2 Volume 1: The British Isles

With its little more than 500 pages, volume 1, The British Isles, edited by Bernd Kortmann and Clive Upton, is the slimmest of the four volumes. This may be surprising, since it is often, also in this volume itself (p. 27), claimed that – mainly because of time depth – regional variation is more striking in this comparatively small area than anywhere else. According to Wells (Reference Wells1982: 4), for example, the ‘coherent alternative language variety’ traditional-dialect is not found in English-speaking countries outside the British Isles (with the possible exception of Newfoundland and the Appalachians). In their introduction to the volume, the editors account for the coverage of British Isles accents and dialects, stating that all the major accent and dialect distinctions are represented to the extent that chapters (on phonology as well as morphosyntax) are devoted to Scotland, Wales, Ireland (Northern and Southern Irish English in the same chapters), Northern England and Southern England (divided into Southeast and Southwest in the morphosyntax section). In addition, there are shorter chapters on special areas such as Orkney and Shetland, the Channel Islands, East Anglia and the West Midlands. The selection of these ‘somewhat less extensive areas’ (p. 28) is not arbitrary, but to some extent probably based on the availability of data from recent research. It is, for example, a pity that Scotland's Western Isles and the Isle of Man are not included. Finally, two featured topics are more socially than regionally determined: British Creole and Received Pronunciation. The introduction also contains a brief account of dialect surveys in the British Isles, especially the Survey of English Dialects but also more recent, computerized data collections such as the Freiburg English Dialect Corpus and the Sound Atlas of Irish English.

I will focus on the following chapters in particular: ‘Received Pronunciation’ by Clive Upton (pp. 237–52); ‘English dialects in the North of England’ by Joan Beal (phonology and morphosyntax) (pp. 122–44, 373–403); ‘The dialects in the South of England: phonology’ by Ulrike Altendorf and Dominic Watt (pp. 194–222); ‘English dialects in the Southwest: morphology and syntax’ by Susanne Wagner (pp. 417–39).

In the introduction to this volume, Received Pronunciation (RP) is presented as ‘a supra-regional accent model frequently used in the teaching of English worldwide’ (p. 24). Its description, on the other hand, is said to play ‘only a very minor part in the analysis of the regional varieties, each of which is described in its own terms rather than in any sense as divergent from an externally-imposed norm’. Whereas I can certainly go along with the guiding principle expressed in the last sentence, it is still not clear to me why RP should be included in the publication, at least not represented by a whole chapter. The importance of RP, not as a norm but as a ‘reference accent’, is undisputed and demonstrated in this volume by the sheer number of references in the subject index to virtually all the chapters in the phonology section. Strangely enough, the leading expert on RP, J. C. Wells, is not represented among the selected references at the end of the chapter (though Jones, Gimson and Cruttenden are). It is true that Wells’ pioneering Accents of English (Reference Wells1982) is included among the long list of general references, but since his lexical sets constitute the framework for the publication under review, his work is of paramount interest for this publication and for an account of RP at that. As I see it, a detailed, general presentation of the lexical set framework, which may well be unfamiliar to parts of the presumably worldwide readership, would have been more welcome than a chapter on RP ‘in its own right’.

This is not to say that the chapter on RP is an inferior piece of writing; on the contrary, it makes interesting reading and is quite original, giving a fair background to the sociocultural assumptions underpinning the development of RP as a concept. Like Gimson (and Wells, for that matter), Upton emphasizes the changing role and perception of RP, which is obviously not a static accent, as some of its proponents seem to have argued. The thrust of the chapter, however, is the representation of the accent, which has become a matter of some controversy. The description and transcription of RP here is of a redefined, ‘diluted’ form of the accent, claimed to be more widely used socially than the earlier characterization (Wells Reference Wells1982, for example) as an upper- or upper-middle class accent. It draws on the new transcription conventions first deployed by Upton in The New Shorter Oxford English Dictionary (1993), and differs from otherwise generally embraced practices, such as those found in the Longman Pronunciation Dictionary (Wells Reference Wells2008), with reference to the following conceptions of vowel quality: /ɛ/ instead of /e/, /a/ instead of /æ/ for the dress and trap vowels, generally agreed to have undergone lowering, the ‘schwa symbol’ /ə/ used (with lengthmarks) for nurse as well, the monophthong /ɛː/ instead of a diphthong in square, and – curiously – /ʌɪ/ instead of /aɪ/ in price (cf. Wells Reference Wells2001, who describes the last-mentioned choice as ‘bizarre’).

In her superb coverage of the North of England, by no means a homogeneous linguistic area, Beal succeeds in illuminating its demographic and linguistic history as well as presenting detailed phonological accounts of several sub-areas, such as Northumberland, Merseyside and central Lancashire. In contrast with most other chapters on phonology in this publication, information is also given on prosodic features and voice quality. Introducing her chapter on morphosyntax, which is partly based on data from two recent corpora (NECTE and CSU), Beal states that there are ‘very few features which both distinguish Northern dialects from those of the South and Midlands, and can be found throughout the North’ (p. 373). With regard to morphosyntax and lexis, the external histories of the regions have played an important part (e.g. the ‘Scandinavian belt’, but also Irish-influenced areas such as Liverpool and Newcastle). The chapter further contains an interesting section on the organization of discourse, for example right- and left-dislocation, and a section on lexis, including a fascinating account of variation in terms of endearment and discourse markers.

