, and that courtship was an arduous business. It
was not for nothing that William had a sister who was acknowledged to
be the beauty of the neighbourhood, and a brother who was generally
involved in a passionate if short-lived affaire d’amour. William had ample
opportunities of learning how it was done. So far he had wasted these
opportunities or only used them in a spirit of mockery and ridicule, but
now he determined to use them seriously and to the full.
He went to the garden shed directly after breakfast and discovered that
he had made the holes in his cardboard boxes rather too large and the
inmates had all escaped during the night. It was a blow, but William had
more serious business on hand than collecting insects. And he still had
Albert. He put his face down to where he imagined Albert’s ear to be and
yelled “Albert” with all the force of his lungs. Albert moved—in fact
scuttled wildly up the side of his box.
“Well, he cert’n’ly knows his name now,” said William with a sigh of
satisfaction. “It’s took enough trouble to teach him that. I’ll go on with
tricks now.”
He went to school after that. Albert accompanied him, but was
confiscated by the French master just as William and Ginger were
teaching it a trick. The trick was to climb over a pencil, and Albert, who
was labouring under a delusion that freedom lay beyond the pencil, was
picking it up surprisingly well. William handed him to the French master
shut up in his box, and was slightly comforted for his loss by seeing the
master on opening it get his fingers covered with Albert’s marmalade
ration for the day, which was enclosed in the box with Albert. The master
emptied Albert out of the window and William spent “break” in fruitless
search for him, calling “Albert!” in his most persuasive tones ... in vain, for
Albert had presumably returned to his mourning family for a much-
needed “rest cure.”
“Well, I call it stealin’,” said William sternly, “takin’ beetles that belong to
other people.... It’d serve ’em right if I turned a Bolshevist.”
“I don’t suppose they’d mind what you turned,” said Ginger unfeelingly
but with perfect truth.
It was a half-holiday that afternoon, and to the consternation of his family
William announced his intention of staying at home instead of as usual
joining his friends the Outlaws in their lawless pursuits.
“But, William, some people are coming to tea,” said Mrs. Brown helplessly.
“I know,” said William. “I thought p’raps you’d like me to be in to help
with ’em.”
The thought of this desire for William’s social help attributed to her by
William, left Mrs. Brown speechless. But Ethel was not speechless.
“Well, of course,” she remarked to the air in front of her, “that means that
the whole afternoon is spoilt.”
William could think of no better retort to this than, “Oh, yes, it does, does
it? Well, I never!”
Though he uttered these words in a tone of biting sarcasm and with what
he fondly imagined to be a sarcastic smile, even William felt them to be
rather feeble and added hastily in his normal manner:
“’Fraid I’ll eat up all the cakes, I s’pose? Well, I will if I get the chance.”
“William, dear,” said Mrs. Brown, roused to effort by the horror of the
vision thus called up, “do you think it’s quite fair to your friends to desert
them like this? It’s the only half-holiday in the week, you know.”
“Oh, ’s all right,” said William. “I’ve told ’em I’m not comin’. They’ll get on
all right.”
“Oh, yes, they’ll be all right,” said Ethel in a meaning voice and William
could think of no adequate reply.
But William was determined to be at home that afternoon. He knew that
Laurence Hinlock, Ethel’s latest admirer, was expected and William wished
to study at near quarters the delicate art of courtship. He realised that he
could not marry Miss Dobson for many years to come, but he did not see
why his courtship of her should not begin at once.... He was going to
learn how it was done from Laurence Hinlock and Ethel....
He spent the earlier part of the afternoon collecting a few more insects
for his empty boxes. He was still mourning bitterly the loss of Albert. He
deliberately did not catch a stag beetle that crossed his path because he
was sure that it was not Albert. He found an earwig that showed distinct
signs of intelligence and put it in a large, airy box with a spider for
company and some leaves and crumbs and a bit of raspberry jam for
nourishment. He did not give it marmalade because marmalade reminded
him so poignantly of Albert....
Then he went indoors. There were several people in the drawing-room.
He greeted them rather coldly, his eye roving round the while for what he
sought. He saw it at last.... Ethel and a tall, lank young man sitting in the
window alcove in two comfortable chairs, talking vivaciously and
confidentially. William took a chair from the wall and carried it over to
them, put it down by the young man’s chair, and sat down.
 “DON’T YOU WANT TO GO AND PLAY WITH YOUR
FRIENDS?” ASKED THE YOUNG MAN.

