Global Variation in the Anglophone World

2019 ◽  
pp. 629-653
Author(s):  
Bernd Kortmann
Keyword(s):  
Structural Complexity ◽  
Diagnostic Features ◽  
Data Set ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
The Caribbean ◽  
English Speaking World ◽  
Anglophone World ◽  
L1 And L2 ◽  
Different Parts

Based on the data set in the electronic World Atlas of Varieties of English, the primary purpose of this chapter is to determine the areal and global reach as well as the degree of distinctiveness of morphosyntactic properties for fifty spontaneous spoken L1 and L2 Englishes as well as twenty-six English-based pidgins and creoles spoken in seven Anglophone world regions (Africa, North America, Australia, British Isles, the Caribbean, the Pacific, South and Southeast Asia). Central questions addressed include the following: Which are the most widespread non-standard morphosyntactic features in the Anglophone world? Are there distinctive, or even diagnostic, features for the different variety types? Is it possible to identify systematic correlations between variety type and different degrees of structural complexity? Which are the most widespread or even diagnostic features for the different parts of the English-speaking world?

‘Yes, that's the best’: Short front vowel lowering in English today

English Today ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
pp. 9-16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raymond Hickey
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
North America ◽  
Front Vowel ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
English Speaking World ◽  
Anglophone World ◽  
Different Parts

In different parts of the English-speaking world various vowel changes have been taking place in recent years, perhaps the most noticeable of which is the vowel lowering in words like DRESS and TRAP. This lowering would seem to have its origins some few decades ago in North America, probably in California and perhaps simultaneously in Canada. The shift, labelled here short front vowel lowering (SFVL), has spread quickly across the anglophone world and is found in locations as far apart as Ireland, South Africa and Australia. In each case where the change has been adopted there has been an adaptation of the change to local circumstances within the borrowing variety. The transmission of the change is also significant as the spread would seem not to be by direct speaker contact.

Morton Tavares: Jamaican and International Actor

1990 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 213-223
Author(s):  
Errol Hill
Keyword(s):  
Caribbean Island ◽  
War Of Independence ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
The Caribbean ◽  
English Speaking World

It is not widely known that the Caribbean island of Jamaica enjoys a tradition of live theatre that may well be second to none in the English-speaking world, save only in England itself. Conquered from Spain in 1655, the island boasted an active theatre as early as 1682, not very long after public playgoing had returned to England following the Cromwellian interregnum. Records are silent about theatre for the next several decades, but by the 1730s troupers from England had begun regular visits which culminated in the two long residencies of the famed Hallam Company that came to Virginia from London in 1752. Under the senior Hallam the company journeyed to Jamaica in 1754 and remained there, after Hallam's death, until 1758 when they returned to America, led by David Douglass. Again from 1775 to 1785 the company sojourned in Jamaica, waiting out the War of Independence, this time under Lewis Hallam junior. The record of their performances in the island has been chronicled in Richardson Wright's book Revels in Jamaica (1937), which has recently been reissued.

Lingua Cosmica

2018 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Science Fiction ◽  
The United States ◽  
Major Work ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Depth Analysis ◽  
The World ◽  
History Of ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
English Speaking World ◽  
Anglophone World

Lingua Cosmica: Science Fiction from around the World consists of eleven scholarly essays on contemporary authors (born 1950 or later) of science fiction who publish in languages other than English, or who publish from the English-speaking “periphery”: i.e., outside the United States, the United Kingdom, and Anglophone Canada. Each essay examines one author, making a case for their importance internationally and contextualizing their work within the science-fictional traditions of their own culture and those of the genre globally (themes, tropes, tendencies, subgenres, etc.). Each also offers an in-depth analysis of a major work or works. The book thus identifies major contemporary authors of science fiction outside the “center” of the English-speaking world and presents them to students and scholars in the Anglophone world. The scholars respond to questions such as: Who are these authors, and why are they important? What innovative thematic material or formal elements do they offer? What unique elements from their culture do they bring to the genre? How do they dialogue with the history of the genre, and how do they fit into the contemporary SF scene? The authors studied are Angélica Gorodischer from Argentina, Yves Meynard and Jean-Louis Trudel writing collaboratively as Laurent McAllister (Francophone Canada), Liu Cixin (China), Daína Chaviano (Cuba), Johanna Sinisalo (Finland), Jean-Claude Dunyach (France), Andreas Eschbach (Germany), Sakyo Komatsu (Japan), Olatunde Osunsanmi (Nigerian American), Jacek Dukaj (Poland), and Arkady Strugatsky and Boris Strugatsky (Russia/USSR).

