ABSTRACT

Given this diffusion of English around the globe and its role as an official language in so many countries, it should not come as a surprise that there is considerable variation, both in the standard varieties and especially in the non-standard varieties of that language. In many countries English has been undergoing a process of 'nativization'. Whether or not the results should be recognized as a new indigenous norm, independent of one common outside norm, be it national (British) or supranational ('Common English'), is a matter of some debate. The view that there are several interacting centres, each providing a national variety with its own norms, is forcefully expressed by the new plural Englishes, now frequently found in the sociolinguistic literature, and by the characterization of English as a 'pluricentric language' .