Full Description
Britain and Ireland are home to a rich array of spoken and signed languages and dialects. Language is ever evolving, in its diversity, and in the number and the backgrounds of its speakers, and so, too, are the tools and methods used for researching language. Now in its third edition, this book brings together a team of experts to provide cutting-edge linguistic and sociolinguistic information about all the major varieties of language used across Britain and Ireland today. Fully updated, this edition covers topics including the history of English, the relationship between standard and nonstandard Englishes, multilingualism in Britain and Ireland, and the educational and policy planning implications of this linguistic diversity. Chapters are also dedicated to specific language varieties, including comprehensive descriptions of the Celtic languages, nonstandard regional varieties, sign languages, and urban contact varieties. It is essential reading for academic researchers and students of sociolinguistics and education.
Contents
List of figures; List of tables; List of contributors; Acknowledgments; Map of Britain and Ireland; Introduction Susan Fox; Part I. English: 1. The history of English Anita Auer; 2. Standard and non-standard English Stephen Levey; 3. Phonetic and phonological variation in England Gerry Docherty, Paul Foulkes and Paul Kerswill; 4. Grammatical variation in England David Britain; 5. Discourse-pragmatic variation in England Heike Pichler and Jenny Cheshire; 6. Scots and Scottish standard English Jennifer Smith, Jane Stuart-Smith, Rachel Macdonald and E. Jamieson; 7. English in Ireland Karen Corrigan; 8. English in Wales Heli Paulasto; 9. Insular varieties of English in Britain Anna Rosen, Emma Moore, Jenny Amos, Jennifer Smith and Mercedes Durham; Part II. Multilingualism in Britain and Ireland: The Celtic Languages: 10. The history of the Celtic languages in Britain and Ireland Paul Russell; 11. Scottish Gaelic Claire Nance; 12. Irish Gaelic Aidan Doyle; 13. Welsh David Willis; 14. Cornish and Manx Merryn Davies-Deacon and Dave Sayers; Part III. Multilingualism in Britain and Ireland: Minority Languages: 15. Channel Islands French Mari Jones; 16. South Asian languages Devyani Sharma; 17. Chinese Li Wei; 18. Yiddish Ruth Kircher; 19. European immigrant languages Petros Karatsareas; 20. Sign languages in Britain and Ireland Adam Schembri, Kate Rowley and Lorraine Leeson; Part IV. Multilingualism: The Development of Urban Contact Varieties: 21. Multicultural London English Susan Fox; 22. British Asian English Devyani Sharma and Jessica Wormald; 23. Multicultural British English Rob Drummond; Part V. Applied Sociolinguistic Issues: 24. Language policy and planning in Britain and Ireland Dave Sayers and Leanne Henderson; 25. 'Nonstandard' English and education Julia Snell; 26. Education, England and users of languages other than English Ben Rampton, Constant Leung and Melanie Cooke; Index.
