Cover not available
Part of
Modeling World Englishes: Assessing the interplay of emancipation and globalization of ESL varieties
Edited by Sandra C. Deshors
[Varieties of English Around the World G61] 2018
► pp. 133–162

Modeling World Englishes from a cross-linguistic perspective

 | Hamburg
The increasing diversification of English qua World Englishes contributes to cross-linguistic variation. Still, we tend to consider and model varieties of English from a language-internal perspective. Taking Mair’s (2013) World System of Englishes as a starting point, I here explore how to model World Englishes from a cross-linguistic typological perspective, commenting on the tension between normative pressure and cross-linguistic tendencies and generalizations. Variation studies and language typology investigate micro and macro variation, respectively, though the empirical domains in focus and the methodologies employed show considerable overlap. Moreover, the traditional distinction between language and variety becomes increasingly difficult to draw in today’s multilingual and highly interconnected world. I examine the commonalities and differences of the two approaches to language variation that have largely been working independently of one another focusing on language universals and the ways that grammatical phenomena from World Englishes match up against them. Varieties of English attest a good deal of typological variation, though they also offer curious features rarely found in other languages.
Keywords: macro variation, micro variation, typology, variation studies
Article outline
  • 1.World Englishes and cross-linguistic diversity
  • 2.Variation studies and language typology
  • 3.Typological universals and World Englishes
  • 4.Vernacular universals and angloversals
  • 5.Explanations and motivations
    • 5.1Historical migration
    • 5.2Globalization and social media use
    • 5.3Language contact and second language acquisition
    • 5.4Grammaticalization
  • 6.Summary and conclusion
  • Acknowledgement
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 13 September 2018
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/veaw.g61.06sie
References (86)
References
Alsagoff, L. & Lick, Ho Chee. 1998. The relative clause in colloquial Singapore English. World Englishes 17(2): 127–138.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Anderwald, L. 2002. Negation in Non-Standard British English: Gaps, Regularizations and Asymmetries. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Bao, Z. 2005. The aspectual system of Singapore English and the systemic substratist explanation. Journal of Linguistics 41(2): 237–267.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2009. One in Singapore English. Studies in Language 33: 338–65.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Burridge, K. & Kortmann, K. (eds). 2009. Varieties of English, Vol. 3: The Pacific and Australasia. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Chambers, J. K. 2004. Dynamic typology and vernacular universals. In Dialectology Meets Typology. Dialect Grammar from a Cross-Linguistic Perspective, B. Kortmann (ed.), 127–145. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Christian, D. 1991. The personal dative in Appalachian speech. In Dialects of English: Studies in Grammatical Variation, P. Trudgill & J. K. Chambers (eds), 11–17. London: Longman.Google Scholar
Clarke, S. 2004. Newfoundland English: Morphology and syntax. In Kortmann, Burridge, Mesthrie, Schneider, & Upton (eds), 303–318. Google Scholar
Comrie, B. & Kuteva T. 2013. Relativization on subjects. In Dryer & Haspelmath (eds), Chapter 122. <[URL]> Google Scholar
Corbett, G. 2000. Number. Cambridge: CUP.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2006. Agreement. Cambridge: CUP.Google Scholar
Croft, W. 2004. Typology and Universals. Cambridge: CUP.Google Scholar
Davydova, J., Hilbert, M., Pietsch L. & Siemund, P. 2011. Comparing varieties of English: Problems and perspectives. In Linguistic Universals and Language Variation, P. Siemund (ed.), 291–323. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Deutscher Sprachatlas. 1927–1956. Based on Georg Wenker’s Sprachatlas des deutschen Reichs, started by Ferdinand Wrede and continued by Walther Mitzka and Bernhard Martin. Marburg: Elwert.Google Scholar
