Who owns English?
By: edited by Mike Hayhoe and Stephen Parker.
Contributors: Hayhoe, Mike.; Parker, Stephen, 1942-; International Convention on Language and Education (5th : 1993 : University of East Anglia)
Series: English, language, and education series
Publisher: Open University Press
Published: 1994
Place of publication: Buckingham; Philadelphia
Language: eng
Number of pages: 126
Subjects: English philology -- Study and teaching -- Congresses.; English language -- Standardization -- Congresses.; English language -- Variation -- Congresses.
Description: This wide-ranging collection brings together views about the nature of 'English' and its users at an unusual time. Within the United Kingdom - and in some other countries - there is a feeling of unease that language and literacy are in decline and that their central role in developing a sense of national unity and heritage is weakening. Governmental response to this perception is to move towards centralized, state-imposed curricula and assessment, seeking to guarantee standards through legislation. At the same time that the original source of English feels insecure, other countries and cultures become increasingly confident about taking over its use and ownership on their own terms and within their own cultures. Several of the authors here celebrate the diverse ways in which people across the world are developing their own distinctive varieties of English. In exploring these contradictory, defensive and optimistic attitudes towards the inevitability of linguistic and cultural change, the volume's contributors demonstrate the current liveliness and intensity of discussion about this perennial and increasingly debated topic.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. [115]-121) and index.
"Chapters... first presented in March 1993 as papers at the Fifth International Convention on Language and Education, at the University of East Anglia"--Pref.