History of IAWE Inc.

The Roots of IAWE
The roots of the International Association for World Englishes (IAWE) can be traced back to conferences held in 1978 which raised issues based on the rapidly increasing numbers of non-mother tongue users of English. These conferences provided the impetus for a more realistic approach and a new framework for looking at English in global contexts. They proposed concepts such as appropriateness, intelligibility, comprehensibility, and interpretability as pragmatic factors that determine the uses of English as an international and intra-national language. In May of 1992 the IAWE was created with the aim of establishing links among those who are involved with any aspect of world Englishes.

Conceptualizations of World Englishes 
The conceptualization of world Englishes within a sociolinguistic framework actually goes back to the early 1960s (Kachru 1965) and mid 70s (Smith 1976). However, organized efforts in discussing the concept of world Englishes and its formal and functional implications were not initiated until 1978. It was during that year, just three months apart, that the international and intranational functions of English became the focus of two independently organized international conferences. 

The first conference was organized by Larry E. Smith April (1-15) at the East-West Center, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA to probe issues opened up in Smith (1976). The second was organized by Braj B. Kachru (June 30-July 2), at the University of Illinois at Urbana- Champaign, USA. These conferences had considerable conceptual similarities and shared several participants. The conferences resulted in two publications, Smith (ed. 1981) and Kachru (ed. 1982, 2nd edition, 1992).

At the end of the conference in Honolulu, the participants signed a statement and an agenda for the future which articulated their views. In that conference, as Kachru and Quirk observe: "There were almost as many varieties of English--native and non-native, Western and non-Western--as there were participants, including voices from Bangladesh, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, India, the Philippines, New Zealand, Britain, Germany, and the USA. Numerous cultural, lingustic, ideological and other differences could be found among the participants, but they all had this one thing in common: all of them used the English language to debate, discuss, and argue questions which concern both native and non-native users of English, as well as global uses of English in various sociolinguistic contexts in different parts of the world." (Smith ed. 1981:xiii)

The conference in Urbana "broke the traditional pattern of such deliberations: no inconvenient question was swept under the rug. The professionals, both linguists and literary scholars, and native and non-native users of English, had frank and stimulating discussions. The English-using community in various continents was for the first time viewed in its totality. A number of cross-cultural perspectives were brought to bear upon our understanding of English in a global context, of language variation, of language acquisition, and of the bilinguals' - or a multilinguals' - use of English." (Kachru ed. 1982: xiii-xiv)

At these conferences the questions discussed included: the sociolinguistic and political contexts of the countries where English is used as a non-native language; the factors which determine the retention of English after the end of the colonial period; the sociolinguistic and linguistic profile of each variety, particularly with reference to their range of functions and depth of societal penetration; and the linguistic and other processes of nativization and acculturation.

The Honolulu Conference Position Paper
The Honolulu conference resulted in the following statement on behalf of the participants (Kachru and Quirk 1981:xvii-xvix):

1. As professionals, members of the Conference felt that the stimulus given to the question of English used as an international or auxiliary language has led to the emergence of sharp and important issues that are in urgent need of investigation and action.
2. These issues are seen as summarized in the distinction between the uses of English for international (i.e. external) and intranational (i.e. internal) purposes. This distinction recognizes that, while the teaching of English should reflect in all cases the sociocultural contexts and the educational policies of the countries concerned, there is a need to distinguish between (a) those countries (e.g. Japan) whose requirements focus upon international comprehensibility and (b) those countries (e.g. India) which in addition must take account of English as it is used for their own intranational purposes.
3. So far as we know, no organization exists that takes account of any language in the light of this fundamental distinction...
4. It is not for us to define or prescribe the policies to be adopted, but the papers and discussions at the Conference have identified a number of fundamental issues. These issues can be considered under four headings: (a) Basic Research; (b) Applied Research; (c) Documentation, Dissemination, and Liasion; and (d) Professional Support Activities.

The statement asks for more than a shift in emphasis; it seeks a new direction consistent with the identities and functions of world Englishes.

During the past decades, special colloquia were organized as part of the annual International TESOL, and once with IATEFL in Belgium, and twice with the Georgetown University Round Table on Languages and Linguistics (GURT 1986 and 1987, see Lowenberg ed. 1988.)

In 1986 (August 6-13), yet another conference, "Language and Power: cross-cultural dimensions of English in media and literature, was organized " at the East-West Center in Honolulu. This conference was more specific and its aims were:

• to explore the concept of linguistic "power" of English with a cross-cultrual perspective; and
• to provide data for the study of such "power" from various English-using countries in the domains of literature and the media (film and journalism).

