World Englishes: Social and Linguistic Perspectives

The course provides an overview of the historical reasons behind the global expansion of the English language. Further, the course aims to provide you with insights into sociolinguistic concepts regarding linguistic variability in World English, including, for example, language contact, linguistic convergence and divergence, and factors influencing processes of standardisation. The course will also focus on language planning relating to the variability in world varieties of English, with attention given to policies and praxis in school and university settings. You will collect empirical data on one of the world's varieties of English, analyse linguistic phenomena, and present your findings in a pilot study.