There was a short, pregnant silence.

“Good afternoon,” said William at last.
“Er—good afternoon,” said the young man.
There was another silence.
“Hadn’t you better go and speak to the others?” said Ethel.
“I’ve spoke to them,” said William.
There was another silence.
“Don’t you want to go and play with your friends?” asked the young man.
“No, thank you,” said William.
Silence again.
“I think Mrs. Franks would like you to go and talk to her,” said Ethel.
“No, I don’t think she would,” said William with perfect truth.
The young man took out a shilling and
handed it to William.
“Go and buy some sweets, for yourself,” he
said.
William put the shilling in his pocket.
“Thanks,” he said. “I’ll go and get them to-
night when you’ve all gone.”
There was another and yet deeper silence.
Then Ethel and the young man began to
talk together again. They had evidently
decided to ignore William’s presence.
William listened with rapt attention. He
wanted to know what you said and the sort
of voice you said it in.
“St. Valentine’s Day next week,” said
Laurence soulfully.
“Oh, no one takes any notice of that
nowadays,” said Ethel.
“I’m going to,” said Laurence. “I think it’s a
“NO, THANK YOU,” SAID beautiful idea. Its meaning, you know ...
WILLIAM. true love.... If I send you a Valentine, will
you accept it?”
“That depends on the Valentine,” said Ethel with a smile.
“It’s the thought that’s behind it that’s the vital thing,” said Laurence
soulfully. “It’s that that matters. Ethel ... you’re in all my waking dreams.”
“I’m sure I’m not,” said Ethel.
“You are.... Has anyone told you before that you’re a perfect Botticelli?”
“Heaps of people,” said Ethel calmly.
“I was thinking about love last night,” said Laurence. “Love at first sight.
That’s the only sort of love.... When first I saw you my heart leapt at the
sight of you.” Laurence was a great reader of romances. “I think that
we’re predestined for each other. We must have known each other in
former existences. We——”
“Do speak up,” said William irritably. “You’re speaking so low that I can’t
hear what you’re saying.”
“What!”
The young man turned a flaming face of fury on to him. William returned
his gaze quite unabashed.
“I don’ mean I want you to shout,” said William, “but just speak so’s I can
hear.”
The young man turned to Ethel.
“Can you get a wrap and come into the garden?” he said.
“Yes.... I’ve got one in the hall,” said Ethel, rising.
William fetched his coat and patiently accompanied them round the
garden.

