Abstract:
Sri Lankan English (SLE) is generally identified within academia as the variety
of English used in Sri Lanka and therefore bears its own unique identity.
This study examined the perceptions, beliefs and attitudes of three English
teachers about the situation of English in their individual teaching contexts to
understand the status of SLE in the sphere of education. The study gathered
its data through informal interviews with the three English teachers who
have more than thirty years of experience teaching English in private and
public sector schools in the western province. In their observations about the
situation of English in their teaching contexts, the participants identified the
distinction between the mid-closed short back-rounded vowel /o/ and the mid
open short back rounded vowel /ɔ/ as the principal phonemic characteristic
distinguishing between high and low forms of SLE, the reluctance to assimilate
indigenous terms, the non-deviation from the input variety in the written form
and the general lack of opportunity for and acceptance of creative uses of
language as key factors preventing the indigenization of English in Sri Lanka.
They further noted that as a result of these factors, the ownership of English
in Sri Lanka has remained amongst its speakers within the upper-middle
class social stratum to whom proficiency in English comes as a birthright, thus
effectively preventing it from growing in to a truly Sri Lankan variety with its
own unique identity. The observations made by the participants suggest that
the conservatism surrounding the rules governing the use of English in Sri
Lanka has caused the variety that is the least deviant from the input variety
spoken by the upper-middle-class, first language speakers of the language to
be upheld as the standard form. The paper uses the participants’ observations
to argue that although presented as the characteristics that give it its unique
identity, the rules governing the use of English in Sri Lanka have prevented
the language from growing into a truly Sri Lankan variety and functioned as
a barrier against the decolonization of English in Sri Lanka in postcolonial
times. The paper calls for the rules pertaining to SLE to be revised and the
lines marking its borders to be extended to encompass new and creative uses
of the language produced by its multifarious users.
