Colony, post‐colony and world Englishes in the South African context

Abstract

Abstract This article discusses the full implications of colonialism and its aftermath in coming to terms with the phenomena of world Englishes. Worldwide movements have brought to the fore the persistence of post‐colonial hierarchies, inequalities and forms of domination well beyond the pre‐colonial and colonial contexts that gave rise to them. South Africa is well suited as a site for researching sociolinguistic questions over the implications of these challenges to previous hierarchical and social orders. A number of communicative practices characterise the South African post‐colony, among them (a) the valorising of different kinds of multilingualism, (b) the greater play given to diversity in English in the media and public speech, and (c) greater contestation of L1 norms. These political, ideological and sociolinguistic developments call into question the largely consensual and linear characterisations of world English studies, especially Schneider's dynamic model. Moreover, it will be argued that South Africa is not an exception, but a crucial case that invites a re‐analysis of world Englishes models in terms of power and contingencies.

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