The chapter on ‘Southern English’ phonology focuses on two areas: the Southeast (with special reference to London and the Home Counties) and the Southwest, thus excluding East Anglia, which is dealt with in a separate chapter. The introduction to the chapter overlaps to some extent with Beal's account of the North, drawing on Trudgill's north–south distinctions in his widely quoted classification of English dialects (Trudgill Reference Trudgill1999). The subdivision into Southeastern and Southwestern is based exclusively on the realization of post-vocalic /r/: Southwestern local accents are r-ful whereas Southeastern accents are not (or, at least, they are recessive). In their account of West Country accents, Altendorf and Watt rely on well-established sources, notably Wells (Reference Wells1982), Wakelin (Reference Wakelin1986), Hughes & Trudgill (Reference Hughes and Trudgill1996), whereas the considerably longer section on the Southeast is more innovative and relates closely to their own research (e.g. Altendorf Reference Altendorf2003). A lucid account is given of the complicated demographic and linguistic history of ‘the Home Counties Modern Dialect Area’ (Trudgill Reference Trudgill1999: 65), including the creation of the ‘new towns’ and present-day dialect levelling. An informative and balanced account is given of ‘Estuary English’, which is not favoured as a term but discussed as a phenomenon. Insightfully, the authors state (p. 203):

In Wagner's chapter on Southwestern morphology and syntax, the West Country is treated as a homogeneous linguistic area, focusing on its core area: Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Somerset and Wiltshire. By way of introduction it is pointed out that whereas the most widely quoted ‘peculiarities’ in the variety tend to be related to phonology, such as the voicing of initial fricatives (incidentally described as ‘highly recessive today’ in the chapter by Altendorf and Watt), West Country dialect is rich in morphosyntactic ‘idiosyncrasies’ as well. Wagner's presentation of this unique dialect region is exemplary, assessing and making use of a range of different sources, including ‘lay linguistic’ comments as well as the findings of the Survey of English Dialects (SED). She has used the little-known work Wessex Dialect (Rogers Reference Rogers1979) as a background against which she has judged the data, which are predominantly taken from the Freiburg English Dialect Corpus (FRED). Accounting for the variety's morphosyntax in accordance with the recommended list, she is able to exemplify virtually all items by regional features, some of which are shared with other non-standard varieties, however. Truly region-specific features include pronoun exchange (I didn't know they; What did ’em call it?), ‘gendered pronouns’, especially the use of masculine forms for inanimate referents as in I bet thee cansn’ climb he [= tree] (p. 425), and the verbal ending -y, functioning as a mark of intransitivity, contrasting I do dig the garden with Every day, I do diggy for three hours (p. 432). Although some alleged West Country features are to be found in other regional (British and overseas) varieties and even universally in non-standard language, Wagner is able to establish that

3 Volume 2: The Americas and the Caribbean

Volume 2, The Americas and the Caribbean, edited by Edgar Schneider, comprises 800 pages, the bulk of which is, in fact, devoted to varieties other than North American dialects in a ‘traditional’ sense, i.e. derived from the speech of English-speaking settlers.

The phonology section is, interestingly, introduced by a presentation of ‘Standard American English pronunciation’, constituting a companion piece to the chapter on RP in volume 1. Otherwise, the phonological part of the volume consists of large-scale overviews of New England, the ‘Northern cities’ (including New York), rural Southern white accents as well as a separate account of the urban South, and the West and Midwest. Two chapters are devoted to Canada: one an overview and the other on Newfoundland English. African American Vernacular English (AAVE) is described in a chapter and so are various lesser-known varieties such as Gullah, Cajun Vernacular English and Chicano English. The six remaining chapters deal with the Caribbean.

The morphosyntactic section is introduced by a chapter, with no counterpart in the British volume, entitled ‘Colloquial American English: grammatical features’. There is no general description of Canadian English, but one on Newfoundland. US regional and ethnic varieties are represented by two chapters on AAVE, based on distinctive regional and temporal data, chapters on Appalachian English, rural/ethnic varieties in the Southeast, Chicano English and Gullah. Nearly all of the Caribbean varieties are represented by morphosyntactic chapters as well.

Considering the enormous scope covered in the volume – regionally, obviously, but also demographically and typologically – it cannot have been an easy task to introduce it. It is to his credit that its editor begins his introduction by asking ‘One region?’ and states that the decision to deal with the Americas and the Caribbean in one volume ‘is a decision that requires some discussion, perhaps justification’ (p. 23). Although it makes sense from a global geographical perspective as well as historically, ‘with roughly similar population movements having occurred at similar times’, there are, undeniably, some fundamental differences between the emergence and character of the settlements and linguistic areas. The attraction of religious freedom and prosperity in the case of North American settlers is a very different settlement scenario from the exploitation of the Caribbean through the institution of slavery. Another important difference is the largely British predominance in North America as compared to the ‘fragmented belonging’ characterizing the Caribbean. From a linguistic perspective, the main difference lies in the shaping of North American varieties through dialect transmission, whereas Caribbean Englishes are shaped by processes of creolization (p. 23). The general discussion and balanced justification of the contents of the volume is followed by a succinct account of the settlement history, a condensed but informative section on ongoing research, a brilliant analysis of ‘parameters of variation by language level’ and finally a brief presentation-cum-justification of the chapters selected for the volume.

In my attempt to offer a varied and balanced review of this massive volume, I have made the following fairly substantial ‘selection from the selection’: ‘Standard American English pronunciation’ by William A. Kretzschmar, Jr (pp. 37–51); ‘Rural Southern white accents’ by Erik R. Thomas (pp. 87–114); ‘The urban South: phonology’ by Jan Tillery and Guy Bailey (pp. 115–28); ‘English in Canada: phonology’ by Charles Boberg (pp. 144–60); ‘Newfoundland English: phonology, morphology and syntax’ by Sandra Clarke (pp. 161–80; 492–509); ‘Chicano English: phonology’ by Otto Santa Ana and Robert Bayley (pp. 219–38); ‘Colloquial American English: grammatical features’ by Thomas E. Murray and Beth Lee Simon (pp. 401–27); ‘Appalachian English: morphology and syntax’ by Michael B. Montgomery (pp. 428–67); ‘Earlier African American English: morphology and syntax’ by Alexander Kautzsch (pp. 534–50); ‘Surinamese creoles: morphology and syntax’ by Donald Winford and Bettina Migge (pp. 693–731).

