On the Subject of English

Henry Widdowson

Published by De Gruyter Mouton 2020

On the Subject of English

The Linguistics of Language Use and Learning

Henry Widdowson

Volume 330 in the series Trends in Linguistics. Studies and Monographs [TiLSM]

https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110619669

Overview
Contents

About this book

The globalized use of language calls into question conventional ways of thinking in linguistics,applied linguistics and language pedagogy.
This book critically examines this thinking from an historical, at times satirical, perspective and proposes an alternative conceptualization.
The first section defines a number of key concepts about communication which are taken up in subsequent sections and shown to be relevant to the different but related areas of language study. Issues about the relationship between linguistics and applied linguistics set the scene for a discussion of the nature of discourse, and then how this bears on the understanding of the globalised use of English as a lingua franca.The final section considers the implications of this perspective on communication for how the subject of English language teaching might be redefined.
The book is relevant for anyone who sees the need for a critical consideration of established concepts in linguistics and language pedagogy.

Author information

Henry Widdowson,University of Vienna, Austria

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	I
Acknowledgements Publicly Available Download PDF	VII
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	IX
Introduction: Only connect! Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
Section 1: Theoretical bearings
Preamble Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	6
Section 2: Linguistics and applied linguistics
Preamble Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	18
1. Contextual meaning and the legacy of J. R. Firth Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	19
2. Linguistic creativity and Jakobson’s poetic function Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	31
3. Applied linguistics, interdisciplinarity and disparate realities Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	37
4. On the applicability of empirical findings Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	51
Section 3: The analysis and interpretation of language use
Preamble Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	66
5. The pretext of interpretation Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	67
6. Interpersonal positioning and genre conventions Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	82
7. “So the meaning escapes”. On literature and the representation of linguistic realities Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	96
8. Critical practices: On representation and the interpretation of text Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	103
9. The novel features of text. Corpus analysis and stylistics Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	118
10. The unrecoverable context Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	129
11. Macbeth and the third murderer. An exercise in forensic stylistics Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	139
Section 4: English as a lingua franca
Preamble Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	150
12. ELF and the inconvenience of established concepts Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	152
13. ELF and the pragmatics of language variation Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	171
14. ELF, adaptive variability and virtual language Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	183
15. The cultural and creative use of English as a lingua franca Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	189
16. Creative incompetence Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	196
Section 5: Linguistics in language learning and teaching
Preamble Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	206
17. The role of translation in language learning and teaching Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	207
18. Bilingual competence and lingual capability Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	222
19. Competence and capability: rethinking the subject English Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	233
20. Reversions Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	244
References Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	256
Name Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	267
Subject Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	269

(Deutsch)

Language: English
Publisher: De Gruyter Mouton
Audience: Researchers and Students in Linguistics, Applied Linguistics, and Language Teacher Education
Pages
- Front matter: 10
- Main content: 272
Keywords: Discourse Interpretation; Communicative Capability; English as a Lingua Franca; Language User-Learners

eBook

Published: November 18, 2019
ISBN: 9783110619669

Hardcover

Published: November 18, 2019
ISBN: 9783110616866

Paperback

Published: September 20, 2021
ISBN: 9783110764307

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On the Subject of English

The Linguistics of Language Use and Learning