Although McCrum, Cran & MacNeil (1986) refer rather uncritically to the spread of English as a 'remarkable success story', it has not been without many paradoxes and ironies. Robert Louis Stevenson drew attention to at least one of these when he observed that  Read More →

In commenting on the characteristics of what he called 'Received Standard', Wyld (1934: 614) noted that it was heard most consistently at its best among officers of the British Regular Army. 'The utterance of these men is at once clear-cut and precise, yet free... 

Because national identity is not a permanent or static possession, it has to be continually reinvented. Although Grillo (1989: 44) has argued that there was an almost total lack of attention to any relationship between language and national identity in England,... 

Paradoxically and ironically, it is Samoa (literally 'the centre') which is the centre, not just of the parents' lives and aspirations, but also from the Samoan point of view, it is the centre of the universe. As the boy sees it, (SRH, p. 40): 'Our whole life here... 

Dub poets such as Jean Binta Breeze would carry on the process of legitimising nation language by writing it down (Morris 1988: 29). Cooper (1995: 68) notes how in this print version of the performance 'Dubbed out', the spacing of the lines jerking to a halt enacts... 

Although literature is clearly grounded in language, the notion of a common core to literary tradition is more problematic than the concept of a linguistic common core. In her chapter Adamson documents for the most part the evolution of the literary language in... 

As far as the notion of a common phonological core is concerned, matters are also complicated because it has been seen in terms of the idea of a standard, but Standard English grammar is compatible with a wide range of accent types. Even Noah Webster saw the standardisation...