GLOBAL ENGLISH: ENGLISH VARIETIES AND

ENGLISHEES THROUGHOUT THE WORLD

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 Table of contents

INTRODUCTION / 4

CHAPTER I: Theoretical aspects / 5

I.1. Definitions / 5
I.2. From variation to Hybridity / 6

CHAPTER II: English Varieties / 8

II.1. American and British Varieties / 8
II.2. English in Canada / 16
II.3. English in Australia / 19
II.4. English in South Africa / 20
II.5. Hybrid Languages based on English – Englishees / 21

CHAPTER III: English as a ligua franca / 25

III.1. Concept / 25
III.2. Attitudes towards ELF / 27

CASE STUDY: Slang – A non-standard variety of English / 30

CONCLUSIONS / 37

REFERENCE LIST / 38

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 Introduction

English is nowadays more and more often used in the context of globalization. It
has undoubtely became a global language. The aim of this paper is to show how its great
diversity and variety led to this. Most of the languages spoken on this earth do not have
varieties: they have different accents or dialects. In most of the cases, the native speakers
of the same language understand each other when they speak, even if they have different
accents. But the situation of the English language is different. Sometimes its hybrids
cannot be understood, not even by a native English speaker (we will see for instance the
case of pidgin English).
Even trying to establish a norm when it comes to English language, is very often a
difficult task. A person from the United States for instance, will refer of himself as a native
English speaker. So will an Australian person and so will a British one. But they will all
have in mind different varieties of the language. The things complicate even more with
people speaking hybrids based on English. And as if it weren’t enough, there is a
significant number of people speaking English as a lingua franca, a form of English that
cannot be defined as a variety, since it is influenced by the mother tongue of the person
who speaks it.
In what follows, we will try to present different varieties of English, spoken around
the globe. The emphasis will be on the peculiar features of each variety or English based
hybrid. There are, without any doubt, common elements, because we are talking about the
same language. But the point is to show how widespread and intensively used the English
language is.
In a way, this variety and adaptability of the English language led to the appearance
of the ‘English as a lingua franca’ concept. From here to becoming a global language, it is
just a small step.

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 Chapter I: Theoretical Aspects

I.1. Definitions
As a departing point of this paper, we should clearly define some terms that are to
be used in what follows. In order to avoid confusion, we should make the distinction
between accents, dialects and varieties:

Accents, dialects and (language) varieties refer to the speech habits that characterize a
particular region or social group. Linguists tend to distinguish between dialect (a variety
described in terms of pronunciation, grammar, semantics) and accent (restricted to
pronunciation). In linguistics these terms do not have any evaluative associations and nor
are trey restricted to non-standard varieties of language. Language variety is a more general
term that avoids having to specify whether one is concerned with an accent, dialect or,
indeed, a particular language. (Mesthrie and Swann, 2010: 76)

According to the MacMillan English Dictionary, the accent is “a way of saying

words that shows what country, region or social class someone comes from” (2006: 7), a
dialect is “a way of speaking the language that is used only in a particular area or by a
particular group” (2006: 381) and a variety is “a collection of number of people, things,
ideas, etc that are all different from one another” (2006: 1590). To this last definition, we
can add that when it comes to linguistic varieties, they do have common elements.
When you hear someone talking, you can usually say after a few words whether
they have an American, Australian or Scottish accent. An accent is something you can hear
and it is related purely with the sound you make when you talk, with the way you
pronounce words. This is why an accent is one of the first indicators of a dialect or variety
of language.
Another aspect that needs to be clarified is the idea of standard English:

Standard English, like other standard languages, is usually identified as a variety that is
relatively uniform, does not vary regionally, is used for a range of (usually formal)
functions and is codified in dictionaries and grammars. Standard languages are formed by a

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 process of standardization, often seen as falling into four stages: the ‘selection’ of a
regional or social variety as the basis of the standard; ‘codification of the variety’;
‘implementation’ – the promotion an acceptance of standard norms within the community;
and continuing ‘elaboration’ of the variety to fulfill a variety of communicative functions.
(Hauge, as cited by Mesthrie and Swann, 2010: 77)

I. 2. From variation to hybridity

The English language is variable up to the point where some people consider the
term ‘English’ itself as some kind of fiction. It is known that English changed over time so
much, so that Old English, spoken around 1000 years ago, would be unintelligible to the
people that know and speak English nowadays. When we refer to contemporary English,
we cannot have in mind a ‘static’ language: it varies geographically and socially so much,
that again, speakers of different varieties sometimes have difficulties understanding each
other.
According to Swann, the study of such variation, diversity and change is in the
responsibility of sociolinguistics because it deals with “the study of language that stresses
the interrelationship between language and social life, rather than focusing narrowly on
language structure.” (Swann, 2044: 76)
We can see that this kind of study is problematic, due to many aspects. Identifying
English variations is difficult because:
 Even though different descriptions of varieties of English focus on their distinctive
features, varieties of language often share many features in common;
 It is not always easy to clearly separate different varieties, for instance Standard
English and a non-standard variety or two or more regional varieties of English;
 Even the varieties themselves may also encompass considerable internal variability;
 Separating two varieties up to the point where to call them different languages is
not only a matter of linguistics, but it also has socio-political implications, most of
the time;
 Descriptions of language variation tend to take a standard variety as a reference
norm (for instance, a non-standard dialect may be described in relation to standard
English, pointing out just those features that differ from the identified standard).

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 This is also the case of new ‘Englishes’ that tend to be described in comparison
with the British norm. (Swann, 2004: 78)

What is obvious is that this existing wide variety of the English language, combined
with the social, economical, political and cultural background of non-native English
speakers led to the appearance of hybrids based on English. A hybrid is, as the names
suggests it, a mixture between a language or set of languages and a standard variety of
English.

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 Chapter II: English Varieties

Before trying to establish and describe a little bit the English varieties around the
world, it is important to see who speaks English. We can agree that there are three main
kinds of English speakers. First of all, there are those people who speak it as a native
language: in Britain, US, Canada, Australia, New Zeeland, South Africa. In each of these
countries, people established their own variety of English.
Secondly, there are the people who speak English as a second language, in
countries like India, West Africa – Nigeria, East Africa. According to Pioariu (2011: 89), in
these countries English has became a kind of elite second language. This means it is
required for further education, government jobs or other important positions. But what
happens is that in areas in which English is used extensively as a second language, there is
usually a distinct variety of English developing which is heavily influenced by the other
languages used alongside English. These types of varieties are usually called ‘New
Englishes’ and are common in South Asia, South-East Asia, Africa and Caribbean. These
varieties are characterized by vitality and great dynamic of change, but we will get back to
them later in what follows.
The third group is represented by the growing number of people learning English as
a foreign language (EFL) and also by those who use it for international communication.
This category has no ‘model’ English, even though we can say that it resembles the
American variety most of the times.
.

