COMPTES RENDUS / REVIEWS

Andy KIRKPATRICK, World Englishes. Implications for International

Communication and English Language Teaching, 2007, Cambridge,
Cambridge University Press, x + 257 pp.
It has to be said from the outset that Andy Kirkpatricks book is not just yet another addition to
the ever-growing body of studies of World Englishes. The author approaches the topic from an
original and important perspective, placing the study of varieties of English in the context of ELT.
The book thus primarily targets an audience of learners and teachers of English. A notable plus is the
audio CD with authentic samples of varieties of English which accompanies the book.
The book is divided into three parts. Part A: The Framework (pp. 537) has three chapters.
In chapter 1, Key sociolinguistic concepts (pp. 515), the author discusses the following issues:
native varieties vs nativized varieties of English vs lingua franca Englishes; the native vs the nonnative speaker; the functions of language and the identity-communication continuum; pidgins vs
creoles vs varieties of English; linguistic prejudice. Two points made in this chapter are particularly
worth mentioning. According to the author, language has three functions: communication, identity
i.e. the use of language as a signal of the speakers identity, and culture i.e. the use of language to
express the speakers culture, each of them associated with a particular variety (p. 10). The author
suggests an identity-communication continuum (p. 11), representing the links between the identity
and communication functions and the corresponding varieties. On this view, communication is better
served by more standard varieties, whereas informal ones are better signals of identity. Chapter 2,
Key linguistic terms (pp. 1626), introduces readers not familiar with linguistics to the basics of
phonetics and phonology, vocabulary, morphology and syntax as well as to cultural conventions and
schemas reflected in particular linguistic choices. Chapter 3, Models of Englishes (pp. 2737),
discusses the various models of World Englishes proposed in the literature. After a presentation of the
traditional ENL, ESL and EFL classification and of the Three circles model, which distinguishes
Inner Circle, Outer Circle and Expanding Circle countries, particular attention is paid to
evolutionary approaches positing developmental cycles.
Part B: Variation and varieties consists of eight chapters describing the key phonological,
morpho-syntactic and pragmatic characteristics of selected varieties (both native and non-native) of
English. Chapter 4, Variation and impurity in British English (pp. 3953) looks at the emergence
and historical development of English in England and in Scotland. Chapter 5, The powerful variety:
American English (pp. 5567), briefly outlines the emergence and development of American
English and focuses on two varieties: African American English and White Southern American
English. Standard Australian English and Australian Aboriginal English are covered in chapter 6, A
younger cousin and indigenous identity (pp. 6983). In chapter 7, Englishes of the subcontinent
(pp. 8598), the author looks at two South Asian varieties of English: Indian English (and its many
sub-varieties, including Indian Pidgin English) and Sri Lankan English. Chapter 8, Voices of Africa
(pp. 101116), discusses African Englishes, with emphasis on Nigerian English (including Nigerian
Pidgin English) and on two of the varieties spoken in South Africa, Indian South African English and
Black South African English. Singapore, Malaysian and Philippines English constitute the topic of
chapter 9, Englishes of South-East Asia colonial descendants (pp. 119134). In chapter 10,
Emerging Englishes: Hong Kong and China (pp. 137152), the author addresses the issue of
whether Hong Kong English and English in China can be considered varieties of English in their own
right. Finally, in chapter 11, English as a lingua franca (pp. 155170), the author, building on his
RRL, LVI, 2, p. 181190, Bucureti, 2011

