- • English Today—A journal published four times a year by Cambridge University Press, English Today features short, highly readable articles on the status of different varieties of English across the world.
- • Crystal, D. (2006). Language and the Internet (2nd ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.—David Crystal, a renowned linguist and a leading authority on language, shows that discourse on the Internet enriches the existing varieties of English and extends our range of expression.
- • Crystal, D. (2009). Txtng: The gr8 db8. Oxford: Oxford University Press. —This book by David Crystal looks at every aspect of the phenomenon of text-messaging and considers its impact on language, literacy, and society.
STUDY QUESTIONS AND ACTIVITIES
- 1. How has the Internet changed the way people communicate? What are some similarities and differences between online communication and face- to-face conversation? How are emotions (e.g., happiness, anger, annoyance, surprise, puzzlement) expressed face-to-face and online?
- 2. Interview someone who speaks a localized variety of English (e.g., Nigerian English, Indian English, Jamaican English). When did that person learn English and under what circumstances? What other language(s) or dialect(s) does he/she speak? Ask him/her to give you examples of how that variety differs from Standard English (e.g., American, Canadian, British, etc.) in terms of pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar, and usage.
- 3. Analyze a bilingual song or a poem. What is the song (or poem) about and how does language mixing serve the artist’s purpose? Why do you think the writer decided to use two languages? What are the benefits and disadvantages of writing in two languages? Provide a transcript of the song (or poem) with translations in English.
- 4. What role do educators and language professionals (e.g., teachers, linguists, materials writers) play in preserving linguistic diversity in the world?