II.1. American and British Varieties

Although it may not be possible in a collection of formal written documents to discern,

except by spelling, which are by British writers and which by Americans, it is easy in any
gathering of speakers to distinguish the British from the American. (Algeo, 2001: 71)

The American and British varieties are the most wide spread and well known
varities of English. They represent, of course, the varieties spoken in US, respectively

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Great Britain. Even though they are similar in many ways, there are also differences
between them, especially at the levels of accent and vocabulary.
In his article called When did Americans lose their British Accents?, Matt Soniak
claims that the main difference between the two accents is what he calls the rhotacism. He
claims that the General American accent is rhotic, which means that its speakers pronounce
the r in words such as hard. The Received Pronunciation is, according to him, non-rhotic,
which means that the British speakers do not pronounce the r, leaving hard sounding more
like a hahd.
Matt Soniak claims that the non-rhotic speech developed in southern England at the
beginning of the nineteenth century among the upper and upper-middle classes. It was a
symbol of class and status. During the time, this accent was standardized as Received
Pronunciation and it got to be learned, especially be people who wanted to speak
fashionably.
The intonation is a characteristic that is extremely different within British and
American English. In American English it is smooth, it lacks the variety of pitches and
tones found in British English, and also the diversity of modulation. Moreover, the
Americans talk slower than the British, having as a common feature the “southern drawl”,
which is a slower way of speaking. (Pioariu, 2001: 21).
The area of vocabulary is the most relevant one while seeking differences between
the two varieties of English. It is the linguist aspect that shows us clearly how different the
English varieties are, according to the countries in which they are spoken.
We will present a list containing the most common different words used by the two
varieties, with their Romanian equivalent:
British English American English Romanian
aerial antenna antena
anywhere anyplace oriunde
autumn fall toamna
banknote bill bancnota
bill check nota de plata
bonnet hood capota
braces suspenders bretele
boot trunk portbagaj
Chemist’s drugstore farmacie
class grade clasa
cupboard closet bufet de bucatarie
condom rubber prezervativ
film movie film
flat apartment apartament

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 Full stop period punct
handbag purse poseta
holiday vacation pacanta
lift elevator lift
lorry truck camion
mark grade nota
motorway freeway autostrada
crossing crosswalk trecere de pietoni
petrol Gas, gasoline benzina
Postal code Zip code cod postal
Prison jail inchisoare
rubbish Garbage, trash gunoi
Single ticket One way ticket bilet - dus
spirits liquor bauturi alcoolice
surname Last name nume de familie
sweets candies bomboane
tap faucet robinet
taxi cab taxi
timetable schedule orar
tin can cutie de conserve
underground subway metrou
chap guy tip

(Pioariu, 2001: 23-24).

If we take a close look at the table we can notice that the words belong to multiple
areas, but as a common feature they represent words used in everyday life. Except for
these, are particular fields for which the terminology used slightly differs from the British
variety to the American one. The educational system represents one of these situations.
In Britain, primary school means a school for children between 5 and 11 years old,
secondary school means a school for young people of (usually) 11-18 years and a
grammar school represents a type of secondary which concentrates on academic rather
than technical or practical courses. An infant, in British education is a child between the
ages of 4 and 7. a comprehensive education is dedicated to pupils of all abilities in the same
school, which makes a comprehensive school a large secondary school at which children of
all abilities are taught.
In the US’s educational system junior college is a type of college offering students
courses for two years before they complete their studies in a senior college. A junior high
school is a school for young people in grades seven to nine. A middle school is a school for
children between 9 and 13 years old and a high school is a school providing more

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advanced education than a primary or middle school. A grammar school represents in US a
primary or elementary school. A coed is a female student at a coeducational school or
college. (Pioariu, 2001: 35-36, 84).
The two varieties a wide range of differences when it comes to the area of clothing.
This is just another occasion to spot the diversity of the English language:
British English American English
Trousers Pants
Pants/ knickers Panties
Briefs/ underpants Shorts/ jockey shorts
Jumper/ pullover/ jersey Sweater
Pinafore dress Jumper
Vest Undershirt
Waistcoat Vest
Wellington boots/ Wellies Galoshes
Mac (slang for Macintosh) Rain coat
Plimsolls Gym shoes
Braces Suspenders
Nappy Diaper
Trainers Sneakers
Polo neck Turtle neck
Dungarees Overalls
Bootlace/ Shoelace Shoestring
Dressing-gown Bath robe
(Retrieved from http://resources.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk ).

When it comes to vocabulary, there is another phenomenon that happens within the
two varieties of the English language, which is actually linked to the field of Semantics:
the same ford might have different meanings, depending on the variety. For instance in
British English, quite usually means ‘fairly’: The film was quite enjoyable, although some
of the acting was weak. When American speakers say quite, what they usually mean is
‘very’: We’ve examined the figures quite thoroughly. Speakers of British English
sometimes use ‘quite’ with the meaning very, but only before words with an extreme
meaning: The whole experience was quite amazing. (MacMillan Dictionary, 2002: 1158).
The spelling is another linguistic feature that allows us to observe the diversity of
the English language within the two diversities. The differences often occur because
British English has tended to keep the spelling of words it has absorbed from other
languages, like French or Latin, whereas the American English has adapted the spelling so
that the words reflect the sounds they produce when they are spoken.

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 A list of the main ways in which British and American spelling are different is
provided by the Oxford Dictionary:
 British English Words that end in –re often end in –er in American English: centre,
fibre, litre, theatre (UK.) and center, fiber, liter, theater (US.);
 British English Words ending in –our usually end in –or in American English:
colour, flavour, humour (UK.) and color, flavor, humor, labor (US.);
 Verbs in British English that can be spelled with either –ize or –ise at the end are
always spelled with –ize at the end in American English: apologize or apologise,
organize or organise, recognize or recognize (UK) and apologize, organize,
recognize (US);
 Verbs in British English that end in –yse are always spelled –yze in American
English: analyse, breathalyse, paralyse (UK) and analyze, breathalyze, paralyze
(US);
 In British spelling, verbs ending in a vowel plus l, double the l when adding
endings that begin with a vowel. In American English, the l is not doubled: travel –
travelled, travelling, traveler -, fuel – fuelled, fuelling – (UK) and travel – traveled,
traveling, traveler -, fuel – fueled, fueling – (US);
 British English words that are spelled with the double vowels ae or oe are simply
spelled with an e in American English: leukaemia, manoeuvre, oestrogen,
paediatric (UK) and leukemia, maneuver, estrogen, pediatric (US). Anyhow, there
are terms in the American English that keep the ae spelling as standard, although
the spelling with just the e is usually acceptable as well: archaeology/ archeology.
 Some nouns that end with –ence in British English are spelled –ense in American
English: defence, licence, offence, pretence (UK) and defense, license, offense,
pretense (US);
 Some nouns that end with –ogue in British English end with either –og or –oguein
in American English: analogue, catalogue, dialogue (UK) and analog or analogue,
catalog or catalogue, dialog or dialogue (US);
(Retrieved from http://www.oxforddictionaries.com ).

