English language Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! === Africa, the Caribbean, and South Asia === {{See also|South African English|Nigerian English|Caribbean English|Indian English|Pakistani English|Bangladeshi English}} {| style="text-align: center; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" | {{listen|filename=South African English.ogg|title=Speech example|description=An example of a man with a [[White South African English phonology|South African accent]].|image=none}} | {{listen|filename=Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie bbc radio4 front row 03 05 2013.flac|title=Speech example|description=An example of a woman with an educated [[Nigerian English|Nigerian accent]] ([[Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie]]).|help=no|image=none}} | {{listen|filename=Sylbourne Sydial with Nordia Teape on Integrated Diaspora Services.flac|title=Speech example|description=An example of a woman and man with [[Jamaican English|Jamaican accents]].|help=no|image=none}} |- | | {{listen|filename=Arundhati Roy BBC Radio4 Bookclub 2 Oct 2011 b015brn8.flac|title=Speech example|description=An example of a [[Northeast India]]n woman with an [[Indian English|Indian accent]] ([[Arundhati Roy]]).|help=no|image=none}} | |} English is spoken widely in southern Africa and is an official or co-official language in several of the region's countries. In [[South Africa]], English has been spoken since 1820, co-existing with [[Afrikaans]] and various African languages such as the [[Khoe languages|Khoe]] and [[Bantu languages]]. Today, about nine percent of the South African population speaks [[South African English]] (SAE) as a first language. SAE is a non-rhotic variety that tends to follow RP as a norm. It is one of the few non-rhotic English varieties that lack intrusive R. The second-language varieties of South Africa differ based on the native languages of their speakers.{{sfn|Lanham|1982}} Most phonological differences from RP are in the vowels.{{sfn|Lass|2002}} Consonant differences include the tendency to pronounce {{IPA|/p, t, t͡ʃ, k/}} without aspiration (e.g. ''pin'' pronounced {{IPA|[pɪn]}} rather than as {{IPA|[pʰɪn]}} as in most other varieties), while r is often pronounced as a flap {{IPA|[ɾ]}} instead of as the more common fricative.{{sfn|Trudgill|Hannah|2002|pages=30–31}} Nigerian English is a variety of English spoken in [[Nigeria]].<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|url=http://encarta.msn.com/dictionary_1861683342/Nigerian_English.html|title=Nigerian English|encyclopedia=Encarta|publisher=Microsoft|access-date=17 July 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100909162439/http://encarta.msn.com/dictionary_1861683342/Nigerian_English.html|archive-date=9 September 2010}}</ref> It has traditionally been based on British English, but in recent years, because of influence from the United States, some words of American English origin have made it into Nigerian English. Additionally, some new words and collocations have emerged from the variety out of a need to express concepts specific to the culture of the nation (e.g. ''senior wife''). Over 150 million Nigerians speak English.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Adegbija |first1=Efurosibina |title=Lexico-semantic variation in Nigerian English |journal=World Englishes |date=1989 |volume=8 |issue=2 |pages=165–177 |doi=10.1111/j.1467-971X.1989.tb00652.x}}</ref> Several varieties of English are also spoken in the Caribbean islands that were colonial possessions of Britain, including Jamaica, the [[Leeward Islands|Leeward]] and [[Windward Islands]] and [[Trinidad and Tobago]], [[Barbados]], the [[Cayman Islands]] and [[Belize]]. Each of these areas is home both to a local variety of English and a local English-based creole, combining English and African languages. The most prominent varieties are [[Jamaican English]] and [[Jamaican English Creole|Jamaican Creole]]. In Central America, English-based creoles are spoken on the Caribbean coasts of Nicaragua and Panama.{{sfn|Lawton|1982}} Locals are often fluent in both the local English variety and the local creole languages, and [[code-switching]] between them is frequent. Indeed, a way to conceptualise the relationship between such creole and standard varieties is to view them as a spectrum of language registers in which the most creole-like forms serve as the "basilect" and the most RP-like forms serve as the "acrolect", the most formal register.{{sfn|Trudgill|Hannah|2002|page=115}} Most Caribbean varieties are based on British English and consequently, most are non-rhotic, except for formal styles of Jamaican English which are often rhotic. Jamaican English differs from RP in its vowel inventory, which has a distinction between long and short vowels rather than tense and lax vowels as in Standard English. The diphthongs {{IPA|/ei/}} and {{IPA|/ou/}} are monophthongs {{IPA|[eː]}} and {{IPA|[oː]}} or even the reverse diphthongs {{IPA|[ie]}} and {{IPA|[uo]}} (e.g. ''bay'' and ''boat'' pronounced {{IPA|[bʲeː]}} and {{IPA|[bʷoːt]}}). Often word-final consonant clusters are simplified so that "child" is pronounced {{IPA|[t͡ʃail]}} and "wind" {{IPA|[win]}}.{{sfn|Trudgill|Hannah|2002|pages=117–18}}{{sfn|Lawton|1982|page=256–60}}{{sfn|Trudgill|Hannah|2002|pages=115–16}} As a historical legacy, [[Indian English]] tends to take RP as its ideal, and how well this ideal is realised in an individual's speech reflects class distinctions among Indian English speakers. Indian English accents are marked by the pronunciation of phonemes such as {{IPA|/t/}} and {{IPA|/d/}} (often pronounced with retroflex articulation as {{IPA|[ʈ]}} and {{IPA|[ɖ]}}) and the replacement of {{IPA|/θ/}} and {{IPA|/ð/}} with dentals {{IPA|[t̪]}} and {{IPA|[d̪]}}. Sometimes Indian English speakers may also use spelling-based pronunciations where the silent {{angbr|h}} found in words such as ''ghost'' is pronounced as an Indian [[breathy voice|voiced aspirated]] stop {{IPA|[ɡʱ]}}.{{sfn|Sailaja|2009|pages=19–24}} Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page