Published by De Gruyter Mouton

Dialects of English [DOE]

Edited by: Joan C. Beal, Karen P. Corrigan and Bernd Kortmann

ISSN: 2164-7445

e-ISSN 2164-7461

Overview
Volumes

The Dialects of English series provides concise, accessible, authoritative and up-to-date documentation for varieties of English, including English-based pidgins and creoles, from all over the English-speaking world. Written by experts who have conducted first-hand research, the volumes are the most obvious starting point for readers who would like to know more about a particular regional, urban or ethnic variety. The volumes follow a common structure, covering the context in which one clearly defined variety of English (or a number of closely related varieties) has been established as well as their phonetics and phonology, morphosyntax, lexis and social history. Each volume concludes with an annotated bibliography and some sample texts.

Previous volumes are listed below. Recent and forthcoming volumes are listed on the "Volumes" tab.

Robert McColl Millar, Northern and Insular Scots (2007)
David Deterding, Singapore English (2007)
Jennifer Hay, Margaret A. Maclagan & Elizabeth Gordon, New Zealand English (2008)
Sailaja Pingali, Indian English (2009)
Karen P. Corrigan, Irish English, Volume 1: Northern Ireland (2010)
Sandra Clarke, Newfoundland and Labrador English (2010)
Jane Setter, Cathy S. P. Wong & Brian H. S. Chan, Hong Kong English (2010)
Joan C. Beal, Lourdes Burbano Elizondo & Carmen Llamas, Urban North-Eastern English: Tyneside to Teeside (2012)
Urszula Clarke & Esther Asprey, West Midlands English: Birmingham and the Black Country (2012)

Advisory Board:

David Britain (University of Bern, Switzerland)
Kathryn Burridge (Monash University, Australia)
Jenny Cheshire (Queen Mary University of London, United Kingdom)
Alexandra D’Arcy (University of Victoria, Canada)
Lisa Lim (The University of Hong Kong, China)
Rajend Mesthrie (University of Cape Town, South Africa)
Peter L. Patrick (University of Essex, United Kingdom)
Peter Trudgill (University of Fribourg, Switzerland)
Walt Wolfram (North Carolina State University, USA)

To discuss your book idea or submit a proposal, please contact Natalie Fecher.

For further publications in English linguistics see also our Topics in English Linguistics book series.

Topics

Book 2021

East Anglian English

Peter Trudgill

Volume 21 in this series

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This book is the first full-scale scientific study of East Anglian English. The author is a native East Anglian sociolinguist and dialectologist who has devoted decades to the study of the speechways of Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire and Essex. He examines their relationships to other varieties of English in Britain, as well as their contributions to the formation of American English and Southern Hemisphere Englishes.

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1515/9781501512155
ISBN:: 9781501512155
ISBN:: 9781501521478
ISBN:: 9781501517556
ISBN:: 9781501512018
Subject:: Linguistics and Semiotics
Subject:: Theoretical Frameworks and Disciplines
Subject:: Dialectology
Subject:: Germanic Languages
Subject:: English
Publisher:: De Gruyter Mouton

Book Ahead of Publication 2024

Micronesian Englishes

David Britain, Kazuko Matsumoto, Dominique B. Hess, Tobias Leonhardt, Sara Lynch

Volume 20 in this series

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Despite increasing interest both in the nativisation of ‘world’ Englishes and in the study of ‘lesser-known’ varieties, some English-speaking areas are still entirely unexplored. One such area is Micronesia. English became a/the official language of the various Micronesian islands between 1892 and 1945, yet, beyond a couple of recent papers, there have been no published accounts whatsoever of the linguistic structure or sociolinguistic history of these territories.

This book, based on empirical analyses of large corpora of spoken data from Palau, Guam, Saipan, Kosrae, Nauru, Kiribati and the Marshall Islands, examines both the structure –phonology, morphosyntax, lexis, discourse - as well as the sociolinguistic history and status of English in each territory. Each chapter takes into account possible substrate influence on these emerging Englishes, as well as contextualising the position of English with respect to other colonial and immigrant languages. The book also contains a chapter on the use of English in pre-20th century Micronesia – when it was used across the islands by whalers, beachcombers and missionaries - as well as a chapter examining the similarities and differences across the different new Micronesian Englishes.