Another relevant aspect for each variety is represented by the idiomatic

expressions. These expressions are important because they show how the language

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varieties evolved in specific socio-cultural contexts. In what follows, we ill reproduce
some relevant examples:
 I wouldn’t touch you with a bargepole (Br.) and I wouldn’t touch you with a ten-foot
pole (Am.): used for emphasizing that you do not want to be involved with a person
or situation, or that you advise someone else not to be involved. (MacMillan
Dictionary, 2002: 98)
 Sweep it under the carpet (Br.) and Sweep it under the rug (Am.): to try to avoid
dealing with a problem. (MacMillan Dictionary, 2002: 1452).
 Touch wood (Br.) and Knock on Wood (Am.): used when you have said that you
have had good luck in order to prevent bad luck from happening to you. People
sometimes touch something made out of wood when they say this. (MacMillan
Dictionary, 2002: 1521).
 A skeleton in the cupboard (Br.) and a skeleton in the closet (Am.): an embarrassing
secret about your past that you do not want anyone to know. (MacMillan
Dictionary, 2002: 1337).
 Blow one’s own trumpet (Br.) and Blow one’s own horn (Am.): to emphasize your
own achievements and successes to other people. (MacMillan Dictionary, 2002:
138).
 A drop in the ocean (Br.) and a drop in the bucket (Am.): a very small amount that
will not have much effect. (MacMillan Dictionary, 2002: 428). We can notice how
the British comparison is made to a larger extent than the American one. A drop in a
bucket is nothing, indeed, but a single drop in the ocean implies a stronger
meaning.
 Flogging a dead horse (Br.) and Beating a dead horse (Am.): to waste time on
something you know is not going to happen. (MacMillan Dictionary, 2002: 692).
 Take it with a pinch of salt (Br.) and Take it with a grain of salt (Am.): to doubt the
truth or value of something. (MacMillan Dictionary, 2002: 1254).
 Put a spanner in the works (Br.) and Put a wrench in the works (Am.): to do
something that suddenly stops a process or plan. (MacMillan Dictionary, 2002:
1370).

There are also idiomatic expressions that are typical for the British variety:

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  It’s raining cats and dogs: used for saying that a lot of rain is falling. (MacMillan
Dictionary, 2002: 1164).
 A piece of cake: something that is very easy. (MacMillan Dictionary, 2002: 191).
 A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush: used for saying that it is better to have
something that you can be certain of than to want something that might be better
but you are not certain to get. (MacMillan Dictionary, 2002: 126).
 Be the cat’s whiskers: to be better than everyone else. (MacMillan Dictionary,
2002: 211).
 Like a cat on hot bricks: unable to stay still or concentrate because you are very
nervous or worried. (MacMillan Dictionary, 2002: 211).
 Not have a cat in hell’s chance: to have no chance at all of doing something.
(MacMillan Dictionary, 2002: 211).
 On/ for high days and holidays: on or for some special occasions. (MacMillan
Dictionary, 2002: 674)
 Be a love and…: used for asking a child or someone in your family to do something
for you. (MacMillan Dictionary, 2002: 851).

…or for the American one:

 Rain on somebody’s parade: to do something to stop someone enjoying
something good that is happening to them. (MacMillan Dictionary, 2002: 1164).
 Let the cat out of the bag: to tell someone something that was meant to be
secret. (MacMillan Dictionary, 2002: 211).
 Cover all the bases: to deal with every possible thing that could happen or
that people could want. (MacMillan Dictionary, 2002: 321).
 Bend over backwards: to do everything you can to help. (MacMillan
Dictionary, 2002: 116).
 Smell a rat: to begin to think that something is wrong in a situation, for
example that someone has tricked you. (MacMillan Dictionary, 2002: 1168).

There is a set of commonly known typical abbreviations used in America that are
called Americanisms. The definition given by UranDictionary.com is: any slang word
originating in the United States that has become popular in other countries around the
globe. (Retrieved from http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Americanisms ).

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 The most usual are gonna with its British equivalent going to be, dunno which is
don’t know in British English, ain’t which stands for aren’t, isn’t, are not, haven’t, wanna
that has the British equivalent want to and gotta which is ‘translated’ into British English
as got to. For a better understanding of their usage, we will provide a couple of examples
with these forms:
I wanna be a doctor when I grow up.
You are gonna listen to your mother!
I dunno which could be the right answer.
It ain’t fair!
She gotta be really angry with you!
Except for these, there is a different way of formulating some sentences, that BBC
calls Americanisms, too. I think it would be more appropriate to call them trends of the
American variety. According to the same article (Americanisms: 50 of your most noted
examples), mentions that these Americansims are currently entering in the British English
variety, too. Among these, we mention:
 Least worst option (which is grammatically incorrect);
 using 24/7 or just plain all day, every day instead of the British traditional
formulation 24 hours, 7 days a week;
 it is what it is;
 transportation, instead of transport;
 shopping cart instead of the British shopping trolley;
 I’m good when you want to say I’m well;
 A half hour instead of half an hour;
 To alphabetize something, meaning to put a list into alphabetical order;
 Biweekly for fortnightly;
 A million and a half for the traditional British One million and a half;
 Reach out to for ask. Example: I will reach out to Kevin and let you know if that
time is convenient.
 You do the math, instead of saying You do the maths;
 Expiration date for expiry date;
 The preference for issue, instead of problem. For instance, I have an issue.
 I got it for free instead of I got it free.
(Retrieved from: http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-14201796

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 There are way too many aspects to analyze when it comes to British versus
American English and this is not the aim of this paper. The given examples help us observe
the diversity of the same language used in two different countries. The different ways in
which they evolved is connected to the geographical space, different historical evolution,
different linguistic influences, different realities and so on and so forth. However, Great
Britain and the US, as we mentioned earlier, are not the only two countries where English
is spoken.

