Hundreds of millions of people use English every day everywhere in the worldbut may or may not succeed in understanding each other. Despite the success ofits st... » 

Hundreds of millions of people use English every day everywhere in the worldbut may or may not succeed in understanding each other. Despite the success ofits standard form or forms in many countries the complex called English isimmensely diverse probably more diverse than any single language has everbeen and is likely to become even more so in the next century. This book is acompelling and broadranging invitation to consider the variety the optionsand the implications of this vast system. The English Languages looks at thepluralism of English the Englishes that have arisen in the last twentyyears or so and addresses the question of whether or not English can beconsidered a family of languages in its own right like the Romance languages. «