Download Edgar W. Schneider`s Postcolonial English: Varieties around the

Edgar W. Schneider’s Postcolonial English: Varieties around the world. (Cambridge
approaches to language contact.) Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007.
[Contains a]n account of the evolutionary factors involved in the spread of English around the world
and a new model for analyzing postcolonial varieties of English (PCEs):
evolving new varieties of English go through a cyclic series of characteristic phases, determined by
extra-linguistic conditions. Individual countries in which PCEs are spoken are regarded as positioned at
different phases along this cycle, an explanation which accounts for some of the differences observed in
the shapes and roles of PCEs.
Ch. 3, ‘The evolution of postcolonial Englishes: The dynamic model’, posits 5 progressive stages of PCEs:
1 Foundation stage—English is used on a regular basis in a region where it was not used previously (not
necessarily in a linguistically homogeneous way): colonization
2 Exonormative stabilization—communities stabilize politically under foreign (Br) dominance, with
expatriates providing the primary norms for usage
3 Nativization—a fundamental transition towards independence (politically, culturally, and
linguistically): unique linguistic usages and structures (differentiation from the homeland)
4 Endonormative stabilization—the new nation adopts its own lg norms rather than adhering to external
norms
5 Differentiation—internal diversification takes over: new dialects evolve on their own: differently from
how lg change is proceeding in the former homeland.
Each of these stages is to be examined according to 4 parameters:
1 sociopolitical background,
2 identity construction,
3 sociolinguistic conditions, and
4 linguistic effects.
Postcolonial English(es)
(extracted from a review by Eric A. Anchimbe at http://linguistlist.org/issues/19/19-958.html)
The study of English varieties has used several denominations for its subject-matter:
non-native Englishes, second language (L2) varieties, World Englishes, New Englishes, nativized,
indigenized, localized, domesticated Englishes, etc.
Edgar W. Schneider (2007) came up with yet another name: the expression “Postcolonial Englishes” had
been used before in books and articles, e.g. Moore (2001), Mair (2003), Hickey (2004) but Hickey (2004)
rather pays more attention to the first colonial expansion, which involved settlement of British people in
Australia, New Zealand, North America, South Africa, South Asia, especially. In proposing what is ''the
first unified, coherent theory to account specifically for the evolution of PCEs [Postcolonial Englishes]
around the globe'' (p.4), Schneider adopts this name ''not only because it is more neutral but also because
it focuses precisely on [...] a specific evolutionary process tied directly to their colonial and postcolonial
history.'' The variation in names mirrors the ever increasing interest in the field of varieties of English in a
way similar to the ever increasing attraction of speakers of other languages to English. While this interest
has increased over the years, the disparaging views prominent in the discourse in the 1980s and 1990s
seem to be converging with fewer and fewer scholars still emphasizing that non-native varieties of
English, especially those that emerged after the second colonization (i.e. exploitation colonization), are
degenerate and sub-standard due to several factors, among them, the interference of indigenous languages
and poor acquisition patterns. Schneider's ''Dynamic Model'' therefore comes in handy to consolidate this
convergence, uniting the often isolated analysis of individual Postcolonial Englishes into a more compact
framework from which generalizations could be made that trace a somewhat uniform evolutionary
trajectory for these Englishes. This model is intended to illustrate how the foreign language, English,
sheds off its foreignness to become an indigenous language in the areas to which it was transported by the
forces of colonialism. (…)
This book takes up, in a larger and deeper manner, the ideas and facts reported in Schneider's earlier
paper ''The dynamics of New Englishes: From identity construction to dialect birth'' published in
_Language_ 79 (pp.233-81, 2003). Although maintaining the core issues discussed in that paper, it
''presents a wide range of new data and case studies'' while at the same time developing, modifying and
expanding certain elements of the core hypothesis (p.xiii).
The book is made up of seven chapters including the introduction (chapter 1) and conclusion (chapter 7).
