Identity regionalism and English as an ASEAN lingua franca

The ASEAN Charter refers to English as the "working language of ASEAN," a situation different from the EU that has a multiplicity of official and working languages. It has been argued that English, as a foreign "working language," does not have an emotive value to it as it has merely a functional role. This, however, may change as many people in ASEAN speak a particular variety of English, especially those from countries such as Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines and Brunei. Even in countries such as Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam, which had not been colonised by the British, many learn English today and see it as vital for survival in many domains and especially with the forming of the ASEAN community and ASEAN integration. This ASEAN English is different from the many varieties in the region in that it does not possess the national and ethnic characteristics that varieties do. ASEAN English appears to possess its own characteristic features, often with an avoidance of features that are found in national varieties to aid mutual understanding between members who come from different ASEAN societies. This paper examines informal interactions between ASEAN speakers from the Asian Corpus of English. It analyses the features that create rapport and illustrates that ELF has an emotive value and does not merely play a functional role in ASEAN.