If ideas about language always reflect the ideas we have about ourselves as social beings, as argues Seargeant (applied linguistics, The Open U., UK), then "the idea of English as a global language is an idea also of a globalized world and the idea of the challenges this ushers in for contemporary society." He analyzes the way English is conceptualized in contemporary Japanese society in terms of discourse about the language and presentation of the language within the sociocultural environment. He seeks to identify the ideological frameworks involving English through understanding its symbolic meaning in Japan and how this meaning is expressed and negotiated in society. This discussion is also placed in context of debates over what actually constitutes a "global language" and the relationship between the universal and the historically contingent in understanding language use in the world. Distributed in the US by UTP Distribution. Annotation ©2009 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)