World Englishes and Culture Wars

This book is about the contact of English with diverse languages and cultures, and its concurrent indigenization and speciation.

Braj B. Kachru (Author)

9780521825719, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 26 January 2017

344 pages
23.6 x 15.9 x 2.3 cm, 0.61 kg

'This consolidated version of Braj B. Kachru's seminal and still relevant research on the postcolonial roles, forms and functions of English will continue to challenge and serve a new generation of students and researchers.' Rajend Mesthrie, University of Cape Town

Written from a non-Western perspective, this book exposes the inadequacy of oppositions such as native versus non-native Englishes and English versus New Englishes. It explains why the label 'World Englishes' captures both what the different Englishes share and how they differ from each other. It also criticizes the kinds of power asymmetries that have evolved between the Inner, Outer, and Expanding Circles of English, while showing the extent to which the Outer Circle has enriched their common language and made it suitable for both its heritage and non-heritage users. The narrative is grounded in a wealth of historical knowledge, especially that of the colonization of the Outer Circle. Readers are invited to compare the spread and differentiation of English with those of Latin, which evolved into the Romance languages. This comparison may leave the reader asking: could English break up into Anglian languages?

Part I. World Englishes Today: 1. The agony and ecstasy
2. The second diaspora
3. Culture wars
4. Standards and codification
5. The power and politics
Part II. Context and Creativity: 6. The speaking tree
7. Creativity and literary canons
Part III. Past and Prejudice: 8. Liberation linguistics
9. Sacred linguistic cows
10. The paradigms of marginalization
Part IV. Ethical Issues and the ELT Empire: 11. Applying linguistics
12. Leaking paradigms
Part V. World Englishes and the Classroom: 13. Mythology in teaching
Part VI. Research Areas and Resources: 14. Research resources.

Subject Areas: Historical & comparative linguistics [CFF], Sociolinguistics [CFB], Philosophy of language [CFA], Linguistics [CF]