Karchu, Prabhu, Canagarajah

1. World Englishes
A Presentation by
Eak Prasad Duwadi

2. The Life of Braj B. Kachru
Professor Braj B. Kachru is the Director of the Centre for
Advanced Study at the University of Illinois. He is said to be
the world's leading scholar in the field of world Englishes
He has pioneered, shaped, and defined the linguistic, socio-
cultural and pedagogical dimensions of cross-cultural diffusion
of English
Professor Kachru has more than 25 authored and edited
volumes and more than 100 research papers, review articles,
and reviews
He wrote a book from which our essay is excerpted called The
Alchemy of English: The Spread, Functions and Models of
Non-Native Englishes, associate editor of the acclaimed The
Oxford Companion to the English Language and Contributor
to the Cambridge History of the English Language

3. • Kachru sits on the editorial boards of 8 scholarly
journals, and is founder and co-editor of the journal
World Englishes
• He has chaired many national and international
committees and led several organizations, including the
American Association for Applied Linguistics
• Among his many awards is the Duke of Edinburgh
Award (1987) for The Alchemy of English
• He holds joint appointments with the College of
Education, Program in Comparative and World
Literature, and Division of English as an International
Language

4. • He headed the Department of Linguistics
(1968-79), directed the Division of English as
an International Language (1985-91), and was
director of the Center for Advanced Study
(June 1996-January 2000)
• He was director of the Linguistic Institute of the
Linguistic Society of America (1978), president
of American Association of Applied Linguistics
(1984), and president of the International
Association for World Englishes (1997-99)
• He was named Jubilee Professor of Liberal
Arts and Sciences at UIUC in 1992; Sir Edward
Youde Memorial Fund Visiting Professor at
Hong Kong University in 1998; and honorary
fellow of the Central Institute of English and
Foreign Languages, Hyderabad, India, in 2001

5. • In October 2002 UIUC hosted the International
Association for World Englishes annual conference,
which included a one-day symposium titled "World
Englishes: Perspective on the 21st-Century"
dedicated to Professor Kachru
• In 2003 he was selected a member of the editorial
boards of Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural
Development and Linguistics and the Human
Sciences
• His recently authored and coedited volumes include
Asian Englishes: Beyond the Canon (2004), World
Englishes: Critical Concepts (6 vols., 2005), and The
Handbook of World Englishes (2005)

6. English as a language of power
• The power of English is of a worldly nature which is termed the
“vehicular load” of a language. English is considered as the
“primary medium for 20th century science and technology”
• Important Markers of English power: demographic distribution,
native & non-native users across all cultures, use in world forums,
and it’s rich literary tradition
• Power resides in: its uses, the roles users can play, its perceived
importance in that English exceeds other languages on all counts
• The spread of English was not foreseen as shown through the
poetry Kachru includes by Samual Daniel
• The Elizabethan period was the glory of the English period due to
William Shakespeare and Ben Jonson

7. English as a language of power
(continued)
• In the beginning there was a lot of cynicism towards the
spread of the English language, however, it was short lived
and the visions Samual Daniel addressed in his poems have
been seen
• The English language is a tool of power, dominance,
communication and elitist identity across the world
• Due to Imperialism English has become an integral part of a
complex sociolinguistic setting
• Colonial Englishes became non-native second languages and
have the same status today
• The non-nativeness of the varieties is significant
attitudinally, linguistically, and socio-linguistically

8. English as a colonial language
• Due to the political power of the British in the India and the
Americans in the Philippines and Puerto Rico, the colonists had
to adopt a pose fitting their new status. English became a
marker of power
• “India likes gods. And Englishmen like posing as gods”
• Because English was clearly a powerful language the Natives
tried to adopt the language and pose the same status as the
colonists. This made the colonists uncomfortable
• Thus the term “non-native” English is coined. It is the
transplanted varieties of English that are acquired as a second
language
• English is used as a tool of power to connect those with similar
cultures and norms as the politically elite

9. English as a colonial language
(continued)
• At almost the same time America, another English-speaking
nation, was doing it’s best to Americanize Puerto Rico
• In 1898 America’s power spread to the Philippines and
President McKinley considered it the American’s duty to
educate, civilize, and Christianize the Filipinos so that they
would be fitting of citizenship
• Throughout South Asia the same was true, many English
speakers were trying to Christianize and change the “natives”
• English has become a tool of civilization and light. Use of said
tool is considered to the colonists contribution and duty
• English also became the medium for understanding technology
and scientific developments

10. English as a colonial language
(continued)
• In India, the installed language had socially and
administratively dominant roles and thus the national media,
legal and other important professions were conducted in
English
• Eventually the Indians (as well as Filipinos or Africans) who did
become skilled in professional roles were called “Westernized”
or to be more neutral “modernized
• English acquired a strong non-native base and local languages
lost their prestige and power
• In time the elite language was used against the Englishmen
and their roles and intentions; it became the language of a
resurging nationalism and political awakening

11. Acquiring Domains of Power
• The linguistic and cultural pluralism in Africa and South Asia
aided with the spread of English and thus fostered staying power
for the language
• By the 1920’s English had become the language of politics,
intranational administration, law, and was associated with liberal
thinking. Even after the colonial period ended English
maintained its power over local language
• Acquiring power is not necessarily linked to the number of
people speaking the language. The power is acquired through
the prestige of the professions those who speak the language
posses. Thus others seek emulation
• English serves at least two purposes for Governments: it
provides a linguistic tool for administrative cohesiveness of a
country and it provides a language of wider communication on a
global scale

12. • Enthusiasm for English is not unanimous or
widespread. One disadvantage is very obvious in that
due to use of an external language the culture suffers.
• English does have one clear advantage in that
attitundinally and linguistically it is neutral.
• It does not have implications of “caste” like the native
languages of India does.
• English is not associated with any religious or ethnic
faction like the other languages of India are either.
• Although English does have some limitations it has
been seen as the language of power and opportunity.

