The variability of current world Englishes : [seven chapters in this book had their first audiences at the second meeting of the International Society for the Linguistics of English, June 17-21, 2011 in Bosten, Mass

__Faces of English__ explores the phenomenon of increasing dialects, varieties, and creoles, even as the spread of globalization supports an apparently growing uniformity among nations. The book's chapters supply descriptions of Jamaican English in Toronto, English as an L2 in a South African mining township, Chinese and English contact in Singapore, unexpected, emergent variants in Canadian English, and innovations in the English of West Virginia. Further, the book offers some perspective on internet English as well as on abiding uniformities in the lexicon and grammar of standard varieties. In the analyses of this heterogeneous growth such considerations as speakers' sociolinguistic profiles, phonological, morpho-syntactic, and lexical variables, frequencies, and typological patterns provide ample insight in the current status of English both in oral and electronic communities. The opening chapter presents a theoretical framework that argues for linguistic typology as conceptually resourceful in accommodating techniques of analysis and in distinguishing the wide arrays of English found throughout the globe. One clear function for Faces of English is that of a catalyst: to spur studies of diversities in English (and in other languages), to suggest approaches to adapt, to invite counterargument and developments in analysis.

Faces of English explores the phenomenon of increasing dialects, varieties, and creoles, even as the spread of globalization supports an apparently growing uniformity among nations. The book's chapters supply descriptions of Jamaican English in Toronto, English as an L2 in a South African mining township, Chinese and English contact in Singapore, unexpected, emergent variants in Canadian English, and innovations in the English of West Virginia. Further, the book offers some perspective on internet English as well as on abiding uniformities in the lexicon and grammar of standard varieties. In the analyses of this heterogeneous growth such considerations as speakers' sociolinguistic profiles, phonological, morpho-syntactic, and lexical variables, frequencies, and typological patterns provide ample insight in the current status of English both in oral and electronic communities. The opening chapter presents a theoretical framework that argues for linguistic typology as conceptually resourceful in accommodating techniques of analysis and in distinguishing the wide arrays of English found throughout the globe. One clear function for Faces of English is that of a catalyst: to spur studies of diversities in English (and in other languages), to suggest approaches to adapt, to invite counterargument and developments in analysis.

Foreword Introduction Part 1. Methodological issues in distinguishing varieties New Englishes and the emergence of the unmarked Methodological choices in language variation analysis Globalisation and the transnational impact of non-standard varieties The circle of English: an exploration of the “core” and “periphery” of world Englishes Part 2. Studies of features in particular contexts A robust, living substratum: contact and sociolinguistic factors in the evolution of a variety of Black English in Kimberley, South Africa Got in Singapore English Diasporic mixing of World Englishes: the case of Jamaican Creole in Toronto System and society in the evolution of change: the view from Canada A diachronic study of pseudo-titles and related appositives in the press reportage of British and American newspapers The Diffusion of I need you to + infinitive in world Englishes Index This book explores through fresh detail and approaches unanticipated, heterogeneous dispersions of the English language world-wide. Through data collection, comparative analysis, and typological study, the book's chapters capture patterns that now affect established dialects and shape those recently emerging. From classroom to mature design, the volume sparks linguistic undertakings in the increasing complexities of communication