The prevalent use of ELF in global communication necessitates a rethinking of what theoretical frameworks and methodological approaches are appropriate to explain the changing and complex nature of intercultural interactions, particularly, those whereby English is recognised as a passport. This review accounts for ELF interactions in terms of…

The decolonization of knowledge is increasingly high on the agenda of applied and sociolinguistics. This article contributes to this agenda by examining how peripheral multilingual scholars confront their linguistic and epistemic exclusion from global knowledge production. Based on the product of such a challenge -- a Chinese-centric special issue…

This review of research offers a synthesis and analysis of research studies that address issues of language and literacy practices and learning in transnational contexts of migration. We consider how theoretical concepts from transnational migration studies, including particular Boudieusian-inspired concepts such as transnational social field,…

Suggests that the acrimony of debate on global English is partly explained by a top-down approach taken in much of the research on the topic. Proposes a text-based approach, aimed at examining the particular uses of English lexis in non-English contexts and with a view to observing how these relate to larger-scale issues. (Author/VWL)

Recounts the history of interest in developing Esperanto as a lingua franca for international law and diplomacy, beginning with Zamenhof's development of Esperanto and proceeding through the development of a lexicon for the language and through its application to legal issues. Prospects for the future of Esperanto are discussed. (DJD)

Dealing with the relationships among language, communication, and culture, the 12 papers in this collection are divided into three parts. The first part deals with the critical issues related to language acquisition, context, and cognition. The second part presents an array of perspectives in analyzing the role of language in comparative…

Data on foreign language learning and conversational usage from 12 European Union member states (n=13,029) indicate language learning has increased considerably in 40 years. Of the most commonly learned languages (English, French, German), English has gained most, suggesting emergence as a lingua franca. One analysis gauged the probability that a…

English as an international language (EIL) has spread through development of autonomous registers that guarantee specialist communication within global expert communities. Most people learn English for this, not for social conversation with native speakers. Therefore, EIL is English for special purposes. Rather than emphasize "authentic" usage,…

This collection of articles on intercultural communication and pragmatics includes: "Peut-on traduire la publicite? L'exemple des annonces romandes et alemaniques" ("Does Advertising Translate? The Example of Romansch and German Ads") (Marc Bonhomme, Michael Rinn); "La construction de l'image de l'autre dans l'interaction.…

While language switching among multilinguals has been studied in a wide variety of contexts, few attempts have been made to generalize or to integrate findings into useful communication theory. Since language switching is an important part of personal as well as group identity and since issues surrounding language identity are often a focal point…

Anglo-Nigerian Pidgin (ANP), the principal lingua franca of intercultural communication in multiethnic Nigeria, has no recognition as an official language but has penetrated the print and electronic media, especially in southern Nigeria. A survey in six urban centers in southern Nigeria, part of a larger study, investigated the status,…

A discussion of some occurrences of metaphor in Modern Greek is intended to offer insight to foreign language teachers on the handling of the phenomenon in classroom instruction. Some implications for machine translation are also suggested. First, a brief theoretical account of metaphor points out that metaphor occurs in nearly all discourse and…

Data from a larger ethnolinguistic study are presented to demonstrate patterns of pupil-teachers exchanges between bilingual children and monolingual teachers in an urban nursery school in England. Children were aged 3-4 years. Naturally-occurring discourse data were audiotaped and substantial contextual data was gathered. Analysis of patterns in…

A British ethnolinguistic study described the language behavior of 12 preschool children during their first experience in a formal educational setting where they constituted a linguistic minority. All were third-generation, British-born children of Moslem parents of ethnic Pakistani background; their home language was a vernacular Panjabi. Data…

A study analyzed the characteristics of one male physician's foreigner talk over the telephone with non-native speakers (NNSs) of English and compared it to that of native speakers (NSs). The conversations all related to requests that patients come into the office for a periodic, preventative physical exam. Data came from tape recordings of the…