Asian Englishes: Beyond the Canon

Contents

Contents List of illustrations xi Series editor’s preface xiii Preface xv Acknowledgements xxi Phonetic symbols and transcription xxiii Map of Greater Asia xxiv 1. Introduction: Anglophone Asia 1 Part I: Contexts 7 2. Asian Englishes 9 Introduction 9 Epistemological concerns 11 Language and nativeness 12 Contexts of the Asian presence of English 13 Asian Englishes within the Three Circles 13 The albatross of mythology 16 Mythology and the Asian context 19 Current strategies 20 Decolonizing text and context 21 Canonicity, diversity, and Asian Englishes 22 English on Asian terms 23 Institutionalization of Asian Englishes 26 Conclusion 27 3. South Asian schizophrenia 29 Introduction 29 The South Asian linguistic repertoire and English 30 Types of variation 39 viii Contents The South Asianness of South Asian English 43 South Asian lexical stock in English 51 Models of English 55 Bilinguals’ creativity in South Asian English 56 English in post-1947 language policies 61 Attitudes and schizophrenia about English 68 Current issues 69 Conclusion 71 4. Past imperfect: The Japanese agony 73 Introduction 73 Perspectives on English in Japan 74 Eikaiwa ‘English Conversation Ideology’ 76 Dimensions of paradigm shift 78 Marginalization, ideology and paradigms 93 Japanese without Eikaiwa 94 Conclusion 95 Part II: Convergence 97 5. Englishization: Asia and beyond 99 Introduction 99 The spheres of Englishization 101 Deficit versus dominance hypothesis 102 Exponents of Englishization 103 Lexicalization 104 Grammar 106 ‘Great Tradition’ versus ‘Little Tradition’ 111 Thematic range and literary experimentation 112 Englishization and code development 113 Englishization and linguistic schizophrenia 116 Englishization and contact linguistics 117 Englishization and language policies 118 Conclusion 120 6. The absent voices 121 Introduction 121 ESP: Presuppositions 122 ESP: Beyond the canon 122 Acceptability and local contexts 123 Anglophone Asia’s language policies and ‘loose 124 canons’ of Englishes Contents ix Asian Englishes as codes of communication 125 Pragmatic success and ESP 126 Asian Englishes and instructional resources 129 Localized varieties and English for international communication 130 Towards a shift in paradigm 131 Conclusion 134 Part III: Mantras 135 7. Medium and mantra 137 Introduction 137 The caste of English 138 Anatomy of the mantra 139 Structure as the puranic form 145 Rao’s credo in a historical context 146 Caliban’s canon and the Western canon 148 Rao’s mantra 150 Conclusion 151 8. Talking back and writing back 155 Introduction 155 Three basic questions 156 What are the solutions? 157 Creativity, pluralistic contexts, and standards 160 Conclusion 162 Part IV: Predator 163 9. Killer or accessory to murder? 165 Introduction 165 The wave of doom 165 Obiturial terminology 167 Hypotheses and rationalizations 168 Culprits and killers 170 The leaking model 171 Killer English? 173 Language attitudes 174 Linguists and the war of words 176 The rescue brigades 179 Language reincarnation 181 The Asian context 182 Conclusion 183 x Contents Part V: Pedagogy 185 10. Contexts of pedagogy and identity 187 Introduction 187 Approaches to South Asian English 190 The Inner Circle and issues of identity 196 Research agendas 197 Conclusion 201 Part VI: Afterword 203 11. Present tense: Making sense of Anglophone Asia 205 Introduction 205 The heart of the matter 205 Constructing constructs 207 Flogging a dead horse 209 On getting the Three Circles Model backwards 211 Identity markers and location 220 Pidgins and creoles in the constellation 221 Life-cycle hypothesis and ‘reincarnation’ 221 Lingua franca, again! 222 Codification and standardization 224 The cauldron of ‘empires’ 228 World Standard Spoken English (WSSE) and the real world 230 Futurology and the crystal ball 231 Asian voices in repositories of knowledge 233 The victimology of English and Asia’s response 236 ‘A different ... uh, kettle of fish’ 238 Barking up the wrong tree 239 Shared strands of ongoing debates 250 Conclusion 254 Notes 257 Bibliography 265 Index 319 ...