Intelligibility in World Englishes: Theory and Application

ESL & Applied Linguistics Professional

by Cecil L. Nelson

Intelligibility is the term most generally used to address the complex of criteria that describe, broadly, how useful someone’s English is when talking or writing to someone else. Set within the paradigm of world Englishes – which posits that the Englishes of the world may be seen as flexibly categorized into three Circles (Inner, Outer, Expanding) in terms of their historical developments – this text provides a comprehensive overview of the definitions and scopes of intelligibility , comprehensibility and interpretability, and addresses key topics within this


Who – if anyone – provides the models and norms for a given population of English users?
Hybridity and creativity in world Englishes
Evaluating misinformation and disinformation
Practicalities of dealing with the widening variety of Englishes
Is English "falling apart"?


The much-debated issue of intelligibility touches not only sociolinguistic theory but all aspects of English language teaching, second language acquisition, language curriculum planning, and regional or national language planning. Designed for students, teacher educators, and scholars internationally, each chapter includes ‘Topics for Discussion and Assignments’ and ‘Suggestions for Further Reading’.

134 pages, Hardcover

First published March 1, 2010

About the author

Dr Cecil Nelson is Professor of Linguistics at Indiana State University, Terre Haute, Indiana, USA.

Research interests include intelligibility and interpretability across international varieties of English, and the characteristics of multilingualism. Dr. Nelson is also the faculty advisor of the ISU Aikido Club.

Ph.D., University of Illinois at Urbana, 1984
MA, University of Illinois
BA, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill