Union Académique Internationale

Project nº86, adopted in 2015

The Varieties of English in the Indo-Pacific (VEIP) project is an international network of research initiatives on English in the diaspora, in countries close to or islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. The project involves scholars in English linguistics in more than twenty universities. Their research focuses on new forms of language and language practices that result from English coming into contact with other languages in multilingual contexts. In many developing countries, 21st century English is diversifying from its source variety in British settlements on the Indian Ocean (and American settlements in the Pacific) with continuous acculturation. VEIP’s sociolinguistic research on contemporary English in diverse multicultural societies affords great insights into the adaptability of a world language used in tandem with other languages in daily interactions. The use of English by multilingual speakers allows them to engage freely in language mixing or code-switching, and also translanguage practices. Extensive contact has given rise to hybrid varieties (such as Taglish in the Philippines), and to multilingual interactions on the internet. The juxtaposition of English with another language can be seen at street level in bilingual signage in Hong Kong. Through this lively language contact, elements of local culture, and social and economic practices become embedded in regional varieties of English, and visible in the linguistic landscape, as in the commodities sold in a Sri Lankan shop, or the services offered by a Ugandan entrepreneur. VEIP research may involve anthropological field work, as with Fijians engaged in an annual grave-cleaning ceremony, which culminates in a kava session. An anthology of 16 papers presenting VEIP research on the interface between language and culture has been proposed to Cambridge University Press (under review). Current models of world English that postulate a genetically based hierarchy are being re-examined by VEIP researchers, to develop lateral perspectives on the interrelations among regional varieties, and possible epicentral influences among them. This is the focus of a new DAAD-funded project for VEIP researchers in Australia and Germany, collaborating in a multidimensional study of shared linguistic features in two zones of the Indo-Pacific. The data from language corpora, language surveys and lexical records will show whether Indian English exercises some epicentral influence on those of SriLanka, Pakistan or Bangladesh, and Australian English on that of New Zealand or Papua New Guinea (Tok Pisin). Intercontinental collaboration among VEIP scholars is also vested in synchronic and diachronic research on the Hansard records of parliamentary discourse kept in British Commonwealth countries including South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. Hansards contain a wealth of written data on standard regional Englishes going back over a century. The record includes speeches and debates (more or less verbatim), and some audio-recordings of debates from recent decades. This project, funded initially by Macquarie University, will support multidimensional research on changing linguistic features, and the larger changes of register taking place in English world-wide. English is increasingly being adopted in Indo-Pacific countries that have never been colonised by English-speakers, including China, Korea, Thailand and Indonesia, and used as the consultative language in ASEAN forums, where ministers of the Association for South East Asian Nations meet regularly. The use of standard English as a lingua franca in these meetings provides a further research focus for VEIP researchers.