Professor
Yutai WATANABE
The English language has developed a wide range of variations, depending on the social and cultural contexts where it was transplanted and the other languages alongside which it is used. This seminar starts out by confirming the theoretical framework based on Kachru’s Three-circle Model and then focuses on New Zealand English, one of the youngest Inner Circle varieties, examining how it phonetically differs from UK, US and Australian English. We are also concerned with the use of English as a lingua franca in the Expanding Circle, while shedding light on users’ attitudes and ideologies towards L1 English. Through the process of collaborative research, a variety of sociolinguistic issues will be identified and discussed: indexicality, plurilingualism, Euro English and ‘Japanese English’, among others.
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Past Students' Research Papers
・The Emergence of Newfoundland English
・Rhoticity in Japanese Accented English
・English as a Killing Language?
・English as an International Language and International Organizations
・ELF at Universities and Their Academic Language Policy
・Asian Attitudes towards the Varieties of English
・The Use of Accents in Movies and the Attitudes towards Accents
・Northern European Attitudes Towards English with a Particular Reference to Germany and Scandinavian Countries
・Japanese Attitudes toward English Learning and Solutions for English Education in Japan with Reference to an Immersion Program