On Northern, Southern, and entangled cosmopolitanism: English language ideologies among migrants in Australia

This article explores migrants’ English language ideologies, focusing on their views about preferred English varieties in intercultural communication in Australia, specifically, on their concerns about the use of (non)native or (non)standard English in different interactional settings. Drawing on the Southern theory, it re-explicates several concepts of cosmopolitanism in relation to English and suggests that people’s ideologies about language use in cosmopolitan contexts can align with three main forms of cosmopolitanism: Northern cosmopolitanism, Southern cosmopolitanism, and entangled cosmopolitanism. Interviews with migrants of different ethnic backgrounds are the main source of data. Findings suggest that the participants’ views on practicing different English varieties reflected their ideas about engaging with each of the three cosmopolitanism orientations. The participants’ varied positions in relation to English and cosmopolitanism were an example of language ideological assemblage. Their alignment with different forms of cosmopolitanism could be a manifestation of ideological tensions about traditional/modern Australia associated with different English-speaking styles. In addition, ideas of Northern, Southern, and entangled cosmopolitanism in relation to English should not be understood as binary or trinary terms, but as a way to depict the complexity of interactions among people in cosmopolitan contexts where any varieties and practices of English are made possible.