101 research outputs found
The risks of sociolinguistic crossing and cross-overs: A retrospective from apartheid South Africa
No abstract available
Educated mother-tongue South African English: A corpus approach
South Africa is anecdotally known for its complex system of speech varieties correlating with variables such as ethnicity, first language, class and education. These intuitions (e.g. Lass 1990) require further investigation, especially in the context of a changing South Africa where language variety plays a key role in identifying social, economic and ethnic group membership. Thus, in this research, the extent to which these variables play a role in variety is explored using a corpus approach (the nature of class and race in the corpus is discussed more fully later in the article). The corpus project, focusing primarily on accent, has been undertaken by members of the Department of English Language and Linguistics at Rhodes University in South Africa, collaborating with staff from the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering from Stellenbosch University, South Africa. A corpus (the first of its kind) is being compiled, comprising the speech of educated, white, mother-tongue speakers of South African English (as distinct from Afrikaans English, Indian English, and the second language (L2) varieties of English used by speakers of indigenous African languages), and data collection is well under way. This short article aims to describe the aims of the project, and the methodological approach which underpins it, as well as to highlight some of the more problematic aspects of the research
South African Concise Oxford Dictionary
The Dictionary Unit for South African English. South African Concise Oxford Dictionary. 2002, xx + 1368 pp. Cape Town: Oxford University Press. Price: R275.0
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From variation to hybridity
About the book: The Routledge Companion to English Language Studies is an accessible guide to the major topics, debates and issues in English Language Studies. This authoritative collection includes entries written by well-known language specialists from a diverse range of backgrounds who examine and explain established knowledge and recent developments in the field. Covering a wide range of topics such as globalization, gender and sexuality and food packaging, this volume provides critical overviews of:
approaches to researching, describing and analyzing English
the position of English as a global language
the use of English in texts, practices and discourses
variation and diversity throughout the English-speaking world.
Fully cross-referenced throughout and featuring useful definitions of key terms and concepts, this is an invaluable guide for teachers wishing to check, consolidate or update their knowledge, and is an ideal resource for all students of English Language Studies
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