An Introduction to International
Varieties of English
Contents
Acknowledgements v
Abbreviations and conventions used in the text vi
To readers vii
1 Background notions 1
1.1 Accent, dialect, language and
variety 2
1.2 Home and colony 4
1.3 Colonial lag 5
1.4 Dialect mixing 6
Exercises 11
Recommendations for reading 12
2 English becomes a world
language 13
2.1 The spread of English 13
2.2 Models of English 19
2.3 English in Scotland and
Ireland 25
Exercises 28
Recommendations for reading 29
3 Vocabulary 32
3.1 Borrowing 33
3.2 Coining 40
3.3 The results 42
Exercises 44
Recommendations for reading 45
4 Grammar 46
4.1 Morphology 46
4.2 Syntax 48
4.3 Discussion 58
Exercises 59
Recommendations for reading 60
5 Spelling 61
5.1 Lexical distributional
differences 62
5.2 Variation in the system 62
5.3 Conclusion 66
Exercises 67
Recommendations for reading 68
6 Pronunciation 69
6.1 Describing varieties of
English 69
6.2 Input varieties 71
6.3 Influences from contact
languages 73
6.4 Influences from other
colonies 74
6.5 Influences from later
immigrants 75
6.6 Influences from world English
75
6.7 Differences between varieties
76
Exercises 82
Recommendations for reading 83
7 The revenge of the colonised 84
7.1 Vocabulary 86
7.2 Grammar 86
7.3 Pronunciation 88
7.4 Conclusion 90
Exercises 91
Recommendations for reading 92
8 Becoming independent 93
8.1 British Englishes 95
8.2 North American Englishes 97
8.3 Southern hemisphere Englishes
98
8.4 Discussion 99
8.5 The break-up of English? 100
Exercises 102
Recommendations for reading 103
9 Standards in the colonies 104
9.1 Moving away from the standard
in vocabulary 104
9.2 Moving away from the standard
in grammar 105
9.3 Moving away from the standard
in pronunciation 108
9.4 Discussion 110
Exercises 112
Recommendations for reading 112
Discussion of the exercises 113
References 127
Index 133
