1887
  1. Home
  2. e-Journals
  3. English World-Wide
  4. Volume 43, Issue 1
  5. Article
Volume 43, Issue 1
  • ISSN 0172-8865
  • E-ISSN: 1569-9730
USD
Buy:$35.00 + Taxes

Abstract

Abstract

As studies on socio-pragmatics in South Asian Englishes and – more generally – postcolonial Englishes are still rare, the present study analyses how age, formality of context, gender, topic of the conversation and type-token ratio of a given speaker influence intensifiers and downtoners in spoken Indian, Sri Lankan and British English as represented in the . Central research interests cover (a) differences in the frequencies of intensifiers/downtoners regarding these factors and across the varieties studied and (b) variety-specific intensifiers/downtoners in these regional varieties. Two random forest analyses highlight that, while topic and type-token ratio are more important predictors than age and gender, all variables are – to different degrees – sensitive to variety. Possible explanations for a higher incidence of intensifiers/downtoners in British English than in Indian and Sri Lankan English include intensification strategies transferred from indigenous languages or high degrees of uncertainty avoidance in the South Asian speech communities.

© John Benjamins Publishing Company
Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1075/eww.21064.fun
2021-11-17
2023-06-09

  • From This Site

    /content/journals/10.1075/eww.21064.fun
    dcterms_title,dcterms_subject,pub_keyword
    -contentType:Journal -contentType:Contributor -contentType:Concept -contentType:Institution
    10
    5
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

