THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND MULTICULTURALISM: THE CHALLENGES AND WAY FORWARD

Abstract

The English Language has become a working language used for intra national and international communication in many parts of the region. Millions of people from diverse linguistic communities speak English for various purposes thereby giving rise to different varieties of English. The implication is that the existence of such varieties of English poses difficulty to the second/foreign language learner. This paper therefore x-rays the linguistic roles of the English language vis –a- vis its prevalent challenges in a multicultural world. Challenges abound in the area of education, political and social spheres of life. There are cases of confused linguistic allegiance and interference phenomenon which occur as a result of the indigenous languages that must co-exist with English. Worthy of mention is the fact that no language is used to its fullest extent by its native speakers. Therefore in the case of English, we should take cognizance of the fact that there is always much room left for the non-native speakers to exploit it in the unique form of English usage, phonetically, lexically, syntactically, semantically and pragmatically.