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previous research, describes the lingua franca English used in the specific setting of the Association
of South-East Asian Nations and extrapolates the findings to other settings, such as English in the
European Union and to the so-called Euro-English; also included is a useful summary of the research
into the theoretical and corpus-based research on English as lingua franca.
Part C: Implications is made up of two chapters. Chapter 12, Summary of key themes
(pp. 171183), briefly revisits the topics discussed and summarizes the findings. The last chapter of
the book, chapter 13 Implications for English language teaching (pp. 184197), essentially
addresses two issues, the choice of an exonormative vs. an endonormative model and the role of the
native and respectively non-native teacher, both of which have been a matter of heated debate in the
literature. The author makes an impassionate and convincing plea for multilingual and multicultural
teachers in outer/postcolonial and expanding/EFL circle countries as well as in regions where English
functions as a lingua franca, and suggests (pp. 195197) a list of requirements for ELT teachers and
of principles relevant to ELT training courses.
The Appendix Transcripts of samples of varieties of English (pp. 198230), consists of the
transcripts of 60 tracks on the accompanying CD and 3 written samples. The varieties (including subvarieties) covered are: the Buchan Doric dialect of Scots; Southern, General and African American
English; Australian English; Sri Lankan English; White South African English; Nigerian English;
Malaysian English; Hong Kong English; English in China; English as a lingua franca (as used by
Bruneian, Cambodian, Filipino, Indonesian, Malaysian, Singaporean and Vietnamese speakers).
Included are brief presentations of the speakers recorded, and where necessary, translations of the
excerpts and/or of the meaning of selected lexical items.
A few final comments and remarks are in order. Phonetic realizations should have been
indicated between slashes instead of square brackets.
The typical syntactic function associated with the dative case in Old English is not of agent
(p. 41), but rather that of indirect object. The author writes that the Old English suffix of -en
remains in some irregular plurals, as in children (p. 41). Actually, the Old English plural of cild
was cildru; in Middle English it changed into childre/childrer, to which the superfluous -en suffix
was added, hence the current plural form children1. According to the author the following pairs have
the OE word mentioned first and the French one second: will and testament [] final and conclusive
(p. 43). In fact, testament is from Latin, while final is comes from French. Note that the etymology of
the words at issue is correctly given in the source2 indicated. It is stated that the features retained by
many varieties of English include /n/ - /ng/ so huntin becomes hunting, although huntin remains
common (p. 47). It is rather the other way round, with hunting frequently realized phonetically as
[hnt].
The conditional structure of the type with had have + past participle, e.g. if you had have said
to me is said to be a distinctive syntactic feature of Australian English (p. 75). However, this use of
had have is also attested in other varieties of English, namely New Zealand English3.
The author states that Malaysian speakers sound post-vocalic /r/ in certain contexts (p. 123),
but provides no examples. According to recent descriptions, however, Malaysian English appears to
be non-rhotic4.
It is not clear why the criteria for an emerging variety of English (p. 142) are applied only
when establishing the status of Hong Kong English (pp. 142145) and respectively of English in
1

See e.g. D. Freeborn, 1998, From Old English to Standard English. A Course Book in
Language Variation across Time, London Macmillan, p. 105.
2
D. Crystal, 2004, The Stories of English, London, Allen Lane, p. 153.
3
Cf. the examples of intrusive have, in: J. Hay, M. Maclagan and E. Gordon, 2008, New
Zealand English, Edinburgh, Edinburgh University Press, p. 51.
4
L. Baskaran, 2008, Malaysian English: phonology, in R. Mesthrie (ed.) Varieties of
English, vol. 4, Africa, South and Southeast Asia, Berlin New York, Mouton de Gruyter,
pp. 278291. Relevant examples are found on pp. 283286.

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China (pp. 151). Also, it is debatable whether the two varieties are really on a relatively equal footing.
While English is China is for the overwhelming majority of its speakers a foreign language, Hong
Kong English is already considered by some as close to being a variety of English in its own right5.
The author claims that in Japan there exists a variety of English which he illustrates with two
examples (p. 193): ron-pari (< London, Paris) cross-eyed and peepaadoraibaa (< paper, driver)
someone who has a driving licence, but seldom actually drives. He further writes (p. 193) that
despite its existence [] it will be a long time before this variety of Japanese English becomes
formalized and taught in schools. In fact, no such variety of English exists. The words quoted are
actually instances of what Japanese linguistics calls wasei eigo [lit. Japan-made English] an English
word coined in Japan, i.e. combinations of existing loanwords, which occasionally make use of
English derivational affixes as well6.
There are a few editorial shortcomings. These include repetitions: Figure 1: The identitycommunication continuum (pp. 11 and 173); the quote from an interview with Bill Clinton (pp. 15
and 65); the samples A through F of South Asian English (pp. 8586 and 8688); the list of
Common linguistic features of African Englishes (pp. 109110 and 173172). Consider also the
following typos: Old English pone (twice, p. 42) should read one; French-influenced Cameroon
English acadmique (p. 103) should read academique; Ndbele (p. 107) should read Ndebele; in the
table (p. 131) of Philippine English consonants () should read (); Mulhausler (p. 243) should read
Mhlhusler.
Obviously, the observations above do not detract from the value of World Englishes.
Implications for International Communication and English Language Teaching, for which the author
is to be commended.
Andrei A. Avram
University of Bucharest, Department of English

