Linguistic Variation: English Variation in Karen Ethnicity

Abstract

                The variation in the English language has changed in its system from the old English language to the modern English language caused by users in different languages and different dialects. The English features of each accent are different in a variety of English accents. At the beginning the English language in early era was used as an original English; after that it expanded across the continents, as well as becoming a second language and foreign language used in Asia. Regarding the diversity of the English language used in Asia, the group of multi-ethnic language users who have their own mother tongue was the main social variable which caused variation in the English language, when it became an English accent for each group. The purpose of this article is to present the theory of language variation which could explain the variation in the English language, English grouping, and the variation of English in Asian countries, as well as exploring how the English language has been changed in English language used by the Karen ethnicity in Thailand. Linguistic features of the Karen language and the English language are different leading to code-mixing and style shifting of the language characteristics of the English language used by the Karen. This eventually leads to an emergence of the Karen English accent.