* * * * * *
“What do people mean by sayin’ they’ll send a Valentine, Mother?” said
William that evening. “I thought he was a sort of saint. I don’ see how
you can send a saint to anyone, specially when he’s dead ’n in the Prayer
Book.”
“Oh, it’s just a figure of speech, William,” said Mrs. Brown vaguely.
“A figure of what?” said William blankly.
“I mean, its a kind of Christmas card only it’s a Valentine, I mean.... Well,
it had gone out in my day, but I remember your grandmother showing me
some that had been sent to her ... dried ferns and flowers pasted on
cardboard ... very pretty.”
“Seems sort of silly to me,” said William after silent consideration.
“People were more romantic in those days,” said Mrs. Brown with a sigh.
“Oh, I’m romantic,” said William, “if that means bein’ in love. I’m that all
right. But I don’ see any sense in sendin’ pasted ferns an’ dead saints and
things.... But still,” determinedly, “I’m goin’ to do all the sort of things
they do.”
“What are you talking about, William?” said Mrs. Brown.
Then Ethel came in. She looked angrily at William.
“Mother, William behaved abominably this afternoon.”
“I thought he was rather good, dear,” said Mrs. Brown mildly.
“What did I do wrong?” said William with interest.
“Followed us round everywhere listening to everything we said.”
“Well, I jus’ listened, din’ I?” said William rather indignantly. “I din’
interrupt ’cept when I couldn’t hear or couldn’t understand. There’s
nothing wrong with jus’ listenin’, is there?”
“But we didn’t want you,” said Ethel furiously.
“Oh ... that!” said William. “Well, I can’t help people not wanting me, can
I? That’s not my fault.”
Interest in Saint Valentine’s Day seemed to have infected the whole
household. On February 13th William came upon his brother Robert
wrapping up a large box of chocolates.
“What’s that?” said William.
“A Valentine,” said Robert shortly.
“Well, Miss Lomas said it was a dead Saint, and Mother said it was a
pasted fern, an’ now you start sayin’ it’s a box of chocolates! No one
seems to know what it is. Who’s it for, anyway?”
“Doreen Dobson,” said Robert, answering without thinking and with a
glorifying blush.
“Oh, I say!” said William indignantly. “You can’t. I’ve bagged her. I’m
going to do a fern for her. I’ve had her ever since the Bible Class.”
“Shut up and get out,” said Robert.
Robert was twice William’s size.
William shut up and got out.

* * * * * *
The Lomas family was giving a party on Saint Valentine’s Day, and William
had been invited with Robert and Ethel. William spent two hours on his
Valentine. He could not find a fern, so he picked a large spray of yew-tree
instead. There was no time to dry it, so he tried to affix it to paper as it
was. At first he tried with a piece of note-paper and flour and water, but
except for a generous coating of himself with the paste there was no
result. The yew refused to yield to treatment. It was too strong and too
large for its paper. Fortunately, however, he found a large piece of thick
cardboard, about the size of a drawing-board, and a bottle of glue, in the
cupboard of his father’s writing desk. It took the whole bottle of glue to
fix the spray of yew-tree on to the cardboard, and the glue mingled freely
with the flour and water on William’s clothing and person. Finally he
surveyed his handiwork.
“Well, I don’ see much in it now it’s done,” he said, “but I’m jolly well
going to do all the things they do do.”
He went to put on his overcoat to hide the ravages beneath, and met
Mrs. Brown in the hall.
“Why are you wearing your coat, dear?” she said solicitously. “Are you
feeling cold?”
“No. I’m just getting ready to go out to tea. That’s all,” said William.
“But you aren’t going out to tea for half an hour or so yet.”
“No, but you always say that I ought to start gettin’ ready in good time,”
said William virtuously.
“Yes, of course, dear. That’s very thoughtful of you,” said Mrs. Brown,
touched.
William spent the time before he started to the party inspecting his insect
collection. He found that the spider had escaped and the earwig was
stuck fast in the raspberry jam. He freed it, washed it, and christened it
“Fred.” It was beginning to take Albert’s place in his affections.
Then he set off to Miss Lomas’ carrying his Valentine under his arm. He
started out before Ethel and Robert because he wanted to begin his
courtship of Miss Dobson before anyone else was in the field.

“WHAT IS IT, WILLIAM?” ASKED MISS DOBSON.

“A VALENTINE,” REPEATED WILLIAM. “MY valentine.”

