Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-669899f699-tzmfd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-05-02T13:01:39.150Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Chapter 4 - English in Contact: From Code-Switching to the Birth of New Varieties

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 May 2025

Daniel Schreier
Daniel Schreier
Affiliation:
University of Zurich
Get access

Summary

We take a look at fundamental principles that operate when social and/or regional varieties of English are in contact with each other or with other languages. We take a historical look at English and explore various contact settings which have shaped its development, from contact with Old Norse, Latin and Norman French to the present day. We discuss patterns of bilingualism and multilingualism, that is when speakers use two or more languages in their everyday lives. As the product of migration and colonization, different kinds of English have emerged in different locations around the world. We learn how new dialects emerge as a product of new-dialect formation and how contact-derived varieties such as pidgins and creoles develop under conditions of language contact, with emphasis on different theories of origins. Finally, we discuss the so-called Global Englishes which have emerged as a product of second-language learning around the world.

Keywords

Lingua francamultilingualismbilingualismEnglish as a Native Language (ENL)English as a Second Language (ESL)English as a Foreign Language (EFL)code-switchinglanguage hybridizationsituational and metaphorical switchingdiglossianew-dialect formationfeature poolhypercorrectionnativizationmultiethnolectalizationMulticultural London Englishlanguage contactsuperstratesubstrateadstratesettlement coloniestrade coloniesjargonspidginscreolesreanalysisrelexificationGlobal EnglishesPost-Colonial Englishes
Type
Chapter
Information
English Sociolinguistics
An Introduction
 , pp. 84 - 118
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2025

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Book purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Further Reading

Matras, Y. (2020). Language Contact (2nd ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mesthrie, R. & Bhatt, R. M. (2008). World Englishes: The Study of New Linguistic Varieties. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schneider, E. W. (2020). English around the World: An Introduction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Melchers, G., Shaw, P. & Sundkvist, P. (2019). World Englishes. Abingdon/New York: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Trudgill, P. (1986). Dialects in Contact. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×