Indigenising knowledge has been an ongoing topic among academics, educators and researchers across communities around the world. It refers to the process of integrating Indigenous worldviews and methodologies into our everyday personal and professional experiences and contexts. It involves recognising and valuing Indigenous ways of knowing, which are deeply rooted in our connections to land, community and tradition in order to ensure that such worldviews and methodologies are respected and represented alongside many different other ways of acquiring knowledge.
While I was visiting the University of Windsor, Canada, in early 2024, I was fascinated by the Indigenous Spirit on the Turtle Island Walk, a pedestrian walkway, on their campus. Alongside the Walk, there were seven teachings from Indigenous ancestors displayed on plaques. These include Nbwaakaawin ‘Wisdom’, Zaagidwin ‘Love’, Gchi-piitendaagziwin ‘Respect’, Zoongde'ewin ‘Bravery’, Giyakwaadziwin ‘Honesty’, Dabadendizwin ‘Humility’ and Debwewin ‘Truth’. Although the teachings were passed on as gifts to the local Indigenous Peoples of the Great Lakes for living a Mino-bimaadziwin ‘Good Life’, as a visitor there, I felt connected to them and united with the Indigenous Spirit.
The word indigenise has long been used as a verb, and its root in Old Latin comprises indu ‘in’ or ‘within’ and gignere ‘to beget’ or ‘produce’. Indigena in Latin means a native, born in (a place) and sprung from the land. As readers of English Today, we all know that the English language today has been nativised and indigenised around the world for centuries, giving rise to the development and our knowledge of what we currently understand as world Englishes. Understanding and appreciating world Englishes, including Māori English, Aboriginal English, Native American English (or American Indian English) and Pacific Islander Englishes, can be an integral part of Indigenising knowledge, as it goes beyond the recognition and use of specific loanwords from Indigenous languages worldwide, but involves acquiring Indigenous ways of knowing, doing, being and becoming.
In this issue Jonnie Robinson considers a corpus of nicknames given to elite athletes within the mainstream British press to examine possible usual practices and new trends related to the formation of hypocoristic nicknames. Brooke James and Jacob D. Rawlins examine the Associated Press's AP Stylebook and emerging policy toward gender-specific and gender-neutral language. In two final research articles included in this issue Singay examines the use of English within the linguistic landscape of Bhutan, and Hongmei Cao, Xiao Xiao and Chunlin Yao explore the success of using world Englishes awareness with the teaching of English pronunciation in China.
This issue also includes one shorter article and three book reviews. Steven Coats and Cameron Morin investigate the use of double modals within Twitter/X feeds from Australia and New Zealand. Nkonko Kamwangamalu reviews Raymond Hickey's (ed.) English in Multilingual South Africa: The Linguistics of Contact and Change (CUP). Nurul Hunafa and Putri Fitriastuty Indah Yasinta Rachman review Eric Enongene Ekembe, Lauren Harvey and Eric Dwyer's (eds.) Interface between English Language Education Policies and Practice: Examples from Various Contexts (Palgrave Macmillan). Finally, Miriam Meyerhoff's review of Rosemaire Ostler's The United States of English — The American Language from Colonial Times to the Twenty-First Century (OUP) closes the issue.
