Abstract: This paper reports on an investigation into the international intelligibility of the English of educated Hong Kong speakers whose L1 is Cantonese. Samples of recordings of extended discourse obtained from three female and three male final-year English majors studying at the Hong Kong Institute of Education were played to groups of university students in Singapore and Australia. The listeners were asked to complete worksheets based on the recordings in order to determine the extent to which they found the Hong Kong speakers intelligible. They were also asked to evaluate the extent to which they thought the Hong Kong speakers were intelligent and likeable, and to give reasons for their choices.

Abstract: The pervasiveness of the "dangerous power of English" (de Kadt, 1993) has been variously discussed in the sociolinguistic dynamics of the South African context. By juxtaposing English with the indigenous African language isiZulu, this paper explores how such labels as "coconut" and "oreo" bear testimony to the intriguing relationship between language, culture, identity, and ethnicity in South Africa. Against the background of the unique sociolinguistic profile of the province of KwaZulu-Natal, and by con- sidering South Africa's inhuman history of apartheid, the paper interrogates the ethnolinguistic constructions of identities among isiZulu mother-tongue speakers in a township environment. Based on a triangulated empirical approach that combines quantitative and qualitative research methods, the paper discusses how subjective individual meanings and inherent emic categories guide participants' views of who they are in relation to languages (isiZulu vis-` a-vis English). The study reveals, among other things, that English is a powerful device in the creation of ethnolinguistic boundaries between individuals in the investigated South African township community. While participants recognize the economic power of English, those that adopt the language as the main medium of communication are perceived as outsiders of the township community.

Abstract: This paper tests claims concerning the English as Lingua Franca (ELF) movement's position within the world Englishes paradigm. To do so, it considers the writings of Jennifer Jenkins, a leader in this movement, on what she calls “phonological intelligibility”, and the writings of Larry Smith, an established scholar on intelligibility in cross-cultural communication. The mutual intelligibility of Expanding Circle users of English is a primary concern to ELF researchers, and Jenkins has identified Smith's work as the foundation for her investigation of core phonological features to use in pronunciation teaching. The paper aims to determine the extent to which Jenkins' theoretical views on intelligibility correspond to Smith's concept of understanding as a central issue in international communication.

Abstract: The international use of English as a lingua franca (ELF) – i.e. between non-native speakers of different nationalities, in situations where no native English speakers are present – has become an important feature of business, diplomacy, education, and personal relationships around the world. Nowhere is this more true than in Northeast Asia, where cultural, economic, and educational interchanges between Korea, Japan, China, and other countries in the region are increasingly conducted in English. This paper discusses an exploratory study on the use of ELF by a small group of university students in Seoul, South Korea, with a focus on the communication strategies used to repair non-understanding between the participants. After summarising findings from previous ELF research, the paper outlines the methodology of the current study, which was conducted by videotaping, transcribing, and analysing interactions in the group, comprising one Mongolian and five Korean participants. The study's findings on the participants' use of repair strategies are then discussed; finally, the paper outlines some tentative conclusions from the study and makes recommendations for future research.

Abstract: This paper examines the problem of a curriculum which promotes a standard linguistic variety in a context where non-standardisms are common in the learners' milieu. There have been curricula which try to incorporate the non-standard and have its function discussed; some have considered the non-standard a stepping-stone towards the standard; and yet others have tried to keep the non-standard out of the school context. We examine the Singaporean context with reference to English in the classroom, where the last option seems to be the implicit one. We focus in particular on the views of 260 upper secondary pupils in five non-elite schools, elicited through survey questionnaires. The results show that there is clear appreciation of the value of Standard English; it is, however, also clear that that the non-standard, Singlish, plays an important social role in the community; and we suggest that it might be possible to harness the non-standard in a curriculum that promotes the standard.

