Rita Salvi – Università di Roma «La Sapienza» - Roma

Global English
A Global Debate

Collana: «Lingue di Oggi» – 17 x 24 cm – pagg. 156 – 2002 – € 26,00
ISBN 88-7916-196-2

SOMMARIO: Preface: English in the Euro zone - Making Europe multilingual - 1. Varieties of English: 1.1. A flashback - 1.2. Codification and standardisation - 1.3. The present debate - 1.4. Englishes - 1.5. Conclusions. - 2. English in Europe: 2.1. International and global English - 2.2. What is happening to English - 2.3. Conclusions. - 3. English in academic and professional settings: 3.1. Language and culture - 3.2. Culture, cross-culture and interculture: theoretical issues - 3.3. Three basic intercultural variables: context, relevance and contrastive rhetoric - 3.4. Cultural diversity in management styles - 3.5. Language and culture in the workplace - 3.6. Comment - 3.7. Genres, texts and scientific communities - 3.8. Conclusions). - 4. New tets from/for new communities: 4.1. The chart - 4.2. The newsletter - 4.3. Comment. - 5. English in European institutions: 5.1. Introduction - 5.2. Features of English at European level - 5.3. English legal discourse in Europe - 5.4. Green Papers - 5.5. The corpus - 5.6. Discourse analysis - 5.7. Comparing the two Green Papers - 5.8. Conclusions. - 6. Final remarks. - Appendix I. Newsletters - Appendix II. Computer-assisted analysis: problems and perspectives (Giuseppe M. De Nardis) - Appendix III. The list of Green Papers published since 1984 - Appendix IV. Extracts from: "Legal aid in civil matters" and "Compensation to crime victims": English and Italian versions - Appendix V. EU acronyms and abbreviations (Alessandra Pontesilli).

This book is the result of a wide research into society, culture and language. A careful consideration of the role of English as an international vehicle of communication leads to an enquiry into the social function of English in academic activity, working places, scientific communities as well as in European institutions. A wide picture is constructed by a range of up-to-date documents and the best of current literature on each specific sector. The research is extended to various intercultural and societal relationships, as well as to the influence of technology in the use of English. The book is therefore intended for students at a high level of linguistic competence, who are enrolled in "Laurea Specialistica" courses, and in a Master or PhD course, and for teachers who need to consider a socio-linguistic approach to language learning.