Special feature: introduction

Abstract

Over the years, scholars in the field of world Englishes and other relevant areas of research and practice refer to ‘Chinese English’, assuming that it exists, by a number of different names, e.g., Chinese English , China English , Chinglish , New Chinglish , Chinese Pidgin English , and Chinese Englishes , to list just a few. There are underlying ideologies and perspectives to these names: e.g., whether Chinese English is conceptualized as a variety of English, an interlanguage, a lingua franca, or a constituent of a multilingual repertoire for intercultural communication involving Chinese speakers of English.