In presenting ‘parameters of variation’ in his introduction to this volume, Schneider states that ‘there is in fact no single American norm of pronunciation that corresponds to RP in England, being a non-regional class dialect’ (pp. 28–9). What, then, one may wonder, is the gist of Kretzschmar's chapter entitled ‘Standard American English pronunciation’? The widely used, yet admittedly never satisfactory, ‘default’ term ‘General American’ (sometimes defined as ‘unmarked speech of the Midwest’), which has no historical justification, is first dismissed, since it signals an ill-founded belief in the existence of a perfect and exemplary state of American English. ‘Standard American English’, by contrast, is defined as a kind of ‘baseline’, referring to ‘the level of quality employed by educated speakers in formal settings’ (pp. 37–8) and, most importantly, it may differ from region to region and even from person to person. This chapter is, rightly, very much concerned with the demographic background, highlighting, for example the great mobility of the American population. The most highly educated speakers, in particular, have become nationally mobile, which has led to ‘the growth of the notion that highly educated speech should not show evidence of regional affiliation’. Standard American English, according to Kretzschmar, ‘can best be characterized as what is left over after speakers suppress the regional and social features that have risen to salience and become noticeable’ (p. 42). In line with the format of this publication, the chapter is concluded by a ‘model’ for pronunciation (to be consulted, presumably, in EFL teaching). The model, based on the Wells lexical sets, includes columns for ‘marked’ and ‘unmarked’; only about one-third of the items display marked forms, however, such as [a] for bath instead of [æ]. In all, this is a thought-provoking chapter, but not very informative as a description of an accent, as the author is well aware (‘there is less to say about StAmE than about positively-defined varieties from different regions’).

The chapter on rural Southern white accents, on the other hand, deals with – at least stereotypically – perhaps the most characteristic variety in the USA. Southern American English has been extensively researched by dialectologists and, in addition to his own substantial work, Thomas bases his chapter on an impressive bulk of previous research. Opinions vary as to the areal definition of the variety; here the wide definition once given by Kurath (Reference Kurath1949) is applied: rural white southern accents occur ‘throughout the southeastern part of the United States, excepting southern Florida, at least as far north as southern Maryland, central West Virginia, Kentucky, southern Missouri, and eastern and southern Oklahoma and perhaps as far west as western Texas and parts of eastern New Mexico’ (p. 87). Not surprisingly, there is considerable dialect diversity within this large region, which can to a great extent be explained by its sociohistorical background. This is outlined in a most instructive way, including comments on linguistic features as probable results of language contact and social mobility. There are, for example, ‘outlying’ areas in the region that remained relatively isolated until the twentieth century. The demographic history of the South is complicated, with a variety of non-English settlers from the eighteenth century onwards, but also substantial input from Ulster Scots. Certain dialect features can be traced back to plantation areas. Another important factor was the industrial revolution after the Civil War, which led to considerable migration.

In his fine-grained phonological analysis, for which he has felt the need to add several items to the Wells lexical sets, Thomas includes apparent-time changes by supplying information from two age groups, ‘older’ and ‘younger’. It is shown, for example, how older speakers distinguish trap and bath, whereas younger speakers do not; virtually all the long vowels, in fact, are more ‘drawled’ in the speech of the older group. Commenting on the ‘Southern drawl’, the author writes that ‘it seems to be more observable in the speech of Southerners born before 1960 than in the speech of those born afterward, though published evidence for such a trend is lacking’ (p. 93). Another recessive feature, also related to prosody, is the often imitated placement of primary stress on the initial syllable in a number of words, such as police, hotel, behind. Still, the author points out, features of stress and rhythm remain characteristic of Southern English but have unfortunately not been investigated. The chapter further contains information on lexical distribution, detailed social/regional accounts of vowel quality and distribution, extensive coverage of /r/ with respect to occurrence as well as quality, and an informative and inspiring discussion of the relationship between Southern white accents and African American Vernaculars.

The description of rural Southern accents is interestingly complemented in the following chapter by Tillery and Bailey, who consider phonology in the urban South. In their introduction, the authors state explicitly that a comparison with the features of rural phonology outlined by Thomas is made. Their chief message is that the massive urbanization of the American South since 1880 has caused a transformation of the regional dialect. They begin by giving a well-researched and detailed sociohistorical account of the urbanization process, after which they turn to their linguistic analysis. Important factors in the reshaping and transformation of the dialect, often directly reflected in realizations of the lexical sets, have been extensive in-migration from the Midwest, the rapid growth of the Hispanic population and the increasing stigmatization of ‘anything resembling the Southern Drawl’ (p. 120). Most of the characteristics of the ‘transformed’ urban accents are, in fact, already signalled in Thomas’ chapter, but are here anchored more deeply in the transformation of society.

Boberg's chapter on Canadian English phonology is introduced by an informative account of Canada's complicated settlement history, especially with reference to the input from many different American as well as British varieties. An important section is devoted to the status of Canadian English, especially with reference to British vs American identity and the growing sense of Canadian identity after World War II. Altogether, this is a solid and well-researched description of a national variety, not always recognized in its own right due to its powerful neighbour. It is concluded by a section entitled ‘Canada within the dialect taxonomy of North American English’, speculating about the somewhat uncertain future of Canadian English; yet finally stating that ‘it seems likely that . . . the sound of Canadian English will be closely bound up with Canadians’ sense of identity for many generations to come’ (p. 158).

Newfoundland has already been mentioned in this review as one of the few possible English-speaking communities where traditional-dialect (Wells Reference Wells1982: 4) still exists. As emerging from the worldwide synopses based on the contributions to the two-volume Handbook (2004), i.e. the same contributions as in this four-volume version, Newfoundland indeed comes out as ‘the winner’ in terms of uniqueness and richness in forms. Still, as Sandra Clarke points out in her chapter on morphosyntax (p. 493), the features documented by her are socially restricted, above all associated with the vernacular grammars of working-class rural residents, and many of them tend to be quite recessive. Interestingly, there are some striking parallels between traditional Newfoundland features and African American as well as Caribbean Englishes, which Clarke ascribes to the fairly similar time-depth of settlement as well as geographical origins of the founder populations. With a population of about half a million residents, Newfoundland may be a relatively small speech community in a World English perspective, yet the area is characterized by considerable dialect diversity. In addition to social factors and the relative isolation of many speech communities, this diversity can be ascribed to the continued input from two specific regions with distinctive and conservative dialects of English: the West Country (reflected, for example, in the pronominal system) and the southeast counties of Ireland. There are also a large number of Scottish settlements. Newfoundland today is, of course, increasingly influenced by mainland North American models (see p. 162).

