Language & Linguistics Compass

doi: 10.1111/lnc3.12145pmid: N/A

Cutler, Cecelia

doi: 10.1111/lnc3.12139pmid: N/A

Adolescence is a time when many young people begin experimenting with and ‘trying on’ different identities. This process manifests itself in the linguistic choices that they make as they try to signal alignments with particular ethnic groups, subcultures, or lifestyles. The phenomenon of European American or ‘White’ youth who style their speech using features of African American English (AAE) and Hip Hop Nation Language (HHNL) to project their orientation to Hip Hop culture illustrates how this process may involve crossing ethnolinguistic boundaries. This article reviews the dynamics of this phenomenon, how it intersects with sociolinguistic theories of style, and the implications of incorporating discussions about language variation, AAE, and Hip Hop in urban, ethnic minority schools.

Ravindranath, Maya

doi: 10.1111/lnc3.12137pmid: N/A

In a world where most individuals speak more than one language and most languages are in contact with other languages, the study of language in its social context must take into account language contact. Two central questions in the study of language contact and change are (1) whether social or linguistic factors are primary in predicting the outcomes of contact; and (2) whether change in the context of contact is a foregone conclusion. Quantitative studies of sociolinguistic variation provide an effective means of observing change in progress, but the majority of such studies have focused on monolingual speakers/communities. This article gives a brief summary of the study of language contact in variationist sociolinguistics before turning to a discussion of the types of data and approaches best suited to answering the question of how and when contact causes change in multilingual communities. Recognizing that the description of a multilingual community involves more social parameters and more inter‐individual variation than a monolingual one, this article focuses on a core list of social factors to consider in studies of variation and change in multilingual communities, organized so that possible intersections may also be considered.

Sung, Chit Cheung Matthew

doi: 10.1111/lnc3.12142pmid: N/A

Hong Kong English (HKE) has been the subject of a growing body of research over the last few decades. This article presents an overview of research into HKE from both linguistic and sociolinguistic perspectives. The first section reviews the linguistic features of HKE at phonological, grammatical and lexical levels as documented in the literature. In the second section of the article, the development of HKE as a ‘new’ variety of English is discussed from a sociolinguistic viewpoint, with a view to addressing the question of in which phase HKE is currently situated according to Schneider's (2007) Dynamic Model of evolution for New Englishes. A review of the literature suggests that HKE displays a number of phonological, grammatical and lexical features which makes HKE distinguishable from other varieties of English, with the majority of these features attributable to the influence of Cantonese, the first language of the majority of HKE speakers. With reference to Schneider's model, the article suggests that HKE can be situated in phase 3 and is considered an ‘emergent’ variety with its norms still in the process of developing. While there are signs of increasing awareness of HKE as a distinct variety in the local community, ambivalent attitudes towards the acceptability of HKE as the linguistic norm still exist. It remains to be seen whether HKE will eventually reach phase 4 and become an autonomous variety of English in the near future. This review ends by suggesting several further research directions with respect to the study of HKE.