Swinburne to hold talk on English language

KUCHING: Swinburne University of Technology Sarawak will hold a talk ‘English as a National and International Unifying Language’ at its auditorium ( Block G) on Wednesday (July 4) from 3pm to 5pm.

A press release yesterday said the talk is inspired by Sarawak’s bold adoption of English as a co- official language in 2015, making it the fi rst in Malaysia to do so.

It will analyse the significant development from the perspective of Linguistics, particularly the field of ‘World Englishes’ where, far from being the imperialistic colonial language it once was, English now serves as the world’s lingua franca.

The language promotes unity and progress not only at the international level but also within multilingual, multi- ethnic and multicultural nations in a world where monolingualism is a thing of the past and bilingualism the new norm.

Hong Kong Baptist University ( HKBU) honorary professor Prof Tony TN Hung, who is also an adjunct professor of the Chinese University of Hong Kong and Swinburne Sarawak, will give the talk.

Hung was professor and head of the Language Centre at HKBU from 1997 to 2011 as well as a senior lecturer in the English Department of the National University of Singapore from 1981 to 1997.

He holds a PhD in Linguistics from the University of California (San Diego), Master of Arts in Applied Linguistics from the University of Lancaster, Bachelor of Arts in English from McMaster University, and Bachelor of Education from Queen’s University.

To date, his publications include eight books, 50 articles/book chapters and over 40 conference presentations, in the fields of World Englishes, Phonology, English Grammar, and Language Teaching. The free talk is open to all. To register, email Dr Melinda Kong (mkong@ swinburne.edu.my) or Sia Lin Huong ( lhsia@ swinburne.edu.my) by Tuesday (July 3).