College English Jul 2006

Linguistic Memory and the Politics of U.S. English

John Trimbur

Abstract

Tracing the effects of the “laissez-faire” postcolonial politics of language in the United States, which in fact enabled English to become the dominant language through cultural rather than institutional means, the essay then suggests how the linguistic memory that emerges from decolonization and nation building continues, often in unsuspected ways, to influence the language policy of the modern U.S. university and U.S. college composition. The author argues for a national language policy that moves beyond the notion of language as a right, with its lingering assumptions of English monolingualism as an ultimate goal, and instead fosters a linguistic culture where being multilingual is both normal and desirable.

Journal
College English
Published
2006-07-01
DOI
10.58680/ce20065038
CompPile
Open Access
Closed
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Citation context

Cited by in this index (16)

  1. Rabbi (2025)
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  2. Rabbi (2025)
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    Literacy in Composition Studies
  3. Rabbi (2025)
    Modernity and the Rhetorics of Language Reform: East Pakistan’s Language Moveme…
    Literacy in Composition Studies
  4. Rabbi (2025)
    Modernity and the Rhetorics of Language Reform: East Pakistan’s Language Moveme…
    Literacy in Composition Studies
  5. Rabbi (2025)
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Show all 16 →
  1. Rabbi (2025)
    Modernity and the Rhetorics of Language Reform: East Pakistan’s Language Moveme…
    Literacy in Composition Studies
  2. Rabbi (2025)
    Modernity and the Rhetorics of Language Reform: East Pakistan’s Language Moveme…
    Literacy in Composition Studies
  3. Rabbi (2025)
    Modernity and the Rhetorics of Language Reform: East Pakistan’s Language Moveme…
    Literacy in Composition Studies
  4. Rabbi (2025)
    Modernity and the Rhetorics of Language Reform: East Pakistan’s Language Moveme…
    Literacy in Composition Studies
  5. Rabbi (2025)
    Modernity and the Rhetorics of Language Reform: East Pakistan’s Language Moveme…
    Literacy in Composition Studies
  6. Rabbi (2025)
    Modernity and the Rhetorics of Language Reform: East Pakistan’s Language Moveme…
    Literacy in Composition Studies
  7. Rabbi (2025)
    Modernity and the Rhetorics of Language Reform: East Pakistan’s Language Moveme…
    Literacy in Composition Studies
  8. Rabbi (2025)
    Modernity and the Rhetorics of Language Reform: East Pakistan’s Language Moveme…
    Literacy in Composition Studies
  9. Rabbi (2025)
    Modernity and the Rhetorics of Language Reform: East Pakistan’s Language Moveme…
    Literacy in Composition Studies
  10. Rabbi (2025)
    Modernity and the Rhetorics of Language Reform: East Pakistan’s Language Moveme…
    Literacy in Composition Studies
  11. Rabbi et al. (2024)
    Translingual Gateways: A Collaborative Autoethnography of Two Transnational Sch…
    Across the Disciplines

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