1. Introduction; 2. The sense of language loss; 3. Is a New English English?; 4. Second language learning and second language acquisition; 5. Language norms and standard English; 6. Empirical studies; 7. Talking in silence: Ministry in Quaker meetings; 8. Textual hoaxes: questioning the taken-for-granted; 9. Conclusion.
'Native speakers' and 'native users' are playing the same game, sharing, as they do, the model of the Standard Language.
Alan Davies is Emeritus Professor in the University of Edinburgh.
'Davies interrogates the Native Speaker, together with the
conspiring partner Native User, with disarming logic and multiple
lines of incriminating evidence. The two prove to be implicated
inextricably not only in their expected guises of learning, losing,
standardizing, and assessing languages but also to be acting in
collusion in a broad array of social circumstances around the world
ranging from religious rituals to literary personae. This is
triumphant, passionate, and elucidating intellectual sleuth work.'
Alister Cumming, University of Toronto
'From the macroscopic domains of national identity to the intimacy
of a Quaker meeting, Davies tackles the two central concepts that
lie at the heart of all linguistics - speech and language use. Few
applied linguistics researchers and theoreticians are as versed in
the cognitive and experimental research as the ethnographic and
qualitative - in this book, theory and empirical data share centre
stage. Davies continually challenges himself and in doing so
unsettles what we all take for granted. A delightful combination of
reflection, erudition and an appreciative joy of all forms of
language acquisition.' Miriam Meyerhoff, University of Auckland
'… explores a number of issues central to applied linguistics,
second language acquisition, sociolinguistics, and the study of
language generally … One major contribution of this new book … is
its unravelling of a cluster of complex issues related to such
distinctions as 'native speaker' versus 'native user', and
'Standard English' versus 'world Englishes'. The wide-ranging
theoretical discussion of these key notions is illuminated by
reference both to empirical research on language testing worldwide,
and the detailed analysis of a number of relevant discourses,
including those of postcolonial literatures. The scholarly reach of
this book is attested to by its discussion of English linguistics,
conversation analysis, language loss, language norms, second
language acquisition, and world Englishes … an erudite,
intellectually layered, and intelligently witty book [and] an
important contribution to the discussion of key ideas and
ideologies in the linguistic sciences.' Kingsley Bolton, Nanyang
Technological University, Singapore
'The book is carefully structured through solid arguments, which
are richly illustrated by literate examples or empirical studies.
The reader will find engaging examples and rich references to
literature that will revive his/her interest in exploring the
nature and scope of native and non-native speakers and in
establishing stronger relationships between theoretical and applied
linguistics.' Laura Dubcovsky, Linguist List
![]() |
Ask a Question About this Product More... |
![]() |