David DETERDING, Singapore English, Edinburgh, Edinburgh University Press,

2007, vii + 135 pp.
David Deterdings Singapore English is published in the series Dialects of English, whose aim
is to document varieties of English around the world.
Chapter 1 Introduction (pp. 111) starts by briefly presenting the history of Singapore, the
languages spoken, the varieties of Singapore English (ethnic accents, educated Singapore English and
colloquial Singapore English, also known as Singlish). This is followed by a discussion of the
substantial variation characteristic of Singapore English and a presentation of the data, which consist
of one hour of recorded conversation (for the chapter on phonetics and phonology), data from the
National Institute of Education Corpus of Spoken Singapore English, and from recent blogs (for the
chapters on morphology and respectively on syntax and discourse and lexis).
The analysis in chapter 2 Phonetics and Phonology (pp. 1239) is based on the data from a
34-year-old ethnically Chinese, female speaker, with English as her primary language (p. 9), but it
also builds, among others, on the authors previous work7. The sections on segmental phenomena
5
For a recent discussion see J. Setter, C. S. P. Wong and B. H. S. Chan, 2010, Hong Kong
English, Edinburgh, Edinburgh University Press, pp. 112116.
6
For details and other examples, see M. Shibatani, 1990, The Languages of Japan, Cambridge,
Cambridge University Press, p. 151, and L. J. Loveday, 1996, Language Contact in Japan. A Sociolinguistic History, Oxford, Clarendon Press, pp. 138156.
7
Which includes acoustic analyses in particular of the vowels of Singapore English, and two
edited volumes: A. Brown, D. Deterding and L. E. Ling (eds.), 2000, The English Language in

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(pp. 1331) illustrate and discuss: the tendency to replace the dental fricatives [] and [] with [t] and
[d] respectively; the simplification of consonant clusters in word-final position; the addition of [t]
after words; the realization as a glottal stop [] of /t/ and /k/ when they occur in word-final simple
codas; aspiration; /l/-vocalization; the increasing incidence of post-vocalic /r/; the labio-dental
realization [] of /r/; the absence of length distinction, such that the lexical sets8 KIT and FLEECE both
have [i], FOOT and GOOSE both have [u], LOT, THOUGHT, CLOTH, FORCE, and NORTH all have [], and
STRUT, BATH, PALM and START all have [^]; the vowel in DRESS, TRAP, FACE, GOAT, POOR and CURE;
the non-occurrence of triphthongs; the relative absence of reduced vowels. The remaining sections
(pp. 31-39) deal with suprasegmental phenomena: rhythm; lexical stress; sentence stress; deaccenting;
the sharp rise in pitch early in the utterance known as early booster; intonation.
In chapter 3 Morphology and Syntax (pp. 4061) the author first looks at three inflectional
suffixes (pp. 4145): the past tense suffix -ed, the plural suffix -s, and the 3rd person singular suffix -s.
Also addressed are the issues of the comparative merits of a phonological (in terms of cluster
simplification) versus a morphological account of the deletion of the suffix -s, the pluralization of what
are non-cont nouns in other varieties of English, and variability in the use of these suffixes. The next four
sections (pp. 4653) discuss tenses, the use of will to refer to regularly occurring events, tentative would,
the absence of the copula be, and the use of already as a perfective aspect marker or, occasionally,
with an inchoative meaning. In the remainder of the chapter, the author examines: the use of till and
until to indicate that something continues to be true beyond the stated time limit; the rare occurrence
in relative clauses of that with a [+human] antecedent; reduplication and its meanings; the use of the
invariant tags is it, isnt it and right; the use of prepositional verbs without a preposition and the use
of non-prepositional verbs with a preposition; the frequent occurrence of null subjects.
Chapter 4 Discourse and Lexis (pp. 6284) is almost equally divided between a presentation
of the most typical discourse patterns in Singapore English (pp. 6274) and of the main
characteristics of its vocabulary (pp. 7484). The issue of null subjects is taken up again from the
perspective of the so-called topic prominence9. This is followed by a discussion of resumptive
pronouns and of what the author calls the tolerance for repetition (p. 65). Particular attention is paid
to the use of discourse particles: those analyzed include lah the one word that is most emblematic
of Singapore English (p. 66), ah, lor and yah. The topics related to the vocabulary of Singapore
English cover the following: the lexical borrowings from Cantonese, Hokkien and Malay;
compounds; clippings; the frequent use of initialisms; meaning shifts; the frequent use of formal
words in informal contexts; the use of as compared to, actually and basically.
In chapter 5 History and Current Changes (pp. 8592) some of the recent developments in
language usage in Singapore are examined and evaluated. The author writes that a mature variety of
the [English] language has been emerging in Singapore (p. 87). He appears to agree (p. 87) with the
classification of Singapore English as having reached the stage of endonormative stabilization, and
being likely to move into the next stage, that of differentiation10. Variation in Singapore English is
discussed within the context of the debate between the proponents of the diglossic and those of the
continuum approach. The last two sections outline government and respectively popular attitudes
Singapore: Research on Pronunciation, Singapore, Singapore Association for Applied Linguistics;
D. Deterding, A. Brown and L. E. Ling (eds.), 2005, English in Singapore: Phonetic Research on a
Corpus, Singapore, McGraw-Hill Education (Asia).
8
See J. C. Wells, 1982, Accents of English, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.
9
In the sense of C. N. Li and S. A. Thompson, 1976, Subject and topic: A new typology of
languages, in: C. N. Li (ed.), 1976, Subject and Topic, New York, Academic Press, pp. 457489.
10
Deterding refers to E. W. Schneider, 2003, The dynamics of New Englishes: From identity
to construction to dialect birth, Language, 79, pp. 233281. See also E. W. Schneider, 2007,
Postcolonial English. Varieties around the World, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press,
pp. 160161.

