UNIVERSITY OF EL SALVADOR SCHOOL OF ARTS AND SCIENCES FOREIGN LANGUAGES DEPARTMENT MASTER DEGREE PROGRAM IN TRANSLATION ENGLISH-SPANISH / SPANISH-ENGLISH

ACADEMIC WRITING FINAL ESSAY PRESENTED BY ELMER JORGE GUARDADO GMEZ DUE DATE: JULY 30TH, 2010

Standard English in El Salvador

I. In somehow, the use of Standard English facilities the communication among speakers of the English language all over the world to extent the language differences across the world. The difficulties that Speakers of English as a Foreign Language have been facing some variations in grammar and vocabulary, spelling and pronunciation. II. Multiple Definitions A. Spoken Standard English B. Written Standard English III. IV. Grammatical idiosyncrasies of Standard English The Standards of English A. British and Irish B. American C. Canadian D. Australian ,New Zealand and South Pacific E. West, East and South African (Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya,) F. South Asian (India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh) G. East Asian (Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines, Hong Kong) V. The use of Standard English facilities the communication among speakers of the English language all over the world and extent the language differences across the world even in our country.

Standard English in El Salvador In our country the growth of people learning English has increased in the past fifteen years this is for so many factors. Salvadorans have been influenced by American culture including English but there are several of Englishes all over the world. Learners of English as a Foreign Language have been facing several difficulties such as variations in grammar and vocabulary, spelling and pronunciation that are part of any particular language. Learners of English often ask these types of

questions: What kind of English do I prefer British or American? Which one is better? Which one should I learn? Let`s try to analyze this

phenomenon that begins hundreds of years ago passing through the periods of the evolution of the English language such as Old English, Middle English and Modern English into what we know now as Standard English. Even though, the use of Standard English brings a facility to communicate among speakers of the English language all over the world and the extension of the language differences across the world. Some linguists differ about the definition of Standard English. If Standard English is not therefore a language, an accent, a style or a register, then of course we are obliged to say what it actually is. The answer is, as at least most British sociolinguists agreed on, that Standard English is a dialect. As we saw above, Standard English is simple one variety of

English among many. It is just a simple way in which the speaker conveys their speech in order to communicate among others English speakers. Standard English of course has most of its grammatical features in common with the other dialects, even though can be compared with Black English and Spoken Grammar. When comparing to the

nonstandard dialects, however, it can be seem to have idiosyncrasies which include the following a) Standard English fails to distinguish between the forms of the auxiliary forms of the verb do and its main verb forms. This is true both of present tense forms, where many other dialects

distinguish between auxiliary I do, he do and main verb I does, he does or similar, and the past tense, where most other dialects distinguish between auxiliary did and main verb done, as in You done it, did you? b) Standard English has an unusual and irregular present tense verb morphology in that only the third-person singular receives morphological marking: he goes versus I go. Many other dialects use either zero for all persons or -s for all persons.

c) Standard English lacks multiple negation, so that no choice is available between I dont want none, which is not possible, and I dont want any. Most nonstandard dialects of English around the world permit multiple negations. d) Standard English has an irregular formation of reflexive pronouns with some forms based on the possessive pronouns e.g. myself, and others on the objective pronouns e.g. himself. Most nonstandard dialects have a regular system employing possessive forms throughout i.e. hisself, theirselves. e) Standard English fails to distinguish between second person singular and second person plural pronouns, having you in both cases. Many nonstandard dialects maintain the older English distinction between thou and you. f) Standard English has irregular forms of the verb to be both in the present tense (am, is, are) and in the past (was, were). Many nonstandard dialects have the same form for all persons, such as I be, you be, he be, we be, they be, and I were, you were, he were, we were, they were. g) In the case of many irregular verbs, Standard English redundantly distinguishes between preterit and perfect verb forms

both by the use of the auxiliary have and by the use of distinct preterit and past participle forms: I have seen versus I saw . Many other dialects have I have seen versus I seen. h) Standard English has only a two-way contrast in its

demonstrative system, with this (near to the speaker) opposed to that (away from the speaker). Many other dialects have a threeway system involving a further distinction between, for example, that (near to the listener) and yon (away from both speaker and listener). Although in El Salvador Standard English is generally the most formal version of the language, there exists a range of registers that can explain the creation of a new Englishes as Salvadoran English within Standard English, and it is often seen when comparing a newspaper article with an academic paper, for example. A distinction also should be drawn between spoken and written standards. Spoken standards are traditionally looser than their written counterparts, and quicker to accept new grammatical forms and vocabulary. However, the concept of spoken English itself is a problematic situation, but the grammatical structure of spoken English is far from being understood. This is especially true of the English that is spoken informal situations, if we assume that these give rise to spontaneous conversational speech.

Nowadays, many linguists of the English language accept the link between written English and the spoken English as educated English or as set of grammatical and lexical forms is used in speech and writing by educated native speakers, according to Peter Trudgill, 1999 in the his book Standard English The Widening Debate. It is interesting to note how many regional standards of English there actually are, if we take into account English spoken as both a first and second language. 1. British and Irish 2. American 3. Canadian 4. Australian, New Zealand & South Pacific 5. Caribbean 6. West, East and South African (Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya,) 7. South Asian (India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh) 8. East Asian (Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines, Hong Kong) Standard English is not geographically restricted to any particular region, and our country is not the exception; its vocabulary is available to all. Should Salvadoran English be included into this phenomenon called Standard English? In my point own perception Standard English speakers in different parts of the world use different equivalent words,

such as idiomatic expressions, slang, and hundreds of cases in which the vocabulary of Standard English and American Standard English differ, as is very well known. As an English teacher, students come to me and ask me Which is better American or British English?" My answer is always the same, "It does not matter as soon you can communicate yourself with others in the English language. The use of Standard English facilities the communication among speakers of the English language in El Salvador taking into account the basic function of a language.

References Chambers, J. and Trudgill, P. (1997) Dialectology. 2nd edition. London: Cambridge University Press.
Freeborn, Dennis, 1992. From Old English to Standard English. London: Macmillan.

Chambers, J. and Trudgill, P. (1999) Standard English The Widening Debate. Cambridge University Press.