II.2. English in Canada

Canada is officially a bilingual country: approximately one third of the population
speaks French, as their mother tongue. The French speakers are more numerous in Quebec.
In this region, even those who speak English use many French words in their discourse.
Since Canada is a northern country, the densely populated areas are located close to the
border with the United States and that is why Canadian English resembles American
English a lot.
However, “there are pockets of resistance where British English is still influential:
fashionable private schools and, to some extent, universities encourage British English
usages and there are official and social groups, especially in the larger cities, where the
influence of British English is strong. (Brooks, as cited in Pioariu, 2011: 91)
Since neither British, nor American English have a general and uniform influence
in Canada, this is a country where one can hear both Briticisms and Americanisms. Some
examples of Briticisms used in Canada are braces, meat-pie, summer holidays, sweets, tin,
tram etc. From the Americanisms area we note down dry goods, to guess rooster, sidewalk,
store and so on and so forth.
Nevertheless, Harbeck claims that Canadian does exist as a separate variety of
English, containing distinctive features of pronunciation and vocabulary. His arguments are
that Canadian has its own dictionaries, the Canadian Press has its own style guide, there
are two existing editions of Editing Canadian English and so on and so forth. According to
him, “the core of Canadian English is a pervasive ambivalence.” (Harbeck, 2015)
This ambivalence refers to the fact that Canadian editors can make decisions
concerning the usage of American or British spelling, according to the occasion. This can
be explained throughout the history of Canada. After the war of 1812, England encouraged

16
emigration to Canada. The Canadian accent did not become British, even though
schoolteachers did leave their mark on spelling and grammar. But the interactions with the
United States, that are not only Canada’s neighbors, but also their significant trading
partners, brought here the American influence.
Concerning the characteristics of the Canadian spelling,

Canadian spelling is, as mentioned, a tug-of-war between the British and the Americans –
jail but centre, analyze but colour. Because Canada is bilingual, French may also have an
effect. For example, many signs and labels and institutional names are in French and
English, and it’s easier if you can press a word into double service: Shopping Centre
d’Achats. (Harbeck, 2015)

There is an interjection commonly used in Canada that may be also influenced by

French – the Canadian eh. French Canadians use hein. Of course, this is not a Canadian
invented word, it is also used in England, and elsewhere, but the word has a different usage
in Canada. It has an emphatic function and it helps maintaining the conversational
involvement: No kidding, eh; Thanks, eh; So I was going to the store, eh, and this guy cut
me off.
Similar to British and American varieties, that have their own features concerning
pronunciation, Canadian English has some distinctive features, too. According to Harbeck,
the most common one is the ‘Canadian raising’, which affects two specific diphthongs
before voiceless consonants: the first part of the diphthong is higher in ice and out, than it
is in eyes and loud. The raising out makes the vowel sound more like an oot. This feature
might be influenced by Scottish English, or it might even be a relic of Shakespeare-era
pronunciation. Except for this, the Canadian sounds pretty much like the American variety
of English.
There are other differences, though, at the level of vocabulary. Sometimes even if
Canadians use the same words as Americans, they used them differently. For instance, in
Canada, if you write a test, you are the person that is being tested, while in the US you are
the one that makes the test.

Sometimes Canadians use different words for the same things: garburator for kitchen
disposal, bachelor apartment for studio apartment, runner for sneaker or running shoe,
two-four for a case of bottles or cans of beer (the uniquely Canadian holiday Victoria Day,

17
 which occurs on Monday near May, is called the ‘May two-four weekend’ in reference to
this). (Harbeck, 2015)

There are of course, some words that refer to realities that Americans or the rest of
the English-speaking countries don’t seem to have: toque for a kind of fitted knitted hat,
some words that refer to specific types of food – poutine, Nanaimo bars, butter tarts -,
Caesar that is a type of Bloody Mary cocktail, but prepared with clamato juice. There are
also some words borrowed from Quebec French, such as dépanneur for a convenience
store.
In the same way that the US has Americanisms and the UK has Briticisms, Canada
has its own Canadianisms. Some examples are: a machine that performs banking services
is a bank machine in Canada but an ATM in the US and a cash dispenser in the Britain; the
structures that are placed along the edge of a roof for collecting rainwater are called
eavestroughs in Canada, but gutters in US and Britain; the years of school are grade one,
grade two etc. in Canada, but first grade, second grade, etc. in the US and year one, year
two etc. in Britain; pencils used for colouring are usually pencil crayons in Canada, but
colored pencils in the US and colouring pencils in Britain; those orange cones used to
organize traffic during road repairs are pylons in Canada, but traffic cones in the US and
Britain; a public toilet is a washroom in Canada, but a restroom in the US and a lavatory or
even loo in Britain.

II.3. English in Australia

Australian English presents some lexical peculiarities due to the fact that when the
first settlers came to Australia and New Zeeland they confronted themselves with new
surroundings, unknown plants, animals and phenomena, for which they had to find names.
There were situations in which they ‘adopted’ they native names and cases in which they
gave new meanings to the existing words. Here are some examples of words borrowed
from the native languages of Australia and New Zeeland: billabong (small, swift-flowing
stream of the North-East), bush (woodland, untilled district), corroberre (native dance),
humpy (native’s hut; originally compi, probably influenced by hump), larrikin (rowdy
street loafer), swag (tramp’s bundle), swag-man (tramp travelling through the bush),
waddy (special war cudgel or club), wallaby (sort of small kangaroo), yabber (language, to
speak). (Pioariu, 2011: 91)

18
 Similar to Briticisms and Americanisms, there are words considered to be
Australianisms and their provenience seems to be from other English dialects. Examples of
such words are to barrack (to cheer; in Northern Irish it means to brag, to be boastful),
dinkum (honest, genuine; in Lincolnshire fair dinkum means fair play), skerrich (small
amount), cot (matted fleece of wool), fadge (a loosely packed sack of wool), kemps (coarse
hairs amongst wool), noil (short wool left after combining). (Pioariu, 2011: 92)
As we mentioned before, in the case of British and American English, idioms are
some lexical elements typical for variety or another. Australian English has its peculiar
idiomatic expressions, too:
 To be in the gun (to be criticized);
 To stage a barrel party (to hold an informal meal);
 You’ll be in strife (you’ll be in trouble);
 To give away (to give up);
 You wouldn’t read about it (it’s marvelous, it’s incredible);
 To fine up (To become fine / of the weather);
 To whip the cat (to cry over spilt milk) etc.
At the end of this part, we will mention some typical Australian words, which have
replaced in this variety those from standard English: arvo (afternoon), Aussie (Australian),
damper (bread), chook (chicken), tucker (food), postie (postman), stockman (shepherd),
lollies (sweets), billy (an open fire), daks (trousers) etc. (Pioariu 2011: 93) There words are,
most likely, influenced by the Aboriginal languages from this territory.

