Other Models of Classification Strevens's World Map of English

Other Models of Classification

Strevens's World Map of English

The oldest map of the spread of English is Strevens's world map of English. His world map, even predating that of Kachru's three circles, showed that since American English became a separate variety from British English, all subsequent Englishes have had affinities with either one or the other.

McArthur's Circle of World English

McArthur's 'wheel model' has an idealized central variety called 'World Standard English', which is best represented by 'written international English'. The next circle is made of regional standards or standards that are emerging. Finally, the outer layer consists of localized varieties which may have similarities with the regional standards or emerging standards.

Although the model is neat, it raises several problems. Firstly, the three different types of English - ENL, ESL and EFL, are conflated in the second circle. Secondly, the multitude of Englishes in Europe are also missing in this layer. Finally, the outside layer includes pidgins, creoles and L2 Englishes. Most scholars would argue that English pidgins and creoles do not belong to one family: rather they have overlapping multiple memberships.

Görlach's Circle model of English

Manfred Görlach's and McArthur's models are reasonably similar. Both exclude English varieties in Europe. As Görlach does not include EFLs at all, his model is more consistent, though less comprehensive. Outside the circle are mixed varieties (pidgins, creoles and mixed languages involving English), which are better categorized as having partial membership.

Modiano's model of English

In Modiano's model of English, the center consists of users of English as an International Language, with a core set of features which are comprehensible to the majority of native and competent non-native speakers of English. The second circle consists of features which may become internationally common or may fall into obscurity. Finally, the outer area consists of five groups (American English, British English, other major varieties, local varieties, foreign varieties) each with features peculiar to their own speech community and which are unlikely to be understood by most members of the other four groups.

The World Englishes paradigm is not static, and neither are rapidly changing realities of language use worldwide. The use of English in the Outer and Expanding Circle societies (refer to Kachru's Three Circles of English) continues its rapid spread, while at the same time new patterns of language contact and variety differentiation emerge. The different varieties range from English in the Inner circle societies such as the USA, Canada, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand, to the Outer circle post-colonial societies of Asia and Africa. The World Englishes initiative, in recognizing and describing the New Englishes of the Caribbean, Africa and Asia, has been partly motivated by a consideration of the local linguistic factors and partly by a consideration of the wider cultural and political contexts of language acquisition and use. This, in turn, has involved the creative rewriting of discourses towards a recognition of pluralism and multiple possibilities for scholarship. The notion of varieties in this context is similarly dynamic, as new contexts, new realities, new discourses, and new varieties continue to emerge.

The terms language and dialect are not easily defined concepts. It is often suggested that languages are autonomous, while dialects are heteronomous. It is also said that dialects, in contrast with languages, are mutually intelligible, though this is not always the case. Dialects are characteristically spoken, do not have a codified form and are used only in certain domains. In order to avoid the difficult dialect-language distinction, linguists tend to prefer a more neutral term, variety, which covers both concepts and is not clouded by popular usage. This term is generally used when discussing World Englishes.