IMPACT OF HYBRIDIZATION OF AMERICAN AND BRITISH ENGLISH ON LOCAL VARIETIES: A CASE STUDY OF PAKISTANI ENGLISH

Abstract

The globalization of English has produced many localized varieties, created each with different sociocultural and language influences indigenous to the regions they represent. An example of an emergent variety is Pakistani English, which has evolved as a result of the British language as well as that of America. This study looks into the consequences of hybridization between these two varieties of English on the cultural identity of Pakistani English, in association with language hybridization resulting in its linguistic identity. Referring to Kachru's (1992) World Englishes Model, Labov's (1972) Variation and Change Theory and Language Contact and Hybridization Theory, an analysis is made of the sociolinguistic and cultural factors which effect the hybridization of the language in Pakistan. The study is of a mixed-methods nature, combining corpus-based textual analysis of written material with interviews of participants, looking for lexical, orthographic and grammatical hybrid expressions. The results of the study indicate that Pakistani English has a well-founded existence of British and American features with a hydridic result, which serves as a marking of the two-fold standards of hybridity of the global and the local. The role of the media, technology and education is indicative of the important converging influences that the language experiences. The hydridic evidence does not tend to show degradation of the language but rather suggests a creative accommodation, sociocultural adaptation and negotiation. The study has revealed that Pakistani English is a localized variety of English which has now adequately developed to warrant its acceptance in the global varieties of World Englishes and certainly ought to be included in English language education and policy making.

Keywords: Hybridization, American and British English, Local Varieties, Pakistani English