The major objective of the study is to develop a framework allowing for the systematic investigation of the institutionalised varieties and performance varieties of English (also known as learner Englishes). This involves a detailed description of the forms of English spoken in India and in Russia as well as discussion of sociolinguistic histories…

This paper presents a practical research guide to world English, with particular emphasis on comparative studies of varieties of English. Part I is a select bibliography of journal articles, books, and book chapters relating to comparative studies of English dating from 1992 to 2002. Part II lists the journals included in Part I, and includes…

Compares the distribution of prepositions in American and British English. Two machine-readable one million word Corpora, the Brown Corpus of American English and the Lob Corpus of British are used as a basis of comparison. (Author/OD)

Describes and quantifies aspects of the comparative clauses conjoined with correlatives "than" and "as." The data are compared to show patterns of distribution, their spread across different genres, and the similarity or otherwise of their use in Britain and Australia. Findings show that the scalar comparative clause does not…

Examines the distribution of word-final "/z/" in New Zealand English. The article identifies three main variants of word-final "/z/": a voiced variant, a partially devoiced variant, and a voiceless variant. Findings indicate that the voiceless variant is used more often by Maori than by Pakeha New Zealanders, and that young…

Examines the less obvious differences between British and American English in regard to semantics and grammar. A comparison is made, to see how American and British styles differ for public notice, in an experiment in which speakers of American English were asked to paraphrase notices from a British public utility office. (Author/OD)

Presents a comprehensive analysis of lexical-stress variation in British and American English. A comparison of the pronunciations of all 75,000 entries in a dictionary by John Wells (1990) yields 932 stress-divergent words. The list of words is appended. (Author/VWL)

Investigates the range of Creole and standard English tense-aspect markers used by men and women at two age levels in the Islands of Tobago in the Southern Caribbean. People aged 70 and over and people aged 16-21 were compared on critical social variables and interviews were designed to tap their full range of communicative competence. (Author/VWL)

A study investigated the importance of three elements of intonation (tone units, key, prominence) in three readers of English radio news. Results indicate intonation is used to present the structure of information as the speaker intends it to be interpreted. Intonation functions can be categorized simply under a few discourse functions easily…

Investigates the role of dialect variation in the acquisition of American English by adult second language learners. The study revealed that dialect differences present problems for learners and cause variable intelligibility and negative learner attitude toward some varieties of English and its speakers. This attitude could negatively affect a…