This paper argues that Dev Virahsawmy, an author who manipulates literary translation for the purposes of linguistic prestige formation and re-negotiation, is a critical language-policy practitioner, as his work fills an important gap in language planning scholarship. A micro-analysis of the translation of a Shakespearean sonnet into Mauritian…

The major objective of the study is to develop a framework allowing for the systematic investigation of the institutionalised varieties and performance varieties of English (also known as learner Englishes). This involves a detailed description of the forms of English spoken in India and in Russia as well as discussion of sociolinguistic histories…

Newfoundland English has long been considered autonomous within the North American context. Sociolinguistic studies conducted over the past three decades, however, typically suggest cross-generational change in phonetic feature use, motivated by greater alignment with mainland Canadian English norms. The present study uses data spanning the past…

One of the objectives of English as Lingua Franca (ELF) researchers is an account of the unique features of English that they have found in the speech of European users of English. These features, it is argued, describe a variety of English which they label "English as Lingua Franca". The choice of this particular term is problematic…

This paper considers the problems, the properties, and the prospects of using "English as a lingua franca" as a construct and as a reality. It will therefore focus on what is meant by the term "lingua franca", what is represented as a "lingua franca", and what the debates are about English as a lingua franca. The…

In 2008, the need for intra-European communication has long exceeded the limits set by language barriers. As a result, English acts extensively as a lingua franca among Europeans with different mother tongues, particularly so in the professional domains of education, business, international relations and scientific research. Yet, despite its…

Discusses the International Corpus of English project for compiling machine-readable corpora of English for several countries, exploring the use of such corpora for modern grammars and dictionaries in general, applied, and theoretical research on nonnative varieties of English, sociolinguistic dimensions, and multidimensional approaches to…

Addresses the issue of the relationship between world Englishes and applied linguistics in Outer Circle countries. The discussion focuses on four major issues--theoretical, applied, societal, and ideological--and looks at these issues as they relate to the social responsibility and accountability of research in applied linguistics. (63 references)…

An interactional approach for studies of English as a nonnative language is proposed. The approach entails the adoption of ethnomethodological perspectives on social knowledge, combined with conversation analytic interests in detailing the locally managed character of spoken interaction, and introducing the term "lingua franca" English to describe…

Reviews current research to investigate the way the power and politics of genre is often exploited by the so-called established membership of disciplinary communities to keep outsiders at a safe distance. Argues that the privilege to exploit generic conventions to create new forms becomes available only to those few enjoying a certain degree of…

Examines a source of linguistic data--newspapers--and discusses related problems of text-type classification and feature interpretation. Using texts from East Africa as a database, the article assesses the influence of different production contexts on the text composition and analyzes the samples for the multifunctional variable of…

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…

Examines a specific type of code switching that occurs when bilingual peers make relevant their dual and simultaneous membership in the two groups symbolized by the two linguistic varieties involved in the switching pattern. Structural constraints and switching are discussed across code-switching types. (31 references) (Author/OD)

Describes aspects of lexico-semantic variation in Nigerian English. The causes and types of variation are discussed within the a sociolinguistic framework, and implications of such variations, with reference to international intelligibility and communication strategies, are examined. (20 references) (Author/OD)

Examines code mixing and borrowing across two generations of New York Puerto Ricans, and explores the possibility of existence of a lifecycle of language use in the community. (26 references) (Author/OD)