Standard English

Tony Bex is at the University of Kent. His previous publications includes Variety of Written English (1996). Richard J. Watts is at the University of Bern.

• Introduction PART I Perspectives on the history and ideology of ‘Standard English’ Introduction to Part I 1The consequences of standardisation in descriptive Linguistics 2 The social construction of Standard English: Grammar writers as a ‘discourse community’ 3 Typography, lexicography and the development of the idea of ‘standard English’4 Representations of English in twentieth-century Britain: Fowler, Gowers and Partridge PART II Perspectives on the spoken language Introduction to Part II 5 Standard English: What it isn’t 6 Spoken standard English 7 Standard grammars, spoken grammars: Some educational Implications PART III Perspectives from outside the UK Introduction to Part III 18 Standard English and language ideology in Britain and the United States 9 The names of US English: Valley girl, cowboy, yankee, normal, nasal and ignorant 10 Functions and forms of English in a European EFL Country EPILOGUE 11 Curiouser and curiouser: Falling standards in the standard English debate

'Lively, vastly informative, scholarly - this is a notably accessible, seminal overview of a complex and as yet unresolved linguistic and educational puzzle.' - The Library Association Record'It highlights the problem in ascertainig exactly what constitutes SE (Standard English)' - Frances Austin, English Studies, Vol.82, Feb 2001