II.4. English in South Africa

In South Africa the English language has to ‘compete’ with Afrikaans, which is the
variety of Dutch spoken there. Historically speaking, before British took the country, it had
been successively occupied by the Bushmen, the Hottentots, the Bantus, the Portuguese
and the Dutch. This is the reason why, in this case, English borrowed elements from all
these sources, but mostly from the Dutch. These words are called Africanderisms.
Examples:
 Boas (master, boss);
 Biltong (strips of dried meat);
 Brak (soil or water containing a great quantity of soda or salt);

19
  Dorp (village);
 Kopje (hill);
 Morgen (a land measure – about two acres);
 Schimmel (Agrey horse);
 Trek (a journey in ox-waggon, migration);
 Voortrekker (first settler, pioneer).
There are also situations in which words simply acquired new meanings:

In South Africa a mason is not one who dresses stone or builds with it, he is simply a
bricklayer; a camp is a part of a farm which is wired or fenced in; a boy if he happens to be a
native, may be, and sometimes is, a grey-headed, grandfather; a good-for is a South African name
for what is elsewhere known as an IOU; lands in South Africa are not the broad acres of an estate,
but just those portions of a farm that can be used for cultivation of crops. (Pettman, as cited in
Pioariu, 2011: 94-95)

Concerning the pronunciation, there are certain strongly marked Cockney

characteristics but also, a great influence of the pronunciation of Afrikaans 1 is to be heard.
Another influence is that of numerous Scottish schoolmasters who settled there. There are
specific vowel changes owed to Afrikaans, in words like pin (it became pen), cab (it
became keb), etc. There is also a higher pitch and the tendency to omit consonants at the
end of the words.

II.5. Hybrid languages based on English

The hybrid colonial languages are very interesting to study, from the linguistic
point of view, although they will probably disappear eventually. These hybrid languages
appeared in those areas where the influence of British imperialism was very strong and
they developed on a local basis, mixed with English lexical elements. (Pioariu, 2011: 96)

1
Afrikaans is a member of the West Germanic group of the Germanic subfamily of the Indo-European family
of languages. Although its classification is still disputed, it is generally considered an independent language
rather than dialect or variant of Dutch. Afrikaans is spoken by close to 8 million people in the Republic of
South Africa, where it is an official language, and by about 1.5 million people in Namibia, where it is the
common language of most of the population. At least half of its native speakers in South Africa are not white.
It arose from the Dutch spoken by the Boers, who emigrated from the Netherlands to South Africa in the 17th
century, but in its written form it dates only from 1861. The grammar has been considerably simplified. Its
vocabulary is essentially similar to that of Dutch; Afrikaans has absorbed quite a few words from the Khoisan
languages, Bantu and English.

20
The most important hybrid languages are Pidgin English, Beach-la-mar, Chinook, Negro
English and Kroo English.
Pidgin is nothing but the corrupt pronunciation of the word business, if we imagine
it pronounced by a Chinaman who has not learned English. Therefore, pidgin English
refers to Business English. This hybrid language developed during the eighteenth century
due to the need of intercourse between the local population in the treaty orts of China.
From there, it spread to all the places in the Far East where trade was carried on between
English merchants and Chinese population. From there to becoming acknowledged means
of communication between natives and Europeans, it was just a small step. It was
eventually adopted by Europeans, others than Englishmen, who used it for trade in the
Pacific. Sailors contributed to its diffusion and that is why t actually contains a high
number of nautical terms. (Pioariu, 2011: 96)
For a better understanding of this hybrid language, here is an example of a
conversation between two people using Chinese Pidgin English:
‘Chin-chin fookee?’
‘Belly well, belly well. Chin-chin.’
‘Whafo my no hab see taipan sot langim?’
‘My wanchee wun pay soo belly soon.’
‘Spose fookkee too muchee pigeon: no can maykee.’
‘Cando, cando. Whafo no can? No cazion feeloo. My sabbee belly well: can fixee
alla popa.
‘Wanchee maykee numba wun ledda; feeloo no hab eulop ledda?’
‘Can skure hab numba wun popa ledda.’
‘Patchee wun piece sulek insight all popa. Wanchee finis chopchop; can you?’
‘Can see, can sabee; skure you day afoo mollo. Taipan can sen wun piece coolly
come my so look see.’
‘High ya, fookee: my see insight wun piece wifoo? My no sabee fookkee hab
catchee wifoo. Tooloo?’
‘So fashion tooloo. Beefo time wun moon, countee alla popa day my catch dat piece
wifoo.

As we can notice, even an English native speaker would find himself/ herself in
great difficulty of understanding this kind of linguistic hybrid. The ‘translation’ of the
dialogue would be:

21
 How do you do John Chinaman/firend?
Quite well, thank you sir.
How is it that I have not had the honour of seeing you for so long?
I want a pair of shoes soon.
But I fear you are to busy to make them for me now.
Most certainly I can. Why not? Don’t be afraid of that. I am sure I can make them
all right.
I want a pair made of the best leather; but perhaps you are out of European
leather?
I can guarantee the leather to be the very best.
Well, line them with silk nicely. I want them at once, if you can.
I’ll see. I promise you them the day after tomorrow.
Please, sir, to send a servant to my shop for them.
Well, friend, how is that woman inside there? I did not knw that you got married. Is
it or not?
Yes, sir, quite true. Last month, on the most auspicious day I could select, I married
her.

The video was created by the Bilingualism Research Centre form the Department of
Linguistic & Modern Languages, Chinese University of Hong Kong. (Source:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YieVSrzRqRo )
The name beach-la-mar comes originates from the Portuguese bicho de mar, wich
means worm of the sea. It is a kind of jargon used in commercial intercourse in the regions
of the Western Pacific. Another hybrid language, kroo English, is widely spread in Liberia
and New Guinea. The vocabulary of this hybrid is based on English mixed with Portuguese
words.
All these hybrid languages have some characteristics in common: they have a
mixed stock of words, their grammar is extremely simplified, they lack of inflexions,
compounds and phrases are often coined on the spot. As we can observe, these
characteristics facilitate the globalization of a language. This kind of adaptability to the
local linguistic environment makes it easy to be spread throughout the world.
One of the main characteristics of these kinds of hybrid languages is their extreme
simplification of the grammar, especially the lack of inflexions. For instance, in Beach-la-
mar, the plural and the singular of a noun has the same form, and it really has to be