References

  1. International Corpus of English – British Component
    International Corpus of English – British Component (https://www.ice-corpora.uzh.ch/en/access.html)
  2. International Corpus of English – Indian Component
    International Corpus of English – Indian Component (https://www.ice-corpora.uzh.ch/en/access.html
  3. International Corpus of English – Sri Lankan Component
    International Corpus of English – Sri Lankan Component (https://www.ice-corpora.uzh.ch/en/access.html)
  4. Aijmer, Karin
    2020 “‘That’s Well Good’: A Re-Emergent Intensifier in Current British English”. Journal of English Linguistics49: 18–38. 10.1177/0075424220979143
     https://doi.org/10.1177/0075424220979143 [Google Scholar]
  5. Austin, John L.
    1962 How to Do Things with Words. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  6. Bäcklund, Ulf
    1973 The Collocation of Adverbs of Degree in English. Uppsala: Almqvist & Wiksell.
     [Google Scholar]
  7. Baker, Paul
    2006 Using Corpora in Discourse Analysis. London: Continuum. 10.5040/9781350933996
     https://doi.org/10.5040/9781350933996 [Google Scholar]
  8. Barbieri, Federica
    2008 “Patterns of Age-Based Linguistic Variation in American English”. Journal of Sociolinguistics12: 58–88. 10.1111/j.1467‑9841.2008.00353.x
     https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9841.2008.00353.x [Google Scholar]
  9. Barnfield, Katie, and Isabelle Buchstaller
    2010 “Intensifiers on Tyneside: Longitudinal Developments and New Trends”. English World-Wide31: 252–287. 10.1075/eww.31.3.02bar
     https://doi.org/10.1075/eww.31.3.02bar [Google Scholar]
  10. Baskerville, Rachel
    2003 “Hofstede Never Studied Culture”. Accounting, Organizations and Society28: 1–14. 10.1016/S0361‑3682(01)00048‑4
     https://doi.org/10.1016/S0361-3682(01)00048-4 [Google Scholar]
  11. Bernaisch, Tobias, Stefan Th. Gries, and Joybrato Mukherjee
    2014 “The Dative Alternation in South Asian Englishes: Modelling Predictors and Predicting Prototypes”. English World-Wide35: 7–31. 10.1075/eww.35.1.02ber
     https://doi.org/10.1075/eww.35.1.02ber [Google Scholar]
  12. Bernaisch, Tobias
    2021 “Features of Sri Lankan English”. InEe-Ling Low, and Anne Pakir, eds.English in East and South Asia: Policy, Features and Language in Use. London: Routledge, 168–182. 10.4324/9780429433467‑14
     https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429433467-14 [Google Scholar]
  13. . fc. “Intensifiers in Late Modern English: A Corpus-Based Study”.
     [Google Scholar]
  14. 2015 The Lexis and Lexicogrammar of Sri Lankan English. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. 10.1075/veaw.g54
     https://doi.org/10.1075/veaw.g54 [Google Scholar]
  15. 2019 “That Fellow is Cute Men: Informal Terms of Address in Sri Lankan English”. Paper presented at theAnnual Conference of the Australian Linguistics Society, 10–13 Dec 2019, Sydney, Australia.
     [Google Scholar]
  16. Bohmann, Axel
    2019 Variation in English World-Wide: Registers and Global Varieties. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 10.1017/9781108751339
     https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108751339 [Google Scholar]
  17. Bolinger, Dwight
    1972 Degree Words. The Hague: Mouton. 10.1515/9783110877786
     https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110877786 [Google Scholar]
  18. Breiman, Leo
    2001 “Random Forests”. Machine Learning45: 5–32. 10.1023/A:1010933404324
     https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1010933404324 [Google Scholar]
  19. Brown, Penelope, and Stephen Levinson
    1978 “Universals in Language Usage: Politeness Phenomena”. InEsther N. Goody, ed.Questions and Politeness: Strategies in Social Interaction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 56–289.
     [Google Scholar]
  20. Carls, Uwe, Peter Lucko, Lothar Peter, and Frank Polzhagen
    eds. 2017 A Dictionary of Indian English: With a Supplement on Word-Formation Patterns. Leipzig: Leipziger Universitätsverlag.
     [Google Scholar]
  21. Chandralal, Dileep
    2010 Sinhala. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. 10.1075/loall.15
     https://doi.org/10.1075/loall.15 [Google Scholar]
  22. de Klerk, Vivian
    2005 “Expressing Levels of Intensity in Xhosa English”. English World-Wide26: 77–95. 10.1075/eww.26.1.04dek
     https://doi.org/10.1075/eww.26.1.04dek [Google Scholar]
  23. Fuchs, Robert
    2015 Speech Rhythm in Varieties of English: Evidence from Educated Indian English and British English. Singapore: Springer.
     [Google Scholar]
  24. 2017 “Do Women (Still) Use More Intensifiers than Men? Recent Change in the Sociolinguistics of Intensifiers in British English”. International Journal of Corpus Linguistics22: 345–374. 10.1075/ijcl.22.3.03fuc
     https://doi.org/10.1075/ijcl.22.3.03fuc [Google Scholar]