13. Attitudinal neutrality and power
• In early studies it was shown that in code-mixing English is
used to neutralize identities that one is reluctant to express
through native languages or dialects
• “Code-mixing refers to the use of lexical items or phrases
from one code in the stream of discourse of another”
• Neutralization is a linguistic strategy used to “unload” a
linguistic item from it’s traditional, cultural, and emotional
meanings by avoiding its use and choosing something from
another code
• The borrowed code has no cultural connotations

14. Post-colonial period
• The power of neutralization is associated with English in two
ways: first, it provides an additional code that doesn’t have a
cultural tone or connotation and second, its use develops new
code-mixing varieties of language.
• Even after independence the controversy over English exists
but in new forms. Now, people question whether or not
English is truly a non-native or “alien” language for India,
Africa, and South East Asia
• The new power bases have been accepted in Africa and Asia.
The new varieties have their own linguistic and cultural
ecologies as well as sociocultural contexts, thus, due to the
adaptation of these new ecologies non-native Englishes have
new identities.

15. Post-colonial period (continued)
• Unfortunately, for India, despite warnings that perpetuating
English as part of Indian culture was diminishing the Indian
languages in the 1960’s this became reality in the 1980’s
• The implications from the change in the ecology of world
Englishes is very significant
• The new varieties have developed localized norms and
standards.
• To purists this is a big problem but others reject a
“monomodel” of English saying it isn’t applicable or realistic.
• The spread of English and it’s alchemy (ability to change)
has raised serious theoretical questions which don’t lie in
the “power” of English but in language analysis and
description.
• the already existing “American Literature” and “English
Literature.”

16. Implications
• The idea of the monolingual native speaker is being questioned and
new perspectives are being explored
• English does not just have one defining context but many spread
across the world through many cultures
• The same is true within literature, perhaps it is time that “literature
in English” be incorporated as a category with The alchemy of
English does not only provide social status, but also gives access to
attitudinally and materially desirable domains of power and
knowledge
• English is a powerful linguistic tool for manipulation and control
• In addition, the alchemy of English has left a deep impression on
the languages and literature of the Non-Western world. It has
caused a transformation of languages equipping them for new
societal, scientific, and technological demands

17. Implications …
• Never has so much control lied in the power of one
language
• The power of English is so dominant that it has
developed across all cultures and languages
• For now English doesn’t appear to be losing any power
and only seems to be getting deeper roots in different
cultures
• The view of English as a truly international language is
tarnished by the misuse of English to prevent
economic, sociopolitical, and cultural advancement for
those who don’t possess the ability to speak English

18. Implications (continued)
• In many countries, including India, English is viewed as the
language of oppression
• It is considered another way to exclude large populations and
has been called a “language bar”
• In regions in which people are already trying to fight against a
“caste bar” or “tribal bar” this can be oppressive
• It seems as though there is a sort of linguistic schizophrenia in
that people are fighting against English but at the same time
fighting for their loved ones ability to use the language
• Thus a policy has risen in which those who are anti-English
have different expectations for home and outside

19. The Life of NS Prabhu
• N S Prabhu retired from the English Department of
the National University of Singapore in 1994
• Earlier he worked for many years as an English
Language Specialist for the British Council in
southern India, and in that time carried out a 5-
year project of teaching English in state primary
schools employing task-based activity
• The project was reported in his book Second
Language Pedagogy and has been widely referred
to in the literature as the Bangalore Project

20. • TBLT was popularized by N. Prabhu while working
in Bangalore, India
• Prabhu noticed that his students could learn
language just as easily with a non-linguistic
problem as when they were concentrating on
linguistic questions

21. The life of Suresh Canagarajah
• Suresh Canagarajah is a Professor and Director of
the Migration Studies Project at Pennsylvania State
University
• He teaches World Englishes, Second Language
Writing, and Postcolonial Studies in the
departments of English and Applied Linguistics
• His early education and teaching was in the war-
torn region of Jaffna, Sri Lanka

22. The life of Suresh Canagarajah…
• He has taught before in the University of Jaffna and the
City University of New York.
• His book Resisting Linguistic Imperialism in English
Teaching (OUP, 1999) won Modern Language
Association’s Mina Shaughnessy Award for the best
research publication on the teaching of language and
literacy.
• His subsequent publication Geopolitics of Academic
Writing (UPittsburgh Press 2002) won the Gary Olson
Award for the best book in social and rhetorical theory
• His study of World Englishes in writing pedagogy won
the 2007 Braddock Award for the best article in the
College Composition and Communication journal

23. The life of Suresh Canagarajah
• His most recent publication is Translingual Practice:
Global Englishes and Cosmopolitan Relations
(Routledge, 2013), which won the 2014 BAAL best
book award and MLA’s Mina Shaughnessy Award
• He is a former editor of TESOL Quarterly and a past
President of the American Association of Applied
Linguistics

24. Conclusion
?

25. References
• Canagarajah, S. (2012). Translingual practice:
Global Englishes and cosmopolitan relations.
Routledge.
• Kachru, B. B. (1986). The alchemy of English: The
spread, functions, and models of non-native
Englishes. University of Illinois Press.
• Prabhu, N. S. (1990). There is no best method—
why?. Tesol quarterly, 24(2), 161-176.