November 2, 2014

Edwards (2014) Dutch English

Edwards, A. (October, 2014). Who’s afraid of Dutch English? Paper presented at the meeting of the Society for English-Native-Speaking Editors (SENSE), Utrecht, The Netherlands.

Edwards started the red thread unrolling by identifying opposing roles on a continuum: prescriptive editors need rules whereas descriptive sociolinguists question rules! “What is a rule really?” Referring to Paikeday, Alison reminded us that that English native speaker norms are sometimes inappropriate. Native speakers are the minority not majority. An editor’s moral quandary is to maintain standards while not trampling on writers’ content and style. However, what is (un)acceptable?

Judgments about language are never objective and are based on history, attitudes and politics. Varieties such as Singlish and Hinglish are valued. However, English with a Dutch flavour has derogatory labels: Steenkolenengels, Nederengels and Dunglish. (Note that comic collections, such as I always get my sin, use inauthentic and unrealistic examples because they are immediately recognised as absurd.) Over time, Dutch English may become accepted. Errors can be institutionalised and reinforced by mass use. What were errors become innovation and language norms, e.g. would’ve -> would of. Not logical, but language change ain’t logical.

To further the discussion, Alison explained lects in the Dutch context. In the basilect, English and Dutch integrate and both diverge from standard forms, e.g. Price not includes saus. In the acrolect, Dutch and English combine into acceptable forms, e.g. Prof Dr, it ìs good, and enable “filling a hole by drawing on your whole linguistic repertoire”.

Alison also explained how Kachru’s Three Circle Model defines countries as

  • ‘norm-providing’ i.e. the Inner Circle, e.g. Australia,
  • ‘norm-developing’ i.e. the Outer Circle, e.g. India,
    English has official or historical roles and is enculturated,
  • ‘norm-dependent’ i.e. the Expanding Circle, e.g. Russia,
    English is a foreign language used by learners.

Kachru removed the native and non-native division; however he shifted the barrier and redefine users’ language as acceptable innovation in the outer circle or unacceptable errors in the expanding circle.

However, varieties of English are no longer restricted to former colonies. “A variety emerges when people have an identity as English users” and empirical data shows that “the Dutch are willing to act as active builders … and construct their own English”. However, before Dutch English becomes recognized, it needs to be valued by the Dutch people themselves.

Alison concluded that the “prescriptive nature of editing does not need to be at odds with sociolinguistic ideas”. “If a client wants to hold onto Dutch English, there may be an interesting reason for this”. “Writers don’t need a generic voice”. Be aware of the target audience and treasure opportunities to “witness language development”.