8) suggests that by 1555 five West Africans had been taken to England for over a year for this purpose. During this time West Africans were taken in small numbers to Europe to be trained as interpreters. English became established as British supremacy in trade gradually grew. With other powers following suit, European forts were built along the West African coast. A regular trade in spices, ivory, and slaves began in the mid-1500s when British ships sailed along the Guinea coast (Schmied, 1991, p. This was not the first European language to be used on the continent, as Portuguese and its simplified contact varieties take precedence here. 1–17), in relation to the foundations of English in Africa.Įnglish (in an Elizabethan form) was probably first heard in Africa in the 1530s when William Hawkins the Elder passed there on his way to Brazil (Spencer, 1971, p. The historical account in this section is a summary and update of Mesthrie and Bhatt ( 2008, pp. The growth of English in the 20th century extended to all parts of the continent, with areas that were under French, Portuguese, or German influence finding it hard to resist the globalization of English. xi) characterizes as the oldest Southern Hemisphere variety of English in the world. All these are predated by English on the island of Tristan/St. On the mainland the earliest significant presence of English was in West Africa, then Southern Africa, next East Africa and North Africa. The continent displays a wide range of forms of English-Pidgin, L2, Creole, and “transplanted” L1. Those contacts may be extended to include islands off the mainland of Africa like Mauritius, Tristan da Cunha, and St Helena, originally uninhabited and then populated partially with enslaved people from Africa. The form and functions of English have long diversified on the continent, depending on the history of particular regions and the nature of the contacts with speakers of English. As with most parts of the world, English continues to grow in Africa, long after the heyday of British trading, slavery, exploitation and colonization.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |