Models of English for The Third World: White Man's Linguistic Burden or Language Pragmatics?

Abstract

The development of non-native varieties of English in Third World countries (e.g. West Africa, the Philippines, South Asia) is of linguistic, cultural, pedagogical and sociolinguistic interest. The attitude of TESL specialists, among others, toward such varieties of English on the two sides of the Atlantic is evaluated in Prator (1968). One such attitude, endorsed by Prator, and represented by him as typically American, may be termed linguistic purism and linguistic intolerance-a pragmatically unrealistic attitude. If one follows Prator's language, this attitude may be categorized as one of seven attitudinal sins. These sins seem to be the result of a formally and functionally unjustifiable position which some scholars in TESL, following Prator, have adopted. Such views have naturally resulted in various types of heresies, which are theoretically suspect and without empirical evidence. In linguistically and culturally pluralistic Third World countries, the motivations for the study of English-its social educational and other roles-have to be view in terms of the typical native sociolinguistic parameters. An interrelationship has to be established between the formal and functional aspects of language to understand the pragmatics of the Third World Englishes and their linguistic innovations and deviations. Data from Indian English is discussed to provide arguments against the attitudinal sins and heresies, and to present the pragmatics of Indian English-one of the Third World Englishes.