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A corpus‐based investigation of world Englishes in literature
Author(s) -
PERCILLIER MICHAEL,
PAULIN CATHERINE
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
world englishes
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.6
H-Index - 49
eISSN - 1467-971X
pISSN - 0883-2919
DOI - 10.1111/weng.12208
Subject(s) - world englishes , linguistics , representation (politics) , variation (astronomy) , diversity (politics) , colonialism , set (abstract data type) , history , corpus linguistics , sociology , computer science , anthropology , political science , philosophy , physics , archaeology , politics , astrophysics , law , programming language
ABSTRACT Given the spread of English as a world language and the subsequent development of numerous varieties during the colonial and postcolonial periods, the emergence of local literatures using local varieties of English was only a matter of time. The sheer diversity of new Englishes, literary traditions and motivations to use the localised features in writing results in a wide range of strategies at the disposal of writers who choose to incorporate such features in their work. By compiling a corpus of selected literary works, an analysis of various distinctive features is performed, which makes it possible to address the following questions: Which localised features of English are represented in our corpus? What is the motivation to use a particular set of localised features? Is the representation of such linguistic variation in writing a symbolic or mimetic enterprise?