Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 March 2009
In most areas where English is spoken today, it is part of a multilingualcontext. English is one component of the sociolinguistic profile of manynations. In nations where English is a mother tongue or first language for themajority of the population, other speech communities contribute furtherlanguages to the linguistic environment. And in contexts where the majorityspeak a language other than English, it may serve as a language ofadministration or as a medium of instruction in the educational domain. Overthe past few decades, speech communities have also increasingly been influencedby languages usually spoken outside the community. A particular case is thespread of English via music and films through the radio, television, and theinternet. As a result, English is part of the linguistic repertoire of manynations and the individuals living in them. These multilingual contexts have incommon the fact that individuals can draw on the various languages to meet theirdiverse communicative needs and to construct their identities. This articledescribes how this may result in changes to the English language and even in theemergence of new linguistic forms, with particular reference to thepost-colonial nation of Kenya.