Dryer M. & Haspelmath, M. (eds). 2013. The World Atlas of Language Structures Online. Munich: Max Planck Digital Library. <[URL]> Google Scholar
Edwards, V. 1993. The grammar of southern British English. In Real English: The Grammar of English Dialects in the British Isles, J. Milroy & L. Milroy (eds), 214–242. London: Longman.Google Scholar
Evans, N. & Levinson, S. 2009. The myth of language universals: Language diversity and its importance for cognitive science. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 32(5): 429–492.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Faltz, L. M. 1985. Reflexivization: A Study in Universal Syntax. New York NY: Garland.Google Scholar
Faraclas, N. 1996. Nigerian Pidgin. London: Routledge.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Filppula, M. 1999. A Grammar of Irish English: Language in Hibernian Style. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
2004. Irish English: Morphology and syntax. In Kortmann, Burridge, Mesthrie, Schneider & Upton (eds), 73–101.Google Scholar
Filppula, M., Klemola, J. & Paulasto, H. (eds). 2009. Vernacular Universals and Language Contacts: Evidence from Varieties of English and Beyond. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Gilliéron, J. & Edmont, E. 1902–1914. Atlas linguistique de la France, 10 Vols. Paris: Ed. du Cths.Google Scholar
Godfrey, E. & Tagliamonte, S. 1999. Another piece of the verbal -s story: Evidence from Devon in Southwest England. Language Variation and Change 11(1): 87–121.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Haspelmath, M. 1990. The grammaticization of passive morphology. Studies in Language 14: 25–72.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2013. Negative indefinite pronouns and predicate negation. In Dryer & Haspelmath (eds), Chapter 115. <[URL]> Google Scholar
Heine, B. & Kuteva, T. 2002. World Lexicon of Grammaticalization. Cambridge: CUP.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2003. On contact-induced grammaticalization. Studies in Language 27: 529–572.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Heller, B., Bernaisch, T. & Gries, S. T. 2017a. Empirical perspectives on two potential epicenters: The genitive alternation in Asian Englishes. ICAME Journal 41(1): 33–66.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Heller, B., Szmrecsanyi, B. & Grafmiller, J. 2017b. Stability and fluidity in syntactic variation World-Wide: The genitive alternation across varieties of English. Journal of English Linguistics 45(1): 3–27.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Herrmann, T. 2003. Relative Clauses in Dialects of English: A Typological Approach. PhD dissertation, University of Freiburg.
Hopp, H., Kieseier, T., Vogelbacher, M. & Thoma, D. 2018. L1 effects in the early L3 acquisition of vocabulary and grammar. In Foreign Language Education in Multilingual Classrooms [Hamburg Studies on Linguistic Diversity 7], A. Bonnet & P. Siemund (eds). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
von Humboldt, W. 1836. Über die Verschiedenheit des menschlichen Sprachbaus und ihren Einfluss auf die geistige Entwicklung des Menschengeschlechts. Berlin: Königliche Akademie der Wissenschaften.Google Scholar
Kachru, B. 1985. Standards, codification and sociolinguistic realism: The English language in the outer circle. In English in the World. Teaching and Learning the Language and Literatures, R. Quirk & H. Widdowson (eds), 11–30. Cambridge: CUP and the British Council.Google Scholar
Keenan, E. & Comrie, B. 1977. Noun phrase accessibility and universal grammar. Linguistic Inquiry 8: 63–99.Google Scholar
Kemmer, S. 1993. The Middle Voice [Typological Studies in Language 23]. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kortmann, B. 2004. Synopsis: Morphological and syntactic variation in the British Isles. In Kortmann, Burridge, Mesthrie, Schneider, & Upton (eds), 1089–1103. Google Scholar
Kortmann, B., Burridge, K., Mesthrie, R., Schneider, E., Upton, C. (eds). 2004. A Handbook of Varieties of English, Vol. 2: Morphology and Syntax. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kortmann, B. & Lunkenheimer, K. (eds). 2013. The Electronic World Atlas of Varieties of English. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. <[URL]> Google Scholar
