The Lesser-Known Varieties of English: An Introduction

by Edited by Daniel Schreier , Peter Trudgill , Edgar W. Schneider , Jeffrey P. Williams

• ISBN13: 9780521883962
• ISBN10: 0521883962
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2010-04-19
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

This is the first ever volume to compile sociolinguistic and historical information on lesser-known, and relatively ignored, native varieties of English around the world. Exploring areas as diverse as the Pacific, South America, the South Atlantic and West Africa, it shows how these varieties are as much part of the big picture as major varieties and that their analysis is essential for addressing some truly important issues in linguistic theory, such as dialect obsolescence and death, language birth, dialect typology and genetic classification, patterns of diffusion and transplantation and contact-induced language change. It also shows how close interwoven fields such as social history, contact linguistics and variationist sociolinguistics are in accounting for their formation and maintenance, providing a thorough description of the lesser-known varieties of English and their relevance for language spread and change.

Table of Contents

Introduction

The British Isles

Shetlands and Orkney

Channel Islands

The Americas and the Caribbean

Canadian maritimes

Newfoundland and Labrador

Honduras/Bay Islands

White Caribbean

Bahamas

Dominican Kokoy

Anglo-Argentinian English

South Atlantic Ocean

Falkland Islands

St Helena

Tristan da Cunha

Africa

White Zimbabwean English

White Kenyan English

Australasia and Pacific

Eurasian English in Singapore

Peranakans English in Malaysia and Singapore

Norfolk Island and Pitcairn

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