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towards Singapore English, in particular towards Singlish, which the government tries to counter,
whereas others value it as a badge of identity (p. 91).
Chapter 6 Annotated Bibliography (pp. 93103) consists of five sections which briefly
discuss books on Singapore English in general and books and papers on history, sociolinguistics,
language policy, phonetics and phonology, morphology and syntax, discourse and lexis (pp. 9395)
as well as a section with the references (pp. 96103).
Chapter 7 Texts: Transcripts for the Data of Hui Min (pp. 104129) contains the full
orthographic transcripts of 12 .WAV files of recorded conversational data, of which illustrative
excerpts are included in chapters 2-4 of the book.
The book is a remarkably clear overview of Singapore English. The description and analysis of
the linguistic features of Singapore English are placed within the larger context of World Englishes,
including natively spoken varieties. The potential influence of the local languages is given careful
consideration. The discussion of controversial sociolinguistic issues is both informative and objective.
Finally, the volume is beautifully edited and is virtually typo-free. There is precious little one could,
perhaps, find fault with. Thus, that is discussed in the section on relative pronouns (p. 54), though it is
arguably a complementizer. The section on loanwords from the local languages (pp. 7476) could
have contained a more comprehensive sample of such items. The extensive discussion of the
discourse particle lah appears to have been at the expense of other particles, such as what, ma and mei
(just mentioned on p. 76). Since the author focuses on educated Singapore English, the discussion of
language variation suffers somewhat from the fact that a prior description of Singlish is not included.
To conclude, this is a comprehensive and insightful book, for which the author should receive
ample credit.
Andrei A. Avram
University of Bucharest, Department of English

Edgar W. SCHNEIDER, Postcolonial English. Varieties around the World,

Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2007, xvi + 367 pp.
Postcolonial English. Varieties around the World attempts to provide a comprehensive
account of the spread and diversification of English into a number of varieties: natively spoken ones,
the so-called New Englishes, English-lexified pidgins and English-lexified creoles.
The aims and the structure of the book are briefly outlined in chapter 1, Introduction (pp. 17).
Chapter 2, Charting the territory: Postcolonial Englishes as a field of linguistic investigation
(pp. 820), highlights the methodological and conceptual contributions of dialectology,
sociolinguistics and pidgin and creole linguistics to the study of Postcolonial Englishes. Two wellknown previous approaches are evaluated: the model distinguishing ENL, ESL and EFL countries,
and the Three circles model, which identifies Inner Circle, Outer Circle and Expanding
Circle countries. Also included is a discussion of three key issues: nativeness, norms of correctness
and the political and ideological implications of the global spread of English.
In chapter 3, The evolution of Postcolonial Englishes: the Dynamic Model (pp. 2170), the
author outlines the theoretical framework of the book. This is his Dynamic Model11 of the history
of Postcolonial Englishes. The model basically combines an evolutionary perspective with that of
linguistic ecology12. It integrates insights from theories of language contact in general and from
11

The Dynamic Model was first proposed in E. W. Schneider, 2003, The dynamics of New
Englishes: from identity construction to dialect birth, Language, 79, pp. 233281.
12
See S. S. Mufwene, 2001, The Ecology of Language Evolution, Cambridge, Cambridge
University Press.