Clarke's detailed phonological analysis bears witness to the uniqueness and variation mentioned above: all lexical sets representing stressed vowels have at least two different realizations, many have as many as four and mouth has five variants (distributed socially as well as regionally). A unique feature characteristic of conservative speakers is that a number of words, including put, took and look, do not belong to the foot set but to strut.

Chicano English, obviously, is the result of a totally different language contact scenario. Santa Ana and Bayley are keen to do away with the popularly embraced misconception that the variety is ‘simply the mispronounced English of Spanish speakers who are learning English as a second language’ (p. 219), which has serious consequences in American schools. Instead, they define Chicano English as ‘a native variety of English that has been influenced by the Mexican Spanish substrate’, whose features ‘originated as second language learning features that Euro-Americans made salient in the English/Spanish contact setting’ (p. 235). These features, especially a highly salient prosody, do not seem to be abandoned in Chicano communities, although they must be regarded as largely unconscious, which – according to the authors – ‘reveals a lasting sense of belonging to their community and culture’ (p. 236).

The chapter with the intriguing – and somewhat misleading – title ‘Colloquial American English: grammatical features’ in actual fact describes the distinctiveness of the grammar of the North, Midwest and West, thus excluding New England, the South and ‘the northern cities’ as well as many ethnic-based varieties. The description includes regionally restricted features as well as socially and stylistically diagnostic ones, recognized as ‘vernacular’. A perusal of the categories and examples relating to the latter category demonstrates that there is a striking affinity with widespread non-standard features in British varieties, e.g. multiple negation and extension of object forms to demonstratives. The more regionally based category, too, demonstrates affinity with British dialects, but then to geographically restricted ones. The information contained in this chapter is useful, if not groundbreaking, but a counterpart in volume 1 would have been equally justified.

As pointed out in the introduction to the following chapter, the English spoken in Appalachia has probably received more attention than any other region in America. In particular, it has been carefully researched by Michael Montgomery, the author of the chapter in this publication. Here the principal characteristics are categorized and richly exemplified, clearly displaying the uniqueness of the variety and its affinity with various regional British dialects (Scottish, Irish, Northern, Southwestern). Montgomery is generally keen to clarify and dispose of some myths concerning Appalachian English, e.g. the claim that it is ‘Elizabethan’ (‘it is far more accurately described as “colonial American”’ (p. 429)) and the belief that the region is extremely isolated.

The chapter on Earlier African American English is important in adding a historical dimension to this much-studied variety. It is also very useful for prospective researchers, listing and assessing early sources, highlighting core issues in the study of early AAVE and presenting major issues in current research.

The pioneering study of Surinamese creoles, finally, is a sophisticated presentation and analysis of a ‘lesser-known’ and under-researched variety, resulting from an unusually complicated language contact scenario.

4 Volume 3: The Pacific and Australasia

Volume 3, The Pacific and Australasia, edited by Kate Burridge and Bernd Kortmann, exceeds the British Isles volume by some 100 pages, which may seem surprising, since its largest English-speaking territory, Australia, has often been claimed to display very little regional variation in language. Indeed, as seen from the table of contents, only about one-sixth is devoted exclusively to what is generally understood as Australian English (AusE). In addition to three substantial chapters on New Zealand English, there are contributions on Australian creoles and Aboriginal English as well as Maori English, but also extensive coverage of ‘lesser-known varieties’ such as Solomon Islands Pijin and Norfolk Island–Pitcairn English, also (somewhat surprisingly) including Hawai'i Creole.

In their introduction to the volume, its editors, referring to the contributions as ‘linguistic sketches’, emphasize that these include native as well as contact varieties, which have evolved as a consequence of the spread of English in ‘these regions’. The inclusion of the Hawaiian Islands is justified on account of their geographical location. In presenting the native varieties, an informative though traditional account of the arrival and development of English in the region, with special reference to Australia and New Zealand, is first given, largely supporting the view that there is considerable regional homogeneity, ascribed to the ‘melting-pot’ effect (p. 24), with the possible exception of New Zealand's ‘Scottish’ area on the South Island. Although lay perceptions appear to suggest characteristic variation, especially relating to vocabulary, the editors take the view that ‘accent and dialect differences are more likely to be a matter of statistical tendency’ (p. 24). Interestingly, however, they predict that there may well be an increase in regional differences in Australia and New Zealand, partly due to the fact that there is no single prestige regional variety in either country. In addition, the considerable impact of ethnic variation and mixing as well as increasing openness to global influence, especially from the US, will inevitably play a part in the region's linguistic future.

The section introducing the contact varieties first provides an instructive but fairly elementary definition of pidgins and creoles and then sketches the sociohistorical background to their emergence throughout this vast region. A common denominator, especially in Australia, has been the need for communication following closely ‘on the heels of drastic social upheaval’, e.g. the movement of various linguistic groups to mission stations and towns (p. 29). In New Zealand, on the other hand, there was only one indigenous language and hence no need for a lingua franca between indigenous groups. The contact variety representing NZ in the volume is thus not classified as a pidgin or creole but referred to as ‘Maori English’. The other varieties featuring in the volume display various degrees and types of creolization. This introductory section is interestingly concluded by raising the question whether these creole varieties, with their ‘deviant’ structures and unique development, are actually ‘varieties of English’. As I see it, the statement ‘The speakers themselves would never call their language a kind of English’ is of importance here. Nevertheless, the editors conclude that these varieties ‘share vocabulary and grammatical features that align them with the English of the international community’. I will return to this issue in my final evaluation.

The following contributions to this volume will be highlighted: ‘Regional and social differences in New Zealand: phonology’ by Elizabeth Gordon and Margaret Maclagan (pp. 64–76); ‘Maori English: phonology’ by Paul Warren and Laurie Bauer (pp. 77–88); ‘New Zealand English: morphosyntax’ by Marianne Hundt, Jennifer Hay and Elizabeth Gordon (pp. 305–40); ‘Regional characteristics of Australian English: phonology’ by David Bradley (pp. 111–23); ‘Hypocoristics in Australian English’ by Jane Simpson (pp. 398–414); ‘Tok Pisin in Papua New Guinea’ by Geoff P. Smith (phonology and morphosyntax) (pp. 188–209, 488–513); ‘Norfolk Island–Pitcairn English: phonetics and phonology’ by John Ingram and Peter Mühlhäusler (pp. 267–91); ‘Norfolk Island–Pitcairn English (Pitkern Norfolk): morphology and syntax’ by Peter Mühlhäusler (pp. 568–82).

