World Englishes: The Study of New Linguistic Varieties (Key Topics in Sociolinguistics) by Mesthrie, Rajend

ISBN: 9780521797337

Cambridge University Press, 07 July 2008

Paperback, 296 pages

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 recurrent similarities in structure, patterns of usage, vocabulary and accents. Also discussed are debates about language in education, the rise of English in China and Western Europe, and other current developments in a world of global travel and migration.

Editorial Reviews

Review
"...M&B's book is an important contribution to the field of contact linguistics. It is a thoughtful, clearly presented overview of Englishes around the world, which builds on substantial and authoritative scholarship, most of it by the authors themselves." --Journal of Pidgin and Creole Languages

Book Description
This book discusses the spread of English around the world from a social and linguistic perspective.

About the Author
Rajend Mesthrie is Professor of Linguistics in the Department of English at the University of Cape Town.

Rakesh M. Bhatt is Associate Professor of Linguistics in the Department of Linguistics at the University of Illinois.