"This is the most comprehensive introduction to post-colonial language use to date. A wide-ranging survey of the issues and conflicts involved in this very contested field makes this book a very useful resource for students and general readers." -Bill Ashcroft,University of New South Wales, AustraliaDrawing on a range of writers, including Jean Rhys, Derek Walcott,Chinua Achebe, Salman Rushdie, Ngugi wa Thiong'o and Nuruddin Farah,The Language of Postcolonial Literatures provides a comprehensive introduction to some of the central features of language in a wide variety of postcolonial texts. Ismail S. Talib illustrates how English has been shaped by and had to contend with other languages in formerBritish colonies. Exploring literatures from a range of countries including India, Nigeria, Canada, Australia, Scotland, Wales, Ireland and the Caribbean, he shows how individuals retain their cultural and national identity in the face of such changes. Language is the primary concern in postcolonial literature, and postcolonial literature is achieving canonical status, so this book is essential for all world literature scholars and sociolinguists.March 2002: 176 ppHB: 0415240182: $75.00 £50.00PB: 0415240190: $23.95 £15.99Acknowledgments1. English in (Post-)Colonial Contexts2. Anti-Colonialism in Scottish, Welsh and Irish Literatures3. Anglo-Saxon Transplantations4. Orality, Writing and What English Brings5. Using English in Postcolonial Literatures: A Review ofCriticism6. Decolonisation and the Survival of English7. Style, Language(s), Politics and Acceptability8. How's the Mixture?-English, Dialects, and Other LanguagesConcluding SummaryBibliography