Abstract: The two authors conducted a small empirical study to attempt to find support for − or evidence against − the view that international tests of English language proficiency are unfair to speakers of non-standards forms of English, since these tests privilege standard forms. We explore the question of whose norms should be imposed in these tests, and what the consequences for test-takers are if the norm imposed by the test is not the "normal" variety accepted in their own society. Data used for the study are written texts by English learners from six language backgrounds, scored by raters from their own language backgrounds as well as by native American English raters. Interesting patterns emerge, but we conclude that the complexity of the variables involved, the small n-size, and the inherent unreliability of scoring productive samples prevent any definitive claims being made. 1

Abstract: By taking a generative approach to the investigation of two phonological patterns (L-vocalization and tone assignment) in the Englishes spoken in Singapore and Hong Kong, this study brings theoretical (generative) linguistics to bear on the claim that Englishization and Nativization are indeed two faces of language contact. In the Englishes of these two places, elements of English and the local languages are inseparably interwoven, giving them the distinct characters of their phonologies. The bilingual and bicultural context makes it unviable for anyone to pursue a narrower acquisition of English that is devoid of local character. Extending from the phonological analysis, this paper explains that the asymmetrical perception of English being a language of Singapore but less so of Hong Kong is due to their differences in degrees of Englishization and Nativization. This explanation avoids the difficulty of having to justify the claim that English in one area is of a higher standard than the other. Other than bringing theoretical linguistics in line with the study of world Englishes, implications are that the curricular development of English for the Outer and Expanding Circles should focus on intelligibility and cultural richness rather than assimilation to Inner Circle standards.

Abstract: Smith's general intelligibility paradigm has contributed immensely to furthering the cogent analyses of world Englishes. Earlier works such as Bansal's study of The Intelligibility of Indian English (1969) treated only pronunciation, and regularly invoked comparisons with RP. After Smith elucidated the notion “intelligibility” by introducing the conceptual layers intelligibility, comprehensibility and interpretability, examinations of the forms and functions of world Englishes could be much more usefully carried forward. Many writers have applied the concept(s) in their studies of world Englishes, and some recent work challenges any simplistic understanding of the concepts, e.g. in explicating the mixing of English with other languages in various dimensions. This sociolinguistically realistic perspective speaks to the creative functionality of world Englishes, and to the concern voiced from some quarters about a continuing degeneration of intelligibility across varieties.

Abstract: Singapore is unique in that it has not only embraced English as one of its official languages, but has made the language of its colonizers the de facto working language of the nation and the sole medium of instruction in all its schools, while assigning its other three official languages, Mandarin, Malay, and Tamil, an L2 status in the school curriculum. With the use of English institutionalized in almost all domains of life, present- day Singaporeans grow up as ‘English-knowing’ bilinguals, acquiring English in the process of its use and interaction in school, in the playground, in the workplace, and increasingly in the home as well, making them native speakers of their variety of English. This raises interesting questions with regard to the ownership and authority of Singaporean speakers, and as to their legitimacy as mother-tongue speakers of the language. Drawing on Higgins' (2003) study on speakers' orientations towards English norms of Inner and Outer Circle countries, we examined Singaporean speakers' degree of ownership of their English norms along the dimensions of age, ethnicity, and socioeconomic class. In this paper we discuss some data from this ongoing study relating specifically to the language use of Singapore's Indian community, with a focus on how they positioned themselves in the process of articulating their orientations to English norms.

Abstract: In spite of the fact that Nigerian Pidgin (NP) is probably the language with the highest population of users in Nigeria, it does not enjoy official recognition and is excluded from the education system. It lacks prestige because it is seen by many Nigerians as a “bad” form of English and associated with a socially deprived set of people. This paper explores the possibility of empowering NP (and its speakers) by raising the value of the language through status planning, especially in the education system. On the way to realising this goal, it analyses the attitudes of 200 educated Nigerians towards its use as well as towards steps aimed at empowering it. The results show that, although there is no consensus as to whether NP should be granted official status, a large majority of respondents did not favour its use in education. The study highlights three major problems associated with the promotion of NP: (1) lack of economic value, (2) perceived effects on the local languages, and (3) the effect of the use of NP on English language proficiency. The study discovers that empowering1 NP is a challenge, which will be very difficult to overcome in the near future, and it suggests the way forward.

Abstract: This paper offers an examination of the role played by ideology in the research and regulation of ‘English within a globalized context’ (EGC). It analyzes the two major paradigms in this field: that which promotes English as a single, universal code; and that which advocates the need for the acknowledgement of discrete, localized varieties. It explores the linguistic assumptions upon which these are based, as well as the ideological frameworks that assign the particular functions and character to the language within this context, and which, in effect, create the concept of English as a Universal Language. By drawing upon an integrated theory of language ideologies and the linguistic system, the paper outlines the ways in which ideological issues are of fundamental importance for the way that the language both exists and operates within the globalized context.