Leimgruber, J., Siemund, P. & Terassa, L. 2018. Singaporean students’ language repertoires and attitudes revisited. World Englishes.Google Scholar
Lorenz, E. 2018. “One day a father and his son going fishing on the Lake.” – A study on the use of the progressive aspect of monolingual and bilingual learners of English. In Foreign Language Education in Multilingual Classrooms [Hamburg Studies on Linguistic Diversity 7], A. Bonnet & P. Siemund (eds), Amsterdam: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
Malcolm, I. G. 2008. Australian Creoles and Aboriginal English: Morphology and syntax. In Burridge & Kortmann (eds), 415–443.Google Scholar
Mathiot, M. (assisted by M. Roberts). 1979. Sex roles as revealed through referential gender in American English. In Ethnolinguistics: Boas, Sapir and Whorf Revisited, M. Mathiot (ed.), 1–47. The Hague: Mouton.Google Scholar
McCormick, K. 2004. Cape Flats English: Morphology and syntax. In Kortmann, Burridge, Mesthrie, Schneider, & Upton (eds), 993–1005. Google Scholar
2008. Cape Flats English: Morphology and Syntax. In Varieties of English, Vol. 4: Africa, South and Southeast Asia, R. Mesthrie (ed.), 521–534. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Melchers, G. 2004. English spoken in Orkney and Shetland: Morphology, syntax and lexicon. In Kortmann, Burridge, Mesthrie, Schneider, & Upton (eds), 34–46. Google Scholar
Mesthrie, R. & Dunne, T. T. 1990. Syntactic variation in language shift: The relative clause in South African Indian English. Language Variation and Change 2(1): 31–56.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Miestamo, M. 2000. Towards a typology of standard negation. Nordic Journal of Linguistics 23(1): 65–88.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2007. Negation – an overview of typological research. Language and Linguistics Compass 1(5): 552–570.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Miller, J. 2004. Scottish English: Morphology and syntax. In Kortmann, Burridge, Mesthrie, Schneider, & Upton (eds), 47–72. Google Scholar
Montgomery, M. 2004. Appalachian English: Morphology and syntax. In Kortmann, Burridge, Mesthrie, Schneider, & Upton (eds), 245–280. Google Scholar
Mufwene, S. 2001. The Ecology of Language Evolution. Cambridge: CUP.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2008. Gullah: Morphology and syntax. In Varieties of English, Vol. 2: The Americas and the Caribbean, E. W. Schneider (ed.), 551–571. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Onysko, A. 2016. Modeling world Englishes from the perspective of language contact. World Englishes 35(2): 196–220.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Orton, H. & Dieth, E. (eds). 1962–1971. Survey of English Dialects, 13 Vols. Leeds: E.J. Arnold & Son.Google Scholar
Pawley, A. 2004. Australian vernacular English: Some grammatical characteristics. In Kortmann, Burridge, Mesthrie, Schneider, & Upton (eds), 611–642. Google Scholar
Peters, P. 2009. Australian English as a regional epicenter. In World Englishes – Problems, Properties and Prospects [Varieties of English Around the World G40], T. Hoffmann & L. Siebers (eds), 107–124. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Pietsch, L. 2005. Variable Grammars: Verbal Agreement in Northern Dialects of English. Tübingen: Niemeyer.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Poplack, S. & Tagliamonte, S. 2001. African American English in the Diaspora. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Sasse, H-J. 1993. Syntactic categories and subcategories. In Syntax. Ein internationales Handbuch zeitgenössischer Forschung / An International Handbook of Contemporary Research. [Handbücher zur Sprach- und Kommunikationswissenschaft / Handbooks of Linguistics and Communication 9], J. Jacobs, A. von Stechow, W. Sternefeld, & T. Vennemann (eds), 646–686. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar
von Schlegel, A. W. 1818. Observations sur la langue et la littérature provençales. Paris: Librairie grecque-latine-allemande.Google Scholar
Schneider, E. W. 2007. Postcolonial English: Varieties around the World. Cambridge: CUP.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Siemund, P. 2004. English. In Variationstypologie, T. Roelcke (ed.), 1–29. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter.Google Scholar
