The impact of linguistic racism and coloniality on Sri Lankan English studies: the case of Burgher English

ABSTRACT

This paper argues that descriptions of Sri Lankan English (SLE) are influenced by ideologies of linguistic racism and coloniality through an examination of the possible reasons for their neglect of Burgher English – an underprivileged variety of SLE spoken by a minority community. Although descriptions of SLE identify different categories of the variety, they neglect the language use of the Burghers, despite the fact that they are the only ethnic community for a large majority of whom English serves as a first language. The paper claims that descriptions of SLE are interested in elevating the language use of the elite and anglicized sections of the racially dominant Sinhalese instead of focusing on understanding and depicting how diverse people of the multiethnic and multicultural Sri Lankan speech community such as the Burghers of Sri Lanka adapt it to suit their needs and contexts. Demonstrating the possible influence of linguistic racism and colonial ideologies on descriptions of SLE, the paper posits that the unique structural features rendering Burgher English to be perceived as sub-standard could be understood through the theoretical lens of postcolonial performativity which would help appreciate the creativity and diversity of the variety instead of devaluing it as sub-standard.

KEYWORDS:

• World Englishes
• Sri lankan English
• multilingualism
• linguistic racism
• coloniality

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.