Language in Britain and Ireland

An overview of spoken and signed varieties of language, and issues related to them, used in Britain and Ireland today.

Susan Fox (Edited by)

9781108708579, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 31 October 2024

620 pages
23 x 15 x 3.2 cm, 0.88 kg

'A thoughtful, fresh re-examination of language in use in Britain and Ireland today. Old chapter titles are breathed new life by a new generation of scholars. Organised with a mind to answering existing social questions and prompting more.' Miriam Meyerhoff, All Souls College, Oxford

Britain and Ireland are home to a rich array of spoken and signed languages and dialects. Language is ever evolving, in its diversity, and in the number and the backgrounds of its speakers, and so, too, are the tools and methods used for researching language. Now in its third edition, this book brings together a team of experts to provide cutting-edge linguistic and sociolinguistic information about all the major varieties of language used across Britain and Ireland today. Fully updated, this edition covers topics including the history of English, the relationship between standard and nonstandard Englishes, multilingualism in Britain and Ireland, and the educational and policy planning implications of this linguistic diversity. Chapters are also dedicated to specific language varieties, including comprehensive descriptions of the Celtic languages, nonstandard regional varieties, sign languages, and urban contact varieties. It is essential reading for academic researchers and students of sociolinguistics and education.

List of figures
List of tables
List of contributors
Acknowledgments
Map of Britain and Ireland
Introduction Susan Fox
Part I. English: 1. The history of English Anita Auer
2. Standard and non-standard English Stephen Levey
3. Phonetic and phonological variation in England Gerry Docherty, Paul Foulkes and Paul Kerswill
4. Grammatical variation in England David Britain
5. Discourse-pragmatic variation in England Heike Pichler and Jenny Cheshire
6. Scots and Scottish standard English Jennifer Smith, Jane Stuart-Smith, Rachel Macdonald and E. Jamieson
7. English in Ireland Karen Corrigan
8. English in Wales Heli Paulasto
9. Insular varieties of English in Britain Anna Rosen, Emma Moore, Jenny Amos, Jennifer Smith and Mercedes Durham
Part II. Multilingualism in Britain and Ireland: The Celtic Languages: 10. The history of the Celtic languages in Britain and Ireland Paul Russell
11. Scottish Gaelic Claire Nance
12. Irish Gaelic Aidan Doyle
13. Welsh David Willis
14. Cornish and Manx Merryn Davies-Deacon and Dave Sayers
Part III. Multilingualism in Britain and Ireland: Minority Languages: 15. Channel Islands French Mari Jones
16. South Asian languages Devyani Sharma
17. Chinese Li Wei
18. Yiddish Ruth Kircher
19. European immigrant languages Petros Karatsareas
20. Sign languages in Britain and Ireland Adam Schembri, Kate Rowley and Lorraine Leeson
Part IV. Multilingualism: The Development of Urban Contact Varieties: 21. Multicultural London English Susan Fox
22. British Asian English Devyani Sharma and Jessica Wormald
23. Multicultural British English Rob Drummond
Part V. Applied Sociolinguistic Issues: 24. Language policy and planning in Britain and Ireland Dave Sayers and Leanne Henderson
25. 'Nonstandard' English and education Julia Snell
26. Education, England and users of languages other than English Ben Rampton, Constant Leung and Melanie Cooke
Index.

Subject Areas: Sociolinguistics [CFB]