Sociolinguistic variables in the "degeneracy" of English in postcolonial ("non-native") contexts

Abstract

This paper tackles from a broad historical perspective the attitudes, media and strategies of transmission, and the interplay of English and identity in the world today. It traces the negative tendencies towards non-native Englishes resultant from British colonialism to the hangovers and strategic linguistic schemes adopted during colonialism. Here the appellations non-native, postcolonial, indigenised, New Englishes are used interchangeably without purporting to make a profound evaluation of the bias linked to them, especially the non-native. The paper concludes with the note that the claim of degeneracy of the New Englishes was ignited by colonial linguistic projects and later fuelled by social prejudices built basically on colonial skeletons. It has less linguistic evidence and if any exists its roots are strongly founded in colonialism.