Further Studies in the Lesser-Known Varieties of English


Book Description

This book documents the lesser-known varieties of English which have been overlooked and understudied within the canon of English linguistics.




The Lesser-Known Varieties of English


Book Description

This is the first ever volume to compile sociolinguistic and historical information on lesser-known, and relatively ignored, native varieties of English around the world. Exploring areas as diverse as the Pacific, South America, the South Atlantic and West Africa, it shows how these varieties are as much part of the big picture as major varieties and that their analysis is essential for addressing some truly important issues in linguistic theory, such as dialect obsolescence and death, language birth, dialect typology and genetic classification, patterns of diffusion and transplantation and contact-induced language change. It also shows how close interwoven fields such as social history, contact linguistics and variationist sociolinguistics are in accounting for their formation and maintenance, providing a thorough description of the lesser-known varieties of English and their relevance for language spread and change.




More Englishes


Book Description

This collection of eight papers is a continuation of Manfred Görlach's previous collection “Englishes” with the author's most influential writings in the field of varieties of English




English as a Contact Language


Book Description

Recent developments in contact linguistics suggest considerable overlap of branches such as historical linguistics, variationist sociolinguistics, pidgin/creole linguistics, language acquisition, etc. This book highlights the complexity of contact-induced language change throughout the history of English by bringing together cutting-edge research from these fields. Special focus is on recent debates surrounding substratal influence in earlier forms of English (particularly Celtic influence in Old English), on language shift processes (the formation of Irish and overseas varieties) but also on dialects in contact, the contact origins of Standard English, the notion of new epicentres in World English, the role of children and adults in language change as well as transfer and language learning. With contributions from leading experts, the book offers fresh and exciting perspectives for research and is at the same time an up-to-date overview of the state of the art in the respective fields.




New Approaches to English Linguistics


Book Description

This book aims at providing a cross-section of current developments in English linguistics, by tracing recent approaches to corpus linguistics and statistical methodology, by introducing new inter- and multidisciplinary refinements to empirical methodology, and by documenting the on-going emphasis shift within the discipline of English linguistics from the study of dominant language varieties to that of post-colonial, minority, non-standardised, learner and L2 varieties. Among the key focus areas that define research in the field of English linguistics today, this selection concentrates on four: corpus linguistics, English as a global language, cognitive linguistics, and second language acquisition. Most of the articles in this volume concentrate on at least two of these areas and at the same time bring in their own suggestions towards building bridges within and across sub-disciples of linguistics and beyond.




International English


Book Description

From Singapore to Scotland, Canada to the Channel Islands, Namibia to New Zealand and beyond, International English takes you on a fascinating journey through the varieties of English spoken around the world. Comparisons across the varieties provide a comprehensive guide to differences in phonetics, phonology, grammar and vocabulary, making this a useful resource for teachers of English as a foreign language and linguistics students alike. This sixth edition has been thoroughly updated to include the following: new sections on the Death of RP, Estuary English, Multicultural London English, the Dublin accent and Fijian English; updated material on RP phonology, New Zealand English phonology, Australian English lexis, North American English lexis and the Northern Cities Chain Shift; revised and updated references and bibliography. This textbook comes with free-to-download MP3 files at www.routledge.com/9781138233690, which demonstrate the different varieties featured in the book – ideal for use in class, at home or on the move. International English remains a key and indispensable resource for teachers and students, and is essential reading for anyone studying varieties of English in a global context.




World Englishes


Book Description

This book provides a collection of articles that reflect the current state of affairs in the blossoming field of World Englishes by bringing together several innovative synchronic and diachronic approaches. It contributes to the ongoing theoretical discussion concerning the criteria that make a low-frequency item represent an incipient change and examines the suitability of the sociolinguistics of globalisation theory for the study of non-traditional avenues for the spread of vernacular varieties of English (recent migrations, the entertainment industry, the web). It explores crucial aspects of language change and dialect evolution through the study of grammatical phenomena and the particular linguistic and socio-historical factors conditioning them. Together with theoretical questions, the volume shows a concern for methodological issues, such as sociolinguistic interviews, map-task experiments, metalinguistic comments, acceptability judgments and corpus-based methods. This volume represents the latest trends in the field and will undoubtedly set the agenda for the years ahead.




Language Contact in Africa and the African Diaspora in the Americas


Book Description

Language Contact in Africa and the African Diaspora in the Americas brings together the original research of nineteen leading scholars on language contact and pidgin/creole genesis. In recent decades, increasing attention has been paid to the role of historical, cultural and demographic factors in language contact situations. John Victor Singler’s body of work, a model of what such a research paradigm should look like, strikes a careful balance between sociohistorical and linguistic analysis. The case studies in this volume present investigations into the sociohistorical matrix of language contact and critical insights into the sociolinguistic consequences of language contact within Africa and the African Diaspora. Additionally, they contribute to ongoing debates about pidgin/creole genesis and language contact by examining and comparing analyses and linguistic outcomes of particular sociohistorical and cultural contexts, and considering less-studied factors such as speaker agency and identity in the emergence, nativization, and stabilization of contact varieties.




International English


Book Description

Cover -- Copyright -- Title -- Contents -- Note on the sixth edition -- Acknowledgements -- Symbols -- 1 Standard English in the world -- 1.1 Models of English -- 1.2 The spread of English -- 1.3 The nature of native overseas Englishes -- 2 English, Australasian, South African and Welsh English -- 2.1 The RP accent -- 2.2 Australian, New Zealand and South African English -- 2.3 Welsh English -- 3 The pronunciation of North American English -- 3.1 North American English vowels -- 3.2 North American English consonants -- 3.3 Regional variation in United States English -- 3.4 The pronunciation of Canadian English -- 3.5 Non-systematic differences between North American English and English English pronunciation -- 3.6 Stress differences -- 3.7 Further differences between American English and Canadian English pronunciation -- 4 English and North American English: grammatical, orthographical and lexical differences -- 4.1 Grammatical differences -- 4.2 Spelling and punctuation differences -- 4.3 Vocabulary differences -- 5 Scottish and Irish English -- 5.1 Scottish English -- 5.2 English in Ireland -- 6 West Indian English and English-based creoles -- 6.1 English-based pidgins -- 6.2 English-based creoles -- 6.3 Decreolization -- 6.4 Post-creoles and mesolectal varieties -- 6.5 West Indian Standard English -- 6.6 English-based creoloids -- 7 Lesser-known Englishes -- 8 Second-language varieties of English -- 8.1 West African English -- 8.2 East African English -- 8.3 Indian English -- 8.4 Singaporean English -- 8.5 English in the Philippines -- 8.6 Fiji English -- Glossary -- Bibliography -- Index




The Cambridge Handbook of Language Contact


Book Description

Language contact - the linguistic and social outcomes of two or more languages coming into contact with each other - has been pervasive in human history. However, where histories of language contact are comparable, experiences of migrant populations have been only similar, not identical. Given this, how does language contact work? With contributions from an international team of scholars, this Handbook - the first in a two-volume set - delves into this question from multiple perspectives and provides state-of-the-art research on population movement and language contact and change. It begins with an overview of how language contact as a research area has evolved since the late 19th century. The chapters then cover various processes and theoretical issues associated with population movement and language contact worldwide. It is essential reading for anybody interested in the dynamics of social interactions in diverse contact settings and how the changing ecologies influence the linguistic outcomes.