English around the world: sociolinguistic perspectives

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Only a few centuries ago the English language consisted of a collection of dialects spoken mainly by monolinguals and only within the shores of a small island. Now the English language includes such typologically distinct varieties as pidgins and creoles, 'new' Englishes, and a range of different standard and nonstandard varieties that are spoken on a regular basis in many different countries throughout the world. English is also, of course, the main language used for communication at an international level. The use of English in such a diverse range of social contexts around the world provides us with a unique opportunity to analyse and document the linguistic variation and change that is occurring within a single language, on a far greater scale - as far as we know - than has ever happened in the world's linguistic history before. This volume is intended to give a comprehensive account of our current knowledge of variation in the use of the English language around the world. Overview papers, written by specialist authors, survey the social context in which English is spoken in those parts of the world where it is widely used. Case study papers then provide representative examples of the empirical research that has been carried out into the English that is spoken in that part of the world. The volume therefore contributes both to our understanding of the English language worldwide and to a more general understanding of language as it is used in its social context. It assesses the extent of our current knowledge of variation in the English language and points to gaps in our understanding which future research might set out to remedy.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• List of figures (p. x)
• List of contributors (p. xiii)
• Acknowledgments (p. xvi)
• Introduction: sociolinguistics and English around the world (p. 1)
• 1 The UK and the USA (p. 13)
• 2 Ireland (p. 37)
• 3 Urban and rural varieties of Hiberno-English (p. 51)
• 4 Sociolinguistic variation and methodology: after as a Dublin variable (p. 61)
• 5 The interpretation of social constraints on variation in Belfast English (p. 75)
• 6 Canada (p. 89)
• 7 Phonological variation and recent language change in St John's English (p. 108)
• 8 Sociophonetic variation in Vancouver (p. 123)
• 9 Social differentiation in Ottawa English (p. 134)
• 10 New Zealand (p. 153)
• 11 Social constraints on the phonology of New Zealand English (p. 169)
• 12 Maori English: a New Zealand myth? (p. 187)
• 13 Sporting formulae in New Zealand English: two models of male solidarity (p. 200)
• 14 Australia (p. 213)
• 15 /ae/ and /a:/ in Australian English (p. 227)
• 16 Variation in subject-verb agreement in Inner Sydney English (p. 235)
• 17 Australian Creole English: the effect of cultural knowledge on language and memory (p. 256)
• 18 South Asia (p. 271)
• 19 Final consonant cluster simplification in a variety of Indian English (p. 288)
• 20 Patterns of language use in a bilingual setting in India (p. 299)
• 21 Speech acts in an indigenised variety: sociocultural values and language variation (p. 308)
• 22 Southeast Asia and Hongkong (p. 319)
• 23 Stylistic shifts in the English of the Philippine print media (p. 333)
• 24 Variation in Malaysian English: the pragmatics of languages in contact (p. 364)
• 25 Social and linguistic constraints on variation in the use of two grammatical variables in Singapore English (p. 376)
• 26 East Africa (Tanzania and Kenya) (p. 391)
• 27 The politics of the English language in Kenya and Tanzania (p. 402)
• 28 National and subnational features in Kenyan English (p. 420)
• 29 Southern Africa (p. 435)
• 30 Sources and consequences of miscommunication in Afrikaans English -- South African English encounters (p. 446)
• 31 Syntactic variation in South African Indian English: the relative clause (p. 462)
• 32 The social significance of language use and language choice in a Zambian urban setting: an empirical study of three neighbourhoods in Lusaka (p. 474)
• 33 West Africa (p. 493)
• 34 The pronoun system in Nigerian Pidgin: a preliminary study (p. 509)
• 35 The sociolinguistics of prepositional usage in Nigerian English (p. 518)
• 36 Social and linguistic constraints on plural marking in Liberian English (p. 544)
• 37 The Caribbean (p. 565)
• 38 Standardisation in a creole continuum situation: the Guyana case (p. 585)
• 39 Gender roles and linguistic variation in the Belizean Creole community (p. 595)
• 40 Sociolinguistic variation in Cane Walk: a quantitative case study (p. 609)
• 41 The Pacific (p. 619)
• 42 Watching girls pass by in Tok Pisin (p. 637)
• 43 Sociolinguistic variation and language attitudes in Hawaii (p. 647)
• 44 Variation in Fiji English (p. 664)
• Index of topics (p. 675)
• Index of place names (p. 682)