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Volume 43, Issue 1
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Abstract

Abstract

This study builds off of previous research into Caribbean Standard Englishes (which has largely used newspaper genres) by comparing the rates of features found in corpora of Bahamian, Jamaican, British, and American administrative writing, paying particular attention to whether and how the noted formality of Caribbean Standard Englishes manifests itself in administrative writing. The study employs expanded versions of ICE administrative subcorpora for the analysis. Features analyzed include lexis, orthography, as well as different morphosyntactic constructions such as -passives and modals of obligation and necessity. The study finds that the contemporary British administrative writing corpus contains the most informal lexical choice of the national corpora studied, problematizing a Caribbean folk narrative that associates formality in administrative language and practice with Britishness.

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2021-11-17
2025-02-19

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/content/journals/10.1075/eww.21020.oen
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The trappings of order
English World-Wide 43, 66 (2022); https://doi.org/10.1075/eww.21020.oen
/content/journals/10.1075/eww.21020.oen
/content/journals/10.1075/eww.21020.oen
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  • Article Type: Research Article
Keyword(s): administrative writing; Caribbean Standard Englishes; colonial lag; formalism

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