Text 22

Alastair Pennycook: The Cultural Politics of English as an International Language. Longman 1994, pages 12, 13.

The spread of English around the world has usually been assumed to be natural, neutral, and beneficial. Pennycook puts in question all three assumptions, and argues that we have to see English as an international language in terms of the cultural identities it offers its speakers.

Sorely lacking from the predominant paradigm of investigation into English as an international language is a broad range of social, historical, cultural and political relationships. First, there is a failure to problematize the notion of choice, and therefore an assumption that individuals and countries are somehow free of economic, political and ideological constraints when they apparently freely opt for English. It is this failure to look critically at global relations that allows for a belief in the natural spread of English. Second, there is a structuralist and positivist view of language that suggests that all languages can be free of cultural and political influences; and, more particularly, there is a belief that by its international status English is even more neutral than other languages. And finally, there is an understanding of international relations that suggests that people and nations are free to deal with each other on an equal basis and thus, if English is widely used, this can only be beneficial...

A number of writers have pointed to a far broader range of cultural and political effects of the spread of English: its wide-spread use threatens other languages; it has become the language of power and prestige in many countries, thus acting as a crucial gatekeeper to social and economic progress; its use in particular domains, especially professional, may exacerbate different power relationships and may render these domains more inaccessible to many people; its position in the world gives it a role also as an international gatekeeper, regulating the international flow of people; it is closely linked to national and increasingly non-national forms of culture and knowledge that are dominant in the world; and it is also bound up with aspects of global relations, such as the spread of capitalism, development aid and the dominance particularly of North American media.

• Give examples to show that indeed the spread of English as an international language is both an instrument of linguistic imperialism and a means for individual and societal empowerment.

• How do you think Pennycook's argument here supports the idea that language and culture are inevitably bound up with each other?

• In reference to Text 20, to what extent, in your view, can English as an international language serve to perform acts of identity?

Chapter 7 Current issues

Text 23

Braj B. Kachru: 'The alchemy of English. Social and functional power of non-native varieties' in Cheris Kramarae, Muriel Schulz, and William M. O'Barr (Eds.): Language and Power. Sage 1984, pages 190,191.

The large-scale migrations of the last decades, and the spread of English around the world, have led linguists to question the notion of 'native speaker' and the monolingual native speaker norm in language use.

Since [Indian] independence, the controversy about English has taken new forms. Its "alien" power base is less an issue; so is its Englishness or Americanness in a cultural sense. The English language is not perceived as necessarily imparting only Western traditions. The medium is non-native, but the message is not. In several Asian and African countries, English now has national and international functions that are both distinct and complementary. English has thus acquired a new power base and a new elitism. The domains of English have been restructured. The result is that one more frequently, and very eloquently, hears people ask, 'Is English really a non-native ("alien") language for India, for Africa, and for Southeast Asia?'...

The wider implications of this change in the ecology of world Englishes are significant: The new nativized (non-native) varieties have acquired an ontological status and developed localized norms and standards. Purists find that the situation is getting out of hand... they are uncomfortable that the native speakers' norms are not universally accepted. There are others who feel that a pragmatic approach is warranted and that a 'monomodel' approach for English in the world context is neither applicable nor realistic.

• Does the fact that English is used in many different cultural contexts mean, in your view, that the English language is a culturally neutral language?

• Do you think that the example of English as an international language confirms or invalidates the principle of linguistic relativity as described by Whorf in Text 2?