Miss Lomas opened the door. She paled slightly as she saw William.
“Oh ... William,” she said without enthusiasm.
“I’ve come to tea,” William said, and added hastily, “I’ve been invited.”
“You’re rather early,” said Miss Lomas.
“Yes, I thought I’d come early so’s to be sure to be in time,” said William,
entering and wiping his feet on the mat. “Which room’re we goin’ to have
tea in?”
With a gesture of hopelessness Miss Lomas showed him into the empty
drawing-room.
“It’s Miss Dobson I’ve really come for,” explained William obligingly as he
sat down.
Miss Lomas fled, but Miss Dobson did not appear.
William spent the interval wrestling with his Valentine. He had carried it
sticky side towards his coat, and it now adhered closely to him. He
managed at last to tear it away, leaving a good deal of glue and bits of
yew-tree still attached to his coat.... No one came.... He resisted the
temptation to sample a plate of cakes on a side table, and amused
himself by pulling sticky bits of yew off his coat and throwing them into
the fire from where he sat. A good many landed on the hearthrug. One
attached itself to a priceless Chinese vase on the mantelpiece. William
looked at what was left of his Valentine with a certain dismay. Well ... he
didn’t call it pretty, but if it was the sort of thing they did he was jolly well
going to do it.... That was all.... Then the guests began to arrive, Robert
and Ethel among the first. Miss Dobson came in with Robert. He handed
her a large box of chocolates.
“A Valentine,” he said.
“Oh ... thank you,” said Miss Dobson, blushing.
William took up his enormous piece of gluey cardboard with bits of
battered yew adhering at intervals.
“A Valentine,” he said.
Miss Dobson looked at it in silence. Then:
“W-what is it, William?” she said faintly.
“A Valentine,” repeated William shortly, annoyed at its reception.
“Oh,” said Miss Dobson.
Robert led her over to the recess by the window which contained two
chairs. William followed, carrying his chair. He sat down beside them.
Both ignored him.
“Quite a nice day, isn’t it?” said Robert.
“Isn’t it?” said Miss Dobson.
“Miss Dobson,” said William, “I’m always dreamin’ of you when I’m
awake.”
“What a pretty idea of yours to have a Valentine’s Day party,” said Robert.
“Do you think so?” said Miss Dobson coyly.
“Has anyone ever told you that you’re like a bottled cherry?” said William
doggedly.
“Do you know ... this is the first Valentine I’ve ever given anyone?” said
Robert.
Miss Dobson lowered her eyes.
“Oh ... is it?” she said.
“I’ve been thinkin’ about love at first sight,” said William monotonously. “I
got such a fright when I saw you first. I think we’re pre-existed for each
other. I——”
“Will you allow me to take you out in my side-car to-morrow?” said
Robert.
“Oh, how lovely!” said Miss Dobson.
“No ... pre-destinated ... that’s it,” said William.
Neither of them took any notice of him. He felt depressed and
disillusioned. She wasn’t much catch anyway. He didn’t know why he’d
ever bothered about her.
“Quite a lady-killer, William,” said General Moult from the hearth-rug.
“Beg pardon?” said William.
“I say you’re a lady-killer.”
“I’m not,” said William, indignant at the aspersion. “I’ve never killed no
ladies.”
“I mean you’re fond of ladies.”
“I think insects is nicer,” said William dispiritedly.
He was quiet for a minute or two. No one was taking any notice of him.
Then he took up his Valentine, which was lying on the floor, and walked
out.

* * * * * *
The Outlaws were in the old barn. They greeted William joyfully. Joan, the
only girl member, was there with them. William handed her his cardboard.
“A Valentine,” he said.
“What’s a Valentine?” said Joan who did not attend Miss Lomas’ class.
“Some say it’s a Saint what wrote soppy letters to girls ’stead of gettin’
martyred prop’ly, like Peter an’ the others, an’ some say it’s a bit of fern
like this, an’ some say it’s a box of chocolates.”
“Well, I never!” said Joan, surprised, “but it’s beautiful of you to give it to
me, William.”
“It’s a jolly good piece of cardboard,” said Ginger, ’f we scrape way these
messy leaves an’ stuff.”
William joined with zest in the scraping.
“How’s Albert?” said Joan.
After all there was no one quite like Joan. He’d never contemplate
marrying anyone else ever again.
“He’s been took off me,” said William.
“Oh, what a shame, William!”
“But I’ve got another ... an earwig ... called Fred.”
“I’m so glad.”
“But I like you better than any insect, Joan,” he said generously.
“Oh, William, do you really?” said Joan, deeply touched.
“Yes—an’ I’m goin’ to marry you when I grow up if you won’t want me to
talk a lot of soppy stuff that no one can understand.”
“Oh, thank you, William.... No, I won’t.”
“All right.... Now come on an’ let’s play Red Indians.”

