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The poetics and politics of Englishes in late modernity
Author(s) -
Bhatt Rakesh M.
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
world englishes
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.6
H-Index - 49
eISSN - 1467-971X
pISSN - 0883-2919
DOI - 10.1111/weng.12392
Subject(s) - poetics , politics , modernity , sociology , world englishes , meaning (existential) , field (mathematics) , conformity , variation (astronomy) , linguistics , aesthetics , epistemology , political science , philosophy , poetry , law , mathematics , pure mathematics , physics , astrophysics
This paper argues that the ‘liberation linguistics’ perspective that Professor Kachru championed achieved two important aims: (i) it explored the creative manipulation of multilinguals’ repertoire in the late‐modern contexts of mobility and complexity; and (ii) it brought into focus the sociolinguistic inequalities engendered by a politics of conformity. Braj Kachru's teaching consistently highlighted the heterogeneity and multifunctionality of language, together with the meaning potential of variation, and his work continues to provide inspiration for the ongoing development of the field, and the ‘gloriously impure’ alchemy of English that he has bequeathed to us all.