English in Namibia: Multilingualism and Ethnic Variation in the Extra- and Intra-territorial Forces Model

Abstract

This chapter presents a close analysis of the Namibian linguistic ecology and the role of Namibian English (NamE) in the multilingual make-up of the country. This includes the discussion of the status of English in comparison to Afrikaans, the country’s primary lingua franca, and to minority languages, such as German, as well as majority languages, such as Oshiwambo. Taking up and elaborating on observations on Namibian-specific phonetic realizations of vowels, identifying linguistic identity constructions, ethnolinguistic variation and discussing in detail the (historical) relationship between South Africa (as an epicentre) and Namibia, it shows that NamE cannot be seen as a monolithic whole but should rather be considered a bundle of local sub-varieties. The chapter further discusses the applicability of the EIF Model to the Namibian case and makes some suggestions on how to include additional extra-territorial forces, discussions of heterogeneity, norm development as well as a different approach to developmental stages in model making.

The Trini Sing-Song: Sociophonetic variation in Trinidadian English prosody and differences to other varieties

“…On a more general level, the findings may be taken to indicate that endocentric tendencies—in the sense of the production of distinct, local prosodic patterns—and sociolinguistic differentiation in TrinE prosody are interlinked. Such an interpretation is in line with recent advances in World Englishes modeling, which assume that processes of endonormative stabilization and differentiation may frequently be merged ( Buschfeld, 2020 ; Schröder & Zähres, 2020 ).…”

“…A higher degree of local differentiation is then typically expected at a later developmental stage, after endonormative stabilization has been achieved ( Schneider, 2007 : 52–55). Very recent advances in World Englishes modeling ( Buschfeld, 2020 ; Meer & Deuber, 2020 ; Schröder & Zähres, 2020 ), however, show that these norm stabilization processes can also be multidimensional in that they involve other global and local linguistic influences and co-occur with processes of differentiation.…”