English World-Wide - Volume 39, Issue 2, 2018

Folk ideologies about regional variation often depend on the consideration of certain varieties in contrast with the idea of a linguistically unmarked, standard way of speaking ( Preston 1996 ; Lippi-Green 2012 ). This study analyzes the relationship between those abstract ideologies and in-the-moment reactions to linguistic input. Examining this question with respect to American English, a listening task manipulated where speakers were said to be from and whether the speakers used regional speech varieties linked to those places. Listeners were asked to make social judgments about speakers with varying degrees of local accentedness said to be from Southern, Northeastern, and Midwestern locales in the U.S.; these locations were selected to target highly enregistered nonstandard dialect areas versus more linguistically “unmarked” regions. Results indicate that while pre-existing sociolinguistic stereotypes about these three locations in some cases trumped the actual linguistic input that listeners encountered, effects of accentedness also varied in place-specific ways related to expectations for each locale.

This paper describes a study of phonetic variation in Hebrides English, a variety of English spoken in the Scottish Hebrides island chain. Study participants included 24 English-Scottish Gaelic bilinguals, ten male and 14 female, representing a range of ages and geographic origins within the Hebrides. Three features are considered: preaspiration, preglottalization, and T-glottalling. Preaspiration, once commonplace in some varieties of Hebridean English, is now found to be abundant only among older women, suggesting that the feature is obsolescent. By contrast, preglottalization and T-glottalling, already widespread in urban varieties of Scottish English, now appear to be making inroads in Hebrides English as well. The evidence therefore suggests that Hebridean English is undergoing significant changes, though the precise trajectory or outcome of these changes remain unclear.

This article investigates the use of commentary pragmatic markers in Nigerian English. The frequency and stylistic variability of five types of commentary markers – assessment, manner of speaking, evidential, hearsay and emphasis markers – were examined in ICE-Nigeria and compared with ICE-Great Britain. The results reveal that Nigerian English has patterns of use of pragmatic markers that differ systematically from British English: speakers of Nigerian English use an overall lower frequency and a reduced inventory of commentary pragmatic markers compared to British English, show distinct preference patterns for individual pragmatic markers and demonstrate different stylistic variability in the use of pragmatic markers. Some of the preference patterns may be influenced by Nigerian languages and socio-cultural norms.

Previous research suggests there are register differences between native and non-native varieties of English, as well as translated English. This article reports on a multidimensional (MD) analysis of register variation in the published written registers of 16 varieties of English, and tests expectations for register variation in contact varieties evident from existing research. The study finds that the effects of variety and register are largely independent of each other, indicating that overall, registers pattern in similar ways across varieties. register is the strongest factor accounting for variance in the data, but variety also contributes significantly to variation. Non-native varieties before phase four in the Dynamic Model ( Schneider 2007 ) and translations draw more extensively on markers of formality than non-native varieties at phase four and native varieties. Contact varieties display fewer involvement features than native varieties. Persuasive strategies and reported speech are variable across varieties, suggesting local stylistic and cultural differences.