The language we use forms an important part of our sense of who we are - of our identity. This book outlines the relationship between our identity as members of groups - ethnic, national, religious and gender - and the language varieties important to each group. What is a language? What is a dialect? Are there such things as language 'rights'? Must every national group have its own unique language? How have languages, large and small, been used to spread religious ideas? Why have particular religious and linguistic 'markers' been so central, singly or in combination, to the ways in which we...

Just about everyone seems to have views about language. Language attitudes and language ideologies permeate our daily lives. Our competence, intelligence, friendliness, trustworthiness, social status, group memberships, and so on, are often judged from the way we communicate. Even the speed at which we speak can evoke reactions. And we often try to anticipate such judgements as we communicate. In this lively introduction, Peter Garrett draws upon research carried out over recent decades in order to discuss such attitudes and the implications they have for our use of language, for social...

The spread of English around the world has been and continues to be both rapid and unpredictable. World Englishes: The Study of New Linguistic Varieties deals with this inescapable result of colonisation and globalisation from a social and linguistic perspective. The main focus of the book is on the second-language varieties of English that have developed in the former British colonies of East and West Africa, the Caribbean, South and South-East Asia. The book provides a historical overview of the common circumstances that gave rise to these varieties, and a detailed account of their...

How do children and adults become multilingual? How do they use their languages? What influence does being multilingual have on their identities? What is the social impact of multilingualism today and how do societies accommodate it? These are among the fascinating questions examined by this book. Exploring multilingualism in individuals and in society at large, Stavans and Hoffmann argue that it evolves not from one factor in particular, but from a vast range of environmental and personal influences and circumstances: from migration to globalisation, from the spread of English to a revived...

This fascinating study of languages in contact introduces new insights from popular culture, the globalised new economy and computer-mediated communication.

A comprehensive discussion of the key aspects of this important sub-field of language contact and multilingualism studies.

A comprehensive discussion of the key aspects of this important sub-field of language contact and multilingualism studies.