The Relocation of English: Shifting Paradigms in a Global Era

English has begun to relocate away from its 'birthplace' centuries ago, and this is something that has attracted a great deal of academic interest in the last 50 years. Many questions have been posed:

How is the English language changing?

Which and how many varieties have emerged?

What are their forms and functions?

If there are many equal varieties of English, which models should people learn and use?

The general predicament is that a paradigm shift is needed that would challenge the superiority of certain varieties of English, of the 'native speaker' and of so-called 'standard English'. Mario Saraceni shows that while these ideas have been widely accepted in academia, they are still alien in the public discourse. He suggests that we should take a fresh look at the relocation of English, abandon our concerns about the forms of English and begin to think of the ways in which this global language becomes a tool of ideological re-balance of the world and how its relocation in our minds is more significant than its grammar, its vocabulary and its phonology.