scholarly journals A cheeky investigation: Tracking the semantic change of cheeky from monkeys to wines

English Today ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 1-10
Author(s):  
Laura R. Bailey ◽  
Mercedes Durham
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Semantic Change ◽  
The Past ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Original Meaning ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
New Form ◽  
English Speaking World ◽  
Different Parts

The present study focuses on the word cheeky which, in the past few decades, has taken on a new meaning of ‘mildly illicit’ in addition to, and partly overtaking, its original meaning of ‘impudent’. We examine how this semantic change is spreading in different age groups and in different parts of the English-speaking world. As we demonstrate, the newer meaning of cheeky is associated with younger speakers, so we examine whether this correlates with different age groups’ understanding of the new form. Furthermore, cheeky ‘impudent’ was used more frequently in the United Kingdom than in North America. If that earlier meaning was already marked for North America, how is the newer meaning cheeky ‘mildly illicit’ understood by speakers there?

Adam Ferguson and the Idea of Civil Society

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Craig Smith
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Moral Philosophy ◽  
David Hume ◽  
Adam Smith ◽  
Scottish Enlightenment ◽  
Commercial Society ◽  
University Of Edinburgh ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
English Speaking World ◽  
The University

Adam Ferguson was a Professor of Moral Philosophy at the University of Edinburgh and a leading member of the Scottish Enlightenment. A friend of David Hume and Adam Smith, Ferguson was among the leading exponents of the Scottish Enlightenment’s attempts to develop a science of man and was among the first in the English speaking world to make use of the terms civilization, civil society, and political science. This book challenges many of the prevailing assumptions about Ferguson’s thinking. It explores how Ferguson sought to create a methodology for moral science that combined empirically based social theory with normative moralising with a view to supporting the virtuous education of the British elite. The Ferguson that emerges is far from the stereotyped image of a nostalgic republican sceptical about modernity, and instead is one much closer to the mainstream Scottish Enlightenment’s defence of eighteenth century British commercial society.

Perceptions of Palestine: The View from Large Linguistic Datasets

2016 ◽  
Vol 45 (2) ◽  
pp. 41-54
Author(s):  
Terry Regier
Keyword(s):  
Language Use ◽  
Cultural Norms ◽  
Cultural Perceptions ◽  
Cultural Changes ◽  
Cultural Shift ◽  
General Theme ◽  
English Usage ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
English Speaking World

Cultural norms and trends are often reflected in patterns of language use. This article explores cultural perceptions of Palestine and Palestinians in the English-speaking world, through two analyses of large linguistic datasets. The first analysis seeks to uncover current conceptions of participants in the Israel-Palestine conflict, by identifying words that are distinctively associated with those participants in modern English usage. The second analysis asks what historical-cultural changes led to these current conceptions. A general theme that emerges from these analyses is that a cultural shift appears to have occurred recently in the English-speaking world, marked by greater awareness of Palestinian perspectives on the conflict. Possible causes for such a cultural shift are also explored.

Dialogues

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 55-60
Author(s):  
Barbara E. Mundy
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
The Political ◽  
Section Deal ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
English Speaking World ◽  
Central Claim

This collection of essays reconsiders a seminal 1961 article by George Kubler, the most important art historian of Latin America of the English-speaking world at the time of its writing. Often greeted with indifference or hostility, Kubler’s central claim of extinction is still a highly contested one. The essays in this section deal with Kubler’s reception in Mexico, the political stakes of his claim in relation to indigeneity, as well as the utility of Kubler’s categories and objects of “extinction” beyond their original framing paradigm.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document