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English studies is an academic discipline that includes the study of literatures written in the English language (including literatures from the U.K., U.S., Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, the Philippines, India, South Africa, and the Middle East, among other areas), English linguistics (including English phonetics, phonology, syntax, morphology, semantics, pragmatics, corpus linguistics, and stylistics), and English sociolinguistics (including discourse analysis of written and spoken texts in the English language, the history of the English language, English language learning and teaching, and the study of World Englishes).
More broadly, English studies explores the production and analysis of texts produced in English (or in areas of the world in which English is a common mode of communication). It is not uncommon for academic departments of "English" or "English Studies" to include scholars of the English language, literature (including literary criticism and literary theory), linguistics, law, journalism, composition studies, the philosophy of language, literacy, publishing/history of the book, communication studies, technical communication, folklore, cultural studies, creative writing, critical theory, disability studies, area studies (especially American studies), theatre, gender studies/ethnic studies, digital media/electronic publishing, film studies/media studies, rhetoric and philology/etymology, and various courses in the liberal arts and humanities, among others.
In most English-speaking countries, the literary and cultural dimensions of English studies are typically practiced in university departments of English, while the study of texts produced in non-English languages takes place in other departments, such as departments of foreign language or comparative literature. English linguistics is often studied in separate departments of linguistics. This disciplinary divide between a dominant linguistic or a literary orientation is one motivation for the division of the North American Modern Language Association (MLA) into two subgroups. At universities in non-English-speaking countries, the same department often covers all aspects of English studies including linguistics: this is reflected, for example, in the structure and activities of the European Society for the Study of English (ESSE).
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Major forms
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Novel · Poem · Drama |
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Epic · Lyric · Drama |
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Performance (play) · Book |
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Basic topics · Literary terms |
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English Studies
See also Literature and linguistics, along with List of academic disciplines
- English linguistics
- English sociolinguistics
- Discourse analysis in English
- English Stylistics (linguistics)
- World Englishes
- History of the English Language
- Composition studies
- Rhetoric
- Technical communication
- English language learning and teaching
- English Literature
- American literature, including:
- Australian literature
- British literature (literature from some regions of the United Kingdom may be written in Celtic languages)
- Canadian literature (a significant amount of Canadian literature is also written in French)
- Irish literature
- New Zealand literature
- Scottish literature
- Welsh literature
External links
- European Society for the Study of English (ESSE)
- Association of Departments of English in the US and Canada
- Conference on College Composition and Communication
- Sigma Tau Delta, Int. English Honor Society
- Modern Language Association (MLA)
- Organizations Related to the MLA
Wikipedia content modification information:
- This page was last modified on 18 October 2008, at 03:44.
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