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.0000/9781501507694
ISBN:: 9781501507694
ISBN:: 9781501516030
ISBN:: 9781501507656
Subject:: Linguistics and Semiotics
Subject:: Theoretical Frameworks and Disciplines
Subject:: Dialectology
Subject:: Sociolinguistics
Subject:: Germanic Languages
Subject:: English
Publisher:: De Gruyter Mouton

Book 2018

Nigerian English

David Jowitt

Volume 18 in this series

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Although the past few decades have witnessed growing interest in varieties of English around the world, no study of the Nigerian variety intended for the international market has yet been published.
Making use of well-known paradigms, the book will relate Nigerian English, as a ‘Second Language’ variety, to other World Englishes. Its chief overall concern, however, is to provide a detailed descriptive account of the variety, seeking to show what is distinctive about it and also, in this perspective, distinguishing between more educated and less educated usage. After giving a sociolinguistic profile of Nigeria, where English today enjoys a more prominent role than ever before, it will examine in turn the phonology, morpho-syntax, and lexico-semantics of Nigerian English, with samples of written texts from the eighteenth century to the present. It will also give a comprehensive summary of academic research carried out in the field over the past fifty years.
In this way the book will provide an introduction to the subject for the benefit of scholars and students in universities in many countries, and will serve as a useful companion to other books in De Gruyter Mouton's Dialects of English series.

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1515/9781501504600
ISBN:: 9781501504600
ISBN:: 9781501521386
ISBN:: 9781501512728
ISBN:: 9781501504501
Subject:: Linguistics and Semiotics
Subject:: Germanic Languages
Subject:: English
Publisher:: De Gruyter Mouton

Book 2020

Pitkern-Norf’k

The Language of Pitcairn Island and Norfolk Island

Peter Mühlhäusler

Volume 17 in this series

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This book tells the story of the language of the Bounty mutineers and their Polynesian consorts that developed on remote Pitcairn Island in the late 18th century. Most of their descendants subsequently relocated to Norfolk Island. It is an in-depth study of the complex linguistic, ecological and sociohistorical forces that have been involved in the formation and subsequent development of this unique endangered language on both islands.

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1515/9781501501418
ISBN:: 9781501501418
ISBN:: 9781501510465
ISBN:: 9781501501432
Subject:: Linguistics and Semiotics
Subject:: Theoretical Frameworks and Disciplines
Subject:: Language Contact
Subject:: Linguistics, other
Subject:: Germanic Languages
Subject:: English
Publisher:: De Gruyter Mouton

Book 2018

Australian Aboriginal English

Change and Continuity in an Adopted Language

Ian G. Malcolm

Volume 16 in this series

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The dialect of English which has developed in Indigenous speech communities in Australia, while showing some regional and social variation, has features at all levels of linguistic description, which are distinct from those found in Australian English and also is associated with distinctive patterns of conceptualization and speech use. This volume provides, for the first time, a comprehensive description of the dialect with attention to its regional and social variation, the circumstances of its development, its relationships to other varieties and its foundations in the history, conceptual predispositions and speech use conventions of its speakers. Much recent research on the dialect has been motivated by concern for the implications of its use in educational and legal contexts. The volume includes a review of such research and its implications as well as an annotated bibliography of significant contributions to study of the dialect and a number of sample texts.

While Aboriginal English has been the subject of investigation in diverse places for some 60 years there has hitherto been no authoritative text which brings together the findings of this research and its implications. This volume should be of interest to scholars of English dialects as well as to persons interested in deepening their understanding of Indigenous Australian people and ways of providing more adequately for their needs in a society where there is a disconnect between their own dialect and that which prevails generally in the society of which they are a part.

