Complicating Factors of English Usage in a Post-Colonial Context: A Linguistic Survey of Sri Lanka

In past centuries, the English language has spread throughout the world along with the spread of imperial power. A region of the world largely affected by both this imperialism and language dissemination is Southern Asia, particularly India and its surrounding nations. Sri Lanka, an island country off the coast of India formerly under British rule, is one such nation. Our survey examines the resistance toward English in Sri Lanka, the varieties of English associated with Sri Lanka, and Sri Lankan ideas surrounding cultural language usage. The situation of Sri Lanka is interesting because of the history of conflict between its local ethnic groups and colonial powers. However, the relationship between Sri Lankan national identity and English as a rapidly spreading language of globalization is complicated. This relationship is affected by post-colonial attitudes as well as pre-existing factors, such as ethnic conflict, class dynamics, and non-English language ideologies. In particular, we want to examine Sri Lankan English and its complex identity in the world of Englishes. Past research has shown that Sri Lankan English is viewed as grammatically and socially inferior in comparison to British and American English by its native speakers. By surveying the historical influences, linguistic characteristics, and social connotations of English in Sri Lanka, we hope to take a step forward in understanding the fundamentals of why English dialects are perceived differently on a global level. Ultimately, our poster presentation will examine the use of English in Sri Lanka and its implications in other global contexts

Let\u27s Talk Success

Create a website that acts as a platform for creating a virtual “safe place” for women. While we aren’t only interested in the future success of women, our platform will reach out specifically to women. It’s evident that historically, women have been systematically oppressed in regards to higher education, and women could significantly benefit from the support we offer. We want to “hold out a hand” to women who struggle with financial and familial support, as well as restrictive gender stereotypes, while attempting to gain a higher education

Structure of the Ebembe Language

This poster is an overview of the linguistic features of the Ebembe (bmb; also Kibembe) language, spoken in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and parts of Tanzania, as well as by a number of refugees in the Boise area. Ebembe is classified as a Bantu language, part of the Atlantic-Congo branch of the Niger-Congo language family. Although the language has around 252,000 speakers, it is considerably under-documented in terms of linguistic literature. Throughout the Spring 2019 semester, 13 students in the linguistics capstone course (LING 498) met with a native speaker of Ebembe in order to document and analyze the language’s phonological (sounds), morphological (words), and syntactic (sentences) features. This analysis, accompanied by recordings from sessions with the speaker, helps to serve the linguistic community beyond Boise State by providing other linguists with a new set of data to further their research. It will also serve the Ebembe speaking community by providing well documented resources on their language and archiving such resources for future generations to have access to