Overview
This groundbreaking collection explores the beliefs and approaches to the history of English that do not make it into standard textbooks. Orthodox histories have presented a tunnel version of the history of the English language which is sociologically inadequate. In this book a range of leading international scholars show how this focus on standard English dialect is to the detriment of those which are non-standard or from other areas of the world. Presenting a fuller and richer picture of the complexity of the history of English, the contributors to Alternative Histories of English explain why English is the diverse world language it is today.
Full Product Details
Author: Peter Trudgill ,
Richard J. Watts
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd
Imprint: Routledge
Dimensions:
Width: 15.60cm
, Height: 1.70cm
, Length: 23.40cm
Weight: 0.540kg
ISBN: 9780415233576
ISBN 10: 0415233577
Pages: 294
Publication Date: 20 December 2001
Audience:
College/higher education
,
Professional and scholarly
,
Tertiary & Higher Education
,
Professional & Vocational
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: In Print
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Reviews
'This book is quite innovative. It seeks to promulgate, and rightly so, the history of nonstandard varieties of English as contributing to our overall knowledge of the development of the language ... I can recommend this publication for those interested in English as well as Englishes.' - Alan S. Kaye, Multilingua
Not English, but Englishes...Not parts of speech, but strategies of discourse...The last decade introduced us to these alternative perspectives. This volume begins the task of historicising them. It is a pioneering and provocative collection. <br>-Sylvia Adamson, University of Manchester, UK <br>
'This book is quite innovative. It seeks to promulgate, and rightly so, the history of nonstandard varieties of English as contributing to our overall knowledge of the development of the language ... I can recommend this publication for those interested in English as well as Englishes.' - Alan S. Kaye, Multilingua 'This volume is an excellent introduction to the issues ... it is extremely commendable that all authors have worked very hard to make their contributions readable to an audience which inevitably has little prior knowledge of the area ...' - International Journal of Applied Linguistics 'This book is quite innovative. It seeks to promulgate, and rightly so, the history of nonstandard varieties of English as contributing to our overall knowledge of the development of the language ... I can recommend this publication for those interested in English as well as Englishes.' - Alan S. Kaye, Multilingua
Author Information
Richard Watts is Professor of English Linguistics at the University of Berne, Switzerland. Peter Trudgill is Professor of English Linguistics at the University of Fribourg in Switzerland.
