Abstract This dissertation suggests a new approach to the translation of African literature, and more precisely African literature in English, considering that the English language has evolved. In most former colonies, New Englishes exist alongside standard varieties of English. This linguistic trend needs to be accompanied by well thought out and researched strategies, if translations are to match the success of the original versions. As a first step, the research report engages with a definition of New Englishes as well as of other important concepts in the research report: colonialism, post-colonialism, negritude, translation, nativisation and indigenisation. Examples of New Englishes are established through an analysis of The Famished Road. This is followed by a discussion of translation theory, with special focus on dynamic equivalence and functionalism. Finally, recommendations are made in relation to methods and strategies for translating a West African novel from English to French.

Articles continue to be one of the most puzzling aspects of English grammar. This thesis investigates article use variation in two groups of English varieties: Inner Circle and Outer Circle. The first group, comprising British English, American English, Australian English and New Zealand English, represents English varieties in their traditional contexts. The second group, consisting of Singapore English, Indian English, Philippine English and Kenyan English, represents varieties which are deeply entrenched in their communities due to colonial roots. The study is premised on the naturalness of corpus data. Three corpus-based analyses were conducted to investigate articles and their frequency, collocation and usage types. The frequency analysis revealed that articles are idiosyncratically used by the varieties with no clear divide between the two groups. Text types, on the other hand, emerged as a more powerful determinant of the observed frequencies. It was found that fewer articles were used in spoken language. In the collocational analysis, the varieties were found to favour different complementation patterns for two-word and multiple-world clusters. The Inner Circle varieties, however, shared more complementation patterns among them, demonstrating greater stability in terms of variation. Finally the analysis of usage types discovered ‘marked’ or untypical patterns of use in the Outer Circle group’s structural and situational definites. A number of untypical usages of first-mention/quantitative 'a/an' were also found in this group. In the same analysis, a case study of ‘house’ uncovered a few marked uses of ??, which signalled the null form but not the zero article. Although the collective findings in this study indicate that article use in both groups of varieties has more similarities than differences, the latter leave more impression on observers. These differences can be attributed to such diverse factors as text types, socio-cultural content of collocates, specificity, recategorisation of countness, indiscriminate rule application and ungrammaticality. Theoretically, however, the variation can be captured by the application of Chesterman’s three composite meanings of definiteness – locatability, inclusiveness and extensivity – and their permutations. As an instance of nativisation, article use in the Outer Circle is limited in its diffusion. The observed innovations rarely creep into more formal registers.

archives@tulane.edu / This dissertation presents the results of a tripartite exploration of English use by Latinxs in post-Katrina New Orleans, defined here as an ethnolinguistic repertoire that I call New Orleans Latinx English (NOLAE). The project considers how contemporary English use differs from that found in a pre-Katrina sample, how social network geometry influences linguistic performance, and how the localized discursive articulation of the Latinx community shapes the sociolinguistic context. I find that while vowel realization patterns provide no evidence of large-scale deviation across the pre-and-post Katrina samples, there are four vowels which exhibit statistically significant divergence. In each of these cases, the post-Katrina sample is more variable. I also illustrate that the geometry of the local Latinx social network, defined in terms of neighborhood affiliations, has a statistically significant impact on the realization of linguistic variables. Finally, I demonstrate that Spanish and Spanish-influenced English are discursively constructed as marked linguistic performance, leading local Latinxs to aspire to ‘standard’ English performance in public spaces. Differential experiences of this pressure is posited to underlie much of the linguistic variation observed in NOLAE, both across the pre-and-post-Katrina samples and within the contemporary sample. / 1 / Thomas D Lewis

This thesis describes and analyses distinctive characteristics of the emerging variety of English, that is, Nepali English. It draws on news texts written in Nepali English and compares them with similar news texts appearing in Australian newspapers. On the basis of the analysis, a preliminary taxonomy of markers of Nepali English is established.The research draws theoretical insights from sociolinguistics, contrastive rhetoric/contrastive discourse analysis and the analysis of news as discourse. Findings and the analysis of the findings are presented by using analytical models developed and widely used in the study of non-native varieties of English. Analysis and discussion of the findings suggest that systematic and regular features of Nepali English have developed, and these formal features have specific functions in the context in which they are used.

