Full Description
In this monograph, 'multiscriptal English' is theorised. Unorthodox and unconventional this may sound, a salient sociolinguistic reality is emerging globally. That is, while standardised English (Roman script) is routinely taught and used, English in superdiverse, multilingual, and/or (post)colonial societies is often camouflaged in local scripts and 'passes off' as local languages in these places' linguistic landscapes through transliteration (at lexical, phrasal and sentential levels). To illustrate, documentary evidence from Arabic, Malay (Jawi), Nepali, Urdu, Tamil, Korean, Japanese, Russian, Thai, etc. is presented. Through inter-scriptal rendition, English is glocalised and enshrined in seemingly 'exotic' scripts that embody different socio-political and religious worldviews. In the (re)contextualisation process, English inevitably undergoes transformations and adopts new flavours. This gives English a second life with multiple manifestations/incarnations in new contexts. This points to the juggernaut of English in our globalised/neoliberal world. The existence of multiscriptal English necessitates more coordinated and interdisciplinary research efforts going forward.
Contents
1. Introduction: setting the scene; 2. Major perspectives to studying English: from overt and explicit use to covert and implicit use; 3. Multiscriptal English theorised: English glocalised and transliterated in other languages/scripts; 4. Multiscriptal English, translanguaging and multilingualism; 5. Linguistic landscape (Ll) as theoretical framework, methodology and vivid site to studying evolving English in action; 6. The translational and cross-linguistic aspect of the making of (Multilingual) linguistic landscapes; 7. Multiscriptal English in action: documented evidence from multiple languages and scripts around the world; 8. Transliterated globalisation: some reflections; 9. Discussions and concluding remarks; References.
