Postcolonial English : varieties around the world / Edgar W. Schneider.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Schneider, Edgar W. (Edgar Werner), 1954-

Series:

Cambridge approaches to language contact

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

English language--Variation--English-speaking countries.

English language.

English language--Variation.

English-speaking countries.

English language--Variation--Foreign countries.

Physical Description:

xvi, 367 pages : illustrations, maps ; 23 cm.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 2007.

Summary:

The global spread of English has resulted in the emergence of a diverse range of postcolonial varieties around the world. Postcolonial English provides a clear and original account of the evolution of these varieties, exploring the historical, social, and ecological factors that have shaped all levels of their structure. It argues that while these Englishes have developed new and unique properties which differ greatly from one location to another, their spread and diversification can in fact be explained by a single underlying process, which builds upon the constant relationships and communication needs of the colonizers, the colonized, and other parties. Outlining the stages and characteristics of this process, it applies them in detail to English in sixteen different countries across all continents as well as, in a separate chapter, to a history of American English. Of key interest to sociolinguists, dialectologists, historical linguists, and syntacticians alike, this book provides a fascinating new picture of the growth and evolution of English around the globe.

Contents:

2 Charting the territory: Postcolonial Englishes as a field of linguistic investigation 8

2.1 Ancestry 8

2.2 Approaches 11

2.3 Alternative perspectives and issues 17

3 The evolution of Postcolonial Englishes: the Dynamic Model 21

3.1 Transforming selves in migration: theoretical background 21

3.2 The Dynamic Model of the evolution of Postcolonial Englishes 29

3.3 Variations on the basic pattern 55

3.4 Wider applicability 68

4 Linguistic aspects of nativization 71

4.1 Structural nativization: characteristic features 72

4.2 Tracing structural nativization: methodological and conceptual issues 90

4.3 The road to nativization: linguistic processes 97

5 Countries along the cycle: case studies 113

5.1 Fiji 114

5.2 Australia 118

5.3 New Zealand 127

5.4 Hong Kong 133

5.5 The Philippines 140

5.6 Malaysia 144

5.7 Singapore 153

5.8 India 161

5.9 South Africa 173

5.10 Kenya 189

5.11 Tanzania 197

5.12 Nigeria 199

5.13 Cameroon 212

5.14 Barbados 219

5.15 Jamaica 227

5.16 Canada 238

6 The cycle in hindsight: the emergence of American English 251

6.1 "Assembled in America from various quarters": Phase 1 (ca. 1587-1670) 254

6.2 "English with great classical purity": Phase 2 (ca. 1670-1773) 264

6.3 "That torrent of barbarous phraseology": Phase 3 (ca. 1773-1828/1848) 273

6.4 "Our honor requires us to have a system of our own": Phase 4 (1828/1848-1898) 282

6.5 "We know just who we are by our language": Phase 5 (1898-) 291

6.6 Summary and outlook 307.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 331-359) and indexes.

ISBN:

0521539013

9780521539012

OCLC:

138338688