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1515/9781501503368
ISBN:: 9781501503368
ISBN:: 9781501511462
ISBN:: 9781501503160
Subject:: Linguistics and Semiotics
Subject:: Languages of Australia
Subject:: Australian Languages, other
Subject:: Theoretical Frameworks and Disciplines
Subject:: Dialectology
Subject:: Germanic Languages
Subject:: English
Publisher:: De Gruyter Mouton

Book 2018

East Midlands English

Natalie Braber, Jonnie Robinson

Volume 15 in this series

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This volume will provide a comprehensive yet accessible description of East Midlands English, an area of neglect in linguistic research. Existing publications, which aggregate the findings of earlier surveys and more recent localised studies presenting an overview of regional speech in the UK, are either lacking up-to-date research data from the East Midlands or simply ignore the region.

A coordinated survey of dialects of the East Midlands was part of the Survey of English Dialects (SED) in the 1950s. This data is now over sixty years old and focuses almost exclusively on broad rural dialect speakers. This book will fill the knowledge and literature gaps by comparing vernacular speech in different urban and rural locations in the East Midlands, and examining whether the East Midlands is a 'transition zone' between the North and South. Recordings held by the British Library will be used, and will be supplemented with recordings made with local speakers.

Language in the East Midlands is distinctive and there is considerable regional variety, for instance, between speech in the major urban centres of Nottingham, Derby and Leicester. Bringing out this regional variation will also improve our wider understanding of language variation in English. The concept of the East Midlands in itself is not a clear one, and this volume aims to address such issues and to examine what makes the East Midlands an area of itself and what this area includes.

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1515/9781501502354
ISBN:: 9781501502354
ISBN:: 9781501510724
ISBN:: 9781501502378
Subject:: Linguistics and Semiotics
Subject:: Theoretical Frameworks and Disciplines
Subject:: Dialectology
Subject:: Sociolinguistics
Subject:: Germanic Languages
Subject:: English
Publisher:: De Gruyter Mouton

Book 2019

Kenyan English

Alfred Buregeya

Volume 14 in this series

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English in Kenya is a stable post-colonial variety that is used as an inter-ethnic lingua franca in private domains, is the medium of instruction as well as the language spoken in parliament and court rooms. Yet so far no comprehensive research monograph on Kenyan English has been published that surveys its characteristic linguistic features. The present book closes this gap by giving a full description of the characteristic linguistic features of Kenyan English.

The book provides an in-depth overview of Kenyan English phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics and pragmatics and also gives a meticulous account of the diachronic evolution of this post-colonial variety.

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1515/9781614516255
ISBN:: 9781614516255
ISBN:: 9781614517429
ISBN:: 9781501525728
ISBN:: 9781501500978
Subject:: Linguistics and Semiotics
Subject:: Theoretical Frameworks and Disciplines
Subject:: Dialectology
Subject:: Sociolinguistics
Subject:: Germanic Languages
Subject:: English
Publisher:: De Gruyter Mouton

Book 2020

Welsh English

Heli Paulasto, Rob Penhallurick, Benjamin A. Jones

Volume 12 in this series

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This book is the first comprehensive, research-based description of the development, structure, and use of Welsh English, a contact-induced variety of English spoken in the British Isles.
Present-day accents and dialects of Welsh English are the combined outcome of historical language shift from Welsh to English, continued bilingualism, intense contacts between Wales and England, and multicultural immigration. As a result, Welsh English is a distinctive, regionally and sociolinguistically diverse variety, whose status is not easily categorized.
In addition to existing research, the present volume utilizes a wide range of spoken corpus data gathered from across Wales in order to describe the phonology, lexis, and grammar of the variety. It includes discussion of sociolinguistic and cultural contexts, and of ongoing change in Welsh English. The place that Welsh English occupies in relation to other Englishes in the Inner and Outer Circles is also analysed.
The book is accessible to the non-specialist, but of particular use to scholars, teachers, and students interested in English in Wales, Britain, and the world. It provides an unparelleled resource on this long-standing and vibrant variety.

