ABSTRACT

The English language today is spoken by several hundred million people in five continents. It functions in different kinds of societies as a mother-tongue, a second language, a vehicle of officialdom, a medium of education, and as a language for science, business, and commerce. It is also used widely as a lingua franca-a language used among people who have no other tongue in commonand in some areas it has provided a base for pidgins and creoles. It is spoken by people who also use two or three or even more languages in the course of their daily lives, and it has come to symbolise many different and often sensitive issues and institutions in different areas: education, literacy, social mobility, economic advancement, Christianity, and colonial dominance.