Comparing English Worldwide


Book Description

The International Corpus of English is a unique linguistic and sociolinguistic project. When complete it will consist of fifteen or more parallel corpora of spoken and written English drawn from countries where English is either a majority first language or an official second language. Part I introduces the ICE project and a sub-project that investigates writing by advanced learners of English. Part II describes in detail the design of the corpora, the markup systems for speech and writing, the ICE tagset and parsing scheme, and the software packages that have been developed for automatic tagging and parsing, and for retrieving lexical, grammatical, and sociolinguistic information. Part III discusses problems in compiling the corpora, exemplified by the experience of teams in New Zealand, East Africa, and Hong Kong. Finally, Part IV considers some of the applications envisaged for the corpora: research in linguistics, sociolinguistics, and natural language processing; teaching, language planning, and the establishment of norms for teaching and examining in second-language countries.




English as a Global Language


Book Description

Written in a detailed and fascinating manner, this book is ideal for general readers interested in the English language.




The Handbook of World Englishes


Book Description

The Handbook of World Englishes is a collection of newlycommissioned articles focusing on selected critical dimensions andcase studies of the theoretical, ideological, applied andpedagogical issues related to English as it is spoken around theworld. Represents the cross-cultural and internationalcontextualization of the English language Articulates the visions of scholars from major varieties ofworld Englishes – African, Asian, European, and North andSouth American Discusses topics including the sociolinguistic contexts ofvarieties of English in the inner, outer, and expanding circles ofits users; the ranges of functional domains in which thesevarieties are used; the place of English in language policies andlanguage planning; and debates about English as a cause of languagedeath, murder and suicide.




Englishes around the World


Book Description

The two volumes of Englishes around the World present high-quality original research papers written in honour of Manfred Görlach, founder and editor of the journal English World-Wide and the book series Varieties of English Around the World. The papers thematically focus on the field that Manfred Görlach has helped to build and shape. Volume 2 of Englishes Around the World presents studies of so-called “New Englishes”, post-colonial varieties as spoken predominantly in countries of the former British Empire. There are five contributions on the Caribbean (covering Jamaica, Guyana, and Trinidad), five articles on Africa (South Africa, East Africa, and Nigeria), six studies of English in Asian countries (Japan, the Philippines, India, Singapore, Malaysia, and Papua New Guinea), and six papers on Australia and New Zealand. Topics covered range from sociohistorical causes and processes, the nativization of English in different countries, or the expression of individual identities by means of the English language through structural descriptions to sociolinguistic, psycholinguistic, lexicographic, pragmatic, stylistic, and other matters. The articles in the respective sections are written by D.R. Craig, L.M. Haynes, P.L. Patrick, K. Shields-Brodber, and L. Winer; A Banjo, V. de Klerk, R. Mesthrie, J. Schmied, and P. Silva; R.W. Bailey, R. Begum and T. Kandiah, A. Gonzalez, R.R. Mehrotra, P. Mühlhäusler, and M. Newbrook; L. Bauer, S. Butler, M. Clyne, P. Peters and A. Delbridge, G. Tulloch, and G.W. Turner.




English in the World


Book Description

Examines different conceptions of English as an international language, looking at world Englishes, native-speakers and 'standard' English. This book also covers the pedagogical implications of English as an international language; and addresses key questions with regard to the teaching of English.




Changing English


Book Description

This book examines the special nature of English both as a global and a local language, focusing on some of the ongoing changes and on the emerging new structural and discoursal characteristics of varieties of English. Although it is widely recognised that processes of language change and contact bear affinities, for example, to processes observable in second-language acquisition and lingua franca use, the research into these fields has so far not been sufficiently brought into contact with each other. The articles in this volume set out to combine all these perspectives in ways that give us a better understanding of the changing nature of English in the modern world.




The Oxford Handbook of World Englishes


Book Description

"This book focuses on some features shared by 'Old' and 'New' varieties of English. 'Old' refers here to varieties of English spoken in Britain only, i.e. English English (EngE) and/or British English (BrE). They represent the longest-established varieties of English and are part of the hardcore of the L1 or the 'Inner Circle' of Englishes. 'New' varieties, in this context, are ones that have arisen in colonial or postcolonial contexts (the 'Outer Circle') and also comprise historically L2 varieties, such as Irish English, that have evolved as a result of language shift. This chapter examines three syntactic features that show similar developments in both New and Old varieties: the use of some modal auxiliaries, especially WILL/SHALL, some 'extended' uses of the progressive, and finally, combinations of these two, especially WILL/SHALL + be V-ing. All three display convergent developments that suggest a leading role for the New Englishes rather than the Old varieties"--




Corpus Linguistics


Book Description

Corpus linguistics is the study of language data on a large scale - the computer-aided analysis of very extensive collections of transcribed utterances or written texts. This textbook outlines the basic methods of corpus linguistics, explains how the discipline of corpus linguistics developed and surveys the major approaches to the use of corpus data. It uses a broad range of examples to show how corpus data has led to methodological and theoretical innovation in linguistics in general. Clear and detailed explanations lay out the key issues of method and theory in contemporary corpus linguistics. A structured and coherent narrative links the historical development of the field to current topics in 'mainstream' linguistics. Practical tasks and questions for discussion at the end of each chapter encourage students to test their understanding of what they have read and an extensive glossary provides easy access to definitions of technical terms used in the text.




Encyclopedia of Information Science and Technology, Fourth Edition


Book Description

In recent years, our world has experienced a profound shift and progression in available computing and knowledge sharing innovations. These emerging advancements have developed at a rapid pace, disseminating into and affecting numerous aspects of contemporary society. This has created a pivotal need for an innovative compendium encompassing the latest trends, concepts, and issues surrounding this relevant discipline area. During the past 15 years, the Encyclopedia of Information Science and Technology has become recognized as one of the landmark sources of the latest knowledge and discoveries in this discipline. The Encyclopedia of Information Science and Technology, Fourth Edition is a 10-volume set which includes 705 original and previously unpublished research articles covering a full range of perspectives, applications, and techniques contributed by thousands of experts and researchers from around the globe. This authoritative encyclopedia is an all-encompassing, well-established reference source that is ideally designed to disseminate the most forward-thinking and diverse research findings. With critical perspectives on the impact of information science management and new technologies in modern settings, including but not limited to computer science, education, healthcare, government, engineering, business, and natural and physical sciences, it is a pivotal and relevant source of knowledge that will benefit every professional within the field of information science and technology and is an invaluable addition to every academic and corporate library.




Corpus-based Language Studies


Book Description

Covering the major approaches to the use of corpus data, this work gathers together influential readings from leading names in the discipline, including Biber, Widdowson, Sinclair, Carter and McCarthy.