A View on Standards in South‐East Asia

As a dictionary editor I have observed patterns in the reactions that speakers of English in South‐East Asia have to the general question of what should or shouldn't be in the dictionary. This paper will therefore be concerned with the acceptance of lexical items, the spelling and treatment of such items in text, particularly the italicisation of those words and phrases considered to be of doubtful legitimacy, and with those matters of usage which have a bearing on the treatment of words in the dictionary. I will draw on information gained in a survey of participants at conferences in Manila and Bangkok in August 1996 on the theme ‘English is an Asian language’. I will also analyse the responses of a workshop group at a conference held at the National Institute of Education, Singapore, in November 1996. All these groups were asked to comment on selected items with regard to their existence in English, their acceptability, their legitimacy as indicated by inclusion in dictionaries. They were also asked for opinions on spelling and usage matters. Some patterns do emerge from these samples of opinion, patterns which are sometimes at odds with the view of the lexicographer.