Transactional and Transnational Contact within World Englishes: The Gulf Region and Beyond

Among the more visible aspects of globalization is the increased mobility of labor, in all its forms. Such migrations, whether permanent or transitory, have linguistic consequences, and have helped cement the role of the English language as a global lingua franca. Of particular interest to this Research Topic is the interaction between different varieties of English as they are spoken in any post-colonial context worldwide. The spaces and contexts within which such Englishes come into contact are plenty and various. One prominent locale is the Gulf area, where a high influx of skilled labor from a range of language backgrounds has given rise to a melting pot of different forms of English. Other locations, such as the metropolises of the former British Empire, are also experiencing transactional and transnational contact between world Englishes.

The aim of this Research Topic is to zoom in on specific and characteristic contexts of transactional and transnational contact of World Englishes. One such area is the United Arab Emirates (UAE), where speakers of different World Englishes (i.e., Indian English, Sri Lankan English, Pakistani English, and American English) are in contact with speakers for whom English is a second and foreign language. Even though Arabic is the official language in all seven Emirates, it is English that plays an important role in day-to-day interactions and represents the de facto lingua franca. By investigating such transactional and transnational contact situations from a sociolinguistic and psycholinguistic perspective on the emerging local multilingualism, we can get a better understanding of language contact phenomena within the World Englishes paradigm and its impact on the use of English as a lingua franca. Such insights will additionally allow for implications for its speakers as well as policy makers. Whereas the UAE represents only one such area, this Research Topic invites research conducted in other, similar transient and multilingual areas that are equally defined by migration processes and contact between World Englishes as well as research that considers structural or cognitive factors or effects of language contact on local language use.

We welcome theoretical and empirical contributions that focus on or address the following themes:

• World Englishes in contact
• World Englishes and multilingualism
• contact phenomena in the UAE, the Gulf area, and beyond
• the structural or cognitive factors/effects of language contact
• the role of English as a lingua franca in multilingual contact contexts
• language planning and language policies in areas with high numbers of migrants
• English(es) in transactional contexts
• English as the language of labor migration.

Keywords: English as lingua franca, English varieties, globalization, migration, multilingualism, transnational language contact, World Englishes

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