2008. Pronominal Gender in English: A Study of English Varieties from a Cross-Linguistic Perspective. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
2009. Linguistic universals and vernacular data. In Vernacular Universals and Language Contacts: Evidence from Varieties of English and Beyond, M. Filppula, J. Klemola, & H. Paulasto (eds), 321–346. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
2010. Grammaticalization, lexicalization and intensification. English itself as a marker of middle situation types. Linguistics 48(4): 797–836.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2013. Varieties of English. A Typological Approach. Cambridge: CUP.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2014. The emergence of English reflexive verbs: An analysis based on the Oxford English Dictionary. English Language and Linguistics 18(1): 49–73.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Siemund, P., Schulz, M. E. & Schweinberger, M. 2014. Studying the linguistic ecology of Singapore: A comparison of college and university students. World Englishes 33(3): 340–362.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Siemund, P. & Li, L. 2017. Towards a diachronic reconstruction of Colloquial Singapore English. In Negation and Contact. With Special Focus on Singapore English [Studies in Language Companion Series 183], D. Ziegeler & B. Zhiming (eds), 11–32. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Siemund, P., Schröter, S. & Rahbari, S. 2018. Learning English demonstrative pronouns on bilingual substrate: Evidence from German heritage speakers of Russian, Turkish, and Vietnamese. In Foreign Language Education in Multilingual Classrooms [Hamburg Studies on Linguistic Diversity 7], A. Bonnet & P. Siemund (eds). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
Silverstein, M. 1976. Hierarchy of features and ergativity. In Grammatical Categories in Australian Languages [Linguistic Series 22], R. M. W. Dixon (ed.), 112–171. Canberra: Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies.Google Scholar
Smith, G. 2008. Tok Pisin: Morphology and Syntax. In Burridge & Kortmann (eds), 488–513.Google Scholar
Stassen, L. 2013. Zero copula for predicate nominals. In Dryer & Haspelmath (eds), Chapter 120. <[URL]> Google Scholar
Strevens, P. 1980. Teaching English as an International Language. Oxford: Pergamon Press.Google Scholar
de Swaan, A. 2001. The World Language System. A Political Sociology and Political Economy of Language. Cambridge: Polity.Google Scholar
Szmrecsanyi, B. & Kortmann, B. 2009. Vernacular universals and angloversals in a typological perspective. In Vernacular Universals and Language Contacts: Evidence from Varieties of English and Beyond, M. Filppula, J. Klemola, & H. Paulasto (eds), 33–53. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Tagliamonte, S., Jennifer S. & Lawrence, H. 2005. No taming the vernacular! Insights from the relatives in northern Britain. Language Variation and Change 17(1): 75–112.Google Scholar
Trudgill, P. 1999. The Dialects of England. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
2011. Sociolinguistic Typology. Social Determinants of Linguistic Complexity. Oxford: OUP.Google Scholar
Vertovec, S. 2007. Super-diversity and its implications. Ethnic and Racial Studies 30: 1024–54.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Wagner, S. 2004. English dialects in the Southwest: Morphology and syntax. In Kortmann, Burridge, Mesthrie, Schneider, & Upton (eds), 154–174. Google Scholar
Wright, J. 1898–1905. The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 Vols. Oxford: Henry Frowde.Google Scholar
Ziegeler, D. 2014. Replica grammaticalization as recapitulation: The other side of contact. Diachronica 31(1): 106–141.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Zupitza, J. (ed.). 1966. Aelfrics Grammatik und Glossar. Berlin: Weidmannsche Verlagsbuchhandlung.Google Scholar
Cited by (1)

Cited by one other publication

Friedrich, Patricia
2020. When Englishes go digital. World Englishes 39:1 ► pp. 67 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 11 december 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.