In line with the overall planning of the volumes, Gordon's and Maclagan's chapter on phonology opens with a general historical background to the European settlement in New Zealand, dating from 1840. Some interesting figures are displayed showing the origins and NZ locations of UK immigrants in 1871 (p. 66): about 50 per cent of the immigrants came from England, well over 25 per cent from Scotland and somewhat less than 25 per cent from Ireland. This distribution is also more or less adequate for individual areas, with the exception of Southland (in the South Island), which was predominantly Scottish. To this day, this area is characterized by a regionally distinctive accent, popularly known as ‘the Southland burr’. A study in the 1990s showed that especially older males from rural areas were rhotic speakers. Apparent-time studies, however, clearly illustrate the gradual loss of rhoticity.

Disregarding popular, lay characterizations of NZE dialects, Gordon and Maclagan offer a fascinating report based on their own extensive and pioneering research, including the analysis of an archive of recordings of old New Zealanders, some born as early as the 1850s (p. 65). Among other things, their research shows that there are clearly identifiable social-class differences, although New Zealand has often been claimed to be a ‘classless society’. As usual, these differences are particularly noticeable in the vowel system, e.g. most diphthongs and the front vowels, but also in some consonants, exemplified by TH-fronting (overtly stigmatized) and L vocalization. With their access to data representing virtually the whole story of New Zealand English, the authors are in a position to give a convincing account of sound change in progress. The most striking changes in the vowel system are the merging of near and square, which obviously affects a considerable number of lexical items, and the dramatic changes in the quality of the front vowels, whereby dress and trap have been raised and kit centralized and lowered. Interestingly, and in contrast with most other changes, these are not stigmatized, however.

According to Warren and Bauer, authors of the following chapter, ‘Maori English’ is a fairly new concept, often characterized as rather elusive. By way of introduction, it is pointed out that the distinguishing features of this variety are also typically found in ‘“Pakeha” New Zealand English’, i.e. that of ‘European’ New Zealanders. Maori English is now replacing the Maori language as an expression of ethnic and cultural identity; yet it ‘cannot simply be equated with “the English spoken by people of Maori ethnicity”. There are Pakehas who speak Maori English, and Maori people who speak Pakeha English’ (p. 78).

This chapter offers a detailed phonetic description, to a great extent supported by instrumental analysis. It is shown that most of the characteristic features are similar to, but not identical with, those of other varieties of NZE. The kit vowel, for example, is not as centralized in Maori English, which may be related to the quality of Maori short /i/. Another result of possible Maori substrate influence is the variable loss of aspiration on voiceless plosives. A particular prosodic feature now found in English worldwide is the use of so-called HRTs (High Rising Terminals), which are typically found in Maori English. Although not mentioned in this chapter, it has even been suggested that its use in Maori English is the original source (Britain Reference Britain1992). The phonetic description of Maori English is further supported by a detailed and insightful commentary on the accompanying recordings, which adds greatly to the value of this contribution.

The chapter on New Zealand English morphosyntax, including comparisons with other ‘national varieties’ of English, is an elegant demonstration of the increasing importance of large corpora (spoken as well as written) in researching World Englishes. As the authors rightly point out (p. 305): ‘Differences between national standards are a question of degree.’ New Zealand is represented by the Wellington corpora of written and spoken New Zealand English as well as machine-readable versions of two NZ newspapers. The authors deplore the fact that there is little data on non-standard NZE morphosyntax, but offer a ‘selective’ brief description (section 4), with examples largely drawn from the Canterbury Corpus, collected by students. The presented features show great affinity with British dialects, such as the second-person plural form yous, double comparatives, and the ‘Scottish’ construction the baby needs fed (not surprisingly, recorded in Southland).

The chapter by David Bradley is of great interest, since it deals with regional characteristics of Australian English, the existence of which is denied (see e.g. Mitchell & Delbridge Reference Mitchell and Delbridge1965) or viewed with scepticism or at least uncertainty (see above). By way of introduction, Bradley states firmly: ‘The regional phonological characteristics of Australian English are much more subtle than those in the British Isles or North America, but they exist and are continuing to develop.’ In his relatively brief account of relevant features, Bradley, not surprisingly, focuses on vowels, but includes a few points on consonants and, somewhat surprisingly, some notes on the regional lexicon. Some of these are not related to phonology at all, whereas others deal with issues of lexical incidence, such as the variable realization of cicada (p. 119).

Jane Simpson's chapter on ‘Hypocoristics in Australian English’ stands out in the whole publication as the only contribution devoted to one particular feature, albeit one of the most characteristic of Australian English word-formation. It is an excellent paper as such, but its inclusion in the Mouton Handbook could be questioned. The term ‘hypocoristics’ here stands for lexical items formed by shortening, shortening plus suffix and suffixation, which ‘can all be seen as deriving words by matching forms to templates’ (p. 399). The existence of alternative forms of words or names which share part of the same form, have the same denotation, but have different connotations and different levels of formality, is a general characteristic of English but is especially widespread and recognized, if not notorious, in Australia (cf. p. 398).

Examples include the particularly prolific type cardie for ‘cardigan’, leckie for ‘lecture’ and sandie for sandwich, suggesting a kind of diminutive, realized by shortening and -ie. As Simpson explains in her lucid analysis, these terms are not quite adequate, since a diminutive connotation is not always at hand and it is not always a case of shortening (e.g. gifty for ‘gift’). The three types of hypocoristics as mentioned in the previous paragraph can best be accounted for through alignment of the original form with a kind of template, whereby the syllabic structure plays an important part. Simpson identifies nine templates, one of which is constituted by acronyms. The data for her investigation, which are largely taken from her own collections and those of other linguists, comprise 1,740 hypocoristics, which are all accommodated into her template-based model. To exemplify: pav for ‘pavlova’ is aligned with the template ‘one syllable’, which constitutes 11 per cent of the data, whereas coldie (‘cold beer’) represents the template ‘syllable plus /i/ or /s/’, constituting 47 per cent of the data. The latter category is often associated with baby talk, but is actually found in a wide variety of contexts, including place-names and names of occupations, e.g. Palmie ‘Palm Beach’, speechie ‘speech pathologist’. This fascinating paper is concluded by accounts of the history and use of hypocoristics, some interesting suggestions for further research and a number of stimulating and activating study questions.