The End
Transcriber’s Notes:
Variations in spelling and hyphenation are retained.
Perceived typographical errors have been changed.
*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK STILL—WILLIAM
***

Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions

will be renamed.

Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S.

copyright law means that no one owns a United States
copyright in these works, so the Foundation (and you!) can copy
and distribute it in the United States without permission and
without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, set forth in the
General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to copying and
distributing Project Gutenberg™ electronic works to protect the
PROJECT GUTENBERG™ concept and trademark. Project
Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if
you charge for an eBook, except by following the terms of the
trademark license, including paying royalties for use of the
Project Gutenberg trademark. If you do not charge anything for
copies of this eBook, complying with the trademark license is
very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose such
as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
research. Project Gutenberg eBooks may be modified and
printed and given away—you may do practically ANYTHING in
the United States with eBooks not protected by U.S. copyright
law. Redistribution is subject to the trademark license, especially
commercial redistribution.

START: FULL LICENSE

THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
 PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK

To protect the Project Gutenberg™ mission of promoting the

free distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this
work (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase
“Project Gutenberg”), you agree to comply with all the terms of
the Full Project Gutenberg™ License available with this file or
online at www.gutenberg.org/license.

Section 1. General Terms of Use and

Redistributing Project Gutenberg™
electronic works
1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg™
electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand,
agree to and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual
property (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree
to abide by all the terms of this agreement, you must cease
using and return or destroy all copies of Project Gutenberg™
electronic works in your possession. If you paid a fee for
obtaining a copy of or access to a Project Gutenberg™
electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the terms
of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or
entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.

1.B. “Project Gutenberg” is a registered trademark. It may only

be used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by
people who agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement.
There are a few things that you can do with most Project
Gutenberg™ electronic works even without complying with the
full terms of this agreement. See paragraph 1.C below. There
are a lot of things you can do with Project Gutenberg™
electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement and
help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg™
electronic works. See paragraph 1.E below.
1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation (“the
Foundation” or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the
collection of Project Gutenberg™ electronic works. Nearly all the
individual works in the collection are in the public domain in the
United States. If an individual work is unprotected by copyright
law in the United States and you are located in the United
States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from copying,
distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative works
based on the work as long as all references to Project
Gutenberg are removed. Of course, we hope that you will
support the Project Gutenberg™ mission of promoting free
access to electronic works by freely sharing Project Gutenberg™
works in compliance with the terms of this agreement for
keeping the Project Gutenberg™ name associated with the
work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement
by keeping this work in the same format with its attached full
Project Gutenberg™ License when you share it without charge
with others.

1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also
govern what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most
countries are in a constant state of change. If you are outside
the United States, check the laws of your country in addition to
the terms of this agreement before downloading, copying,
displaying, performing, distributing or creating derivative works
based on this work or any other Project Gutenberg™ work. The
Foundation makes no representations concerning the copyright
status of any work in any country other than the United States.

1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project

Gutenberg:

1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other

immediate access to, the full Project Gutenberg™ License must
appear prominently whenever any copy of a Project
Gutenberg™ work (any work on which the phrase “Project
Gutenberg” appears, or with which the phrase “Project
Gutenberg” is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed,
viewed, copied or distributed:

This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United

States and most other parts of the world at no cost and
with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it,
give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project
Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at
www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United
States, you will have to check the laws of the country
where you are located before using this eBook.

