Attitudinal Identification: An Essential Paradigm for the Growth of Non-native Varieties

Abstract

The significance of English as a ‘Link language’ and as a ‘Global Language’ has increased in the past few decades. English is seen as ‘a language of career’ and ‘a passport for success’ in different walks of life. Active steps have been taken to impart knowledge of English in the ‘Outer Circle’. In the outer circle, English is used as a Second language and it includes countries like India, Singapore, Pakistan and Africa. While some research has been conducted on these varieties, much exhaustive work still needs to be done from the perspective of Standardizing these varieties. The present study sheds light on the attitudes of teachers, learners, curriculum designers, the corporate world and the decision makers in India towards the language variety they use. Though Indian English is considered to have achieved recognition and prestige in the past few years, it is observed that most of the Indian speakers of English still do not take ‘pride’ in asserting the fact that the variety of English that they speak is ‘Indian English’, and also quite often label the variety that they speak as either ‘British English’ or ‘American English’. It is felt that ‘Attitudes’ play a significant role in the growth or decay of a particular language variety. The study argues that the Attitudinal Identification with the variety that we speak is an essential paradigm for the growth of a language variety. The study cites some examples from different non-native varieties and it suggests some strategies that could be adopted so as to bring a shift in the people’s attitude.