22
expressed it is indicated by all, plenty or full. It is pretty much the case of Pidgin English,
too: the plural is expressed by using plenty.
In Beach-la-mar possession is expressed via words such as belong, belong-a, long
etc. Also, this hybrid has no gender distinctions. For instance, one sentence like ‘the
woman he brother belong me’ (meaning ‘She is my sister’) would be totally correct in
Beach-la-mar. In Pidgin English, there is a tendency to attach he to nouns, irrespective of
their gender and she is never used. (Pioariu, 2011: 97)
The reduced number of pronouns is another feature of these Englishees. For
instance, in Pidgin English, my means both I and me (‘My savee’ – ‘I understand’). In order
to express why and who, they use what for and what name.
Maybe the most striking feature is that the verbs have no tense forms, especially in
Beach-la-mar. For expressing future, they use by and by, for expressing present perfect
they use been (‘I been look around before’). Got is often used instead of have: ‘my belly no
got kaikai’. In Pidgin English, the present indicative expresses all the tenses, except for the
past. In order to express past, been is added: ‘My been makee’.
Concerning the phonetic part, not much information is available, since these hybrid
languages are more than dynamic and flexible. We can almost say they have no grammar
rules at all – a norm is out of discussion. Nevertheless,

The most important characteristic seems to be the substitution of l for r in Pidgin English,
because r does not exist in Chinese, e.g. follin (foreign), cly (cry), thlee (three), all light (all right);
the adding of a vowel after a final consonant in Pidgin English (generally i: or o:, e.g. in catchee,
makee, piecee, talkee or allo, smallo, wifo, and in Beach-la-mar (generally a), e.g. in alonga,
coverra; the adding or inserting of a vowel in Beach-la-mar in words such as pellate (plate),
essaucepan (saucepan), essepoon (spoon), esterong (strong). (Pioariu, 2011: 98)

Besides English and Chinese words, the vocabulary of Pidgin English includes
Portuguese words and Indian words. In Beach-la-mar there is a great number of words of
Polynesian origin. G. L. Brook, as cited in Pioariu (2011: 98) claims that “Pidgin serves a
useful purpose as a lingua franca for speakers of many different languages, but…one
cannot help feeling that it is a travesty of a language which English sailors have imposed
on non-Europeans in much the same way as adults impose ‘baby-talk’ on ‘babies’.” This is
why, the concept of English as a lingua franca is the one developed in the next chapter of
this paper.

23
 Chapter III: English as a lingua franca

III. 1. Concept
“About 80 per cent of the English speakers in the world are nonnative speakers.
They will have a great impact on the English language. The so-called center countries (e.g.
the United Kingdom and the United States) will no longer be able to set the trends.”
(Braine, as cited by Jenkins, 2008)
The term lingua franca comes from Arabic lisan-al-farang and in its original
meaning, it was simply an intermediary language used by speakers of Arabic with travelers
from Eastern Europe. Later, its meaning was extended to describe a language of commerce,
rather than a language variety. This meaning is not valid any more for today’s global
English, a language that has as a main characteristic the flexibility.
What does ‘English as a lingua franca’ mean nowadays? According to Barbara
Seidlhofer the term ‘English as a lingua franca’, often abbreviated ELF, has emerged as a
way of referring to communication in English between speakers who have different first
languages. Jenkins adds that ELF interaction can include native English speakers, even

24
though most of the times it is not the case. Conceptually, it is very different from English
as a Foreign Language (EFL), what we are being thought in schools.
There were different attempts to define English as a lingua franca, from a formal
perspective. Among them, we mention Anderson’s definition, as cited by House:

There is no consistency in form that goes beyond the participant level, i.e., each
combination of interactants seems to negotiate and govern their own variety of lingua franca use in
terms of proficiency level, use of code-mixing, degree of pidginization, etc. (2003: 557)

and Selinker’s definition:

Here we have the most important ingredients of a lingua franca: negotiability, variability in
terms of speaker proficiency, and openness to an integration of forms of other languages. All this
reminds one, of course, of an ‘interlanguage’: a concept first introduced by Selinker as ‘the
observable output resulting from a speaker’s attempt to produce a foreign norm, i.e. both his errors
and non-errors. It is assumed that such behavior is highly structured…and that it must be dealt with
as a system, not as an isolated collection of errors. (2003: 557)

It is considered that approximately only one out of every four users of English in
the world is actually a native speaker of the language. According to Firth, as cited by
Seidlhofer, ‘what is distinctive about ELF is that, in most cases, it is a contact language,
between persons who share neither a common native tongue nor a common (national)
culture, and for whom English is the chosen foreign language of communication.’
From our experience, Firth is right. It has become common sense to use English in
every international environment: in companies, in universities, in airports, while travelling,
and so on and so forth. Very often, when two people of different nationalities have to
communicate, even the question ‘Do you speak English?’ has become obsolete, to say so.
People simply assume that the interlocutor speaks English, most of the time.
English is like no other language in its current role internationally, indeed like no
other at any moment in history. Although there are, and have previously been, other
international languages, the case of English is different in fundamental ways: for the extent
of its diffusion geographically, for the enormous cultural diversity of the speakers who use
it, and for the infinitely varied domains in which it is found and purposes it serves.
According to Seidlhofer (2011: 339), despite being welcomed by some and
deplored by others, it cannot be denied that English has become and functions as a global

25
lingua franca. However, what has so far tended to be denied is that, as a consequence of its
international use, and this is a very interesting aspect, English is being shaped at least as
much by its non-native speakers as by its native speakers. This has led to a somewhat
paradoxical situation: on the one hand, for the majority of its users, English is a foreign
language, and the vast majority of verbal exchanges in English do not involve any native
speakers of the language at all. On the other hand, there is still a tendency for native
speakers to be regarded as custodians over what is acceptable usage.
Briefely, these would be the specific features concerning the lexic and grammar of
English as a lingua franca:
 Shift in the use of articles, including the prefrerence for zero articles, e.g. our
countries have signed agreements about this;
 Invariant questions tagas as in you’re very busy today, aren’t you?;
 Using who and which as interchangeable relative pronouns, as in the picture
who and a person which;
 Shift of patterns of prepositions use, like in we have to study about;
 Preference for full infinitive over the use of gerunds, as in I’m looking
forward to see you tomorrow;
 Extension to the collocational field of words with high semantinc generality,
for example perform an operation;
 Inceased explicitness, e.g. how much time instead of how long;
 Ellipsis of objects/ complements of transitive verbs, like in the case of You
can borrow...

III. 2. Attitudes towards ELF

“I don’t want to learn some simplified version of English. I want to learn this
language in all its richness and beauty.”

“…giving up on this high objective (RP) – and the LFC boils down to this exactly –
will easily bring the ideal down into the gutter with no checkpoint along the way.”

“Jenkins offers….a broken weapon…she risks bringing ELF users stuttering onto
the world stage.”

26
 “…We can accept that a non-native speaker may make mistakes, but it would be
foolish to try to incorporate all the different types of mistakes of all nationalities to create
a new lingua franca. Most foreign learners don’t want that…When they hand over their
money to the language teacher, they don’t want to be taught Spanish English or World
English: they want to learn real English, even if they’ll know they’ll fall short of
perfection.”