The introduction presents the author's aims, justifies the name ''Postcolonial English'', and summarizes the
other chapters. It also discusses, briefly, the complex nature of English: a language of international
communication that links people across the globe but one that has diversified, Schneider adds ''contrary to
expectation'', and has developed local, ''homegrown forms and uses in many locations'' (p.1); a language
imposed by colonizers in certain areas but still adopted in postcolonial times as a neutral code for official
national business, without any resentment to it as a symbol of ''foreign dominance and loss of political
and cultural sovereignty'' (p.2).
The core thesis of the book is that, in spite of the seeming dissimilarities—historical, linguistic, and
social—between locations to which English spread, there is a fundamental uniformity in the
developmental process of the language in all these postcolonial areas, shaped variously by ecological
(mostly external ecological or extra-linguistic) factors.
Adopting Mufwene's (2001) concept of the feature pool, Chapter 2, ''Charting the territory: Postcolonial
Englishes as a field of linguistic investigation'', traces the origins of PCEs, their evolution as discussed by
theorists in the past few decades, and the linguistic disciplines that served as precursors in studying
variation in PCEs. These include dialect geography, sociolinguistics and contact linguistics (Pidgin and
Creoles studies, especially).
Schneider, like Mufwene and others, declares as misguided the popular idea that there is just one standard
of the language from which other varieties, especially non-native (i.e. New Englishes or PCEs) are simply
deviant, broken and incorrect realizations. In classifying Pidgins and Creoles together with PCEs and
combing through the major divergent views on their origins and development, Schneider makes the claim,
consistent with the thesis of this book and with recent scholarship (see Mufwene 2001, Degraff 2003),
that both Creoles and PCEs ''are largely products of language contact, albeit to varying degrees, which
provides a common framework for them to be investigated'' (p.11). Contact, he insists, is ubiquitous in the
evolution of languages and language varieties even though historical linguists have tended to
overemphasize the purity of languages by playing down the impact of contact on them. The chapter
identifies two widely adopted theoretical models of PCEs: the distinction of English as a native
language, English as a second language, and English as a foreign language (EFL) (see McArthur
1998), and Kachru's (1985) ''The Three Circles'' model. Both models however are fuzzy and
superficial since they neither exhaustively list countries that belong to each of the categories nor provide
linguistic features identifiable with each of them. The Dynamic Model hopefully would fill this
theoretical gap. Schneider groups the approaches into four categories: theoretical, political, descriptive
and applied, arranged on two dimensions: ''attention to linguistic structure'' and ''level of generality''
(p.15).
The focus of Chapter 3, ''The evolution of postcolonial Englishes: The Dynamic Model'', is largely on
the ''Dynamic Model'', which the author in the first section of the chapter situates within relevant and
supportive theoretical models viz Mufwene's (2001) feature pool idea and Thomason's (2001) language
contact hypothesis/theory. Emphasizing the uniformity of underlying processes in the evolution of PCEs,
the Dynamic Model, motivated largely by language contact, upholds that in the course of selecting
features from the feature pool, ''speakers keep redefining and expressing their linguistic and social
identities, constantly aligning themselves with other individuals and thereby accommodating their speech
behavior to those they wish to associate and be associated with'' (p.21). The model has five phases that
follow each other on a progressive, historical plane: foundation (the arrival and initial widespread use of
English in a previously non-English-speaking location), exonormative stabilization (stable usage of
English dictated predominantly by settler native speakers and based on the native variety they brought
with them), nativization (both settler and indigenous realities are reflected in the new hybrid coexistence), endonormative stabilization (an indigenous linguistic norm takes root and is accepted by
members of the community), and differentiation (members of the community display linguistic
independence and pride in the variety they speak). Each of these phases is marked by the sociopolitical
background at the time, speakers' identity constructions, the sociolinguistic conditions that shape them,
and the linguistic effects that result from all these. The author exemplifies these in greater detail in the
case studies (chapter 5).
