The Mouton World Atlas Of Variation In English

The Mouton World Atlas of Variation in English (WAVE) presents grammatical variation in spontaneous spoken English, mapping 235 features in 48 varieties of English (traditional dialects, high-contact mother tongue Englishes, and indiginized second-language Englishes) and 26 English-based Pidgins and Creoles in eight Anglophone world regions (Africa, Asia, Australia, British Isles, the Caribbean, North America, the Pacific, and the South Atlantic). The analyses of the 74 varieties are based on descriptive materials, naturalistic corpus data, and native speaker knowledge.

"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"--

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.

This handbook provides an authoritative, critical survey of current research and knowledge in the grammar of the English language. Following an introduction from the editors, the volume's expert contributors explore a range of core topics in English grammar, beginning with issues in grammar writing and methodology. Chapters in part II then examine the various theoretical approaches to grammar, such as cognitive, constructional, and generative approaches, followed by the chapters in part III, which comprehensively cover the different subdomains of grammar, including compounds, phrase structure, clause types, tense and aspect, and information structure. Part IV offers coverage of the relationship between grammar and other fields - lexis, phonology, meaning, and discourse - while the concluding part of the book investigates grammatical change over time, regional variation, and genre and literary variation. The handbook's wide-ranging coverage will appeal to researchers and students of English language and linguistics from undergraduate level upwards.

South Africa and India constitute two key nodes in the global south and have inspired new modes of non-Western transnational history. Themes include anti-imperial movements; Gandhian ideas; comparisons of race and caste; Afro-Asian ideals; Indian Ocean public spheres. This volume extends these debates into the cultural and linguistic terrain. The book combines the methods of Indian Ocean studies and Comparative Cultural Studies, both committed to moving beyond the nation state. Case studies explore classics and concomitant ideas of civilisation, colonial linguistics and the history of languages, and theatre. Topics include the use of classics by colonisers and the colonised in British India and South Africa differences between South African Indian English and Indian English how the Linguistic Survey of India conflicted with colonial and nationalist mappings of India and its references to African languages the rise of ‘Hinglish’ in contemporary India a South African play dealing with African-Indian interactions. This bookw as published as a special issue of African Studies.

A Survey of Modern English covers a wide selection of aspects of the modern English language. Fully revised and updated, the major focus of the third edition lies in Standard American and British English individually and in comparison with each other. Over and beyond that, this volume treats other Englishes around the world, especially those of the southern hemisphere countries of Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa as well as numerous varieties spoken in southern, eastern and western Africa, south and southeast Asia, and the Pacific. The main areas of investigation and interest include: pronunciation, grammar, and vocabulary; multiple facets of English dialects and sociolects with an emphasis on gender and ethnicity; questions of pragmatics as well as a longer look at English-related pidgin and creole varieties. This authoritative guide is a comprehensive, scholarly, and systematic review of modern English. In one volume, the book presents a description of both the linguistic structure of present-day English and its geographical, social, gender, and ethnic variations. This is complemented with an updated general bibliography and with exercises at the end of each chapter and their suggested solutions at the end of the volume, all intended to provide students and other interested readers with helpful resources.

Variation studies is an increasingly popular area in linguistics, becoming embedded in curriculum design, conferences, and research. However, the field is at risk of fragmenting into different research communities with different foci. This pioneering book addresses this by establishing a canon of state-of-the-art quantitative methods to analyze grammatical variation from a comparative perspective. It explains how to use these methods to investigate large datasets in a responsible fashion, providing a blueprint for applying techniques from corpus linguistic, variationist, and dialectometric traditions in novel ways. It specifically explores the scope and limits of syntactic variability in a global language such as English, and investigates three grammatical alternations in nine varieties of English, exploring what we can learn about the grammatical choices that people make based on both observational and experimental data. Comprehensive yet accessible, it will be of interest to academic researchers and students of sociolinguistic, corpus linguistics, and World Englishes.

This book presents the first systematic quantitative study of null subjects not only in British English, but also in the contact varieties Indian, Hong Kong and Singapore English. Analysing informal spoken language, it addresses issues relevant for language contact and World Englishes, corpus linguistics and variationist sociolinguistics, linguistic typology and syntax.