1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg™ electronic work is

derived from texts not protected by U.S. copyright law (does not
contain a notice indicating that it is posted with permission of
the copyright holder), the work can be copied and distributed to
anyone in the United States without paying any fees or charges.
If you are redistributing or providing access to a work with the
phrase “Project Gutenberg” associated with or appearing on the
work, you must comply either with the requirements of
paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use
of the work and the Project Gutenberg™ trademark as set forth
in paragraphs 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.

1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg™ electronic work is

posted with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and
distribution must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through
1.E.7 and any additional terms imposed by the copyright holder.
Additional terms will be linked to the Project Gutenberg™
License for all works posted with the permission of the copyright
holder found at the beginning of this work.

1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project

Gutenberg™ License terms from this work, or any files
 containing a part of this work or any other work associated with
Project Gutenberg™.

1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute

this electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1
with active links or immediate access to the full terms of the
Project Gutenberg™ License.

1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form,
including any word processing or hypertext form. However, if
you provide access to or distribute copies of a Project
Gutenberg™ work in a format other than “Plain Vanilla ASCII” or
other format used in the official version posted on the official
Project Gutenberg™ website (www.gutenberg.org), you must,
at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a copy,
a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy
upon request, of the work in its original “Plain Vanilla ASCII” or
other form. Any alternate format must include the full Project
Gutenberg™ License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.

1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,

performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg™
works unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.

1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or

providing access to or distributing Project Gutenberg™
electronic works provided that:

• You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive
from the use of Project Gutenberg™ works calculated using the
method you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The
fee is owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg™ trademark,
but he has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to
the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty
 payments must be paid within 60 days following each date on
which you prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your
periodic tax returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked
as such and sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
Foundation at the address specified in Section 4, “Information
about donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
Foundation.”

• You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who

notifies you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt
that s/he does not agree to the terms of the full Project
Gutenberg™ License. You must require such a user to return or
destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium
and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of
Project Gutenberg™ works.

• You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of

any money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in
the electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90
days of receipt of the work.

• You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
distribution of Project Gutenberg™ works.

1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project

Gutenberg™ electronic work or group of works on different
terms than are set forth in this agreement, you must obtain
permission in writing from the Project Gutenberg Literary
Archive Foundation, the manager of the Project Gutenberg™
trademark. Contact the Foundation as set forth in Section 3
below.

1.F.

1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend

considerable effort to identify, do copyright research on,
transcribe and proofread works not protected by U.S. copyright
law in creating the Project Gutenberg™ collection. Despite these
efforts, Project Gutenberg™ electronic works, and the medium
on which they may be stored, may contain “Defects,” such as,
but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or corrupt data,
transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual property
infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a
computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be
read by your equipment.

1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except

for the “Right of Replacement or Refund” described in
paragraph 1.F.3, the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
Foundation, the owner of the Project Gutenberg™ trademark,
and any other party distributing a Project Gutenberg™ electronic
work under this agreement, disclaim all liability to you for
damages, costs and expenses, including legal fees. YOU AGREE
THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT
EXCEPT THOSE PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE
THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY
DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE LIABLE
TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL,
PUNITIVE OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE
NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.

1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you

discover a defect in this electronic work within 90 days of
receiving it, you can receive a refund of the money (if any) you
paid for it by sending a written explanation to the person you
received the work from. If you received the work on a physical
medium, you must return the medium with your written
explanation. The person or entity that provided you with the
defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu
of a refund. If you received the work electronically, the person
or entity providing it to you may choose to give you a second
opportunity to receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund.
If the second copy is also defective, you may demand a refund
in writing without further opportunities to fix the problem.

1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set

forth in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you ‘AS-IS’,
WITH NO OTHER WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF
MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.

1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied

warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of
damages. If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this
agreement violates the law of the state applicable to this
agreement, the agreement shall be interpreted to make the
maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by the applicable
state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any provision of
this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.

