Abstract
Pakistani English (PakE) is a member of World Englishes (WE) family.
Prior research findings investigating Pakistani English (PakE) have generally indicated that the
variety has undergone substantial change and continues to evolve. However, much of the previous
research has tended to concentrated solely upon such investigations of specific linguistic features of
PakE. This paper investigates faculty and postgraduate students (N=12), working and/or
studying within a large university in the Punjab, perceptions of Pakistani English in terms of the
acceptance, intelligibility, appropriacy of use in university domains and potential model variety. In
order to identify examples of lexical nativisation, a small-scale corpus analysis of 5 Englishlanguage newspapers in Pakistan as well as a number of emails, circulars and newsletters from the
selected university in Pakistan was also undertaken. Analysis demonstrated both lecturers and
postgraduate students tended to perceive Pakistani English (PakE) as a legitimate and intelligible
form of English. Analysis of the Pakistani English newspapers indicates a large degree of lexical
deviation from written forms employed within British English newspapers, mostly especially as a
result of nativisation of lexis from Urdu and Arabic with political, religious and cultural
undertones. The textual analysis of emails, circulars and newsletters also denotes syntactic
variation. In light of the findings, a discussion of the role of Pakistani English within teacher
education programmes in Pakistani universities as well as broader implications for policy makers
and Higher Education Commission (HEC) in Pakistan is offered.
Humaira Irfan, Robert M. McKenzie. (2019) The Use of Pakistani English (PakE) as the Model Variety in Pakistani Universities, The ELF Annual Research Journal, Volume 21, Issue 1.
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