Broken English
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Broken English is a name for a
In some communities[clarification needed], young people may intentionally adopt versions of the English language that older people consider to be broken English. This has been documented, for example, among the Māori of New Zealand, where the younger generation was more proficient in English than the previous generation, but intentionally made modifications to the language to assert their own sense of cultural identity.[1]
Nigeria is one of the major countries in Africa known for an international version of pidgin or broken English widely accepted and spoken across West Africa and other continents, especially the whole of Southern and some part of Western Nigeria have a large number of people who have over time adopted it as a sense of common language and unified second cultural identity.
Broken English in literature
In literature, broken English is often used to depict the foreignness of a character, or that character's lack of intelligence or education. However, poets have also intentionally used broken English to create a desired artistic impression, or as a creative experiment writing somewhere between standard English and a local language or dialect.[2]
For example, in Henry V, William Shakespeare used broken English to convey the national pride of Scottish and Irish allies in the King's invasion of Normandy.[3] When Henry himself last implores the French Princess Katherine to marry him, knowing that her command of the English language is limited, he says to her: "Come, your answer in broken music; for thy voice is music and thy English broken; therefore, queen of all, Katherine, break thy mind to me in broken English."[4]
See also
- All your base are belong to us
- Chinglish
- Creole language
- Doge
- Engrish
- Interlanguage
- List of English-based pidgins
- Non-native pronunciations of English
- Polandball
- Singlish
References
- ^ Raymond Hickey, Standards of English: Codified Varieties Around the World (2012), p. 347.
- ^ Peter France, The Oxford Guide to Literature in English Translation (2001), p. 34.
- ^ Paula Blank, Broken English: Dialects and the Politics of Language in Renaissance Writings (2002), p. 136.
- ^ Paula Blank, Broken English: Dialects and the Politics of Language in Renaissance Writings (2002), p. 167, quoting Henry V, Act V, scene ii.
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