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.

This chapter considers semi-creoles, varieties which share features with creoles (and pidgins) but appear to be more like ‘mainstream’ varieties of the lexifier language than either of these states. The view is taken that all of these states and their backgrounds can be seen more as being points on a large-scale continuum. The case study considers potential histories for African American Vernacular English.

This chapter discusses and exemplifies the nature and devlopment of pidgins and creoles. Placed in social and historical context, a range of varieties, contemporary and historical, are discussed. Competing theories on the development of these varieties -- as well as whether they are closely connected to each other -- are addressed. Bickerton’s idea of the language bioprogram hypothesis is critiqued, while the most potent and popular contemporary views on how creoles developed -- creole exceptionalism and uniformitarianism -- are compared and analysed. The case study considers the linguistic history and present nature of the creoles of Suriname, with particular emphasis on Sranan.

This chapter reviews available information on the phonetics and phonology of indigenous language bilinguals published in the last few decades, focusing on both of the bilinguals’ languages, the interplay between their phonological systems, and the phonetic realizations of the sounds present in their languages. We understand indigenous languages as predominantly minority languages spoken by linguistically distinct and often socially marginalized and vulnerable ethnic groups, autochthonous to a specific region of the world, and found in diglossias with majority international languages resulting from colonization. Indigenous language bilingualism is usually small-scale and involves speaking at least one minority indigenous language and at least one majority international language, thus being a step toward a seemingly inevitable language shift and in some cases an eventual indigenous language disappearance. The dynamic and asymmetrical character of indigenous bilingualism, along with the vast number of language combinations and the speaker community size differences between the members of these language pairs, sets it apart from other types of bilingualism considered in this book.

The chapter ’Da Kittehz’ focusses on semiotics and syntax with examples from LOLcats and LOLspeak. The section on semiotics shows us the difference between image macros (memes) and vernacular photos, both of which are present in the cat-related digital spaces. The chapter continues with a description of LOLspeak as a special internet language variety (SILV) in relation to pidgins, play language, and ludlings. Based on the methods of the existing studies on LOLspeak, it analyses the spelling, vocabulary, and grammar of LOLspeak. The final section shows us more cat-related language varieties that have developed in the cat-related digital spaces on the Internet, like Hambspeak and other cat-inspired idiolects.

In this chapter, we will explore constructionist approaches to language variation and change in English. As part of this, we will see how classic sociolinguistic studies can be accounted for by a usage-based constructionist perspective. Then, we will look at how Construction Grammar offers a cognitive explanation of the evolution of new first and second language varieties of English around the world. Finally, you will learn how Construction Grammar approaches analyse diachronic linguistic change.

This chapter discusses “newer” (i.e. in the last 400 years or less) varieties of English spoken in the Caribbean, in particular the relationship between the Caribbean and Central American varieties on the western edge of the Caribbean. It also presents a short discussion of the influences that have shaped these varieties and various popular heuristics for imagining their emergence as well as a description of the geographical locations in the Caribbean where these varieties are spoken. The social contexts of their emergence are also discussed as well as a grammatical sketch pointing out similarities and differences and a discussion of several theoretical issues of relevance to the field.