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sociolinguistics, e.g. the construction of social identity through linguistic accommodation. On this
view, the development of new varieties is a process of competition and selection of features from a
feature pool13. Selection of features reflects and expresses the sociolinguistic identity of the speakers.
Five stages are identified in the emergence and development of Postcolonial Englishes: Foundation,
Exonormative stabilization, Nativization, Endonormative stabilization and Differentiation. In
the last stage, a new national language variety has emerged (pp. 5354). Each phase is
characterized by a specific configuration of a set of parameters. The parameters at issue are history
and politics, identity construction, the sociolinguistics of contact/use/attitude and the linguistic
developments/structural effects (a useful summary is provided in Table 3.1 on p. 56). The assumption
is that the any postcolonial variety of English can be assigned to one of these possible stages. The
model is sufficiently flexible to allow for what the author calls variations on the basic pattern
(p. 55), such as creolization (discussed on pp. 60-64). Also explored are the possibilities of wider
applicability (pp. 68-70), beyond contacts with English, e.g. to the split of Vulgar Latin into the
Romance languages, the colonial expansion of Portuguese, Spanish and French, as well as to the
recognition as separate languages of Czech and Slovak and of Serbian and Croatian.
Chapter 4, Linguistic aspects of nativization (pp. 71112), examines what the author calls
structural nativization, defined as the emergence of locally distinctive linguistic forms and
structures (p. 71). Structural nativization is approached from three complementary perspectives. The
author first identifies the diagnostic features of structural nativization in the phonology (see, in
particular Table 4.1 on pp. 7576, and Table 4.2 on p. 77), vocabulary and grammar of Postcolonial
Englishes. This is followed by a discussion of the methodological and conceptual issues involved.
The chapter ends with an analysis of the linguistic sources and processes of nativization (set out in
Figure 4.1 on p. 100). The sources are continuity form Standard and non-Standard English, innovation
and language and dialect contact, while the processes identified are simplification, restructuring,
exaptation, borrowing, calquing/replication and mixing.
The model and the concepts previously outlined are applied in Chapter 5, Countries along the
cycle: case studies (pp. 113250). This chapter examines the emergence and development of 16
varieties of English, both natively spoken ones and New Englishes, spoken in Fiji, Australia, New
Zealand, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Indian, South Africa, Kenya, Tanzania,
Nigeria, Cameroon, Barbados, Jamaica and Canada. The discussion also covers sub-varieties, e.g.
colloquial Singapore English, Afrikaans English, South African Indian English and Black South
African English, as well as English-lexified pidgins and creoles, such as Nigerian Pidgin English,
Cameroon Pidgin English and Jamaican Creole. An impressive array of evidence is adduced in order
to assess the phase in the evolutionary cycle reached by each variety.
In chapter 6, The cycle in hindsight: the emergence of American English (pp. 251208), the
author examines the history of American English. The theoretical framework is shown to be fully
compatible with the study of the emergence and development of this variety, although, as pointed out
by the author (p. 251), it is not customary to view American English as one of the New Englishes
or Postcolonial Englishes.
Chapter 7, Conclusions (pp. 309317) summarizes the findings and discusses the theoretical
and practical implications of the Dynamic Model.
The following are some truly minor observations. Thus, in the list of Singapore English words
with an open // quality (p. 106), bed should read beg (cf. p. 159). According to the author, Tok
Pisin -pela is a noun classifier and a formative in the pronoun paradigm (p. 106). In fact, -pela is a
suffix, used to form adjectives, numerals and plural pronouns14. Discuss about and request for, the
13
In the sense of S. S. Mufwene, 2001, The Ecology of Language Evolution, Cambridge,
Cambridge University Press.
14
J. W. M. Verhaar, 1995, Toward a Reference Grammar of Tok Pisin. An Experiment in
Corpus Linguistics, Honolulu, University of Hawaii Press, p. 12; G. P. Smith, 2002, Growing up
with Tok Pisin. Contact, Creolization, and Change in Papua New Guineas National Language,
London, Battlebridge, p. 62; G. Smith, 2008, Tok Pisin: morphology and syntax, in: K. Burridge,
B. Kortmann (eds.), Varieties of English, vol. 3, The Pacific and Australasia, Berlin, New York,
Mouton de Gruyter, pp. 488513, see p. 490.

