Introduction: From World Englishes to Unequal Englishes

  • Ruanni Tupas
  • Rani Rubdy
Chapter

Abstract

‘The functional equality of all languages’, according to Hymes (1985, p. v), ‘has been a tenet of the faith from the founders of structural linguistics to most practitioners of linguistics today’. This faith has been ‘the progressive force’ that has resulted in ‘the appreciation of the marvelous variety of forms taken by human linguistic creativity’ (p. v). This volume argues that it is the same faith in linguistic equality that has served as political and ideological anchor for much of the work on the development and spread of the English language around the world. It is ‘progressive’ in the sense that it has repudiated and unmasked practically all deep-seated beliefs about what constitutes the nature of English today. There is no one English, but many Englishes. No one has exclusive rights to the language; anyone who speaks it has the right to own it. The norms of use are multilingual norms and the strategies to teach English are also multilingual in nature. The English language is deeply embedded in the multilingual and multicultural lives of its speakers— so who are the native speakers of English today? To insist that those who can be called native speakers are only those who come from Inner Circle countries, especially the United States and the United Kingdom (where users of English are typically described as ‘native speakers’), is to disenfranchise the majority of English speakers today.

Keywords

English Language Native Speaker Pluralist Approach English Sign Multilingual Matter 
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in to check access.