1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the

Foundation, the trademark owner, any agent or employee of the
Foundation, anyone providing copies of Project Gutenberg™
electronic works in accordance with this agreement, and any
volunteers associated with the production, promotion and
distribution of Project Gutenberg™ electronic works, harmless
from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, that
arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you
do or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project
Gutenberg™ work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or
deletions to any Project Gutenberg™ work, and (c) any Defect
you cause.

Section 2. Information about the Mission

of Project Gutenberg™
Project Gutenberg™ is synonymous with the free distribution of
electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of
computers including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new
computers. It exists because of the efforts of hundreds of
volunteers and donations from people in all walks of life.

Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the

assistance they need are critical to reaching Project
Gutenberg™’s goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg™
collection will remain freely available for generations to come. In
2001, the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was
created to provide a secure and permanent future for Project
Gutenberg™ and future generations. To learn more about the
Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and how your
efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 and the
Foundation information page at www.gutenberg.org.

Section 3. Information about the Project

Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non-
profit 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the
laws of the state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status
by the Internal Revenue Service. The Foundation’s EIN or
federal tax identification number is 64-6221541. Contributions
to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation are tax
deductible to the full extent permitted by U.S. federal laws and
your state’s laws.

The Foundation’s business office is located at 809 North 1500

West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887. Email contact
links and up to date contact information can be found at the
Foundation’s website and official page at
www.gutenberg.org/contact
 Section 4. Information about Donations to
the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
Foundation
Project Gutenberg™ depends upon and cannot survive without
widespread public support and donations to carry out its mission
of increasing the number of public domain and licensed works
that can be freely distributed in machine-readable form
accessible by the widest array of equipment including outdated
equipment. Many small donations ($1 to $5,000) are particularly
important to maintaining tax exempt status with the IRS.

The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws

regulating charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of
the United States. Compliance requirements are not uniform
and it takes a considerable effort, much paperwork and many
fees to meet and keep up with these requirements. We do not
solicit donations in locations where we have not received written
confirmation of compliance. To SEND DONATIONS or determine
the status of compliance for any particular state visit
www.gutenberg.org/donate.

While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states

where we have not met the solicitation requirements, we know
of no prohibition against accepting unsolicited donations from
donors in such states who approach us with offers to donate.

International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot

make any statements concerning tax treatment of donations
received from outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp
our small staff.

Please check the Project Gutenberg web pages for current

donation methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a
number of other ways including checks, online payments and
credit card donations. To donate, please visit:
www.gutenberg.org/donate.

Section 5. General Information About

Project Gutenberg™ electronic works
Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project
Gutenberg™ concept of a library of electronic works that could
be freely shared with anyone. For forty years, he produced and
distributed Project Gutenberg™ eBooks with only a loose
network of volunteer support.

Project Gutenberg™ eBooks are often created from several

printed editions, all of which are confirmed as not protected by
copyright in the U.S. unless a copyright notice is included. Thus,
we do not necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any
particular paper edition.

Most people start at our website which has the main PG search
facility: www.gutenberg.org.

This website includes information about Project Gutenberg™,

including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg
Literary Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new
eBooks, and how to subscribe to our email newsletter to hear
about new eBooks.
Welcome to our website – the ideal destination for book lovers and
knowledge seekers. With a mission to inspire endlessly, we offer a
vast collection of books, ranging from classic literary works to
specialized publications, self-development books, and children's
literature. Each book is a new journey of discovery, expanding
knowledge and enriching the soul of the reade

Our website is not just a platform for buying books, but a bridge
connecting readers to the timeless values of culture and wisdom. With
an elegant, user-friendly interface and an intelligent search system,
we are committed to providing a quick and convenient shopping
experience. Additionally, our special promotions and home delivery
services ensure that you save time and fully enjoy the joy of reading.

Let us accompany you on the journey of exploring knowledge and

personal growth!

ebookgate.com