Lingua Franca English

I don’t know how to articulate what’s currently inside my head but when I read this article, I was taken aback at how simply Canagarajah blurred the dichotomy between native speakers and non-native speakers when he questioned whether there’s really a separation between grammar and pragmatics (do you have to be proficient in a language’s grammar if you could still communicate your message in the context you’re in) or can’t NNS “shape language to suit their purposes” just as easily as any NS can? I really don’t know if there’s a barrier that prevents a NNS from being NS-like. If there is, where does that begin? As a NNS of English, I consider myself to be proficient enough. Sometimes I forget that I’m not a NS especially when I’ve immersed myself enough in English that I think in English, that I dream in English. To me, English no longer is just a language that I use when I communicate with others, it’s a language that I use when I’m debating with myself, when I’m trying to unravel new notions. There’s no longer a bridge between Tagalog or Ilocano and English—I don’t have think first in Ilocano before I talk in English. Does that make me as competent as a native speaker? Or a LFE speaker?

            One of the things I liked about this article was how wholly Canagarajah described LFE. He said “the speakers of LFE are not located in one geographical boundary. They inhabit and practice other languages and cultures in their own immediate localities…they recognize LFE as a shared resource…” To me, it just boggles the mind. English, the way I imagined it to be, was a monolithic language, impervious to any change or influence. But it’s not. That’s not really how languages go, do they? They evolve to reflect the needs of the communicator.