Variation And Change In Postcolonial Contexts

Variation and Change in Postcolonial Contexts

This volume addresses recent issues concerning language change and standardization in postcolonial settings. The book brings together experts from North America, Africa, Asia and the insular areas of Australia and Trinidad and Tobago, and discusses aspects of language variation in the emergence of new varieties. The approaches range from linguistic diagnostics and related methodologies to the most accredited interpretative theories on the evolution of New Englishes. The book includes a section on emerging varieties of English in new media, and special focus has been given to those new varieties of Philippine and Nigerian English spoken in a non-canonical post-colonial context represented by the city of Turin, Italy. The result is a collection of studies that illuminate issues of language variability from different perspectives in order to contribute to the lengthy debate on language contact, diversification, speciation and standardization.

Variation and Change in Postcolonial Contexts

The Oxford Handbook of World Englishes

This collection heralds a direct, mutually constructive engagement with current linguistic theories, questions, and methodologies toward World Englishes. It achieves this through areal overviews, theoretical chapters, and case studies; its 36 articles are divided between four themes: Foundations, World Englishes and Linguistic Theory, Areal Profiles, and Case Studies. Cumulatively, it offers detailed accounts of the structure and social histories of specific varieties of English spoken across the globe.