Abstract: Scholars tend to explain or predict China English's rhetorical strategies on the basis of Chinese discourse and cultural preferences. This inference model, I argue, falls short in studying the Chinese variety of English because, first, it essentializes both China English and Chinese, treating their discursive strategies as two easily generalizable, static entities; second, it neglects context, which determines the semiotic meaning potential of any language. I propose an alternative model that studies China English with context treated as the main variable. In light of the context model and Aristotelian and Confucian rhetorical concepts, I examine how Chinese youths use English to foster a community and to realize their particular goals in a bulletin board forum. It has been found that they develop patterned rhetorical strategies in the contexts of requesting opinions, seeking advice, sharing experiences, and expressing feelings. These strategies evidence China English's growing meaning potential in electronic medium spaces because they differ remarkably from those identified in other contexts by previous scholarship, and they cannot be easily labeled as traditional Chinese. As China English finds its way into more contexts and domains, I suggest that we adopt the context model to fully unveil the language's expanding meaning potential.

Abstract: The acrolect, in territories like Jamaica, is described in the literature in a number of ways – as “the local standard English” or as the theoretical upper end of the construct referred to as “the continuum”. Data was collected from a sample of Jamaican speakers whose work prospects require use of Standard Jamaican English. The analysis reveals that phonological variation in Jamaican English is structured in such a way as to reflect the coexistence of Creole and English, in a speech community that values the speaker who can use both varieties. In a linguistic context that is characterized by continuous variation, use of some variables is crucial in defining the boundaries between Creole and English, thus establishing the variety the speaker is using. These I call “load-bearing phonological variables”. I show that it is not the use of English variants per se that defines someone as speaking the acrolect; rather it is use of variants of these load-bearing variables.

Abstract: This paper explores the implementation of China's English language policy for primary schools in the 2004–5 school year through case studies of four public schools of different types. Data were collected through document reviews, interviews, and observations. The investigation of the four schools illustrates that during 2004–5 the policy has not been universally implemented in school settings – whether a school is able to implement the policy as required is determined by the interplay of various factors, including the school's geographic location, size, administration, availability of teachers, and funding. On the basis of these findings, the paper argues that the policy was issued prematurely, which could have undesirable impact on educationally disadvantaged students, less privileged schools, ELT at the junior secondary school level, and social stratification. Implications may be drawn from the Chinese case for policy-making regarding primary English education in other Expanding Circle countries.

Abstract: Discussions about intranational uses of English tend to follow the predominant theme of international uses, namely communication between people who do not have the same native language (L1). But how often do compatriots who share an L1 speak L2 English with each other? In other words, how many of a country's bilinguals are also colinguals? If citizens are not speaking English with each other, does it make sense for their educators, literati, or politicians to claim that they have their own national variety? Is spoken discourse the prime mover that generates independent canons? That is, does abundance or lack of speech interaction in intranational contexts act as a touchstone for separating norm-providing varieties (e.g. Indian English) from norm-dependent varieties (e.g. so-called “Japanese English”)? These questions serve to reinforce the tripartite classification of Kachru's model, with a focus on the similarities between the Inner and Outer Circles, counterbalancing the tendency to combine the Outer and Expanding Circles.

Abstract: The adoption of English as a corporate language in an increasingly large number of French companies has provoked various reactions ranging from enthusiastic embrace to strong rejection based on anxiety and cultural protectionism. This paper is an attempt to understand these reactions based on a stratified study of the extent to which English has taken root in the French workplace. Results point to a real “English divide” between educated and less educated groups, and between upper management and shop floor workers. While most employees are willing to adopt English to facilitate international trade, they reject the top-down imposition of English that often leads to exclusion and various forms of de-skilling. The paper proposes a model that allows different levels of proficiency to coexist in such a way as to attenuate the perverse effects on power relationships that the adoption of English sometimes results in.

