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Mark Abley describes modern English as the Wal-Mart of languages because - among other reasons - it is hard to avoid wherever we go. As we know, language communities are by no means homogenous, which is particularly true for English. It is spoken all over the world, it is a world language, but it comes along in very different forms depending on the speaker, the region, social situations etc. For this reason it makes sense to look at different varieties of English and investigate reasons for this wide scope of regional and social differentiation.
In this class we will look at varieties from different places in the world. We will investigate how they differ in terms of their phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax and lexis, but also what they have in common. Is there for example something like a good or bad dialect? Furthermore, we will examine social aspects such as gender, social status or class etc. which can influence the way we speak that in the end we will have a better understanding of the entirety of the English language in the world. |
