Daudi Bohra English as spoken in Sri Lanka Just a few centuries ago English was only spoken by about five to seven million people on Britain, which was merely one, relatively small island. The language at that time only consisted of dialects spoken by monolinguals. But the story of English is quite different today. There are more non-native than native speakers of English, and it has become the linguistic key used for opening borders. It is now a global medium with local identities and messages. It has truly come of age. Spoken by at least 750 million people. English is by now the world language. (Rushdie, 1992: 64) It is more widely spoken and written than any other language, even Latin, has ever been. It can, indeed, be said to be the first truly global language being the dominant, official or semi-official language in over 60 countries and has a prominent place in a further 20. (Crystal, 1987: 358)Objectives The main aim of this research paper is to trace the development and emergence of a variety of specific English, in this case the variety known as Daudi Bohra English as spoken in Sri Lanka. Basically anywhere that the language is spoken has its own variety and history. This paper will focus on the Daudi Bohra English an off shoot of Hindustani or old Indian English, but more significantly as it is spoken in Sri Lanka. The focus is going to be on all the aspects of the language. This includes the phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics and other special features that the variety of English may possess.Review of literature There is very little published literature on the Daudi Bohra community and especially on their usage of English and their contact with the British Raj. What material there is, is not really accessible to those outside the community. A lot of the historical date for this research paper has been gathered by way of interviews with the older generation and from sermons preached at the mosque. These s...
