You may have to Search all our reviewed books and magazines, click the sign up button below to create a free account.
Traces the recent history of the English language, covering all contexts of use equally
An innovative and insightful exploration of varieties of English in contemporary South Africa.
This volume consists of nine articles dealing with topics in distinctive feature theory in various typologically diverse languages, including Acehnese, Afrikaans, Basque, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Hungarian, Japanese, Korean, Navajo, Portuguese, Tahltan, Terena, Tswana, Tuvan, and Zoque. The subjects dealt with in the book include feature geometry, underspecification (in rule-based and in Opti-mality Theoretic treatments) and the phonetic implementation of phonological features. Other topics include laryngeal features (e.g. [voice], [spread glottis], [nasal]), and place features for consonants and vowels. The volume will be of interest to all linguists and advanced students of linguistics working on feature theory and/or the phonetics-phonology interface.
From "learning toy" and "learning society" to "learning city" and "learning organization", what is meant by "learning"? The main focus of this volume is to increase our understanding of the "learning turn" referring, in this book, to the frequent occurrence and usage of terms in the last few decades where the word "learning" is the premodifier. The authors also offer insights into the use of the word "learning" as a premodifier in the future and discuss what, if anything, may replace it, such as "knowledge" (as in "knowledge management") and "smart" (as in "smart city"). An extensive range of academic disciplines are covered including political science, economics, human geography, philosophy...
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 articles in this volume are intended to bridge what Sridhar and Sridhar (1986) have called the 'paradigm gap' between traditional SLA research on the one hand and research into institutionalised second-language varieties in former colonial territories on the other. Since both learner Englishes and second-language varieties are typically non-native forms of English that emerge in language contact situations, it is high time that they are described and compared on an empirical basis in order to draw conceptual and theoretical conclusions with regard to their form, function and acquisition. The present collection of articles places special emphasis on empirical evidence obtained from large-scale analyses of computerised corpora of learner Englishes (such as the International Corpus of Learner English) and of second-language varieties of English (such as the International Corpus of English). It addresses questions such as ‘Are the phenomena we find in ESL and EFL varieties features or errors?’ or ‘How common and wide-spread are features across contact varieties of English?’
Black South African English, the variety of English used by mother-tongue speakers of South Africa's indigenous languages, has received considerable attention during the last two decades. However, so far most of the accounts of this variety have been only qualitative in nature. This book reports on one of the first studies offering extensive quantitative analyses of four typical features of Black South African English grammar: omission of past tense marking, extended use of the progressive aspect, article omission, and use of left dislocation. Drawing on a corpus of spoken data, the study's focus lies on the investigation of the stability of the selected features and hence aims to ascertain which of these are characteristic of Black South African English as a whole. Speakers exhibiting differing levels of competence in English are compared. It is shown that the analysed features are used by speakers of Black South African English regardless of their proficiency level, but, at the same time, there are considerable differences concerning the frequency of occurrence of these features.
This volume gives a detailed overview of the varieties of English spoken in Africa, South and Southeast Asia, including L1 varieties (such as White South African or St Helena English), L2 varieties (such as Cameroon, Pakistani, or Malaysian English) as well as pidgins and creoles (such as Nigerian or Ghanaian Pidgin). The chapters, written by widely acclaimed specialists, provide concise and comprehensive information on the phonological, morphological and syntactic characteristics of each variety discussed. The articles are followed by exercises and study questions. The exercises are geared towards students and can be used for classroom assignments as well as for self study in preparation for exams. Instructors can use the exercises, sound samples and interactive maps to enhance their classroom presentations and to highlight important language features.
An in-depth exploration of the sound systems of varieties of English around the world, written by a renowned authority in the field In Sounds of English Worldwide, Raymond Hickey delivers a rigorous overview of the sound systems of varieties of English throughout the world. Beginning with an overview of the history and contexts of global varieties of English, this book guides readers through the spread of English during the colonial era leading up to the present day. The second section of the book broadly considers developments in the English-speaking world, accounting for the factors that triggered regional changes and resulted in diverse scenarios for English, including language contact an...
This edited book examines the phenomenon of English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) in the Japanese context, using multilingualism as a lens through which to explore language practices and attitudes in what is traditionally viewed as a monolingual, monocultural setting. The authors cover a broad spectrum of topics within this theme, including language education policies, the nature of ELF communication in both academic and business settings, users’ and learners’ perceptions of ELF, and the pedagogy to foster ELF-oriented attitudes. Teaching and learning practices are reconsidered from ELF and multilingual perspectives, shifting the focus from the conformity to native-speaker norms to ELF users’ creative use of multilingual resources. This book is a key resource for advancing ELF study and research in Japan, and it will also be of interest to students and scholars studying multilingualism and World Englishes in other global contexts.