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  1. Ashcroft, B, Griffiths, G, & Tiffin, H 1989, The empire writes back: theory and practice in post-colonial literatures, Routledge, London & New York.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  2. Bhatt, R 2001, ‘World Englishes’, Annual Review of Anthropology, vol. 30, pp. 527–550.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  3. Bisong, J 1995, ‘Language choice and cultural imperialism: a Nigerian perspective’, ELT Journal, vol. 49, pp. 122–132.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  4. Brutt-Griffler, J 2002, ‘World English: a study of its development’, Multilingual Matters, Clevedon, England.Google Scholar
  5. Canagarajah, S 1999, Resisting linguistic imperialism in English teaching, Oxford University Press, Oxford, United Kingdom.Google Scholar
  6. Canagarajah, S 2006, ‘The place of World Englishes in composition: pluralization continued’, College Composition and Communication, vol. 57, no. 4, pp. 586–619.Google Scholar
  7. Dirlik, A 2002, Rethinking colonialism: globalization, postcolonialism, and the nation, Interventions: International Journal of Postcolonial Studies, vol. 4, no. 3, pp. 428–448.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  8. Elder-Vass, D 2010, The causal power of social structures: emergence, structure and agency, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  9. Gregory, D 2004, The colonial present, Blackwell, Oxford, United Kingdom.Google Scholar
  10. Hays, S 1994, ‘Structure and agency and the sticky problem of culture’, Sociological Theory, vol. 12, no. 1, pp. 57–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  11. Hobson, JM & Ramesh, M 2002, ‘Globalisation makes of states what states make of it: between agency and structure in the state/globalisation debate’, New Political Economy, vol. 7, no. 1, pp. 5–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  12. Holborow, M 1999, The politics of English: a Marxist view of language, Sage Publications, London.Google Scholar
  13. Higgins, C 2009, English as a local language, Multilingual Matters, Bristol.Google Scholar
  14. Holliday A 2005, The struggle to teach English as an International Language, Oxford University Press, Oxford.Google Scholar
  15. Holliday, A 2006, ‘Native-speakerism’, ELT Journal, vol. 6, pp. 385–387.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  16. Hymes, D 1985, ‘Preface’, in N Wolfson & J Manes (eds), Language of inequality, Mouton Publishers, Berlin, New York, & Amsterdam, pp. v–xi.Google Scholar
  17. Jenkins, J 2000, The phonology of English as an International Language: new models, Oxford University Press, Oxford.Google Scholar
  18. Jenkins, J 2006, ‘Current perspectives on teaching World Englishes and English as a Lingua Franca’, TESOL Quarterly, vol. 40, no. 1, pp. 157–181.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  19. Kachru, B 1986, The alchemy of English: the spread, functions and models of non-native Englishes, Pergamon Press, Oxford.Google Scholar
  20. Kachru, B 1991, ‘Liberation linguistics and the Quirk concern’. English Today, vol. 25, pp. 3–13.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  21. Kirkpatrick, A 2010, The Routledge handbook of World Englishes, Routledge, London & New York.Google Scholar
  22. Kumaravadivelu, B 2006, ‘Dangerous liaison: globalization, empire and TESOL’, in J Edge (ed), (Re-)locating TESOL in an age of empire, Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke, pp. 1–26.Google Scholar
  23. Labov, W 1969, ‘The logic of non-standard English’, in J Alatis (ed), Georgetown monograph on languages and linguistics, Georgetown University Press, Washington, DC, vol. 22, pp. 1–44.Google Scholar
  24. Larsen, N 2005, ‘Imperialism, colonialism, postcolonialism’, in H Schwarz & S Ray (eds), A companion to postcolonial studies, Blackwell, Maiden, Oxford, & Carlton, pp. 23–52.Google Scholar
  25. Lee, E & Norton, B 2009, ‘The English language, multilingualism, and the politics of location’, International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, vol. 12, no. 3, pp. 277–290.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  26. Matsuda, A 2012, Principles and practices of Teaching English as an International Language, Multilingual Matters, Clevedon.Google Scholar
  27. McKay, SL 2002, Teaching English as an international language: rethinking goals and approaches, Oxford University Press, Oxford.Google Scholar
  28. Modiano, M 1999, ‘International English in the global village’, English Today, vol. 15, no. 2, pp. 22–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  29. Parakrama, A 1995, De-hegemonizing language standards—learning from (post)-colonial Englishes about ‘English’, Macmillan Press, London.Google Scholar
  30. Parker, J 2000, Structuration, Open University Press, Buckingham.Google Scholar
  31. Pennycook, A 1994, The cultural politics of English as an International Language, Longman, Harlow.Google Scholar
  32. Pennycook, A 2008, ‘Multilithic English(es) and language ideologies’, Language in Society, pp. 435–444.Google Scholar
  33. Phan, LH 2008, Teaching English as an International Language: identity resistance, and Negotiation, Multilingual Matters, Clevedon.Google Scholar
  34. Phillipson, R 1992, Linguistic imperialism, Oxford University Press, Oxford.Google Scholar
  35. Prator, CH 1968, ‘The British heresy in TESOL’, in J Fishman, CA Ferguson, & JD Das Gupta (eds), Language problems in developing nations, John Wiley, New York, pp. 459–76.Google Scholar
  36. Rubdy R & Saraceni, M 2006, English in the world: global rules, global roles, Continuum, London & New York.Google Scholar
  37. Saraceni, M 2009, ‘Relocating English: towards a new paradigm for English in the world’, Language and Intercultural Communication, vol. 9, no. 3, pp. 175–186.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  38. Saxena, M & Omoniyi, T (eds), 2010, Contending with globalization in World Englishes, Multilingual Matters, Clevedon.Google Scholar
  39. Tupas, R 2001, ‘Global politics and the Englishes of the world’, in J Cotteril & A Ife (eds), Language across boundaries: selected papers from the Annual Meeting of the British Association for Applied Linguistics, London & New York, BAAL with Continuum Press, pp. 81–98.Google Scholar
  40. Tupas, R 2004, ‘The politics of Philippine English: neocolonialism, global politics, and the problem of colonialism’, World Englishes, vol. 23, no. 1, pp. 47–58.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  41. Widdowson, H 1994, ‘The ownership of English’, TESOL Quarterly, vol. 28, no. 2, pp. 377–389.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  42. Williams, R 1977, Marxism and literature, Oxford University Press, Oxford.Google Scholar

Copyright information

© Ruanni Tupas and Rani Rubdy 2015

Authors and Affiliations

  • Ruanni Tupas
  • Rani Rubdy

There are no affiliations available

Personalised recommendations