Evolutionary Patterns of New Englishes and the Special Case of Malaysian English

Abstract

This article presents a model which argues that a fundamentally uniform developmental process, shaped by consistent historical, sociolinguistic and language-contact conditions, has operated in the emergence of New Englishes, and it applies this framework to a discussion of the evolution and some present-day features and usage characteristics of Malaysian English. The Dynamic Model of the evolution of New Englishes, which builds upon the mutual identity definitions by the parties involved in a colonization process and describes five consecutive phases of evolution, is sketched briefly. It is shown that the early history of English in Malaysia, from the establishment of the colony of Penang to independence, conforms nicely to the generalizations made for the first two phases, called “foundation” and “exonormative stabilization” and marked by gradually expanding elite bilingualism and slight linguistic transfer. Malaysia’s nationalist language policy of the 1960s and after impeded the further expansion and development of English in the country; nevertheless, it is shown that Malaysian English has progressed deeply into the third phase of “nativization”, being widely used in the country in various domains and employed as a carrier of a local identity having developed distinctive features of its own. Recent redirections of educational policy have given new weight and impetus to English in Malaysia in a complex sociolinguistic setting.