Introduction: Gaining insights into English as a contact language and its diffusion

Abstract

The aims of this volume are twofold: to contribute to the study of English as a contact language and its various manifestations in World Englishes, and to explore the causes and effects of the influence and diffusion of English in several languages, with particular reference to Spanish.As Schreier and Hundt (2013: 1) have noted, the English language “has been contact derived from its very beginnings” and to this we can add that due to its rapid and far reaching extension, leading to its current role as a global contact language (Görlach, 2002), it continues to be closely connected to a wide range of communities of speakers and languages across the world. In fact, as Onysko (2016: 192) claims, "the notion of language contact emerges as a valid candidate for being a unifying characteristic of all Englishes".