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.
This book provides readers with an in- depth understanding of the methodological tools that have to date been implemented within World Englishes (WE) research. It serves as a tool to allow for better methodological rigour in interpreting prior research, as well as in conducting future research in this important area of sociolinguistic investigation. This book explores various methodological tools, ranging from corpus analysis to ethnography to questionnaires, demonstrating how such approaches have been used to address a wide range of empirical topics common to WE research. With chapters dedicated to specifi c methodological approaches and demonstrating these approaches in context, readers are provided with the knowledge necessary to both pursue future empirical inquiry as well as consider existing research from a critical perspective. The book will also explain the similarities and differences that exist between WE and English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) and English as an International Language (EIL).
The plural form 'Englishes' conveys the diversity of English as a global language, pinpointing the growth and existence of a large number of national, regional and social forms. The global spread of English and the new varieties that have emerged around the world has grown to be a vast area of study and research, which intersects multiple disciplines. This Handbook provides a comprehensive and authoritative survey of World Englishes from 1600 to the present day. Covering topics such as variationist sociolinguistics, pragmatics, contact linguistics, linguistic anthropology, corpus- and applied linguistics and language history, it combines discussion of traditional topics with a variety of innovative approaches. The chapters, all written by internationally acclaimed authorities, provide up-to-date discussions of the evolution of different Englishes around the globe, a comprehensive coverage of different models and approaches, and some original perspectives on current challenges.
In this book, leading scholars in the field of World Englishes (WE) offer fresh perspectives in re-thinking issues on the use of English as a global language in an interconnected world. Established as a legitimate field of study, WE offers a conceptual framework which has influenced scholarship in many related disciplines: contact linguistics, postcolonial Englishes, English as a lingua franca, English as an international language, and applied linguistics. This seminal volume will have an excellent balance between theoretical and empirical works focusing on scholarship that has arisen in relation to the Kachruvian Three Concentric Circles model. This book covers topics such as state-of-the-art review of WE, WE and contact linguistics, post-colonial Englishes, English as a Lingua Franca, English as an International Language, WE and applied linguistics, language measurement and testing in WE, language policy and management, language education and dynamic ecologies, language typology, WE as a new canon, WE and corpus linguistics, WE and multimodalities, and makes predictions about the future of WE. It contains a comprehensive and up-to-date bibliography of major works published in the field.
The availability of large electronic corpora has caused major shifts in linguistic research, including the ability to analyze much more data than ever before, and to perform micro-analyses of linguistic structures across languages. This has historical linguists to rethink many standard assumptions about language history, and methods and approaches that are relevant to the study of it. The field is now interested in, and attracts, specialists whose fields range from statistical modeling to acoustic phonetics. These changes have even transformed linguists' perceptions of the very processes of language change, particularly in English, the most studied language in historical linguistics due to the size of available data and its status as a global language. The Oxford Handbook of the History of English takes stock of recent advances in the study of the history of English, broadening and deepening the understanding of the field. It seeks to suggest ways to rethink the relationship of English's past with its present, and make transparent the variety of conditions and processes that have been instrumental in shaping that history. Setting a new standard of cross-theoretical collaboration, it covers the field in an innovative way, providing diachronic accounts of major influences such as language contact, and typological processes that have shaped English and its varieties, as well as highlighting recent and ongoing developments of Englishes--celebrating the vitality of language change over the centuries and the many contexts and processes through which language change occurs.
As the most widely documented language in human history, English holds a unique key to unlocking some of the mysteries of the uniquely human endowment of language. Yet the field of World Englishes has remained somewhat marginal in linguistic theory. This collection heralds a more direct and mutually constructive engagement with current linguistic theories, questions, and methodologies. It achieves this through areal overviews, theoretical chapters, and case studies. The 36 articles are divided between four themes: Foundations, World Englishes and Linguistic Theory, Areal Profiles, and Case Studies. Part I sets out the complex history of the global spread of English. This is followed, in Part II, by chapters addressing the mutual relevance and importance of World Englishes and numerous theoretical subfields of Linguistics. Part III offers detailed accounts of the structure and social histories of specific varieties of English spoken across the globe, highlighting points of theoretical interest. The collection closes with a set of case studies that exemplify the type of analysis encouraged by the volume. As attention is focused on innovative work at the interface of dialect description and theoretical explanation, the book is more succinct in its treatment of applied themes, which are given complementary coverage in other works.
At a time when globalization and the advent of the internet have accelerated the spread and diversification of English varieties worldwide, this book provides a constructive assessment of the theoretical models that best account for the development and use of Englishes in the early 21st century. In this endeavor, the present book brings together cutting-edge contributions by leading scholars who explore the notion of linguistic globalization based on a wide range of ESLs, EFLs and ELF, synchronic and diachronic data, different methodological approaches (corpus-based, sociolinguistic, ethnographic), and a variety of data resources (social media, multiplayer online games, journalistic data, GloWbE, Corpus of Historical Singapore English, thematic blogs). Collectively, these studies serve as a springboard for future research on the globalization of Englishes and they contribute to a timely and necessary scholarly conversation on what constitutes adequate theoretical models of World Englishes in the 21st century.
This landmark volume provides a broad-based, comprehensive, state-of-the-art overview of current knowledge and research into second language teaching and learning. All authors are leading authorities in their areas of expertise. The chapters, all completely new for Volume 2, are organized in eight thematic sections: Social Contexts in Research on Second Language Teaching and Learning Second Language Research Methods Second Language Research and Applied Linguistics Research in Second Language Processes and Development Methods and Instruction in Second Language Teaching Second Language Assessment Ideology, Identity, Culture, and Critical Pedagogy in Second Language Teaching and Learning Language Planning and Policy. Changes in Volume 2: captures new and ongoing developments, research, and trends in the field surveys prominent areas of research that were not covered in Volume 1 includes new authors from Asia, Australia, Europe, and North America to broaden the Handbook’s international scope. Volume 2 is an essential resource for researchers, faculty, teachers, and students in MA-TESL and applied linguistics programs, as well as curriculum and material developers.