English as an Asian Language

Links & Letters 1998, No. 5, 89-108This paper outlines the dimensions of Asia's English, which constitutes a world of its own in linguistic, cultural, interactional, ideological, and political terms. The questions this paper raises are: What conditions must a transplanted colonial language satisfy to be accepted as part of the colonized's linguistic repertoire? Why not consider Asian Englishes as part of a local pluralistic linguistic heritage? Answers to these questions demand rede- fining the concept of «nativeness» and types of nativeness; this paper advances that proposal by describing the distinction between «genetic nativeness» and «functional nativeness». The remainder of the paper comprises the sections: Asian presence of Eng- lish; domains of functions; the albatross of mythology; mythology and the Asian context; decolonizing context and text; canonicity, diversity and Asian English; English on Asian terms; and institutionalization of Asian Englishes. In concluding, the paper briefly considers the often repeated question: Where do we go with Asian Englishes?