Thepresentpaperispidedintoeightsections:introduction,theglobaldiffusionofEnglish,perceptionsofthenewvarieties,theissueofintelligibility,featuresthatcauseunintelligibility,needforabroaderpragmatics,andpedagogicalimpli-cations,andconclusion,followedbythereferences.Notsurprisingly,theglobalspreadofEnglishhasgeneratedvaryingperspec-tivesonthenatureandfunctionsofitsacculturatedvarieties.Broadlyspeaking,thedebatehaspidedscholarsintotwocampsholdingdiametricallyopposingviewsonthemultipleversionsofEnglish.Ontheonehand,somescholarsviewvariationsassymp-tomsoflinguisticdegenerationanddeterioration;ontheotherhand,somescholarslegitimizethemasinevitablemanifestationsne-cessitatedbythedemandsofthenewculturalcontexts.Thenormativeviewoftheformercampstems,atleastpartly,fromtheproblemsthenewformsofEnglishposeintermsofinternationalintelligibility.Itisinthiscontextthatthepaperexaminesthetraditional,one-sided,nativespeaker-centredideaofintelligibilityandtherecenttwo-sidedviewofintelligibilitythatplacestheonusonboththenativespeakerandthenon-nativespeaker.Theargumentofthelattercampisbasedonthepremisethatthenewvarietiesrequireabroaderpragmaticframework,becauseuniversalpragmaticsisinadequatetodescribethemsatisfactorily.Thus,thecampadvocatesaneedforalanguagespecificpragmatics,andacomparativepragmatics,inadditiontothetraditionaluniversalpragmatics.Logically,thedebateonphonological,lexical,grammatical,anddiscoursestructurevariations,andtheirle-gitimacyhaspromptedEnglishlanguageteachingspecialiststohaveafreshlookatthegoalsandobjectivesofteachingEnglishinthecountriesoftheouterandexpandingcircles,andaccordinglyprioritizetheteachingofnationalandregionalvarietiesoverthatoftheso-callednativevarieties.Thus,theparadigmsofindependenceandcentralityofthenewvarietiesarereplacingthe
