The English language in Brunei Darussalam

Abstract

This paper attempts to give a brief overview of the variety of English spoken in the small sultanate of Brunei Darussalam in Northwest Borneo. After outlining the role played by English in the country and, in particular, in the Bruneian education system, the paper describes some of the grammatical and lexical features which differ most obviously from the imposed exonormative educational model, Standard British English. The transcribed interviews and examples included have been taken from a corpub of spoken data recorded between 1990 and I993 by the author in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei. The article also attempts to place Brunei English within the context of the other varieties of English spoken in Southeast Asia and suggests that, once the effects of the country's nationwide Malay-English bilingual education policy have taken full effect, there will be further distinctive developments in the variety of English spoken in Brunei Darussalam.

English as a lingua franca in Europe: an empirical perspective

“…also Trudgill 1999b: 101) in the Inner Circle, but is also frequently found in the Outer Circle, in Singaporean English or Brunei English (cf. also Cane 1994: 354). Platt, Weber, and Ho (1984), who were the first scholars to summarize linguistic features ‘common to some or most of the New Englishes’, also note the tendency ‘not to mark the verb for third person singular in its present‐tense form’ (p. 85).…”

Brunei Culture, English Language: Textual Reflections of an Asian Culture Located in the English-Language Output of Bruneians

“…Cane (1993) claims that the variety of English spoken in Brunei fulfils all four of Platt et al's (1984:2-3) criteria for a "new" variety of English, hence that one can justifiably discuss Brunei English in the same way as Singapore or Malaysian English. Cane (1994) outlines similarities and differences between these three Southeast Asian Englishes.…”

The grammar of Brunei English

“…Cane () and Deterding and Salbrina () found that nouns that might be non‐count in standardised English are treated as countable in Brunei English. Cane (: 354) gives the following example where advice is being treated as a count noun: here's an advice for you all …”