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 1960's (Kachru 1965). 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. 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:

(a) to explore the concept of linguistic "power" of English with a cross-cultrual perspective; and

(b) 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:

a) preparation of in-depth empirical studies on the national uses of English;
b) identification of the main characteristics of English for international communication at various linguistic levels (e.g. syntactic, phonological, morphological, lexical, stylistic, and discoursal);
c) descriptions of registers of English (e.g. films, newspapers, and advertising);
d) developoment of extensive sociolinguistic profiles of English in various regions;
e) comparison of contexts and methods of language teaching in diverse cultural and educational settings;

f) 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

(i) the teaching of the English Language,

(ii) cross-cultural communication (e.g. commerce, business, diplomacy and journalism), and

(iii) teacher preparation;

g) 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;

h) the study of local grammatical, linguistic and literary traditions, and the applications

of these traditions to the analysis and description of world Englishes;

i) 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. ed. (1981) English for cross-cultural communication. London: Macmillan.

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