Edgar W. Schneider Edgar W. Schneider (born 30 May 1954) is a German linguist of Austrian origin. He is Emeritus Professor of English Linguistics at the University of Regensburg, Germany, where he held the Chair of English Linguistics from 1993 to 2020. In 2021 and ...

's dynamic model of postcolonial Englishes adopts an evolutionary perspective emphasizing language ecologies. It shows how language evolves as a process of 'competition-and-selection', and how certain linguistic features emerge. The Dynamic Model illustrates how the histories and ecologies will determine language structures in the different varieties of English, and how linguistic and

social identities Social organisms, including human(s), live collectively in interacting populations. This interaction is considered social whether they are aware of it or not, and whether the exchange is voluntary or not. Etymology The word "social" derives from ...

are maintained.Kirkpatrick, Andy (2007). ''World Englishes: implications for international communication and English language teaching''. Cambridge UP. Chapter 3.

Underlying principles

Five underlying principles underscore the Dynamic Model: Schneider, Edgar (2007). ''Postcolonial English: Varieties around the world''. Cambridge UP. Chapter 3. # The closer the contact, or higher the degree of

bilingualism Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolingual speakers in the world's population. More than half of all E ...

or multilingualism in a community, the stronger the effects of contact. # The structural effects of language contact depends on social conditions. Therefore, history will play an important part. # Contact-induced changes can be achieved by a variety of mechanisms, from code-switching to code alternation to acquisition strategies. #

Language evolution Evolutionary linguistics or Darwinian linguistics is a sociobiological approach to the study of language. Evolutionary linguists consider linguistics as a subfield of sociobiology and evolutionary psychology. The approach is also closely linked ...

, and the emergence of contact-induced varieties, can be regarded as speakers making selections from a pool of linguistic variants made available to them. # Which features will be ultimately adopted depends on the complete “ecology” of the contact situation, including factors such as demography, social relationships, and surface similarities between languages etc. The Dynamic Model outlines five major stages of the evolution of world Englishes. These stages will take into account the perspectives from the two major parties of agents – settlers (STL) and indigenous residents (IDG). Each phase is defined by four parameters: # Extralinguistic factors (e.g. historical events) # Characteristic identity constructions for both parties # Sociolinguistic determinants of contact setting # Structural effects that emerge

References

{{Reflist Anglic languages Language contact Sociolinguistics Theories of language

Underlying principles

See also

References