The chapters on Tok Pisin, both by Geoff Smith, offer a solid and well-researched account of this ‘complex of first and second language varieties’ (p. 193). Despite the massive interest by linguists over the last few decades, the author finds that much remains to be known about the varieties, especially with regard to regional variation in lexico-semantics and morphosyntax, not least ‘before major policy initiatives’ (p. 194). In his comparatively brief phonological description (incidentally not making use of Wells’ lexical sets), he draws attention to the considerable variation, especially among second language speakers, partly due to the influence from English but also from other Papua New Guinea languages, which vary strikingly in their phonology. The phonological chapter is concluded by some well-founded speculations with regard to the future, entitled ‘Tok Pisin and English in contact’. The considerable variability in Tok Pisin is also clearly demonstrated in the accompanying morphosyntactic chapter, which is richly exemplified from Smith's own corpus of first language speakers. This chapter, by contrast, adheres strictly to the general framework of the Mouton Handbook, although obviously demonstrating considerable ‘deviances’ in the actual output as compared with the ENL varieties featured in volume 1, for example. A characteristic feature of Tok Pisin (and Melanesian Pidgin English in general, for that matter) is, for example, the use of a transitive marker (-im) and the multifunctional -pela suffix.

The chapter on Norfolk Island–Pitcairn English phonology is introduced by an interesting discussion on the status of the speech used by the descendants of the Bounty mutineers. In the literature, it has previously been characterized as a ‘dialect of English, dialect of Beach-la-Mar, mixed language, patois, cant, pidgin and creole’ (p. 267). This uncertainty is reflected in the views held by the speakers themselves; there is, for example, no agreement as to whether ‘Norfuk’ and ‘Pitkern’ are varieties of English or whether they are the same language. In their contribution, Ingram and Mühlhäusler have chosen to view the varieties as separate and to focus on Norfolk Island, since its language is better researched and is used by a much larger speech community.

The authors point out that an adequate characterization of ‘Norfuk’ is difficult, because of its unfocused status and co-existence with a range of acrolectal varieties of English. Another factor is that it has long been a stigmatized language. There is, apparently, a growing interest in the speech community in standardizing the language, considering its orthography, lexicon and grammar. The authors, sympathetically, take the view that it ‘would seem very unwise for an outsider to tell people what their language is, or what it should be’ (p. 268).

After an extensive and fascinating account of the sociohistorical background, including early but patchy observations and research on ‘Norfuk’ and ‘Pitkern’, the authors proceed to the main concern of the chapter: a phonetic/phonological description of the former variety. As in the case of many other varieties in volumes 3 and 4, this description only makes use of the lexical-set framework to a limited extent, but is based on detailed phonetic analysis, whereby the vowel space was investigated with the help of instrumental analysis. Target vowels were plotted for each speaker, largely based on the AusE vowel system. The data used for the investigation are taken from a set of dialogues recorded in 1957, supplemented by recordings of present-day speakers. The inventory/analysis is summarized in a figure displaying ‘core stratum Norfolk vowels and diphthongs’ (p. 287). Among the many interesting observations in this chapter is the evidence of incomplete lowering of price, i.e. a phenomenon better known as ‘Canadian Raising’ (p. 283). Finally, the authors have attempted to investigate whether there is any substance in the claim that Norfuk speech is characterized by a highly distinctive and engaging intonation. It seems likely that Norfuk speech employs a wide speech range, with temporally expanded vowels in expanded syllables, but the general results are somewhat inconclusive. The companion chapter on morphosyntax confirms the impression of uniqueness; here, in particular, the account of tense, modality and aspect deserves to be mentioned. Towards the end of the chapter, Mühlhäusler returns to aspects of the sociohistorical background in addition to describing some research interests. He states, interestingly, that the Pitkern/Norfuk language ‘has often been labelled a laboratory test case for linguists, but in comparison to its potential very little actual work has been done to date’ (p. 579).

5 Volume 4: Africa, South and Southeast Asia

For obvious reasons, the 650-page volume 4, Africa, South and Southeast Asia, edited by Rajend Mesthrie, is to an even lesser degree than the previous volume concerned with ENL (L1) varieties. As the editor puts it, ‘indigenous African and Asian languages have survived the impact of colonization better than their counterparts elsewhere’ (p. 24). The main types of English that have developed in Africa and Asia are clearly identified in the editor's introduction (p. 23): ENL as spoken by British settlers and/or their descendants as in South Africa and Hong Kong; ESL, as spoken in, for example, India and Nigeria, ‘where access to English was sufficient to produce a stable second language (L2) used in formal domains like education and government’ and also used as a lingua franca among speakers who do not have the same mother tongue; Pidgin English (only partly derived from English) as spoken, for example, in Cameroon. EFL varieties in the area, such as Chinese English, are not included, but the editor points out that intermediate categories between ESL and EFL appear to exist in some areas which were subject to British influence without being formally colonized, and that some of these may change status after becoming increasingly focused.

The chapters selected for more detailed commentary in this volume are: ‘Cameroon English: phonology’ by Augustin Simo Bobda (pp. 115–32); ‘Cameroon Pidgin English (Kamtok): phonology’ by Thaddeus Menang (pp. 133–49); ‘White South African English: phonology’ by Sean Bowerman (pp. 164–73); ‘St Helena English: phonology’ by Sheila Wilson (pp. 223–30); ‘Liberian Settler English: morphology and syntax’ by John Victor Singler (pp. 385–415); ‘Indian English: syntax’ by Rakesh M. Bhatt (pp. 546–62); and ‘Butler English: morphology and syntax’ by Priya Hosali (pp. 563–77).

