PAKISTANI ENGLISH: FROM THE MARGINS TO THE MAINSTREAM THROUGH MEMES AND FASHION NARRATIVES
Keywords:
Cultural Recognition, Digital Media, Fashion Discourse, Language Ideology, Meme Culture, Pakistani English, Sociolinguistics, World EnglishersAbstract
This study investigates how Pakistani English (PE), a locally distinctive variety of English mediated by the sociocultural realities within Pakistan, is gaining social validation through on-trend digital spaces: meme communities and fashion dialogues. Based on sociolinguistic and language ideology perspectives, it looks at the role of PE as a communicative and symbolic resource in informal online environments. The study uses a descriptive qualitative approach augmented by quantitative surveys, analyzing 150 memes, and 50 fashion slogans, as well as responses from 250 young Pakistanis. Findings of content and thematic analysis show that PE is widely applied in the comical, hybrid and embedded ways that localize and resonate with local audiences. The survey data also demonstrate that youth perceives PE as representative of their identity and cultural pride, and the memes are particularly useful in the normalization and propagation of the diversity. It is found that meme culture and fashion narratives are not simply sites of entertainment and commercial, but are important sites for active reshaping, recognitions and reclamations of PE by its speakers. This adds to our understanding of how localized Englishers are able to achieve legitimacy via informal, youth-led, culturally-mediated practices.
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Copyright (c) 2025 Gul E Raana Qureshi, Rashid Mahmood (Author)
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