Jenkins goes even further with her research, interviewing people of different
nationalities who speak English, besides their mother tongues. She reproduces fragments
from her interviews in her article called English as a lingua franca: interpretations and
attitudes:

Taiwanese English Speaker: ‘I really feel bad about this, you know, I feel like I have to lose
my identity. I’m a Taiwanese person and I should feel comfortable about this, and I just feel that
when I’m speaking English, I would want to be like a native speaker, and it’s reallz hard, you
know.’

Japanese English Speaker: ‘Yes, that’s lots of contradiction in the view. So in theory I can
understand varieties of English and non-native accent, it’s good, it’s accepted as far as intelligibility
exists. But at a personal level still I’m aiming at native-like speaking.’

Italian English speaker: ‘The materials they have, it’s mainly videos and tapes, it’s all
native speakers’ accents, so that’s the only model they have. Maybe if more materials around was
with different accents and non-native speaker accents, then it’s like recognizing, it’s like codifying,
it’s like accepting it worldwide.’

China English speaker: ‘First of all I am a Chinese. I don’t have to speak like American or
British, it’s like identity, because I want to keep my identity, yeah. I feel like it’s quite conflicted for
me because I feel happy when they say okay you have a native accent, but erm if they cannot
recognize from my pronunciation and they think that okay, you are definitely American, I don’t feel
comfortable because I am indeed a Chinese.’

Polish English Speaker: ‘I’ve still got a little bit of linguistic schizophrenia…I know that I
don’t need to speak like a British person, but because I’ve been taught for so many years that I
should do it, when I hear, let’s say, someone speaking British English like a nice RP pronunciation,
I like it.’

27
 In her research, this is the kind of feedback Jenkins received for the idea of English
as a lingua franca. Nevertheless, there are people that are not against the idea. Juliane
House from Hamburg University, in her article called English as a lingua franca: A threat
to multilingualism? claims that

In this paper I argue against the widespread assumption that the English language in its role
as lingua franca is a serious threat to national languages and to multilingualism. I support this
argument by making a distinction between ‘languages for communication’ and ‘languages for
identification’. (House, 2003: 556)

Going into more detail in her paper, House describes why ELF is a language for
communication. First of all, it is a useful instrument for making oneself understood in international
situations. Secondly, in ELF use speakers must continuously work out a basis for their interactions.
Thirdly, and the most important thing, ELF speakers are unlikely to conceive it as a ‘language for
identification’, since it is their local languages which are likely to be the main determinants of
identity.
As we can see, the opinions concerning English as a lingua franca are as varied as the
English itself. From rejecting it to finding it an excellent communication tool, we have all kinds of
attitudes towards it. Jenkins, cited a couple of times in this chapter, defended it and dedicated much
of her time to study this ‘variety’ of English.

28
 Case study: SLANG – A non-standard variety of English

As we could see so far, any variety of English is hard to define or to standardize,

but slang even more. What is clear is that it contains highly informal words and
expressions that are more common in spoken language and that are not suitable for formal
situations. Slang is sometimes restricted to one particular group of people.
Very often slang is defined as one of those things that everybody recognizes, but no
one can really define. To call it a variety would be a bit too much, it is more a language
style or a register, a way of speaking. Slang is characterized by imagination, having a
familiar character. It is strongly subjective (with reference to the group that speaks it) and it
varies from irony or witty remarks to curses, obscenities or even vulgar terms incompatible
with any standard variety of the language. Lots of slang words are actually derived from
standard language, but they acquired new metaphorical, different meanings.
In what follows, we will make a list of the most common worldwide known slang
expression and words, accompanied by their ‘translation’.

1. Unreal: I love this party, it’s just unreal!

In this case, unreal means incredibly cool and enjoyable.

29
2. Props: I know he failed the test, but you’ve got to give him props for trying.
Here, the word means respect, recognition.

3. Bottom line: The bottom line is we just don’t have enough money to sponsor this.
The expression means that the main point is…

4. Diss: Stop dissing her behind her back!

To diss someone means to disrespect them.

5. Dig: I dig your new style. Where do you have that t-shirt from?
To dig something means to really like it.

6. Bob’s your uncle: I just mixed in the batter thoroughly, poured it into a cake pan,
backed it for a couple of minutes and Bob’s your uncle!
This is a typical phrase for UK. It is usually added to the end of long sentences and it
means something like ‘and that’s it!’

7. Ace: Ace! I just got a promotion! Or Robert aced his math exam!
This word has two meanings in slang: something that is awesome, really cool and as a
verb, to achieve something really easily.

8. Full of beans: All the children were full of beans at the kindergarten today. I couldn’t get
any of them to sit still!
This expression means to have loads of energy.

9. Blatant: Blatantly, you don’t have to go if you don’t feel like going!
Blatant means something that is really obvious.

10. Piece of cake: How difficult was the task she gave you? It was a piece of cake!
Piece of cake is used when someone wants to say that something is really easy to them,
very often in a boastful manner.

11. Blimey: Blimey, look at this mess here!

30
Blimey is used as an exclamation of surprise.

12. Smashing: I had a smashing time at her party, it was amazing!

Smashing means terrific, brilliant, used in a positive and enthusiastic way.

13. Sod’s law: So I dressed up my new skirt today, because it seemed to be a sunny day, but
as soon as I stepped out of the house, it started raining cats and dogs, and it got
completely soaked! – Sod’s Law!
Sod’s Law is another name for Murphy’s Law: whatever can go wrong, will go wrong.

14. Chuffed: I got a nice car from my mother, for getting my driving license. I was chuffed!
To be chuffed to be really pleased about something.

15. Cram: I was so busy before the exam that I had to cram in all the revision work in like
three days!
To cram in means to study intensively in a very short period of time.

16. Nice one: I’ve published my first book recently and I’ve already started working on the
next one. – Nice one! You’re doing it great!
Nice one is an expression that can be used when someone does something particularly
impressive. It may also be used when you want to say that you appreciated a joke or
something like that.

17. Dear: I went out with my mind set on going shopping, but everything is so dear!
In this case, dear means that something is really expensive.

18. Faff: Stop faffing around, you won’t finish your paper before the due date!
To faff means to procrastinate or to waste time wondering around.

19. Flog: I managed to flog my car really fast!

To flog something means to sell something.

20. Gobsmacked: They just broke up and I saw her with someone else. I was completely
gobsmacked!

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To be gobsmacked means to be amazed: your gob is your mouth, and if you smack your
gob, it would be out of amazement.

21. Splash out: I wanted to give my girlfriend a special gift for her birthday, so I splashed
out on a very romantic weekend at the seaside.
To splash out means to spend far too much money, more that you’ve planned.

