Language in the British Isles. David Britain, editor. Cambridge University Press

Contemporary Review, Summer, 2008

Language in the British Isles. David Britain, editor. Cambridge University Press. 50.00. xiii 508 pages. ISBN 978-0-521-79488-6. This collection of twenty-five essays is in effect a replacement of Peter Trudgill's Language in the British Isles first published in 1984. This new collection takes into account the continuing immigration into the UK, now from eastern Europe as earlier from the old Empire.

For better or for worse this massive influx is affecting the language. The first part has ten essays looking at 'English'--its history, the standard v. non-standard debates, phonetic and grammatical variations, and subdivisions, e.g. Scottish, Irish (north and south), Welsh and so on. The second part has four papers on the Celtic languages: its overall history, Gaelic, Welsh and Irish. The third has eight contributions on 'other languages' now spoken here including Channel Island French, Chinese, Angloromany, Indic, and Caribbean and papers on multilingualism in the UK and even sign language. The fourth and final part has three contributions on applied sociolinguistic issues: 'language policy and planning', non-standard English and education, and education for people who do not speak English. We have here the latest thinking from a wide range of scholars. (G.R.R.)