Social variation and norms in Outer Circle Englishes

Conveners:

Véronique Lacoste (Université Lumière Lyon 2), veronique [dot] lacoste [at] univ-lyon2 [dot] fr

Gerald Stell (University of Lausanne), gerald [dot] stell [at] unil [dot] ch

Description:

The Dynamic Model often proves hesitant in describing Outer Circle varieties as having reached Phase 4, endonormative stabilization, since local high-status English norms are presumed to not have become firmly established (Schneider 2007). This workshop takes a fresh look at norms in the Outer Circle, examining whether and how local high-status varieties develop across Outer Circle environments. A guiding assumption is that, being used as a lingua franca in day-to-day interactional contexts, English in the Outer Circle necessarily develops regular patterns under the effect of recurrent face-to-face accommodation dynamics, in line with Trudgill’s (2004) model of how colonial Englishes develop. A predictable outcome of regularization is stratification into high and low-status varieties.

Looking at variation dynamics in English, the workshop generally aims to shed light on emergent ideologies of sociolinguistic prestige in Outer Circle societies and how these interact with local patterns of social stratification. Countries in the Outer Circle are often multiethnic, multilingual, and shaped by postcolonial racial ideologies. Some ethnolinguistic groups may command more socio-economic prestige than others, potentially due to their historical proximity to colonial power or urban centers. How does this impact the emergence of local high-status English varieties across Outer Circle societies?

The question of where high-status English varieties are located in Outer Circle societies need not be framed solely in ethnoracial terms. Gender and social class may also serve as analytical lenses. Based on vernacular-standard continua, the Labovian paradigm posits that women and upwardly mobile classes align more closely with high-status linguistic variants. Do Outer Circle Englishes also reveal an emergent polarization between low-status and high-status variants, with women and upwardly mobile classes associating more with ethnically neutral forms of English? To what extent are these varieties perceived as less “local” and more “exogenous”?

The workshop showcases naturalistic speech data, including translanguaging involving English alongside local languages. These data also include experimental, socially stratified monolingual English data, as well as perceptual data on patterns of English usage. The workshop brings together case studies spanning Asia, Africa, and the Caribbean. They pursue a shared goal: to identify the social forces shaping English variation and norm formation in Outer Circle societies, to eventually arrive at a representation of the Outer Circle that stresses its sociolinguistic coherence.

SUBMIT YOUR ABSTRACT

For the Thematic Sessions, we invite proposals for individual papers consisting of a 20-minute presentation followed by 10 minutes of discussion. The abstracts should conform to the template found HERE.

References:
Schneider, Edgar. 2007. Postcolonial English. Varieties around the world. CUP.
Trudgill, Peter. 2004. New-dialect formation: The inevitability of colonial Englishes. CUP.