TheemergenceofnewEnglishdialectsinpostcolonialregionshastransformedthepoliticsofEnglishintheworldandlanguageecologiesinmanyregions.Why,how,andwhendidthesedialectsdevelop?Whydotheyhavetheaccentsandgrammarsthatwehear?Arethegrammarsofthesedialectscompletelydifferentduetotheinfluenceoflocallanguages,orsimilarduetonaturaltendenciesinhumancognition?Intermsofsocialidentity,dothesenewspeakersbehavelikenativespeakersofBritishorAmericanEnglish,orlikelanguagelearners?Focusingontwoprominentcases;EnglishinIndiaandinSingapore;thisbookexaminesthesocial,historical,andcognitiveforcesthattogethercreatedandcontinuetoshapethesedialects.Differencesinthelinguisticecologyofthetworegionshelpustoidentifythestrongestmechanismsofdialectformationunderlong-termculturalcontact.Themulti-scaleanalysisofarangeofbilingualsmovesbeyondasimplisticdividebetween’deficit’and’dialect’viewsofthesespeechcommunities,showingthatchangeproceedsunevenlyacrossthelanguagesystemandthesocialgroup,withfeedbackloopsbetweensocialhistory,languagelearning,languagestructure,andidentity.