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counterparts of discuss and request which are transitive verbs in natively spoken varieties of English,
are included among what the author calls new phrasal verbs in Fiji English (p. 118). Since in these
examples about and for are not adverbial particles, but prepositions, discuss about and request for are
not phrasal verbs.
The author mentions among the phonological features of Malaysian English the omission of
single coda-consonants, in what he renders as spea(k), abou(t), loo(k) (p. 151). Actually, these
illustrate the replacement of word-final stops by glottal stops, as in the following examples: [hu]
hope; [r] rub; [k] cut; [m] mud; [] shock; [fr] frog. Further, the examples of final
consonant cluster reduction (p. 151) include the form rendered as affor(d). However, pronunciations
such as [h] hair, [wd] word; [gl] girl, [wt] water, [kj] cure, [bn] born, and the occurrence of
the so-called linking r: [fa:r n(d) ni] far and near15 show that Malaysian English is a non-rhotic
variety. Consequently, afford does not contain a [rd] cluster potentially subject to reduction.
The list of South African English phraseologisms (p. 184) includes late has died. This is a
case of extension from the attributive use of late to a predicative one16, and therefore a syntactic
feature. In his comments on Nigerian English enstool/destool (p. 210), the author quotes approvingly
the following: this exhibits the rich derivational morphology that is so characteristic of African
languages17. Such examples attest rather to the fact that word-formation processes characteristic of
English, such as the use of affixes, frequently result in the derivation of words not found in natively
spoken varieties.
In conclusion, Edgar W. Schneiders impressive scholarship in the field of World Englishes is
reflected in the exceptionally extensive scope of Postcolonial English. Varieties around the World,
the large body of empirical evidence examined, and the important theoretical insights. This
outstanding book will undoubtedly remain an unavoidable reference work for further research into the
emergence and development of postcolonial varieties of English. Moreover, it is also of considerable
interest to specialists in language contacts, dialectology, sociolinguistics or historical linguistics.
Andrei A. Avram
University of Bucharest, Department of English

Gerhard LEITNER, Weltsprache Englisch. Vom angelschsischen Dialekt zur

globalen Lingua Franca, Munich, C. H. Beck, 2009, 217 pp.
Gerhard Leitners book consists of eight chapters (pp. 7255), endnotes in Anmerkungen
(pp. 256257), the references in Literaturverzeichnis (pp. 258264), an index of terms and names
in Register (pp. 265269) and the list of figures in Abbildungen (pp. 270272)
Chapter I, Englisch berall und so vielfltig (pp. 742), outlines the national, regional and
global dimensions of English and the structural characteristics of the so-called core and the
occurrence of widespread variation, typical of pluricentric languages.
15

All examples in phonetic transcription are from L. Baskaran, 2008, Malaysian English:
phonology, in: R. Mesthrie (ed.), Varieties of English, vol. 4, Africa, South and Southeast Asia,
Berlin New York, Mouton de Gruyter, pp. 278291.
16
Cf. R. Mesthrie and R. M. Bhatt, 2008, World Englishes. The Study of New Linguistic
Varieties, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, p. 114: late (predicative and attributive adj.)
deceased (My aunt is late).
17
See E. G. Bokamba, 1992, The Africanization of English, in: B. B. Kachru (ed.), The
Other Tongue: English across Cultures, 2nd edition, Urbana, Chicago, University of Illinois Press,
pp. 125147. The quote is on pp. 136137.

