Proof 215 12 English Language Studies from Rhetoric to Applied English Peter Stockwell Defining origins Perhaps more than almost any other subject, the study of English lan- guage in a native-speaker context has been much debated, ideologised and caught up in issues of morality, citizenship, nationalism, liberty and identity. It is interesting to think why. The most obvious reason—and unlike almost every other field—is that the ‘English language’ is both the object and the medium of study. This also means that every speaker feels that they have a legitimate and valid opinion on language matters: everyone feels that they are an expert in a way that does not generally happen with physicists, surgeons, historians or philosophers. It might be argued that the sense that a commentary on English language is open to all, regardless of training, is a consequence of its uncertain and fragmented disciplinary status (see Carter and Pope, this volume). In general, three areas have emerged as relevant to this discus- sion, all of them part of ‘English’: the study of English literature, the formal linguistic study of the language, and a third area which has come to be called ‘English Language Studies’. This last area combines the first two and views language as a discourse, in the sense that it explores the contexts, purposes and effects of linguistic form. This last area is the topic of this chapter. I hope to set out its value and distinctiveness, and I argue, with a detailed example, that the field has an established history and is a discipline for the future. ‘English’ only developed as a university subject in the beginning of the twentieth century in the UK, where it exclusively meant the appreciation and study of Literature (with a capital ‘L’). Issues in lan- guage study were part of philology and were largely restricted to the scholarly pursuit of the Germanic and Romance development of earlier 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 Cha12.indd 215 Cha12.indd 215 24/08/15 11:15 AM 24/08/15 11:15 AM This file is to be used only for a purpose specified by Palgrave Macmillan, such as checking proofs, preparing an index, reviewing, endorsing or planning coursework/other institutional needs. You may store and print the file and share it with others helping you with the specified purpose, but under no circumstances may the file be distributed or otherwise made accessible to any other third parties without the express prior permission of Palgrave Macmillan. Please contact rights@palgrave.com if you have any queries regarding use of the file.