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).