The Pragmatics of Caribbean English (as a Postcolonial English)
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 23667402 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Susanne Mühleisen (0000-0003-2435-7883, University of Bayreuth, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Pages | 1-6 |
| Publication date | 2026-03-26 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | CHAPTER |
| Venue | Encyclopedia of Applied Linguistics (SOURCE_BOOK) |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1002/9781405198431.wbeal20156 |
| OpenAlex | W7140750722 |
| ISBN | 9781405198431 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 2 |
Postcolonial Englishes can often be equated with Kachru's Outer Circle Englishes—with some exceptions: the sociolinguistic situation of Caribbean English, for example, with its intricate relationship with an English‐lexified Creole, is too complex to fall into such easy categories. However, the long colonial history and the postcolonial ambiguity, which are associated with the use of Caribbean English and Creole, makes these varieties ideal for research in different areas in pragmatics, especially since Caribbean Creoles have carried over not only lexical but also pragmatic African retentions. This article will provide an overview of important works in pragmatics in Caribbean English and Caribbean Creoles. Starting from the 1950s to 1960s, it first reviews significant research in the areas of pragmatics and anthropology (Section “Anthropological Foundations”) and respect, politeness theory and speech acts in the Caribbean (Section “Respect, Politeness Theory, and Speech Acts in the Caribbean”). It then moves on to pragmatics and conversation: code‐switching, conversation analysis, and critical discourse analysis (Section “Pragmatics and Conversation: Code‐Switching, Conversation Analysis, and Critical Discourse Analysis”) as well as pragmatic markers and the quotative system (Section “Pragmatic Markers and the Quotative System”). While the range of works on pragmatics in Caribbean English (as postcolonial English) is overall impressive, there is still room for further exploration in this direction, especially pragmatics research on smaller varieties of Caribbean English in the area or investigations that make use of new and innovative data material, including both ethnographic and digital data.
Conversation · Discourse analysis · Ethnography · Politeness · Politeness maxims · Pragmatics · World Englishes
| Highly cited | No |
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