TEXT 4

“It must be fairly obvious from the discussion in the foregoing paragraphs that the very concept of ‘World Englishes’ throws a number of challenges at all those of us who are in one way or another involved in it. For ELT professionals all over the world, it means, among other things, having to take a fresh look at many of the things that have been taken for granted for long.

Consider, for instance, the following. World English is not the mother-tongue of anyone – and this includes even those who used to rejoice in their status as the ‘native-speakers’ of their own varieties of English. This is so because World English is a language that is in the making and, from the looks of it is bound to remain so for the foreseeable future. Incidentally, any temptation to consider World English a pidgin would be totally misguided in that it is not a make-shift language, nor one that is progressing towards a full-fledged language in its own right. Nor, for that matter, is it gathering a new generation of native speakers. Rather, it is resistant to the very terminology that the linguists resort to in describing conventional ‘natural’ languages.”

RAJAGOPALAN, K. The identity of "World English”: New Challenges in Language and Literature. Belo Horizonte: FALE/UFMG, 2009, p.104.