Overview

In their book, the authors describe the usage of and attitudes towards English in Asia since the 19th century, as well as the creative and dynamic ways in which Asians of the 21st century continually reinvent the lexicon of English, and the lexicons of their native tongues.

English as a Global Language

The current biggest source of loanwords for many of the world’s languages is English, the once obscure Germanic language that has risen to the role of a global lingua franca. However, the overwhelming influence of English is far from being entirely one-sided, at least from a lexical perspective.

Language Exchange Phenomenon

Many have decried the way that English has "invaded" the vocabularies of their languages, without realizing that the English word stock is to some extent also being invaded by these languages. This book explores the phenomenon of word exchange by examining its occurrence between English and some of the major languages spoken in Asia—highly multi-ethnic, multicultural, and multilingual regions where English is the predominant medium of international and intraregional communication.

Target Audience

Students and researchers from various linguistic areas such as World Englishes, applied linguistics, sociolinguistics, lexicology, and contact linguistics will find this book appealing.