Abstract: This paper reports on an investigation of the effect of religion on language use in Singapore. Data come from the Sociolinguistic Survey of Singapore, 2006, a large-scale language survey linked to follow-up studies. The conceptual framework was based upon Castells' idea of a new social order in the network society; the main research questions were (1): Are Mandarin, Malay, and Tamil a ‘cultural ballast’ in the tide of global English? and (2) Does religion influence language maintenance or shift in an ‘informational society’ that is one of the most globalized nations in the world? Answers to these questions were explored through analysis of patterns of language use in multiple domains. It was found that while English dominates the mother tongues (Mandarin, Malay, and Tamil) in the domains of school and public space and competes with them in the domains of family/friends and media, the mother tongues dominate English in the domain of religion. Results also showed that the means of maintaining the mother tongues within the religious domain differ across the three main ethnic groups of Singapore, that languages are maintained in the Malay and Indian communities along with active acquisition and use of such sacred languages as Arabic and Sanskrit, and that language shift is taking place in the Chinese community.

Abstract: Recent work on genre analysis suggests that professional genres and professional practices complement each other, in that they are co-constructed in specific contexts. However, in most language-based investigations of intelligibility, accessibility, and creativity in the use and interpretation of professional genres, the emphasis has always been on the use of linguistic resources, in particular the use of formal properties of language, with very little emphasis on text-external considerations, i.e. interdiscursivity and other socio-pragmatic factors. This paper seeks to widen the scope of such concerns with intelligibility, accessibility, interpretability, and creativity to the socio-pragmatic space within which professional genres invariably operate, and to consider critically how expert professionals exploit socio-pragmatic space to create new and hybrid forms across disciplinary, institutional, and cultural boundaries.

Abstract: Corpus linguistics deserves serious attention from linguists and applied linguists, since it is of direct relevance to linguistic description, language variation, lexicography, and language education. Linguists tend to be indifferent to corpora, however, as the predominant paradigm in linguistics is based on introspective data, i.e. native speaker intuition. Research has shown that intuitions are not 100 per cent reliable; the notion of ‘core’ grammar needs to be modified to accommodate the systematic differences across registers at all linguistic levels. Moreover, what linguists perceive as significant principles of linguistic organization may not coincide with their distribution in patterns of use. One goal of applied linguistics is to see what correspondences can be established between the two sets, i.e. the set of underlying principles of linguistic organization and the patterns of use of these principles revealed by analyses of corpora. Regrettably, applied linguists have not embraced corpus linguistics any more enthusiastically than formal linguists. Corpus linguistic analyses have their problems, too. This paper examines a set of data from the lexicon and grammar of world Englishes to suggest that a complete reliance on patterns of use may not solve all the problems of language description, study of variation, language instruction, translation, and lexicography. Furthermore, whereas analyses of corpora are effective in revealing dialect variation, they are not of great use in accounting for diatypic variation, i.e. the permanent characteristics of users of language and recurrent features of their language use, which are crucial for understanding human linguistic behavior.

Abstract: Terminology for identifying and describing what counts as a linguistic feature is identified as a problem that prevents an understanding of tense and aspect features in Black South African English (BSAE). In this paper, an alternative set of assumptions is proposed for linguistic analysis of new varieites. Grammar should not be regarded as aprioristic, but rather as emergent. The syntagmatic structure of language in context is highlighted as a more useful starting point for the identification of regularities in the description of a variety such as BSAE. After indicating a number of quantitative trends, a detailed qualitative analysis of three texts is undertaken. The analysis leads to the identification of a number of previously unidentified patterns. The timeless use of the present tense creates idealised and generalised verbal processes, rather than historically and/or contextually situated presentations of events. Aspectual meanings are more salient than temporal sequencing of events relative to one another or to the reference point established by the time of writing, speaking or reading. Spatial grounding in the nominal groups seems more important to the writers/speakers than temporal grounding in the verbal group. The observed patterns show that the use of tense and aspect forms, supported by various lexical selections in the texts, is highly consistent and shows regularity, despite the fact that the data may differ from a Standard English rendition of the same content. The paper concludes that it is misleading to judge the data in terms of other varieties of English, rather than in their own terms.

Abstract: The paper begins with a discussion of the meaning of ‘interpretability’ and its uses in contemporary disciplines, including linguistics and the area of world Englishes. The term has been defined by Larry Smith and several other researchers in order to make explicit what is meant by ‘intelligibility’, ‘comprehensibility’, and ‘interpretability’ among varieties of English across the world. However, besides referring broadly to ‘context’, there has been little attempt to explicitly outline what elements of context play a role in interpretability. This paper is an initial attempt to define one set of contextual factors that plays a crucial role in interpretability – the set related to culture. Culture is defined in terms relevant to the purposes of the paper, and the cultural factors under focus are explicitly identified. Select examples from various Englishes are presented to show the relevance of such cultural factors for interpretability.