A variety of theoretical and applied research areas were identified and discussed with special reference to what are termed the Outer Circle and the Expanding Circle of world Englishes. These included:

• preparation of in-depth empirical studies on the national uses of English; 
• identification of the main characteristics of English for international communication at various linguistic levels (e.g. syntactic, phonological, morphological, lexical, stylistic, and discoursal); 
• descriptions of registers of English (e.g. films, newspapers, and advertising); 
• development of extensive sociolinguistic profiles of English in various regions; 
• comparison of contexts and methods of language teaching in diverse cultural and educational settings;
• promotion of and research in literatures in English around the world ("World Literatures in English" and "Literatures in English"), and the encouragement of their use in the study of literatures and literary criticism and in

1. the teaching of the English Language,
2. cross-cultural communication (e.g. commerce, business, diplomacy and journalism), and
3. teacher preparation;

• investigation into the possibility of implementing the recommendations of the Quirk Committee (Smith ed. 1981; xvii-xvix) to establish research centers which will serve as archives for linguistic data and as clearing houses for various areas of English studies;
• the study of local grammatical, linguistic and literary traditions, and the applications of these traditions to the analysis and description of world Englishes;
• the initiation and coordination of research in lexicographical studies of English.

(Kachru and Smith eds. 1986: 117)

IAWE Formally Launched
At the 1988 International TESOL convention in Chicago, the Interim Committee, which organized the 1986 conference in Honolulu, met and formed the International Committee for the Study of World Englishes (ICWE). One charge of ICWE was to establish a network of interested scholars working on various aspects of world Englishes. In 1992 (April 2-4), the ICWE met at the University of Illinois at Urbana, as co-sponsor of a conference of "World Englishes Today." At this Conference the International Association for World Englishes (IAWE) was formally launched.

References
Kachru, Braj B. (1965) The Indianness in Indian English. Word, 21, 391-410. 
Kachru, Braj B.. ed. (1982) The other tongue: English across cultures. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press. pp. 301-326. 
Kachru, Braj B. and Larry E. Smith. eds. (1986) The power of English: cross-cultural dimensions literature and media. Special issue of World Englishes, 5: 2-3.

Lowenberg. P. ed. (1988) Language spread and language policy: issues, implications and case studies. (GURT 1987). Washington DC: Georgetown Univerrsity Press.

Smith, Larry E. (1976) English as an international auxiliary language, RELC Journal, 1976, 7 (2). Also in Readings in  English as an International Language (ed. by L. Smith, 1983) pp.1-6.
Smith, Larry E. ed. (1981) English for cross-cultural communication. London: Macmillan.

---

​Past Presidents of IAWE

​Larry E. Smith 1993-1996
Braj B. Kachru 1997-1998
Anne Pakir 1999-2000
Ayo Bamgbose 2001-2002
Kingsley Bolton 2003-2004
Margie Berns 2005-2006
Bertus Van Rooy 2007-2008
Daniel R. Davis 2009-2010
Zoya G. Proshina 2011-2012
Suzanne Hilgendorf 2013-2014
Cecil L. Nelson 2015-2017
Tej K. Bhatia 2018-2019

---

A Cultural Warrior Rests His Case 
Braj. B. Kachru

Contributed by S.N. Sridhar, Stony Brook University (s.sridhar@stony brook.edu

Linguistics, English studies, and India Studies have lost one of their most charismatic leaders.  Professor Braj B. Kachru successfully challenged the orthodoxies of the English establishment on both sides of the Atlantic (the British Council, TESOL), including the “sacred linguistic cow” of the native speaker, which looked upon non-native varieties as erroneous approximations of standard English.  He argued for a pluralistic, socially realistic view of the English-using world, known as the “Three Circles of English” paradigm, where each circle has different contexts, uses and users.   The inner circle consists of the native speaker varieties, the second language varieties are the outer circle, and the foreign language varieties comprise the extended circle.  Through half a century of meticulous scholarship and energetic advocacy, Kachru demonstrated that the non-native Englishes such as Indian English, Nigerian English, and Singapore and Filipino English were rule-governed systems, shaped by natural evolutionary processes of second language learning and multilingual creativity, and vibrant expressions of distinct cultural identities.  It is irrelevant to judge them with reference to native speaker norms.  In the process, Kachru emerged as the world’s leading authority on the English as a global language.  Today, “World Englishes,” the field of study he pioneered and dominated, is a burgeoning discipline, with a world-wide following.

​Kachru was an influential authority on sociolinguistics, multilingualism, South Asian linguistics, applied linguistics, and his native language, Kashmiri, as well.  He wrote well-researched, comprehensive surveys on language in South Asia for numerous international reference works.  He founded South Asian Languages Analysis (SALA) in 1978, a major conference series for South Asian linguists.   In his research, he showed how South Asian languages have been shaped by a history of multilingual give and take with one another and with the lingua francas, Sanskrit, Persian, and English.  There is, therefore, a common core in the sound system, vocabulary, grammar, and culturally rooted modes of expression, such as greeting, which bridges the otherwise baffling diversity.  He studied the communicative rationale for the widespread use of language mixing or hybrid languages (for example, Hinglish) all across South Asia.  He described choices that speakers make based on the range of valued roles they make available.  He was concerned with the “killer” effect of the hegemonic languages on regional, minority and tribal languages of South Asia. 

Braj Behari Kachru was born in Srinagar, Kashmir, India, on May 15, 1932.  He was educated at the University of Allahabad, the Deccan College, Pune, and the University of Edinburgh.  He was Professor of Linguistics, Jubilee Professor of Liberal Arts and Sciences, and Center for Advanced Study Professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He died on 29 July, 2016 at Urbana.  He was married to Yamuna Kachru, herself an authority on Hindi grammar and English discourse, honored by the President of India, who died in 2013. They have a daughter, Amita, a physician in Santa Rosa, California, and a son, Shamit, a professor of physics at Stanford, and two granddaughters, Sasha and Ila. 