  25. Fuchs, Robert, and Ulrike Gut
    2016 “Register Variation in Intensifier Usage across Asian Englishes”. InHeike Pichler, ed.Discourse-Pragmatic Variation and Change in English. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 185–210. 10.1017/CBO9781107295476.009
     https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781107295476.009 [Google Scholar]
  26. Funke, Nina
    2020 “Pragmatic Nativisation of Thanking in South Asian Englishes”. World Englishes. [early view] 10.1111/weng.12517
     https://doi.org/10.1111/weng.12517 [Google Scholar]
  27. Greenbaum, Sidney
    1991 “The Development of the International Corpus of English”. InKarin Aijmer, and Bengt Altenberg, eds.English Corpus Linguistics: Studies in Honour of Jan Svartvik. London: Longman, 83–91.
     [Google Scholar]
  28. Gries, Stefan Th.
    2020 “On Classification Trees and Random Forests in Corpus Linguistics: Some Words of Caution and Suggestions for Improvement”. Corpus Linguistics and Linguistic Theory16: 617–647. 10.1515/cllt‑2018‑0078
     https://doi.org/10.1515/cllt-2018-0078 [Google Scholar]
  29. Grün, Bettina, and Kurt Hornik
    2011 “topicmodels: An R Package for Fitting Topic Models”. Journal of Statistical Software40: 1–30. 10.18637/jss.v040.i13
     https://doi.org/10.18637/jss.v040.i13 [Google Scholar]
  30. Güldenring, Barbara A.
    2017 “Emotion Metaphors in New Englishes: A Corpus-Based Study of ANGER”. Cognitive Linguistics Studies4: 82–109. 10.1075/cogls.4.1.05gul
     https://doi.org/10.1075/cogls.4.1.05gul [Google Scholar]
  31. Gunesekera, Manique
    2005 The Postcolonial Identity of Sri Lankan English. Colombo: Katha Publishers.
     [Google Scholar]
  32. Hofstede, Geert
    1991 Cultures and Organizations: Software of the Mind. London: McGraw-Hill.
     [Google Scholar]
  33. 2011 “Dimensionalizing Cultures: The Hofstede Model in Context”. Online Readings in Psychology and Culture, Unit 2. Retrieved from scholarworks.gvsu.edu/orpc/vol2/iss1/8. 10.9707/2307‑0919.1014
     https://doi.org/10.9707/2307-0919.1014 [Google Scholar]
  34. Holmes, Janet
    1984 “Modifying Illocutionary Force”. Journal of Pragmatics8: 345–365. 10.1016/0378‑2166(84)90028‑6
     https://doi.org/10.1016/0378-2166(84)90028-6 [Google Scholar]
  35. Ito, Rika, and Sali Tagliamonte
    2003 “Well Weird, Right Dodgy, Very Strange, Really Cool: Layering and Recycling in English Intensifiers”. Language in Society32: 257–279. 10.1017/S0047404503322055
     https://doi.org/10.1017/S0047404503322055 [Google Scholar]
  36. James, Gareth, Daniela Witten, Trevor Hastie, and Robert Tibshirani
    2015 An Introduction to Statistical Learning with Applications in R. New York: Springer.
     [Google Scholar]
  37. Kachru, Braj
    1986 The Alchemy of English: The Spread, Functions, and Models of Non-Native Englishes. Oxford: Pergamon Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  38. Koul, Omkar N.
    2008 Modern Hindi Grammar. Springfield: Dunwoody Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  39. Kuhn, Max, and Kjell Johnson
    2016 Applied Predictive Modeling. New York: Springer.
     [Google Scholar]
  40. Lange, Claudia
    2012 The Syntax of Spoken Indian English. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. 10.1075/veaw.g45
     https://doi.org/10.1075/veaw.g45 [Google Scholar]
  41. Lorenz, Gunter
    2002 “Really Worthwhile or not Really Significant? A Corpus-Based Approach to the Delexicalization and Grammaticalization of Intensifiers in Modern English”. InIlse Wischer, and Gabriele Diewald, eds.New Reflections on Grammaticalization. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 143–161. 10.1075/tsl.49.11lor
     https://doi.org/10.1075/tsl.49.11lor [Google Scholar]
  42. Mendis, Dushyanthi
    2019 “Dude vs. Machang as Terms of Address in Sri Lankan English”. Plenary atTheory, Method and Practice in Corpus Linguistics, Islamabad, Pakistan.
     [Google Scholar]
  43. Meyler, Michael
    2007 A Dictionary of Sri Lankan English. Colombo: Mirisgala.
     [Google Scholar]
  44. Mukherjee, Joybrato
    2007 “Steady States in the Evolution of New Englishes: Present-Day Indian English as an Equilibrium”. Journal of English Linguistics35: 157–187. 10.1177/0075424207301888
     https://doi.org/10.1177/0075424207301888 [Google Scholar]
  45. Murugaiyan, Appasamy
    2009 “Focus Constructions in Modern Tamil”. International Journal of Dravidian Linguistics38: 43–69.
     [Google Scholar]
  46. Nevalainen, Terttu, and Matti Rissanen
    2002 “Fairly Pretty or Pretty Fair? On the Development and Grammaticalization of English Downtoners”. Language Sciences24: 359–380. 10.1016/S0388‑0001(01)00038‑9
     https://doi.org/10.1016/S0388-0001(01)00038-9 [Google Scholar]
  47. Nihalani, Paroo, Ray K. Tongue, and Riya Hosali
    1979 Indian and British English: A Handbook of Usage and Pronunciation. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  48. Paradis, Carita