Chapter 4, ''Linguistic aspects of nativisation'', investigates the structural, linguistic properties of PCEs
and their possible origins. Schneider makes a thorough presentation of major linguistic features
(phonology, lexis and grammar) of PCEs from Jamaica right across to Singapore in a peculiar manner that
accentuates the process of structural nativization, which he confesses, is ''the core component and the
most interesting parameter of the Dynamic Model''(p.71). Using many examples, he identifies the major
linguistic processes on the road to nativization, evaluating them, among other things, from the perspective
of internal and external factors in language change, and the nature of features contributed to the feature
pool. So, features of PCEs are the outcome of continuity, innovation and exaptation, and contact. These
features, especially competing equivalents, go through diffusion and selection (Mufwene 2001) before
arriving at the norm of the variety through the aid of factors like: demography, frequency of usage,
historical depth, markedness of forms, salience of forms, transparency and regularity, status of speakers,
identity-marking functions of linguistic forms, and similarity and difference between L1 and L2 forms
and patterns (p. 110-111). Ironically, external rather internal factors are more powerful in the selection of
competing features.
In chapter 5, ''Countries along the cycle: Case studies'', the Dynamic Model is applied to specific
postcolonial countries (and also to the language varieties spoken there): Fiji, Australia, New Zealand,
Hong Kong, The Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, India, South Africa, Kenya, Tanzania, Nigeria,
Cameroon, Barbados, Jamaica and Canada. In a systematic manner, the author presents characteristics
of the phases of the model the country has gone through, the one in which it is, and those it may
potentially go through in the future. Plotting these phases into historical dates is for convenience and
orientation because overlaps exist and transitions generally occur over long periods of time. Fiji, with
English as a de facto official language (p.116), is plotted in phase 2 of the cycle. Though there are signs
of nativization, i.e. phase 3, it is difficult to say this phase and later phases would be reached. This is
because the two major populations of the country do not seem to work in the direction of a joint national
identity. Similarly, Cameroon has moved into phase 3 but may remain stuck there because of the lack of
statehood in the two provinces where English is spoken and competition from French (co-official
language). The Philippines is placed in phase 3, with indications that it may cross to phase 4. But this is
also uncertain due to changing external ecological realities, specifically, non-attachment to English,
linked with opulent, politically strong elite and socioeconomic stagnation. Nigeria is in transition from
phase 3 to 4. In the absence of ''stabilization of a more homogenous concept of a Standard Nigerian
English'' (p.212), English (and even Pidgin English) have nevertheless gained respectable statuses among
ordinary Nigerians. India, with its long history of contact with English, occupies phase 3 but also shows
early symptoms of phase 4. Though thawing, there is still resentment to English considered a class-pruned
language; and this is not about to change, except Indians' raison-d'être for using English changes from a
utilitarian to a community solidarity code (p.173). Currently in phase 3, Malaysian English has some
signs of later stages, but as it stands ''it would be futile to claim that Malaysia has moved or is moving
beyond phase 3'' (p.152) due to unacceptability and the prevalence of an exonormative norm. With up to
80% assumed speakers of English, Kenya occupies phase 3 as well. Due to language mixing, competition
from other languages, Kiswahili especially, Schneider explains that nativization is still ongoing in Kenya
and since English is spreading rather gradually, ''its potential scope seems largely confined'' (p.196). Very
similar to Kenya historically, Tanzania has a different linguistic experience given that English went
through a ''repression phase'' (Schmied 1991), which has left it stuck in early stages of phase 3. English
seems to have been reduced from the English as a second language to the English as a foreign language
status. Hong Kong is one of the last outposts of British colonialism, having received independence only a
decade ago (1997). This recent contact with colonialist English does not seem to have an added advantage
for Hong Kong English completing the Dynamic Model cycle. It is still in phase 3 - Hong Kong is
perhaps ''an interesting test case for the predictive implications of the Dynamic Model'' (p.139).
