Intelligibility since 1969

ABSTRACT: Smith's general intelligibility paradigm has contributed immensely to furthering the cogent analyses of world Englishes. Earlier works such as Bansal's study of The Intelligibility of Indian English (1969) treated only pronunciation, and regularly invoked comparisons with RP. After Smith elucidated the notion “intelligibility” by introducing the conceptual layers intelligibility, comprehensibility and interpretability, examinations of the forms and functions of world Englishes could be much more usefully carried forward. Many writers have applied the concept(s) in their studies of world Englishes, and some recent work challenges any simplistic understanding of the concepts, e.g. in explicating the mixing of English with other languages in various dimensions. This sociolinguistically realistic perspective speaks to the creative functionality of world Englishes, and to the concern voiced from some quarters about a continuing degeneration of intelligibility across varieties.