Perspectives on English as a World Language (review)

With the goal of presenting various case studies of how English is used around the world, the editors of this volume included selected papers from the 1999 meeting of the Joint Advanced Studies Group in Linguistics along with other invited contributions.

The first five chapters of the book concern native varieties of English. In Ch. 1, ‘Scottish English: A hybrid between Scots and Southern British English’ (1–13), Martina Häcker presents a brief history of Scottish English and discusses its phonology, vocabulary, grammar, status, and future. In Ch. 2, ‘RP and general American: A parting of the ways’ (15–29), Patricia Buccellato focuses on the phonological differences between the prestige varieties in the UK and the US. Brigitte Halford offers an overview of the phonology, vocabulary, syntax, and morphology of Canadian English in Ch. 3, ‘Canadian English: Distinct in North America?’ (31–44). Similarly, Sarah Ebner offers insight into Australian phonology, vocabulary, and grammar in Ch. 4, ‘English in Australia’ (45–61). In Ch. 5, ‘English in New Zealand’ (63–78), Marianne Hundt presents the history, phonology, lexicon, and grammar of the variety of English found in New Zealand.

The next four chapters constitute the section of the book on nonnative varieties of English. In Ch. 6, ‘English in the Caribbean’ (79–91), Andrea Sand outlines the history of the use of English in Bermuda and Barbados, among other Caribbean nations, and offers Jamaica as a case study in Caribbean English. Paul Skandera provides a three-part classification of English in Africa, with specific references to Liberia, South Africa, and Tanzania, in Ch. 7,‘ A categorization of African Englishes’ (93–103). In Ch. 8, ‘When France refuses English’ (105–14), Albert Hamm outlines the evolution of French language legislation. In Ch. 9, ‘English in Switzerland: From foreign language to lingua franca’ (115–23), Urs Dürmüller offers two models of the status of the English language in Switzerland.

The last four chapters make up the section on the functional aspects of English as a world language. In Ch. 10, ‘Learner English’ (125–33), Cornelia Tschichold examines the abilities of contrastive analysis, error analysis, interlanguage, and markedness to explain the difficulties in the acquisition of English by nonnative speakers. Pius ten Hacken raises the question of which standard/which variety of English should be chosen in the creation of a dictionary in Ch. 11, ‘Dictionaries of non-British varieties of English’ (135–47). In Ch. 12, ‘C. K. Ogden’s “Basic English”: A critical assessment’ (149–58), D. J. Allerton criticizes the short-sightedness of the development of Basic English and ends the chapter with a call for a modern, more soundly based Basic English. Finally, in Ch. 13, ‘The continuing spread of English: Anglo-American conspiracy or global grassroots movement?’ (159–69), Christian Mair examines the two predominant theories as to why the English language continued to spread in the twentieth century despite the demise of the British Empire and a momentary US weakness during the Cold War.

Though more broad than deep, this book can serve as a supplement to classes on World Englishes and language policy.