This chapter includes a succinct review of World Englishes and dialect typology literature, with a focus on the main theoretical paradigms within this sphere (e.g. the Three Circles model and the Dynamic Model). We then introduce the nine regional varieties of English under study in the book: British English, Canadian English, Irish English, New Zealand English, Hong Kong English, Indian English, Jamaican English, Philippine English, and Singapore English. The discussion includes a brief summary of relevant aspects of these varieties’ sociohistories as well as their linguistic profiles.

World Englishes (WEs) research has developed into one of the most flourishing and vibrant fields of linguistic inquiry. To capture the sociolinguistic diversification of English, researchers have investigated a multitude of Englishes spoken around the globe as native or second languages. Together with different labels and terms for the different varieties of English, scholars have developed, applied, discussed, and refined different models of and approaches to WEs to account for the spread, forms, and functions of the language worldwide. The chapter gives an overview of the most important research developments in the field and introduces the most prominent models, showing that models with a diachronic dimension, viz. Schneider (2003, 2007) and, most recently, Buschfeld and Kautzsch’s (2017) Extra- and Intra-territorial Forces (EIF) Model, can best account for the complex realities and developments of English worldwide. The latter approach is discussed in some detail as it constitutes the most recent addition to the WEs paradigm. It stands out due to its attempt to integrate postcolonial and non-postcolonial Englishes and thus bridges a prominent gap in the discipline.

This paper summarizes scholarly approaches to varieties of South African English, mainly from the perspective of World Englishes theorizing. South Africa's complex ethnic composition has produced a range of distinctive varieties of English and has defied simplistic notions of dialect evolution. Neither Kachru's “Three Circles” model nor Schneider's “Dynamic Model” allow coherent accounts of South African English as a whole in their respective frameworks. In contrast, many South African scholars, often extrapolating from the “Dynamic Model”, have highlighted the need to focus on internal sub-varieties rather than favouring a national, overall perspective. The questions of how uniform or diverse South African English is and how these relationships can be modelled are widely addressed in scholarship, including ongoing changes, as for example the recent emergence of a pan-ethnic middle class compromise variety described primarily by Rajend Mesthrie.