Deviating slightly from the general framework of the Handbook, the chapter on Cameroon English phonology is not introduced by an elaborate sociohistorical account of the variety (defined as ‘the English of the educated Anglophone Cameroonian’, which is known to have a high degree of stability (p. 117)). Instead, it comes straight to the point, offering an extremely detailed and systematic phonological analysis, based on the author's own research, showing allegiance to Wells (Reference Wells1982), including rigorous application of the lexical sets. A great deal of lexical-incidental information is also provided, especially with reference to unstressed syllables, whose vowels are normally not reduced. Important characteristics of the variety are, for example, the tendency to merge kit and fleece, the dress split into a closer and more open variant (often in complementary distribution) and the strut/lot/thought/force merger, all part of ‘the restructuring of mother tongue English’, as Bobda puts it (p. 131). On the prosodic level, the word stress patterns are notable, in that stresses tend to be either moved to a later syllable, as in chalʹlenge, or to an earlier one, as in ʹJuly. The author emphasizes, however, that the stress placement in CamE is not random.

Menang's chapter on Cameroon Pidgin English (Kamtok), by contrast, offers a detailed demographic history of the area, including a discussion of the likely scenario in which this pidginized variety of English developed, originating in the early seventeenth century. The English-based pidgin came to replace the Pidgin Portuguese that had long been used in the area. As in most cases of language shift in the past, it is difficult to determine the process and character of the transition (cf. p. 134). A complicating factor is the input from various other languages, especially French (a French-based pidgin variety is also recognized). Today Kamtok ‘bridges the linguistic gap among an estimated one quarter to one third of the country's rural and particularly urban populations’ (p. 136) and is used extensively in the French-speaking areas. It is dominant in a range of domains, such as education, science and popular culture.

Owing to its wide-ranging use and the lack of standardization, Kamtok is not easily described in a set framework. The author has chosen to focus on features found in the speech of a cross-section of Kamtok users, within or near the English-speaking provinces. As in the case of most other pidgin or creole varieties featured in the Handbook, it has apparently not been feasible to make use of Wells’ lexical sets. It appears that whereas Kamtok has about the same number of consonant phonemes as English (presumably RP), there are only six distinctive vowels, which implies that there is a considerable amount of merger, often related to lack of length distinction. This could, of course, easily and economically have been demonstrated by means of Wells’ sets, e.g. ‘the kit/fleece merger’. A further characteristic of Kamtok, shared with many other African varieties, is the non-reduction of vowels, due to a different stress system: after, for example, is realized as /afta/. With regard to consonants, final devoicing is a striking feature, as in /bet pan/ for bed pan, as is cluster simplification, especially in final position, as in /fes/ for first. Finally, there is an ongoing but unresolved debate on whether Kamtok is a tone language or not.

Turning now to ‘White South African English’, an ENL variety, it is worth mentioning that South Africa is represented (with respect to phonology as well as morphosyntax) by three other varieties: Black South African English, Indian South African English, and Cape Flats English. Bowerman's chapter on White SAfE, in fact, provides a useful historical background to the emergence of all these varieties, and also outlines the shifting co-existence with Afrikaans. A detailed phonological description is then given of White SAfE, referring to the first language varieties of English spoken by White South Africans, also considering its ‘offshoots’ spoken in Zimbabwe and Namibia. Social variation in the accents can, as in the case of AusE, usefully be classified into three groupings: Cultivated (approximating to RP), General (associated with the middle class) and Broad (‘associated with the working class and/or African descent, and closely approximating the second-language Afrikaans English variety’ (p. 164)). Bowerman's phonological description, which is strictly based on Wells’ lexical sets, conscientiously embraces all three groupings.

Although more detailed and refined, the vowel system is largely consistent with that provided in Accents of English (Wells Reference Wells1982: 616). Other observations made by Wells are also confirmed, such as the famous kit Split into a front and centralized allophone in complementary distribution. This is claimed to be a reliable sociolinguistic marker for White SAfE in general, yet not found in the Cultivated variety (p. 170). The back vowel in bath, as distinct from other major southern hemisphere varieties, is confirmed. Another indicator is the close realization of the unstressed vowel in happy. The most striking consonantal feature is the lack of aspiration in voiceless plosives, which characterizes the Broad variety. Although not mentioned in the chapter, this is probably due to phonetic interference from Afrikaans (cf. Wells Reference Wells1982: 618).

A lesser variety of southern hemisphere Englishes is that of St Helena, where English is the only language spoken by its approximately 5,000 inhabitants. In her brief chapter on its phonology, Sheila Wilson outlines the demographic history of the island from the early sixteenth century to the present. Interestingly, since access to English was always close at hand, it appears that a creole language never developed on St Helena in spite of the varied input of settlers, slaves and indentured labourers. The phonological analysis, based on Wells’ sets, displays many characteristics similar to other southern-hemisphere varieties (the kit Split, for example), but also features that can be linked to other varieties: /w/ realized as [v], and conversely /v/ as [w] as in some nineteenth-century British accents, and ‘Canadian raising’ in like, right. Wilson humbly concludes: ‘There is clearly much work to be done’ (p. 230). As she wrote this (in 2004), major fieldwork was, in fact, already under way, undertaken by Daniel Schreier, who completed his exhaustive monograph on St Helena in 2008. On the whole, Schreier's segmental analysis does not contradict that of Wilson, but is more detailed and demonstrates variation among different groups of speakers. The only notable difference in the vowel analysis is the perception of nurse, where Wilson gives [a:] as the only realization, which does not feature in Schreier's presentation, although he does point out that there is little lip-rounding.

Turning now to the morphosyntactic part of this volume, three chapters will be addressed, two of which relate to India and the third to a very special variety in Africa, viz. Liberian Settler English. Its history and character differ significantly from other African Englishes in that its founding population, the ‘settlers’, came from America. The Republic of Liberia was founded in 1822 as a settlement for freed slaves (hence its name), and was proclaimed independent in 1847. The account of this unique L1 variety is provided by John Victor Singler, who has published widely on the subject, including the companion chapter on its phonology. Considering syntax, he has chosen to focus specifically on the speech of old people, living in a specific rural area. The reason for this is that this speech may well provide information about the history of African American English, since there was little exposure to standard English among this population until the latter half of the twentieth century.

