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18 - South Asia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 June 2012

Thiru Kandiah
Affiliation:
National University of Singapore
Jenny Cheshire
Affiliation:
Birkbeck College, University of London
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Summary

Variation in society – the background and its impact

Differing perceptions of the language, different emphases

In all of the several countries of South Asia, the English language, sustained by English-using élites of essentially the same kind, has continued, even after Independence, to play comparable crucial roles. In spite of this, and in spite of the further relevant fact that these countries share a great deal in the way of history, culture, interests and so on, and constitute a natural ‘linguistic area’ (D'souza 1987; Masica 1976) within what, moreover, is a natural geographical area, the attention paid within them to the English language has varied greatly, both in depth of coverage as well as in the range of issues looked at. India dominates the field in both respects, with some contributions coming from Sri Lanka and considerably fewer from Bangladesh and Pakistan.

Evidently, the unique developmental processes within each of these countries as they pursued their common task of post-colonial reconstruction have defined for them very different perceptions of the language and of their relationship to it, perceptions that do not lead them all alike to the kind of preoccupation with it that makes such obvious sense to the increasing band of scholars studying New Varieties of English (NVEs).

Type
Chapter
Information
English around the World
Sociolinguistic Perspectives
, pp. 269 - 287
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 1991

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  • South Asia
  • Edited by Jenny Cheshire, Birkbeck College, University of London
  • Book: English around the World
  • Online publication: 05 June 2012
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511611889.019
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  • South Asia
  • Edited by Jenny Cheshire, Birkbeck College, University of London
  • Book: English around the World
  • Online publication: 05 June 2012
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511611889.019
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • South Asia
  • Edited by Jenny Cheshire, Birkbeck College, University of London
  • Book: English around the World
  • Online publication: 05 June 2012
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511611889.019
Available formats
×