ABSTRACT
A factor that tends to correlate highly with instances of racism and violence in multilingual, multiethnic countries is the relative status accorded the languages of each ethnic group. The status of French and French speakers in Canada and Belgium are familiar examples of this linkage between language and ethnic strife in Western nations. For this reason, in many multilingual non-Western nations previously colonized by Britain or the United States, such as Nigeria, India, and the Philippines, the former colonial language, English, has been retained, not only because of its international currency but also because of its assumed neutrality in that it is not the primary language of any of several often conflicting ethnic groups. This paper challenges that assumption. Examination of samples of English in use from one such country, Malaysia, reveals that through lexical transfer from another, politically more dominant language, English can be deneutralized and can actually contribute to institutionalizing inequalities among competing ethnic groups.
