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
・English Education and Learning Attitudes in Mexico
・The Use of Accents in Movies and the Real Attitudes towards Accents
・The Criticisms of English as a Compulsory Academic Subject at Elementary Schools
・Rhoticity in Japanese Accented English: Japanese Learners’ Production of Non-prevocalic /r/ and their Attitude toward Rhotic Varieties of English
・Northern European Attitudes towards English with a Particular Reference to Germany and Scandinavian Countries
・Japanese Attitudes towards English Learning and Solutions for English Education in Japan with Reference to an Immersion Program.