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In chapter II, Entstehung und Entwicklung des Englischen (pp. 4397), the author
summarizes the diachronic evolution of English. The survey covers the West-Germanic and Old
English periods, the Middle English period, Early Modern English, developments in English since the
end of the 18th century and the issues of standardization and of the Received Pronunciation. In the
discussion of the latter, particular attention is paid to two relatively recent developments in British
English: the so-called near Received Pronunciation and the emergence of the accent known as
Estuary English.
Chapter III, Die keltischen Regionen Grobritaniens (pp. 99119), looks at the varieties of
English with a Celtic substrate. The varieties discussed include Scots, Standard Scottish English,
Northern Irish English and Southern Irish English.
The socio-historical circumstances conducive to the globalization of English are outlined in
chapter IV, Die Expansion nach bersee (pp. 121125).
In chapter V, Das Englische in Nordamerika (pp. 127157), the author first discusses the
emergence and the main structural characteristics of American English. Next, he looks into Caribbean
English, with a particular emphasis on Jamaican English and Jamaican Creole, as an illustration of the
lectal continuum from the basilect through mesolectal varieties to the acrolect. The third NorthAmerican variety examined at some length is African American English. The chapter also includes a
brief discussion of Cajun English and of Hawaiian Creole.
Chapter VI, Das Englische in Asien (pp. 159184), addresses the issue of the so-called
New Englishes spoken in Asia. The varieties described are Indian English and Pakistani English in
South Asia, Malaysian English and Singapore English in Southeast Asia.
Chapter VII, Das Englische im Sdpazifik (pp. 185206) focuses on New Zealand English
and Australian English. The author draws on his previous, extensive work on Australian English18.
Also included is a discussion of Pitkern and Norfolk, as well as of Maori English, Aboriginal English
and Kriol.
In chapter VIII, Das Englische in Afrika (pp. 207221), the author first briefly discusses the
varieties collectively known as West African English and East African English respectively. This is
followed by a somewhat lengthier description of the varieties of English spoken in the Republic of
South Africa: the so-called respectable South African English, South Afrian Indian English and
what is currently designated as Black South African English.
Chapter IX, Das Englische global (pp. 223257) starts by examining a number of ideologyladen developments, such as the Plain English Movement, politically correct English, as well as the
spread of colloquial and even non-standard English. It then goes on to discuss five highly
controversial issues: whether English should be regarded as a killer language in the context of the
ever-growing concern over language endangerment and language death; the recently proposed
English for international business communication known as Globish; the current debate centring on
English as a lingua franca, including its implications for the teaching of English as a foreign
language; the co-occurrence of English as a global language with widespread bi- and multilingualism;
the problem of standards, either exo- or endonormative, and their implications for the teaching of
English.
Written in German, Gerhard Leitners book is a contribution to an area of scientific inquiry
heavily dominated so far by works published exclusively in English. Unfortunately, however, the
book is somewhat marred by a number of shortcomings.
It is maintained that das sogenannte Danelag (Danelaw) [] als Grenze zwischen dem
dnischen und dem englischen Einflussgebiet galt (p. 50). In reality, Danelaw was the name
designating the territory under Danish rule. According to the author, die [] Siedlungen der
Wikinger hinterlieen etwa 600 Ortsnamen (p. 50). In fact, there are over 2,000 Scandinavian
18
See e.g. G. Leitner, 2004, Australias Many Voices. Australian English The National
Language, Berlin, Mouton de Gruyter, and G. Leitner, 2004, Australias Many Voices. Ethnic
Englishes, Indigenous and Migrant Languages. Policy and Education, Berlin, Mouton de Gruyter.

Comptes rendus / Reviews

189

place-names19. The statement took kommt von taka, im AE [= Altenglischen] war es tacan (p. 51)
is in need of reformulation. The Old English for to take was (ge)niman; the form tacan is a late
borrowing from Old Norse taka. The author correctly writes that oft enstanden Dubletten (p. 51),
i.e. pairs of quasi-synonyms of Old English and respectively Old Norse origin. However, the
examples listed (p. 51) include get / take, both of which are of Old Norse origin. The Middle Scots
quhethir whether is not das alte Relativpronomen quhethir (p. 66), but a complementizer;
moreover, Old English did not have a relative pronoun, but rather a relative particle e. The reader is
left in the dark as to the Estuary English counterparts of RP // and // respectively in word-initial
position: das <th> am Wortanfang wird als /f/ oder /v/ gesprochen, im EE [= Estuary English] aber
als /f, v/ (p. 95).
The author mentions (p. 100) that the Scots had a Serie von [] Konflikten mit den Angeln
im 11. Jahrhundert. In the 11th century, some six centuries after the so-called Anglo-Saxon
invasion, the Angles were no longer a separate ethnic group. With respect to Scottish Standard
English the author claims that Wrter wie nice, pipe [] mit /i/ [] ausgesprochen werden
(p. 106). In fact, Standard Scottish English has [i] in such words20. Also, it is not clear why the chapter
on the varieties of English with a Celtic substrate does not include a section on Welsh English.
The emergence of the creole continuum in Jamaica is explained as follows: Als der Zugang
zum Englischen im 20. Jahrhundert einfacher wurde, wurde das Jamaikanische in ein breites
Spektrum des Englischen eingegliedert (p. 149). This formulation reflects the original view of the
so-called post-creole continuum. Most creolists, however, are now of the opinion that a continuum,
referred to as creole continuum, must have been present from the beginning21. Yam is not
necessarily of Mandingo origin (p. 154)22. Okra is said to come from Akan (p. 154), although wellknown reference works trace it to Igbo23. The author further states that (pp. 154-155) auch bad-eye
<bser Blick> und big-eye <gierig> kommen aus dieser Sprache [= Mandingo]. In fact, their exact
source is rather difficult to establish: likely candidates include Yoruba, Igbo and Kikongo for the
former, and Yoruba and Igbo for the latter24. The Hawaiian Creole sentence he wen send me is not an
example of <<serielle>> Verbkonstruktionen (p. 157). Although etymologically derived from
English went, Hawaiian Creole wen is not a verb, but the anterior (or, more rarely, the past) tense
marker25. The author erroneously maintains that Pitkern gilt heute noch als eine Variett des
britischen (p. 202), although he later correctly refers to it as eine Kontaktsprache (p. 203). Also, he
mentions twice (p. 203) a Haitian influence on Pitkern, instead of the Tahitian one. The transitive
suffix -em is not ein berbleibsel von <them> (p. 205), but rather a reflex of English him, possibly
also of them, as noted by the author himself in connection with the equivalent Tok Pisin form -im
19

