ABSTRACT
The introductory chapter illustrates the main aims of the work and the research gap which this investigation aims to fill. It emphasizes that the object of analysis is a selected number of World Englishes, including those which may be more culturally stigmatized. Thus, the objective is not to simply collect descriptions of different varieties of English but to investigate them through authentic examples of language in use in order to explore their lexical peculiarities and to make considerations on their development and their reciprocal influences, from a lexical perspective. This chapter stresses that heterogeneity in the language dominion is not to be intended as an impoverishment of the presupposed original, ‘perfect’ standard of reference, but rather as the expression of a living and constantly evolving system.
