This study analyzes stylistic variation among first-, second-, and third-year instructed learners of French engaged in synchronous French-language computer-mediated communication (CMC) and compares the results with data from nonlearner discourse in a public, noneducational synchronous CMC environment. We focus specifically on variability in…

This paper offers an examination of the role played by ideology in the research and regulation of "English within a globalized context" (EGC). It analyzes the two major paradigms in this field: that which promotes English as a single, universal code; and that which advocates the need for the acknowledgement of discrete, localized varieties. It…

What is the mechanism by which a linguistic change advances across successive generations of speakers? We explore this question by using the model of incrementation provided in Labov 2001 and analyzing six current changes in English. Extending Labov's focus on recent and vigorous phonological changes, we target ongoing morphosyntactic(-semantic)…

Because many of the forms participating in inherent variability are not attested in the standard language, they are often construed as evidence of change. We test this assumption by confronting the standard, as instantiated by a unique corpus covering five centuries of French grammatical injunctions, with data on the evolution of spontaneous…

This article is inspired by the author's keynote address delivered at the Central New York Reading Council Conference in Syracuse, New York, on February 6, 2010. The author calls for teachers to --"go for broke?"--to give their all--to ensure that the children they serve achieve academic success in their literacy classrooms. By…

This opens with a critical and historical exploration of the terms that make up the phrase "English National Curriculum", breaking them down to build them up differently. This prompts a critique of the nominally singular subject "English" that stresses its plurality ("Englishes") and introduces the concept "Englishing" to highlight its ongoing…

To explore language attitudes and ideologies in urban Catalonia, focus group structured interviews were conducted with two groups of adolescents of Spanish-speaking origins: the Autochthonous group, descendents of mid-late twentieth century immigrants from other parts of Spain, and the Immigrant group, who came from Latin America. The…

Research into Singapore English (SgE) has undergone many paradigm shifts from the 1970s to the present. This paper first begins with a consideration of how variation in the English language used in Singapore has been studied. It then identifies the two main varieties of English commonly described in Singapore, namely, Standard SgE (SSE) and…

This study examined the effect of information about native/non-native speaker status on non-native listeners' perception of English words with word-final stops. A survey study conducted with 38 Chinese learners of English in Guangzhou, China examined their stereotypes about Cantonese English. They described it negatively and named features…

This article explores the rhetoric of the four official languages (English, Mandarin, Malay and Tamil) in Singapore and the domestic aversion towards Chinese "dialects" and colloquial "Singlish". The "Speak Mandarin Campaign" alongside the "Speak Good English Movement" represent a display of intercultural…

One fundamental aspect of all educated native speakers' language competence is stylistic variation, or the ability to adjust speech register to situational formality ( Labov, 1972). In this article, we investigate how current introductory and intermediate college French textbooks develop students' sociolinguistic competence and particularly the…

Despite the declarations of international documents on minority language rights, provision is patchy for supporting minority languages in the UK, where since the 1980s governments have deliberately or unwittingly greatly raised the profile and comparative standing of English. The partial exception to this trend has been the treatment of…

The scientific community has traditionally considered technical English as neutral and objective, able to transmit ideas and research in simple sentences and specialized vocabulary. Nevertheless, global communication and intense information delivery have produced a range of different ways of knowledge transmission. Although technical English is…

This study aims to determine the attitudes toward Standard Spoken Tamil (SST) and Literary Tamil (LT) of 46 Tamil teachers in Singapore. The teachers' attitudes were used as an indicator of the acceptance or nonacceptance of SST as a viable option in the teaching of Tamil in the classroom, in which the focus has been largely on LT. The…

Studies of Mexican and Puerto Rican communities living in the same United States cities suggest that a combination of historical factors and local conditions strongly influence to what extent these two groups interact and form a shared sense of pan-ethnic Latino unity. However, few studies have examined "MexiRican" individuals, those who…