Language Change
The Impact of English as a Lingua Franca

Bringing together multiple strands of linguistics, this book explores the impact of English as a lingua franca on language change.

Anna Mauranen (Edited by), Svetlana Vetchinnikova (Edited by)

9781108492850, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 3 December 2020

350 pages
15 x 23 x 2.5 cm, 0.68 kg

'What can studies of English as a lingua franca (ELF) contribute to world Englishes research, sociolinguistics, historical linguistics and language evolution? This collection – comprising both theoretical position papers and empirical case studies – marks an impressive starting point for the necessary dialogue across sub-disciplines.' Christian Mair, University of Freiburg

English as a lingua franca (ELF) has become ubiquitous in today's globalised, mobile and fast-changing world. It is clear that it will have an unprecedented impact not only on how we communicate but also on our understanding of language use and change. What exactly ELF brings to our life and to language theory is a question which requires an interdisciplinary take. This book gathers together leading scholars from world Englishes, typology, language history, cognitive linguistics, translation studies, multilingualism, sociolinguistics and ELF research itself to seek state-of-the-art answers. Chapters present original insights on language change, based on theoretical approaches and empirical studies, and provide clear examples of social, interactional and cognitive changes that ELF instigates. The picture which unfolds on the pages of this book is complex, dynamic and makes a convincing case for the importance of English as a lingua franca on language change at a global scale.

Introduction. Dynamics of change from different perspectives and on different scales Anna Mauranen and Svetlana Vetchinnikova
Part I. Pooling Perspectives: Introduction Anna Mauranen
1. Calling Englishes as complex dynamic systems: diffusion and restructuring Edgar W. Schneider
2. English as a lingua franca in the context of a sociolinguistic typology of contact languages William Croft
3. How writing changes language Ewa D?browska
4. ELF and translation as language contact Anna Mauranen
5. Present-day standard English: whose language was it anyway? Terttu Nevalainen
6. ELF and the study of sociolinguistic change Janus Mortensen
Part II. Zooming in on ELF: Introduction Svetlana Vetchinnikova
7. ELF, language change and social networks: evidence from real-time social media data Mikko Laitinen and Jonas Lundberg
8. ELF and language change at the individual level Svetlana Vetchinnikova and Turo Hiltunen
9. Are multilinguals the better academic ELF users? Evidence from a questionnaire study measuring self-assessed proficiencies Peter Siemund and Jessica Terese Mueller
10. The role of co-textual and contextual cues for intelligibility in ELF interactions Veronika Thir
11. Exploring the pragmatics of computer-mediated English as a lingua franca communication: multimodal and multilingual practices Rino Bosso
12. Development of shared multilingual resources in ELF dyadic interaction: a longitudinal case study Aki Siegel
13. The role of translanguaging in ELF advice sessions for asylum seekers Alessia Cogo.

Subject Areas: Communication studies [GTC], Sociolinguistics [CFB], Linguistics [CF], Language [C]