Stell, Gerald2015-08-192015-08-192014-06Stell, G 2014, 'Uses and functions of English in Namibia's multiethnic setting', World Englishes, vol. 33, no. 2, pp. 223-241.0883-2919 (print)1467-971X (online)10.1111/weng.12082http://hdl.handle.net/2263/49393In a context where new English varieties from the Outer Circle have been receiving increasing attention, I propose to outline a descriptive approach to their uses and functions on the basis of their patterns of co-occurrence with local languages across intra and inter-ethnic boundaries. The case study I offer is Namibia, a multiethnic and multilingual African country where English has been the sole official language since 1990 without having had much local history prior to that date. The general question that I pose is to what extent and how English is used in informal interactions in Namibia. Considering Namibia’s ethnolinguistic diversity as well as the locally widespread practice of code-switching, the questions I more specifically ask are: What are the patterns of code-switching with which English finds itself associated both within and across Namibia’s inter-ethnic boundaries, and how can they be characterized in terms of social function? On the basis of a corpus of intra- and inter-ethnic interactions involving a range of Namibian ethnicities, I show evidence of a continuum of linguistic usage ranging from different patterns of code-switching involving English and local languages to more or less monolingual English varieties. I finally place that evidence within the perspective of new Englishes theory, emphasizing the possible relevance of code-switching patterns to the emergence of indigenized English varieties in general, and of an indigenized Namibian variety in particular.en© 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. This is the pre-peer reviewed version of the following article : Uses and functions of English in Namibia's multiethnic settings, World Englishes, vol. 33, no. 2, pp. 223-241, 2014. doi : 10.1111/weng.12082. The definite version is available at : http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1467-971X.EnglishNamibiaMultiethnic settingsLocal languagesIntra-ethnic boundariesInter-ethnic boundariesPostprint Article