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1515/9781614512721
ISBN:: 9781614512721
ISBN:: 9781614513810
ISBN:: 9781501521065
ISBN:: 9781501500350
Subject:: Linguistics and Semiotics
Subject:: Theoretical Frameworks and Disciplines
Subject:: Dialectology
Subject:: Sociolinguistics
Subject:: Germanic Languages
Subject:: English
Publisher:: De Gruyter Mouton

Book 2015

Pittsburgh Speech and Pittsburghese

Barbara Johnstone, Daniel Baumgardt, Maeve Eberhardt, Scott Kiesling

Volume 11 in this series

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Linguists have sporadically noted peculiarities of pronunciation, lexis and morphosyntax in the speech of European Americans in the Pittsburgh area, and Pittsburgh speech, locally known as “Pittsburghese”, has been a topic of discussion in the Pittsburgh area for decades. This variety has never before been systematically documented, however. The first and only scholarly book to describe Pittsburgh-area varieties of English, Pittsburgh Speech and Pittsburghese is an essential reference tool for anyone studying the dialect of the Pittsburgh area and the only textbook choice for anyone teaching about it.

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1515/9781614511786
ISBN:: 9781614512325
ISBN:: 9781614511786
ISBN:: 9781501500299
Subject:: Linguistics and Semiotics
Subject:: Theoretical Frameworks and Disciplines
Subject:: Dialectology
Subject:: Sociolinguistics
Subject:: Germanic Languages
Subject:: English
Publisher:: De Gruyter Mouton

Book 2014

New York City English

Michael Newman

Volume 10 in this series

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New York City English is one of the most recognizable of US dialects, and research on it launched modern sociolinguistics. Yet the city’s speech has never before received a comprehensive description and analysis. In this book, Michael Newman examines the differences and similarities among the ways English is spoken by the extraordinarily diverse population living in the NY dialect region. He uses data from a variety of sources including older dialectological accounts, classic and recent variationist studies, and original research on speakers from around the dialect region. All levels of language are explored including phonology, morphosyntax, lexicon, and discourse along with a history of English in the region. But this book provides far more than a dialectological and historical inventory of linguistic features. The forms used by different groups of New Yorkers are discussed in terms of their complex social meanings. Furthermore, Newman illustrates the varied forms of sociolinguistic significance with examples from the personal experiences of a variety of New Yorkers and includes links to sound files on the publisher’s site and videos on YouTube. The result is a rigorous but accessible and compelling account of the English spoken in this great city.

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1515/9781614512127
ISBN:: 978-1-61451-289-9
ISBN:: 978-1-61451-212-7
ISBN:: 9781501508899
ISBN:: 9781501500602
Subject:: Linguistics and Semiotics
Subject:: Theoretical Frameworks and Disciplines
Subject:: Dialectology
Subject:: Sociolinguistics
Subject:: Linguistics, other
Subject:: Germanic Languages
Subject:: English
Publisher:: De Gruyter Mouton

Book 2013

Irish English Volume 2: The Republic of Ireland

Jeffrey L. Kallen

Volume 9 in this series

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This volume continues the Dialects of English series, and complements Irish English volume 1: Northern Ireland, by Karen Corrigan. Focusing on Irish English in the Republic of Ireland, the book starts by exploring the often oppositional roles of national language development and globalisation in shaping Irish English from the earliest known times to the present. Three chapters on the lexicon and discourse, syntax, and phonology focus on traditional dialect but also refer to colloquial and vernacular Irish English, the use of dialect in literature, and the modern “standard” language, especially as found in the International Corpus of English (ICE-Ireland). A separate chapter examines the internal history of Irish English, from Irish Middle English to contemporary change in progress. The book includes an extended bibliographical essay and a set of sample literary texts and texts from ICE-Ireland. Continuing themes include the impact on Irish English of contact with the Irish language, the position of Irish English in world Englishes, and features which help to distinguish between Irish English in the Republic and in Northern Ireland.

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1515/9781614511298
ISBN:: 978-1-61451-168-7
ISBN:: 978-1-61451-129-8
Subject:: Linguistics and Semiotics
Subject:: Theoretical Frameworks and Disciplines
Subject:: Dialectology
Subject:: Historical Linguistics
Subject:: Sociolinguistics
Subject:: Germanic Languages
Subject:: English
Publisher:: De Gruyter Mouton