    2000 “It’s Well Weird. Degree Modifiers of Adjectives Revisited: The Nineties”. InJohn M. Kirk, ed.Corpora Galore: Analyses and Techniques in Describing English. Amsterdam: Rodopi, 147–160.
     [Google Scholar]
  49. Partington, Alan
    1993 “Corpus Evidence of Language Change: The Case of the Intensifier”. Text and Technology: In Honour of John Sinclair: 177–192. 10.1075/z.64.12par
     https://doi.org/10.1075/z.64.12par [Google Scholar]
  50. Peters, Hans
    1994 “Degree Adverbs in Early Modern English”. Topics in English Linguistics13: 269–288. 10.1515/9783110879599.269
     https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110879599.269 [Google Scholar]
  51. Quirk, Randolph, Sidney Greenbaum, Geoffrey Leech, and Jan Svartvik
    1985 A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language. New York: Longman.
     [Google Scholar]
  52. Reuhl, Leon
    2020 “Frequencies and Functions of Reduplication in Sri Lankan English: A Corpus-Based Pilot Study”. BA thesis, Justus Liebig University Giessen.
     [Google Scholar]
  53. Revis, Melanie, and Tobias Bernaisch
    2020 “The Pragmatic Nativisation of Pauses in Asian Englishes”. World Englishes39: 135–153. 10.1111/weng.12387
     https://doi.org/10.1111/weng.12387 [Google Scholar]
  54. Schilk, Marco
    2011 Structural Nativization in Indian English Lexicogrammar. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. 10.1075/scl.46
     https://doi.org/10.1075/scl.46 [Google Scholar]
  55. Schneider, Edgar W.
    2007 Postcolonial English: Varieties around the World. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 10.1017/CBO9780511618901
     https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511618901 [Google Scholar]
  56. Schneider, Klaus P., and Anne Barron
    2008 “Where Pragmatics and Dialectology Meet: Introducing Variational Pragmatics”. InKlaus P. Schneider and Anne Barron, eds.Variational Pragmatics: A Focus on Regional Varieties in Pluricentric Languages. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 1–32. 10.1075/pbns.178.02sch
     https://doi.org/10.1075/pbns.178.02sch [Google Scholar]
  57. Sedlatschek, Andreas
    2009 Contemporary Indian English: Variation and Change. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. 10.1075/veaw.g38
     https://doi.org/10.1075/veaw.g38 [Google Scholar]
  58. Senaratne, Chamindi D.
    2009 Sinhala-English Code-Mixing in Sri Lanka: A Sociolinguistic Study. Utrecht: LOT.
     [Google Scholar]
  59. Stoffel, Cornelis
    1901 Intensives and Down-Toners. Heidelberg: Carl Winter.
     [Google Scholar]
  60. Tagliamonte, Sali
    2008 “So Different and Pretty Cool! Recycling Intensifiers in Toronto, Canada”. English Language and Linguistics12: 361–394. 10.1017/S1360674308002669
     https://doi.org/10.1017/S1360674308002669 [Google Scholar]
  61. Tagliamonte, Sali, and Chris Roberts
    2005 “So Weird; So Cool; So Innovative: The Use of Intensifiers in the Television Series Friends”. American Speech80: 280–300. 10.1215/00031283‑80‑3‑280
     https://doi.org/10.1215/00031283-80-3-280 [Google Scholar]
  62. Tears for Fears
    Tears for Fears 1983 Mad World. Santa Monica: Mercury.
     [Google Scholar]
  63. Wagner, Susanne
    2019 “Why Very Good in India Might Be Pretty Good in North America”. International Journal of Corpus Linguistics24: 445–489. 10.1075/ijcl.17063.wag
     https://doi.org/10.1075/ijcl.17063.wag [Google Scholar]
  64. Werner, Janina, and Joybrato Mukherjee
    2012 “Highly Polysemous Verbs in New Englishes: A Corpus-Based Study of Sri Lankan and Indian English”. InSebastian Hoffmann, Paul Rayson, and Geoffrey Leech, eds.Corpus Linguistics: Looking Back, Moving Forward. Amsterdam: Rodopi, 249–266.
     [Google Scholar]
  65. Xiao, Richard
    2009 “Multidimensional Analysis and the Study of World Englishes”. World Englishes28: 421–450. 10.1111/j.1467‑971X.2009.01606.x
     https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-971X.2009.01606.x [Google Scholar]
  66. Yule, Henry, and Arthur C. Burnell
    1886 Hobson-Jobson: Being a Glossary of Anglo-Indian Colloquial Words and Phrases and of Kindred Terms. London: John Murray.
     [Google Scholar]
http://instance.metastore.ingenta.com/content/journals/10.1075/eww.21064.fun
Loading
Intensifying and downtoning in South Asian Englishes
English World-Wide 43, 33 (2022); https://doi.org/10.1075/eww.21064.fun
/content/journals/10.1075/eww.21064.fun
/content/journals/10.1075/eww.21064.fun
Loading

Data & Media loading...

  • Article Type: Research Article
Keyword(s): corpus linguistics; downtoners; Indian English; intensifiers; multifactorial analysis; random forest; South Asian Englishes; Sri Lankan English

Most Cited

This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was successful
Invalid data
An Error Occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error