Abstract: This paper focuses on acoustic analysis of African English (AfrE) vowels produced by a controlled sample of speakers from Kenya, Ghana, and Zimbabwe. Adopting quantitative methods of data sampling and analysis, and holding dialectal factors as homogeneous as possible, this exploratory study subjects Schmied's (1991a) claim – that a major source of regional variation is the ‘deviation’ in the production of RP central vowel [] (as in bird) – to empirical scrutiny. Schmied contends that [] backs and lowers to [] in West African English, fronts and lowers to [a] or fronts to [e] in East African English, while in (Black) South African English it fronts to [e]. However, analysis of acoustic waveforms of AfrE vowels, produced by educated speakers of Bantu and Kwa languages, partially corroborate Schmied's contention. For instance, Ghanaian and Zimbabwean respondents in this study front the RP vowel [] to [e], while Kenyans lower it to [a]. The paper provides a methodological framework that will at least address some research concerns voiced over the years: lack of “objective, systematic study” (Abdulaziz 1991: 393), “deficiency in methodology” (Adegbija 1994: 53), and “overgeneralization” (Simo Bobda 2000: 264). Sustained empirical studies could eventually lead to a fresh perspective on AfrE's phonological variation.

Abstract: The purpose of the present study was an account of the frequency of English elements in Macedonian commercial naming. Questions of the extent and creativity of English name use in relation to business types and Macedonian cities guided the research. The data were 9,548 entries from the online version of the Macedonian Yellow Pages. Results suggest English names were significantly more likely to be found in the capital than in all the other cities in Macedonia, and business enterprises related to leisure/entertainment/media. Orthographic, formative, and semantic types of creativity were identified in the processes of transliteration, word/phrase formation, and style. English is the most dominant foreign language used in commercial names because of its associations with globalization and modernity.

Abstract: An extensive body of scholarship exists on the complex ways in which various peoples, states, and regions outside core English-speaking countries are being affected by, and view themselves as being affected by, the global rise of English. However the different ways in which core country elites understand and represent their unique sociolinguistic position vis-a-vis the global ascendancy of English has received much less attention. This paper, as does the study whose results it summarizes, pays special attention to what Schiller (2000) has described as “the American situation” with respect to the global hegemony of English. It does so by way of critical interpretation of more than 200 accounts of the global spread of English published from January 1, 1991 to May 1, 2003 in five American-owned prestige press publications: the Los Angeles Times, the International Herald Tribune, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and the Washington Post. Its overall conclusion is that the prestige press representations examined frame English in terms that largely allow Americans to view the rise of English, and their apparently limited role in this phenomenon, in primarily (though not wholly) uncritical, non-reflexive, positive, and magnanimous fashion.

Abstract: English today has a strong influence on many languages, French among them. English borrowings and code-switching in general are now a salient feature of the dynamics of French. Many purists still oppose this, and continue to perceive the spread of English as a threat to the French language. They draw their convictions from Rene Etiemble's classic Parlez-vous franglais? published in 1964. Etiemble saw French comics as one of the major sources of the English/American invasion of French among the youth. In that context, this paper analyses the role of English in the Lucky Luke and Asterix stories (with reference to Tintin as well). The analysis shows that American English is mostly used for describing human and physical landscapes or for the purpose of humorous narrative; the discourse itself, however, remains essentially French. While Etiemble and his followers saw in the comics' genre a sort of subtractive bilingualism, this work suggests that it is more appropriate to speak of additive bilingualism.

Abstract: Cued American English (CAE) is a visual variety of English derived from a mode of communication called Cued Speech (CS). CS, or cueing, is a system of communication for use with the deaf, which consists of hand shapes, hand placements, and mouth shapes that signify the phonemic information conventionally conveyed through speech in spoken languages. In small language communities in the United States, native deaf users of CAE and those who communicate with them have facilitated the development of a natural variety of English that is specific to the mode of cueing. This paper defines CAE as a variety of English, including its features, functional spectrum, social acquisition, code switching protocols, and intersection with English as a Second Language in the American Deaf community. The author discusses grammatical accommodations and visual prosodic features, reviews relevant research, and describes the CS system in detail as a means by which cueing maps to and facilitates natural language.