Multilingualism and World Englishes

Abstract

This entry provides an overview of multilingualism and world Englishes. The entry begins with a description of the multilingual context by discussing multilingualism as a global phenomenon and consider various language hierarchies. The entry then proceeds to a discussion of code‐switching/mixing, domains of use and multilingual repertoires, which is followed by a review of research on multilingualism from a world Englishes perspective. The entry then presents data from a case study investigating the linguistic networks of a polyglot multilingual South African student, which serve to illustrate many of the points made in the entry.