Languages are characterized by variation manifest in regional and social variation, as well as variation caused by the field of discourse and medium. This is particularly true for the English language. The global spread of English has not only resulted in the emergence of a diverse range of second-language varieties in the former British colonies, but also to an unmarked variant, international English or English as a lingua franca. This lecture offers a comprehensive introduction to English and Englishes focussing on national standards of English (British, American, Scots, Hiberno-English, Canadian, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Caribbean English), and their regional varieties in the frameworks of phonological, morphological, syntactic, lexical and socio-pragmatic variation.
