It is not easy to look at the current momentum of the worldwide diffusion of English and imagine what the future trends will be by mid-century or even in the next two or three decades. A prudent undertaking is to review briefly the present situation and project what the coming decades hold in view of several developments that are shaping our…

Discusses the style repertoire in the context of Hindi literature, the functions of code mixing varieties in Hindi literary works, and the implications for sociolinguistics of such investigations from linguistic and stylistic perspectives. Hindi poetry from the last three decades is examined to determine the effects of language mixing involving…

Serious basic research leading to adequate descriptions of English and other languages of wider communication around the world in their sociolinguistic contexts is needed. This must be accompanied by applied research in second language acquisition and innovative research in teaching methodology and curriculum and materials development. With the…

A study was undertaken to demonstrate that expository prose written in Indian English exhibits certain characteristics determined by the sociocultural conventions of writing in the Indian tradition. These features of Indian English texts are often judged to be inappropriate by native speakers of North American and British English, and mistakenly…

The current state of research on cross-cultural speech acts is examined, its applicability to the second language classroom is evaluated, and new directions for research, with more relevance for classroom practice, are recommended. Problems found with cross-cultural speech act research to date include questions it has raised about the universal…

Presents evidence to show that the development and institutionalization of non-native varieties of English around the world pose a serious problem for all existing theories of second language acquisition. The issues that need to be addressed in future research are clearly defined. (Author/SED)