Singapore, contrary to the above countries, is already in phase 4 of the cycle. Singaporeans show
communion in their local variety, which for them is a ''symbolic expression of the pride [...] in their
nation' '(p.160). If this trend continues unperturbed, then Singapore is a sure candidate (among
exploitation ex-colonies) to complete the Dynamic Model cycle (like Australia, Canada and New
Zealand). Jamaica occupies phase 4 and in spite of strong competition from Jamaican Creole, the
language of daily interpersonal communication, Jamaican English seems poised for phase 5 signaled by
symptoms of diversity. Also a Caribbean country and a plantation colony like Jamaica, Barbados is also
in phase 4 characterized by, among other things, ''the growth of an indigenous literature that prides itself
in local traditions and language'' (p.226).The settlement colonies, Australia, Canada, New Zealand,
have completed the cycle albeit at different historical periods and under divergent political and linguistic
circumstances. Complex as it is and fitting into both English as a native language/English as a second
language and Inner/Outer Circle classifications, South Africa is in phase 4 even though ''it is not justified
to talk of a single, stabilised, variety'' (p.188). The ''rainbow revolution'' that ended apartheid and brought
Nelson Mandela to power in 1994 changed South African identities and rekindled interest in English,
raising prospects of phase 5.
After the succinct application of the Dynamic Model to the so-called New Englishes, Chapter 6, ''The
cycle in hindsight: The emergence of American English'', concentrates on American English, plotting it
on the five phases of the model and setting right the misguided conception that American English—
though functioning as one of the two reference accents—is indeed a Postcolonial English. Contrary to, but
along the same lines as, the Postcolonial Englishes surveyed in chapter 5, American English ''has already
come full cycle, experiencing a fragmentation into new regional and social identity carriers'' (p.308).
Schneider illustrates the place of adstrate and substrate influences on the emergence and evolution of
these regional varieties. Presently, American English is diversifying into a ''host of new varieties [that]
have emerged or intensified their distinctive features'' (p.307).While emphasizing in chapter 7,
''Conclusion'', that ''[t]he globalisation of English will continue'', Schneider submerges the Dynamic
Model deeper into social networks between people who live together for good and must therefore
socialize and adjust to each other (p.317). This does not mean that the model would continue to be as
consistent as it is today given, as the author insists, that social realities are constantly changing and, like
many other earlier theories, it might also ''meet with certain difficulties when faced with the messy
realities of real life situations'' (p.310).
EVALUATION Increasingly and authoritatively so, studies of language contact phenomena in the socalled colonial world are pulling them from the peripheral, other, exceptional, abnormal evolutionary
patterns they have been misguidedly or prejudicially classified into, back into mainstream linguistic
agenda. On the heels of Mufwene's (2001) Feature Pool Idea comes Schneider's Dynamic Model, both of
which, though designed on colonially-induced language contact situations, could be conveniently applied
to all situations of language evolution - whether plagued by colonial-style power relations and
multilingualism or not. Schneider's Postcolonial English appears at a very suitable time when most
studies of varieties of English were/are treating them as individual specifics of given regions. Tracing,
and excellently so, a uniform underlying evolutionary path for all of them, in spite of differences in the
''settler'', ''adstrate'' and ''indigenous'' strands in the transmission of English, is going to radically reshape
the research agenda in this discipline. His uniformatarian hypothesis opens the way for cautious
generalizations on the internal ecologies of Postcolonial Englishes from Cameroon across to Malaysia and
over to Jamaica. The author is however cautious to point out the possible restrictions to the application of
the model. The book is without doubt an invaluable companion for not only linguists but also cultural
theorists, anthropologists, sociologists, political analysts (although Schneider vehemently states he is
avoiding political undertones of as touchy a topic as colonialism - though ironically impossible for the
type of in-depth research he carries out), and other scholars interested in language spread, contact and
change. The often contradictory aspects of postcolonial contexts, e.g. nationhood, identity,
multilingualism, and ethnicity, are well sewn into the Dynamic Model. The core hypothesis comes
through very convincingly helping the reader to grasp some of the misguided assumptions held of
language speciation in postcolonial contexts. The use of extensive data to back the model leaves no doubt
as to its applicability and usefulness in explicating complex processes that had hitherto been discussed in
isolation. This book is therefore a recommended reading for students, researchers, specialists and nonspecialists alike and will certainly revolutionize research agendas in the field of varieties of English.
ABOUT THE REVIEWER
Eric A. Anchimbe is Assistant Professor of English Linguistics at the University of Bayreuth, Germany.
see also: http://www.docstoc.com/docs/57414993/The-New-Englishes---PowerPoint-P and
http://assets.cambridge.org/97805210/30014/excerpt/9780521030014_excerpt.pdf