22. Grub: I am going to take some grub from the corner, do you want some?
Grub means food.

23. Bee’s knees: You should see my new home-cinema, it is the bee’s knees!
Bee’s knees is an expression used for saying that something or someone is spectacular,
fabulous.

24. Gutted: I am so gutted I failed my exam again!

Gutted means to be really disappointed or upset about something.

25. Peanuts: I really hate my job! I have to work too many hours and, at the end of the
month, I get paid peanuts!
Peanuts is used for saying that something is really cheap or financially low.

26. Haggle: The last time I went shopping with my sister, she was haggling for something
that was already really cheap!
To haggle means to argue over, to try to negotiate the price of something you want to buy,
but you don’t want to pay so much money.

27. Jolly: I should jolly well think so!

Jolly is used by people in all sort of ways, but it basically means ‘very’.

28. Throw a spanner in the works: I managed to keep the surprise a secret, right up until
my sister’s birthday, and then he threw the spanner in the works by telling her!
This expression means to wreck something.

32
29. Kip: Why don’t you try to have a kip before everyone gets here? You won’t have any
time left later.
Kip means a short sleep, a nap.

30. Wind up: I was just winding her up for fun, but she took it really personal!
Wind up has a couple of meanings, but usually if something you do is a wind up, it means
you are making fun of someone. Wind up also means annoyed.

31. Mate: I am going out with my mates tonight.

Mate means friend, pal, buddy.

32. Not my cup of tea: I don’t really enjoy listening to this kind of music. It is not my cup of
tea.
This expression is a common saying, meaning that something is not to your liking or in
accordance with your tastes.

33. Porkies: Don’t listen to her! She is telling porkies.

This means telling lies. As a detailed explanation, it comes from cockney rhyming slang. It
is the short form for ‘porky pies’, meaning ‘pork pies’, which rhymes with lies.

34. Row: My brother had a huge row with his friend yesterday. He is really upset about
this.
In this context, row means an argument, a fight.

35. Donkey’s years: Hi dear! I haven’t seen you in donkey’s years! How have you been?
If someone says ‘I haven’t seen you in donkey’s years’, it means that they haven’t seen you
for a very long time.

36. Easy peasy: I could make that for you, if you like? It’s easy peasy.
This is a childish term, used for saying that something is really easy.

37. Sorted: What happened with the roof problem you had? – Oh, that is sorted now. I
found a really good builder to do the job.

33
When you want to say that you had a problem that has meanwhile been fixed, you can use
this word.

38. Strop: Janet, would you please cheer a bit up? It’s your birthday, don’t be so stroppy!
If someone is miserable, you would say that they are being stroppy.

39. Cheerio: I really have to go now. See you soon. Cheerio!

This is a way of saying goodbye, used among friends.

40. Wangle: I can’t believe they managed to wangle an upgrade on their airline seats, and
the honeymoon suite in the hotel!
You use this when you want to say that people have all the luck.

41. Wonky: I can’t enjoy my dinner at this table! It is wonky and won’t stop wobbling!
If something is shaky or unstable, you might say it is wonky.

42. Zonked: He had a lot of fun at his party earlier, but he is completely zonked out now!
If someone is zonked or zonked out, it means that they are exhausted.

43. Dodgy: I saw a few dodgy-looking people standing around along that quiet street near
our house, so just to be on the safe side, I notified the police.
If someone or something looks a bit dodgy, it is not to be trusted.

44. Leg it: I went out on Halloween night, and someone jumped out from behind a bush to
scare me. I was so frightened, that I just legged it all the way back home!
This is a way of saying run.

45. Bail: I am angry because he bailed on me!

To bail means to leave abruptly.

46. Feeling blue: I have been feeling blue these days, and I don’t even know why.
To feel blue means to feel depressed or sad.

47. Buck: I only have five bucks.

34
Buck is a slang term for American dollar.

48. Crash: She just crashed on my couch last night.

To crash means to abruptly fall asleep.

49. Creep: I came as fast I could because there was some creep following me.
Creep means an unpleasantly strange person.

50. Going Dutch: We are not a couple, so we’re going Dutch tonight.
Used for saying that each person, usually in a dating scenario, pays for his / her own meal,
like in a mutual agreement.

51. The cold shoulder: She is giving me the cold shoulder on purpose.
Used for saying that you deliberately ignore someone.

52. Hyped: This party was so good, I am feeling hyped.

To be hyped means to be in a very excited state.

53. Hang out: We hang out often in that pub.

This means to casually gather together or spend time with someone in a social manner.

54. Pass the buck: She did not know how to solve this issue, so she just passed the buck.
This expression means to deflect responsibility onto someone else.

55. Screw up: I am really sorry to tell you this, but you screwed things up with her and I
am afraid this cannot be undone.
To screw up means to make a mistake, to mess things up.

35
 Conclusions

The aim of this paper was to show the complexity and the variety of the English
language, characteristics that have largely contributed to it becoming global. It is not only
geographically spread, but also at other levels, such as social or educational.
We have successfully shown that not only the United States and the United
Kingdom are English speaking countries, but also countries like Canada, Australia or South
Africa. These countries speak English due to historical reasons. Our intention was far from
showing or even implying that one variety is better than the other. The intention was to
prove the complexity of the language, at many levels. We also aimed to prove its
adaptability.
Concerning adaptability, the best argument in this way is the existence of hybrid
languages based on English. As we have shown, these languages are the result of the
interaction between English language and some other language. The result is, most of the
times, a good tool for communication, even though, as we have noticed, these hybrid
languages are hard to understand even by an English native speaker.
Another aspect brought into discussion was English as a lingua franca. Due to its
variety and adaptability, English has gained the status of a lingua franca. This means that it

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is the common ground that two non-native English speakers use in a communicational
situation. As we have seen, there are many people that speak English as a lingua franca
worldwide. They are so many that the linguists claim that in a couple of years these
speakers will be those imposing the norm, and not the native ones.
In the final part of this paper, we chose a representative case study: slang. Slang is a
non-standard variety of the English language, continuously changing. It is dynamic, and it
is characterized by a metaphoric and imaginative language. We tried to find the most
commonly used slang words, in order to have a better approach of this ‘variety’.
In conclusion, we can only say that this subject is hard to cover, given the dynamic
of the English language. Nevertheless, we showed why the English is a top preference
when it comes to choosing a global language, in order to facilitate communication. Even if
it is seen sometimes as a negative thing, with direct implications on the individual /
national cultures and identities, we have to consider English as a good tool for
communicating.

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 7. Seidlhofer, B., English as a lingua franca, retrieved from Oxford Journals,
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