THE USE OF MALAYSIAN ENGLISH : KEY CONSIDERATIONS
Normazla Ahmad Mahir
Faculty of Major Languages, Islamic Sciences University of Malaysia (USIM)
Mariatul Kibtiyah Silahudin Jarjis
Graduate School, Universiti Putra Malaysia
Once, English was thought to be the ‘lingua franca’, understood by people around the world. This was because British English was introduced by the British Empire during the colonization era. After the myriad of colonies gained independence, however, one ‘standard’ English has evolved into many different localized dialects; namely Singapore English (SE), Malaysian English (ME) and others. These ‘localization’ has caused fear among educators and professionals especially the native speakers that English has turned into a corrupt language. With relevance to Clyne (1992) ‘pluricentric’ languages, this paper shall highlight the nature of local variations in the context of Malaysian English as well as justify the needs of having standard non-native varieties of the English language used within the confines of the Malaysian socio-cultural context. Suggestions for realizing this matter as means of encouraging more public acceptance and bridging proficiency gaps in the Target Language will also be featured.
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This is a continuation of highlights from the upcoming conference "The Teaching And Learning Of English In Asia : Exploring New Frontiers" to be held from June 14 to 16th in Langkawi, Malaysia. For more information please contact Dr Hisham at [email protected] or Dr C M Chua at [email protected]
