Content

Introduction

The current research investigates the English language, the varieties of English within the British Isles and particularly in Scotland. It touches upon the problems like the existence of ‘lingua franca’, the spread of English across the world, local differences within the British Isles, and Scottish Standard English. The aim of this paper is to investigate the particular features of Scottish English, to compare Standard Scottish with Standard English and to explain the contact between Standard Scottish and Standard English both historically and practically.

The paper comprises one chapter with its separate sections.

In the first part of the chapter (The Spread of English: Global English) we study about the expansion of English all over the world, and the factors that promoted that expansion, then we pass on to the importance of the language as a lingua franca and eventually we come up to the point where the obvious development brought English the status of a global language.

The second part of the first chapter (Scottish English) and the most important part of the paper is based on the information from various sources, such as David Crystal “The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language”, Jim Miller, "Scottish English: Morphology and Syntax”, web-site-“British Library Board”, other web-sites and some lectures from phonology.

Here we discuss the Scottish English with its phonology, grammar and lexis, particularly in comparison with Standard English. The topic is especially interesting and preferable for me as Scottish English contains some traditional features of earlier periods of the English language, both spoken and written. It started to develop early after Middle English period and began to spread northwards. It is much more complex but at the same time there is no difficulty for a learner of Standard English to understand and communicate with those who speak it. The structures and different rules, which are described in the paper, are part of everyday language of many speakers in Scotland but differ greatly from the structures of Standard Written English. They form a different system and their existence and survival is worth mentioning. Their role in the construction of Scottish identity is essential, even if it is overlooked by researchers.

The paper once again proves the importance of English as global language. This paper sets out a tiny fraction of English language system, variations, development. The different sources books, authors, linguists and data from the web sites show that this development is still in progress and the more the language changes the more there is to investigate, so this comes to prove that language is alive.

Chapter 1: The Spread of English. Global English

We live in a world of languages, where English has become a global language, by saying this we mean that it is used to connect the world on a global scale. English is a West Germanic language that was first spoken in England. But now it is the most widely used in the world as it is spoken everywhere and nearly by everyone. It is spoken on all five continents, and one of the main reasons for it is the colonial expansion during the last four centuries. Now obviously that colonial era is over, however, the consequences of it are still continuing to seep into light. As a result, nowadays English is often the official or the native language of the countries, which happened to be colonies in their time.

English plays a central role as an international language. Kachru has discussed the power of English in many of his works. According to Kachru the language power is certainly connected with societal power. There are two hypotheses concerning language power: the intrinsic-power hypothesis and the acquired-power hypothesis. The first hypotheses claims that English would intrinsically possess certain linguistic characteristics which would make it a preferred language for international purposes. This position can seem similar to claims of racial superiority. The second hypothesis emphasizes the ways in which a language acquires power, and thus it is also easier to understand.

From the 17^th century the British and the Americans began to spread their language with the help of language planning policies, in order to gain control over the other countries. English is the language of colonizers and it may even cause the extinction of other languages if everyone speaks it. With the growth of the speakers of English, nowadays the language is one of the most widespread languages in the world with more than 400 million native speakers and approximately the same number who speaks it as a second language. It is taught in most of the countries and is continuing its spread across the world. Another legacy of colonialism is that English carries the role of lingua franca. It is used to make communication possible between people who are not sharing the same native language. In many countries, like for example in Nigeria, English is used as a general means of communication as there are many different and mutually unintelligible languages, so the existence of a lingua franca is a necessity. Lingua franca carries the function of so called ‘bridge’ between nations. It is also called ‘trade language’ or ‘vehicular language’. Different lingua francas have developed around the world throughout human history for commercial reasons, for administrative and diplomatic convenience, for the information exchange between scientists or other scholars of different nationalities.

Various factors promoted the expansion of English, they involve economical, social, industrial, scientific and other fields.

As it is mentioned above the most important factor for the success of English is the historical role as a colonial power. For example, in India the political power attributed a power to the language of the Raj, and it has also become a symbol of political power. English became a language of higher education, science, technology, commerce, etc. Gradually it became the main language of education and later it entered into people’s everyday life.

In many former colonies of Britain, English is still the language of exclusive social elite. In their time the colonizers wanted to introduce their literature to the natives, but they themselves remained ignorant towards the literature and language of aborigines, in fact, this was a demonstration of control and domain of knowledge and information.

Another important factor for the expansion is connected with the social, economical, military advancements. As Britain was the leader of industrial revolution, a large number of manufacturing and production machinery were just some of the major technical advancements being pioneered there. The countries which wanted these advancements and needed new knowledge about them should have had basic knowledge of English, and this made the language internationally more powerful.

At the beginning of the 20^th century the US gained a great economic superiority and political leadership it began to be involved in international organizations. Later at the end of the 20^th century American technology leadership and especially the invention of computer contributed to the spread of English. The influence of the United States is huge as it has 70 per cent of all native speakers of English in the world.

Other means of expansion as broadcasting, advertising, motion pictures, popular music, education, international travel and safety slowly but surely had their influence too, and now the greatest part of information that we get is in English.

To sum up, there is a great variety of so called ‘Englishes’ and these varieties appeared because in different parts of the world people adapted English according to their pronunciation rules. Although the language is essentially the same, there are some aspects of the language that are different in different constructions. The most common English comparison is between American English and British English. The pronunciation, grammar, spelling, vocabulary are different and the listener must be extremely careful and attentive to grasp the context wholly.

The term ‘Englishes’ refers not only to American English and British English, but also Indian, Pakistani, Australian and New Zealand English, as well as the English spoken in various African and Asian countries and finally within the British Isles: Scotland, Ireland, Wales.

There is an interesting variety of Englishes within the British Isles, thus for instance BBC’s English, Irish English, Welsh English and Scottish English. And the current research is mainly on Scottish English.