ABSTRACT
Chapter 8 showed how English crossed the Atlantic and established itself in large parts of the American continent. The present chapter considers the subsequent massive spread of the language around the world, so much so that today English is indeed a truly international language. The chapter looks in detail at some of the versions of English which have emerged in the past two centuries or are now in the process of emerging. It consider some of the changes to the language which have naturally occurred on its journey round the world. The ‘landmark figure’ is the Indian linguist Braj Kachru. His work on these new varieties of the language has done much to establish what has become an important linguistic discipline: the study of ‘World Englishes.’
