Which claim is attributed to Kandiah regarding the spread of English?

• A. It spread mainly because colonisation and its use in official administration.
• B. It spread mainly due to religious missions.
• C. It spread mainly because English invented many new words.
• D. It spread mainly due to agricultural practices.

Answer: (A)

The key idea is that a language spreads most powerfully when it is tied to the institutions of power. Kandiah argues that English spread mainly because of colonisation and its use in official administration. When colonial authorities establish schools, legal systems, government offices, and civil service in English, the language becomes necessary for everyday governance and public life. That creates demand for learning English, builds its prestige, and embeds it in institutions, so it reaches wide segments of the population and persists beyond immediate colonial contact.

Religious missions did help with literacy and contact in some places, but Kandiah’s emphasis is on the overarching role of colonial power and administrative use. The idea that English spread because of inventing new words or because of agricultural practices doesn’t fit Kandiah’s claim, since those factors don’t account for the broad, institutional adoption that comes from governance and schooling.