Cultural Linguistics and World Englishes

Abstract

Cultural Linguistics is a multidisciplinary field of research that explores how features of human languages and language varieties are entrenched in cultural conceptualisations such as cultural schemas (models), cultural categories, and cultural-conceptual metaphors. This paper presents an overview of the emerging field of Cultural Linguistics and argues, by presenting examples from several varieties of English, that world Englishes need to be examined from the perspective of Cultural Linguistics in order for us to gain a better understanding of how English is used by communities of speakers around the world to express their cultural conceptualisations, including their world views.