The Diversity and the Unity of the World Englishes

The Diversity and The Unity of the World Englishes

By: Erna Sulistyawati

Nowadays English is as an international language, so there are many people who want to master it. The reason of this case is because they believe that English can bring their future better. English will bring people walks around the world if it can be mastered by them. According to Crystal (2007:60-61) in 1985 Kachru described the world of English in terms of three circles. This essay tries to explain the diversity between new Englishes and New Englishes.

The inner circle is called as new Englishes it symbolizes the native English varieties in L1 speakers. The new Englishes can be found in the Caribbean and in West African and East African societies. Those variety of English includes pidgin, and creole that the total users are much higher than the Standard English. According to Crystal (2007:66) in Nigeria, for example, over 40 per cent of the population use Nigerian Pidgin English as a second language. It indicates that the variation of English in the inner circle is really used by its users who have adopted some linguistics features which vary from British or American forms.

The outer circle and the expanding circle is called as New Englishes. It reflects the variety of English in L2 and the society who speak english as a foreign language. The New Englishes society can be found in China, Russia, Indonesia and Brazil. As we know that the number of people in the outer and expanding circle (according to Kachru’s three cicle’s of English) is bigger than those in the inner circle it cannot be regarded that English belongs to the native spaker’s language. English as an international language belongs to no single culture.

Overall, the explanation above show the diversity and the unity, the richness and the creativeness between new Englishes and New Englishes in the World Englishes.

References

Crystal, D. (2003). English as a Global Language. New York: Cambridge University Press.