The presentation follows the template for morphosyntax, revealing interesting features in almost every section. Considering tense and aspect, for example, there is an unusually complex system in the completive–perfective–perfect range, with extensive overlaps among the three concepts, especially in connection with the auxiliaries feni (<finish) and done (p. 396). Some of the examples seem very difficult to interpret, at least to an outsider like this reviewer. Another special feature is copula deletion, which does not conform to AAVE in that it also occurs in past-tense environments, as in There where he at ‘That's where he was’ (p. 402). Unlike many creoles, Liberian Settler English has true adjectives, but in certain cases adjectives are treated like verbs, with preverbal auxiliaries placed before them as in Next morning, the soap done hard (‘will have hardened’) (p. 404).

A concluding section of the chapter contains an important critical analysis of Liberian Settler English in the African American diaspora, where Singler, contrary to views expressed in Poplack and Tagliamonte (Reference Poplack and Tagliamonte2001), claims that ‘many of the prominently unique features of AAVE are actually features of long standing’ (p. 409). Substantial evidence from Liberian Settler English shows that a great many features described as ‘post-Civil War’ in fact were part of AAVE long before that.

Bhatt's chapter on Indian English, in contrast with all other chapters, is exclusively devoted to syntax, leaving morphology aside. It is introduced as presenting descriptive generalizations about the syntax of Indian English, catering for the ‘Standard’ (characterized as ‘essentially similar in its core syntax to Standard British English’) as well as the ‘Vernacular’ variety (not codified, showing structural influence of the local languages of India) (p. 546). The assumption is that the vernacular variety is as systematic as the standard. The author has decided to focus on aspects of the vernacular, ‘since they represent the Indianness of English’, and argues strongly against the ‘deviation from the norm’ hypothesis in accounting for the variety, as posited by Randolph Quirk and other prominent grammarians. This chapter contains an informative socio-historical contextualization, which, incidentally, is lacking in the phonological companion chapter, contrary to the general framework of the Handbook.

This is, by comparison, a very sophisticated and original syntactic analysis, based on carefully selected and collected data, representing three categories: recordings of spontaneous speech, language in published sources and introspective judgments. The presentation does not follow the recommended template as closely as some other contributions but focuses on seven identified syntactic properties, e.g. invariance in tag questions and null arguments (subject/object pro-drop), which will be briefly touched upon here. The author criticizes earlier descriptions of undifferentiated tag questions, as in You have taken my book, isn't it?, pointing out that the tag signals important social meaning, ‘governed by the politeness principle of non-imposition’ (p. 552). In his fascinating commentary, Bhatt draws attention to other instances in the grammar of vernacular IndE ‘where one finds the linguistic form constrained by the grammar of culture’, e.g. in the elaborate use of may to express obligation. With regard to pro-drop, it is allowed both in subject and object position, as illustrated by the following examples, where pro indicates the empty slot (p. 557):

Butler English, finally, is generally classified as a pidgin variety, having arisen out of contact between the first British colonists and the local population. There is, however, some debate as to its status: Mühlhäusler, for example, refers to it as a ‘minimal pidgin’. It could be argued that it is an early fossilized interlanguage rather than a pidgin. According to Priya Hosali, it has its roots in the hierarchical relation of the dominant and the dominated (p. 564); it was, however, and is ‘never spoken among butlers’ in the traditional sense, but Hosali, confusingly, later refers to its use by 20 ‘butlers’ in a wide sense, including soup-cooks and plate-washers. It is spoken in a very restricted set of domains to discuss limited topics. The chapter is richly illustrated by examples, followed by a fairly laconic commentary, suggesting interesting data for comparison with Vernacular Indian English, such as instances of pro-drop referred to as ‘omission of pronoun’: Dining-hall just serve the soup (‘In the dining-hall I just serve the soup’) (p. 566). Omission, incidentally, appears to be a general characteristic of the variety. A striking feature in verb morphology is the use of the present participle for the future as well as a range of other tense and aspect forms (p. 569).

6 CD-ROM, exercises and study questions

This marks the end of a lengthy survey of a gigantic publication; yet only a fraction of it has been presented. Hopefully, it has given some indication as to the richness of the work and to the variation, with regard to geography, obviously, but also to the character of the data, linguistic approach, and socio-historical contextualization. What remains now is some comments on the accompanying CD as part of an assessment of the four volumes as textbooks, and a general evaluation, considering aspects such as the selection of varieties and the contribution towards a typology of Englishes.

The contents of the CD-ROM were briefly described in the introduction to this review. The following comments are restricted to the actual recordings and the interactive maps. In all, the CD-ROM contains 288 graphic files, 2841 sound files and 24 interactive maps. 76 varieties are represented by native speakers, who read the classic IPA text ‘The North Wind and the Sun’, produce lexical set key words and some free speech (usually in an interview situation), which is also displayed in an orthographic transcription. This is, of course, very useful material, especially for teaching, but perhaps less so than when first conceived, considering the wealth of material now available on the internet. The quality of the recordings varies, and, inevitably, quite a few mistakes can be spotted in the transcriptions, e.g. ‘Arcadian’ for Orcadian, which apparently were not always made by the writers of the respective chapters. It is also my impression that the IPA text is not ideal in its somewhat stilted language. Most pidgin and creole informants have, in fact, been asked to read a translation into their own variety, and some other speakers clearly find the text rather awkward and make a few spontaneous changes. The maps, on which it is possible to trace worldwide distributions of special features, such as ‘a special second person pronoun’ or ‘centralized kit’, again constitute excellent illustrative material for teaching.

The concise synopses concluding the phonology and morphology sections in each volume add to the volumes’ value in general and as textbooks in particular. The exercises and study questions vary as to level, originality, and character; at best, they inspire to individual further research and make use of the additional data retrievable from the CD-ROM. I would definitely agree with the claim made in advertising the volumes that they are ‘indispensable textbooks for students of English’; yet, owing to their size and scope, they are perhaps better described as ‘reference textbooks’. Drawing on the experience from my own department in teaching World Englishes, they are much appreciated as complements to introductory textbooks, particularly in connection with individual assignments, projects and essays.