Professor Kachru authored and edited over 25 books and numerous research papers. He was author of The Indianization of English, The Alchemy of English, Asian Englishes:  Beyond the Canon, A Reference Grammar of Spoken Kashmiri, A History of Kashmiri Literature, and co-author of other important works.  He edited or co-edited The Other Tongue, The Handbook of World Englishes, World Englishes:  Critical Concepts, Asian Englishes, Language in South Asia, Dimensions of Sociolinguistics in South Asia, Issues in Linguistics, Cultures, Ideologies, and the Dictionary, among other titles, which have become standard reference works. He was associate editor The Oxford Companion to the English Language and contributor to the Cambridge History of the English Language, and other volumes.  The Collected Works of Braj B. Kachru have been published by Bloomsbury, London, in three volumes so far. 

With Larry E. Smith of the East-West Center, Honolulu he co-founded and co-edited the journal World Englishes (now in its 35th year) and co-founded the professional organization, International Association for World Englishes (IAWE), serving as its President from 1997-99.  In his vast research, publication, advocacy, and institution-building enterprises, he worked closely with his brilliant wife and colleague, Professor Yamuna Kachru.  His other major collaborators were Professor Kingsley Bolton of Singapore, as well as many students, who have made their names as distinguished scholars around the world. 

Kachru was also a gifted administrator. In a distinguished career spanning nearly half a century at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, one of the leading public universities in the U.S., he served as head of three academic units.  Under his leadership (1968-79), the Department of Linguistics blossomed into a vibrant, multi-faceted research center, and came to be ranked as the third leading department in the nation.  His pluralistic vision ensured that its faculty comprised cutting edge Chomskyan theorists as well as Classical scholars, experts on non-Western languages, Asian and African, and applied linguists.  He insisted that linguists should address not only the structural and theoretical aspects of language but also their social and cultural dimensions.  He encouraged the study of linguistic theory with its applications to areas, such as, second language teaching, discourse structure, and analysis of literature.  He championed the teaching and scientific study of non-Western (Asian and African) languages, and the dynamics of multilingualism.  Subsequently, as Director of the Division of English as an International Language (1985-91), he transformed it from a service unit into an innovative research entity.  Finally, as Director of the university’s prestigious Center for Advanced Study comprising many Nobel laureates, he redefined its mission and gave it expanded visibility and influence (1996-2000). 

Kachru held many influential offices and received many prestigious honors.  He directed the Linguistic Institute of the Linguistic Society of America in 1978.; he was Sir Edward Youde Memorial Fund Visiting Professor at Hong Kong University (1998) and a Visiting Professor at National University of Singapore; an Honorary Fellow of English and Foreign Languages University, Hyderabad, and President of the American Association for Applied Linguistics (1984) and the International Association for World Englishes (1997-99). His book, The Alchemy of English: The Spread, Functions and Models of Non-Native Englishes, was conferred the English Speaking Union of the Commonwealth prize for the best book on English.  He was a sought after Keynote Speaker at universities and professional conferences all over the U.S, India, and Asia. 

Professor Kachru was a larger than life figure who left an indelible impression on everyone he met, from students to luminaries of the field. He was an encyclopedic and meticulous scholar, a critical but respectful admirer of tradition, an open-minded integrator of scholarship from every culture, Asian, African, European, and American, an imaginative institution builder, and a confident, fearless, visionary intellectual.  He was also an inspiring teacher, passionate public speaker, a caring mentor, a supporting colleague, and a charismatic raconteur.  At Urbana, he and Yamunaji were an institution.  They trained generations of well-rounded linguists. These beloved gurus are now, in the words of Abhinavagupta, the greatest of Kashmiri scholars whose millennial anniversary we celebrate this year, kiirti maatra shariira (present only through their fame), but they will be missed by their world-wide, extended family of scholars and students. ​

IAWE Officers

Kingsley Bolton
Stockholm University
Stockholm, Sweden
Executive Director
(2019-2026)
kingsley.bolton@english.su.se

S.N. Sridhar
Stony Brook University
President
(2020-2021)
Stony Brook, NY USA
s.sridhar@sunysb.edu
 
Isabel Martin
Ateneo de Manila University
Vice President/President Elect
(2020-2021)
Manila, Philippines
mmartin@ateneo.edu
 
Tej K. Bhatia
Syracuse University
Immediate Past President
(2020-2021)
Syracuse, NY USA
tkbhatia@syr.edu

Daniel R. Davis
University of Michigan-Dearborn
Secretary/Treasurer (Any questions about membership should be addressed to him)
(2020-2023) 
Dearborn, MI USA 
davisdr@umich.edu

Eyamba Bokamba
Member
(2018-2021)
Urbana, IL USA
bokamba@illinois.edu

Kamal (Meena) Sridhar
Member
(2018-2021)
Stony Brook, NY USA
kamal.sridhar@stonybrook.edu