230168 Postcolonial Englishes (BS) (WiSe 2014/2015)

The spread of English around the world has given us a diverse range of varieties of English, as well as pidgins and creoles. This course intends to provide an account of the evolution of these post-colonial varieties by looking at the historical and social factors that have shaped them on all levels of linguistic description. We will also look at the relationships and communication needs of the colonizers, the colonized and other parties involved. We will introduce general issues such as language contact, language change and related topics, including multilingualism and other sociolinguistic issues. These will eventually be applied to individual case studies of different countries across all continents. We will thus take a bird’s eye view and look at the similarities between the different varieties of English and, at the same time, we will investigate the local forms and functions of English in specific localities where it has been adapted and indigenized to express local cultures and identities.

Please note: There is a complementary class on ' Postcolonialism: British Colonies Post-Independence' taught by Prof.Schwarzkopf, and we recommend participating in both classes. We will organize joint sessions and suggest joint student presentations. Therefore coming to the preparatory meeting on October 21st is absolutely mandatory for participating in this class.