abstract: This study investigates how university instructors from various disciplines at a large, comprehensive university in the United States evaluate different varieties of English from countries considered "outer circle" (OC) countries, formerly colonized countries where English has been transplanted and is now used unofficially and officially to varying degrees. The study was designed to address two gaps in the research: (1) how instructors in increasingly internationalized U.S. universities evaluate different written varieties of English, since many international students may be writing in an L1 other than American English, and (2) how instructors' first language and/or disciplinary backgrounds appear to affect their evaluations. Through a comparison of rankings and qualitative analysis of interview data, the study examines whether the participating instructors value the same features and characteristics in writing, such as text and organization features, found in American English and varieties of OC written English. In addition, it examines whether one's first or native language or one's disciplinary training affects the perception and evaluation of these particular varieties of English. This study showed that what is currently valued and expected by instructors from various disciplines in U.S. universities is what may be identified as an "American" style of writing; participants expected an organization providing a clear purpose up front, including paragraphs of a certain length, and containing sentences perceived as more direct and succinct. In addition, given the overall agreement on the element of good writing demonstrated in how composition and content area professors ranked the writing samples, my study suggests that what is being taught in composition is preparing student for the writing expected in content area classes. Last, my findings add to World Englishes (WE) research by adding a writing component to WE attitudinal research studies, which have previously focused on oral production. Almost equal numbers of Native and Non-Native English Speakers (NESs and NNESs) participated, and the NNESs appeared more tolerant of different varieties, unlike the preference for inner circle norms noted in previous studies. This study, therefore, has implications for writing research and instruction at U.S. colleges and universities, as well as informing the field of World Englishes. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. English 2014

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This dissertation presents the development of the Kachruvian paradigm of world Englishes and sheds light on keynotions in each developmental stage of Braj Kachru’s research. It intends to answer the question: how was the Kachruvian paradigm of world Englishes formed? Thiswas not the initial aim of the project. Instead, its significance has two phases, a pre-project and post-project phase. The pre-project goal was an attempt to clarify various misunderstandings or misrepresentations of world Englishes as a field of study as well as a sociolinguistic phenomenon. However, when approaching the completion of this dissertation, the actual significance (the post-project) gradually shifted. It evolved into a working answer to the research question, that is what events and influences reveal the process of the development of what has come to be known as the Kachruvian paradigm of world Englishes. The beginning of the process can be dated back to Braj Kachru’s graduate school years, when he hesitated to affirm the linguistic and sociolinguistic existence of Indian English; his death marked the end of his development of the paradigm, but the field of world Englishes, which had reached global interest long before then, has continued to cultivate scholars of English varieties around the world. The description of the development of the paradigm undertaken in this dissertation is a close review of Kachru’s work over five decades (the 1960s to the 2000s).

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In this dissertation, I draw on comparative studies of English to establish a framework for looking at how Portuguese studies and teaching are shaped by political economies, cultural hierarchies, and educational institutions in Brazil and Cape Verde. I examine how English and Portuguese are constructed as world languages and how English and Portuguese rhetorics shape language teaching. People who are locally engaged contest these global constructions. As a result, diverse people construct world languages by adopting, adapting, resist, and transforming it in specific locations (Pennycook). First, I identify compositionists in the U.S. with what I call a rhetoric of multilingualism in which teachers of English should view English in relation to other Englishes and other languages. Secondly, I examine how the transnational organization for Portuguese-speaking countries perpetrates lusotropicalism--Gilberto Freyre's social theory of the Portuguese exceptionality to create a hybrid culture in the tropics. Despite fostering adaptability to local cultures, peoples, and languages, Freyre's lusotropical rhetoric eschews diversity by maintaining that a culture and a language should promote homogeneity. Then, I analyze the linguistic contexts, educational policies, and data gathered from questionnaires and interviews with language teachers in Brazil and Cape Verde. In light of higher education expansion and the maintenance of excellence, I argue that language teachers should promote the writing of Portuguese as a rhetorical construction in which grammar and mechanical correctness is only one aspect of writing instruction. Lastly, I propose the use of code meshing as a pedagogical strategy in academic discourse because it values language in its diversity and its relation to other languages. I argue that students' multilingual strategies deserve a place in academic writing. The rhetorical construction of language in academia could also become multilingual--globally networked and locally engaged. This study contributes to the internationalist discussions about how to teach writing in different languages and educational contexts.

This study aimed to explore whether non-native English-language teachers were aware of the existence of the English as a Lingua Franca paradigm and to examine their aspirations and preferences for themselves and their students as learners of English. Five research questions guided the study: 1) What variety of English do non-native teachers aspire to for themselves? 2) What variety of English do non-native teachers aspire to for their students? 3) What environments (native vs. non-native) do they consider to be most conducive for the acquisition of English? 4) Do they emphasize accuracy vs. intelligibility? 5) Is there a relationship between their aspirations and their preferences for accuracy and/or acceptability? The findings provided empirical evidence that non-native English teachers are aware of the different English varieties. The participating teachers seemed to put higher emphasis on intelligibility than on grammatical accuracy if they thought that certain utterances would not impede international communication. The results also revealed a dual orientation in participants' aspirations, where their awareness of the diversity of English varieties and their emphasis on intelligibility was paradoxically contradicted by their own strong preferences for native-like models of pronunciation and lexical knowledge.