Standards and Emerging Linguistic Realities in the Malaysian Workplace

Malaysia, like many other countries belonging to the Outer Circle, is in a position where she has to grapple with notions of English language standards. With the medium of education having been Bahasa Malaysia since 1970, there has emerged in the workforce educated speakers who speak sub‐varieties of formal Malaysian English. These make up the executives who contribute to various organisations, whose businesses depend on both intranational and international connections. One of the essential skills required of these executives is that of delivering business presentations both internally to colleagues and superiors and externally to customers of the organisation. This research investigates: how Malaysian linguists perceive and categorise the sub‐varieties of Malaysian English, as spoken by select speakers, along the lectal continuum; whether gatekeepers (those who possess decision‐making powers in the respective organisations) regard the same select speakers acceptable for delivering business presentations to different audiences, both internal and external to the organisation. The dynamics of the perspectives of both the linguists and the gatekeepers will throw essential light on what is acceptable and what is not acceptable in relation to standards and the emerging linguistic realities in the workplace.