See D. Crystal, 2005, The Stories of English, London, Penguin Books, p. 67.
J. Stuart-Smith, 2008, Scottish English: phonology, in: B. Kortmann, C. Upton (eds.),
Varieties of English, vol. 1, The British Isles, Berlin New York, Mouton de Gruyter, pp. 4870. See
Table 1 on p. 55.
21
For a discussion, see J. Siegel, 2008, The Emergence of Pidgin and Creole Languages,
Oxford, Oxford University Press, p. 237.
22
R. Allsopp, 1996, Dictionary of Caribbean English Usage, Oxford, Oxford University Press,
p. 616, notes that this is an item found in a large number of West and Central Afr langs as n (meat,
food) or vb (eat). M. Parkvall, 2000, Out of Africa. African Influences in Atlantic Creoles,
London, Battlebridge, p. 99, lists it among several more-or-less pan-Creole words which also appear
to be more-or-less pan-African.
23
E.g. R. Allsopp, 1996, Dictionary of Caribbean English Usage, Oxford, Oxford University
Press, p. 414.
24
According to R. Allsopp, 1996, Dictionary of Caribbean English Usage, Oxford, Oxford
University Press, pp. 65 and 99.
25
J. Siegel, 2008, The Emergence of Pidgin and Creole Languages, Oxford, Oxford University
Press, p. 72.
20

190

Comptes rendus / Reviews

10

(p. 30). The author further claims diese Entwicklung hat nur im australischen Kontext stattgefunden
und hat sich von da aus ber den gesamten Sdpazifik verbreitet. In reality, there is evidence
pointing to independent parallel developments leading to the emergence of a transitive suffix not only
in the Pacific, but also in Atlantic English-lexified pidgins and creoles26.
In his description of South African English, the author writes (p. 219) that bis zu 50 Prozent
des Vokabulars stammen aus dem Afrikaans, 30 Prozent aus dem Englischen und 10 Prozent aus
afrikanischen Sprachen (Viereck et al. 2002). In fact, these percentages hold for the specifically
South African English lexicon, not for its entire vocabulary27.
Rather surprisingly, the important, though highly controversial, contributions of Jennifer
Jenkins28 are not even mentioned in the discussion of English as a lingua franca (pp. 247248).
There are a number of faulty phonetic transcriptions. The English long, low, back, unrounded
vowel /:/ is transcribed as /a:/ (pp. 81, 93, 194). The affricate // is transcribed /tsh/ (p. 95). The
interdental fricatives // and respectively // are both transcribed as <<th>> (pp. 79, 95, 149, 157,
170, 181, 205, 212) and as <<th, dh>> (p. 153). Phonetic realizations are indicated between slashes
instead of square brackets (pp. 81, 93, 100, 106, 116, 194).
Finally, the correct reference for Crystal is 1995, not 1996, while that for Wells is 1982, not
1992 (p. 81). Bahasa Malay (p. 179) should read Bahasa Malaysia, and humkum (p. 183) should read
hukum, Malay for law.
In spite of its shortcomings, Gert Leitners Weltsprache Englisch. Vom angelschsischen
Dialekt zur globalen Lingua Franca is a highly readable and enjoyable survey of the history of
English, from its modest Anglo-Saxon beginnings to its current status of world language.
Andrei A. Avram
University of Bucharest, Department of English

26

For an overview, see A. A. Avram, 2000, A few remarks on the transitive suffix /-Vm/ in
the English pidgins and creoles, Analele Universitii din Bucureti. Limbi i literature strine,
XLIX, pp. 121131.
27
Cf. the original formulation in W. Viereck, K. Viereck, H. Ramisch (2002) dtv-Atlas
Englische Sprache, Munich, Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag, p. 207: Der Wortschatz des SAE
enthlt spezifische Elemente [emphasis added], die nach Schtzungen zu 50% aus dem
Niederlndischen/Afrikaans kommen, 30% stammen aus dem Englischen, 10% aus afrik. Sprachen
und 10% aus anderen Sprachen.
28
See, for instance J. Jenkins, 2000, The Phonology of English as an International Language,
Oxford, Oxford University Press, and J. Jenkins, 2007, English as a Lingua Franca: Attitude and
Identity, Oxford, Oxford University Press.