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This course provides students with a solid background in the study of regional and diatypic varieties of English.
The first part of the course covers regional varieties of English. We will use Kachru's model which represents the use of English around the world as three concentric circles: inner circle (e.g. British or American English), outer circle (e.g. Indian or South African English) and expanding circle (English as a Foreign Language). The issues surrounding the emergence of a new standard for English (International English; English as a Lingua Franca) are also discussed.
The second part of the course deals with diatypic varieties of English (i.e. registers defined in terms of field, mode and tenor). The following varieties are analysed: general English vs English for Specific Purposes; written vs spoken English; formal vs informal English. A wide range of written texts and transcriptions of speech are provided for commentary and analysis. The salient stylistic features are described in linguistic terms (grammatical, lexical and discourse features typical of the genre).
By the end of the course, students will be familiar with the key terms and concepts for studying variation related to both users and uses, and be able to identify and discuss the linguistic features that characterize several regional and diatypic varieties of English.
The contribution of this Teaching Unit to the development and command of the skills and learning outcomes of the programme(s) can be accessed at the end of this sheet, in the section entitled “Programmes/courses offering this Teaching Unit”.
During the term: oral presentation on a variety of English.
A WORD OF CAUTION : students who have not given an oral presentation will not be allowed to enrol for the exam.
In June or September : extended individual paper on a variety of English.
Lectures and discussions based on scientific articles, exercises, etc.
This course introduces the key terms and concepts for studying variation related to both users and uses, with a particular focus on regional varieties of English.
Svartvik, J. & Leech, G (2006) English. One Tongue, Many Voices. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
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