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- Volume 23, Issue, 2002
English World-Wide - Volume 23, Issue 2, 2002
Volume 23, Issue 2, 2002
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Can we watch regional dialects developing in colonial English?: The case of New Zealand
Author(s): Laurie Bauer and Winifred Bauerpp.: 169–193 (25)More LessThe regional homogeneity of New Zealand English is frequently commented on. Similar observations on varieties such as Australian English were simply precursors to the discovery of regional dialects. In this paper a report is given of a survey of New Zealand primary school children, which showed that in the vocabulary they use in the playground there is considerable regional variation. This might be taken as evidence of the inception of regional variation in New Zealand. However, it is argued that the birth of regional dialects cannot be perceived by the analyst; rather the analyst can observe a stronger or weaker regional distribution of variants. It is also pointed out that the spread of innovations does not always happen in the same way in modern societies as has been reported in traditional dialectological studies.
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“First year of nation’s return to government of make you talk your own make I talk my own”: Anglicism versus pidginization in news translations into Nigerian Pidgin
Author(s): Dagmar Deuberpp.: 195–222 (28)More LessAs a language which for the greater part of its history was used only for simple everyday interactions and which lacks any kind of standardization, Nigerian Pidgin (NigP) is not well equipped for the wide range of functions it has to perform in present-day Nigeria. Among educated NigP speakers, borrowing from English is a common strategy, but broadcasters who translate news from English into NigP have to produce a form of the language that will be intelligible to a target audience whose command of English is limited. The paper offers a discussion of this problem based on a corpus of spoken NigP comprising news and several other text categories. Text samples from the news texts are analysed, and corpus data illustrating Anglicisms and pidginization on the lexical, grammatical and discourse levels are discussed. In addition, the results of an elicitation experiment in which Nigerian informants were asked to evaluate extracts from the corpus by means of a questionnaire are reported. The news texts were found to be less satisfactory than others, and it is argued that this is due not only to Anglicisms but in some cases also to an overuse of pidginization strategies. However, there are also examples of successful adaptation of an English script, and it is argued that even with only a moderate degree of language engineering, one could build on such achievements to make NigP a more viable medium of news broadcasting.
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Barbudan Creole English: Its history and some grammatical features
Author(s): Michael Acetopp.: 223–250 (28)More LessThis article presents some of the core grammatical features of Barbudan Creole English, an Anglophone language that has never been described in the linguistics or creolistics literature. It begins with a historical presentation of Barbuda within the British colonial world, discussing the island’s unusual social configuration regarding the use of African slaves and its role in producing goods for plantations in nearby Antigua. The grammatical presentation focuses on the preverbal markers as well as other features and provides some comparative data mostly between Antiguan Creole English and Barbudan.
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“Either it isn’t or it’s not”: neg/aux contraction in British dialects
Author(s): Sali A. Tagliamonte and Jennifer Smithpp.: 251–281 (31)More LessThe source dialects in Britain are critical to disentangling the history and development of varieties in North America and elsewhere. One feature which appears to provide a critical diagnostic, particularly for situating dialects geographically in Britain, is negative (neg) vs. auxiliary (aux) contraction with be, have and will. Use of aux contraction is said to be more prevalent in northern varieties. Using the comparative method and quantitative methodology, this paper provides a quantitative analysis of this feature in eight British communities, two in the south, six in more northern areas. The comparative cross-variety approach provides a number of different lines of evidence which can then be used for testing similarities and differences across varieties. First, there is a dramatic difference between neg/aux contraction with be compared to the other auxiliaries that is consistent across all the communities. In every location be has aux contraction, and in each case it has higher rates of aux contraction than will or have. Second, all the Scots varieties have categorical aux contraction with be, just as would be expected from the historical record. However, there is a marked difference across the same varieties with will. Third, in the four locales where there is variation between neg and aux contraction the choice of form can be explained by the influence of the preceding phonological environment. In sum, neg/aux contraction is a poor diagnostic for distinguishing varieties of British English on broad geographic grounds. In contrast, at other levels of grammar (morphology and syntax) there are broad similarities across northern varieties. We conclude that the type of linguistic feature targeted for investigation plays a critical role in determining the similarities and differences amongst varieties.
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The Atlantic edge: The relationship between Irish English and Newfoundland English
Author(s): Raymond Hickeypp.: 283–316 (34)More LessThe intention of the present article is to examine the linguistic features typical of the Irish-derived community in contemporary Newfoundland and to relate these to the varieties of Irish English in the south-east of Ireland, the region from which most of the Irish settlers emigrated in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The nature of South-West English — the second area of the British Isles which provided input to Newfoundland — is also considered and contrasted with south-east Irish English. The body of the article consists of a description of key features from phonology, morphology, syntax and lexis which are suspected of occurring in both Ireland and Newfoundland. In addition, the possibility of identifying retentions and independent developments in Canada, respectively, is also considered.
Volumes & issues
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Volume 45 (2024)
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Volume 44 (2023)
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Volume 43 (2022)
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Volume 42 (2021)
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Volume 41 (2020)
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Volume 40 (2019)
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Volume 39 (2018)
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Volume 38 (2017)
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Volume 37 (2016)
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Volume 36 (2015)
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Volume 35 (2014)
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Volume 34 (2013)
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Volume 33 (2012)
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Volume 32 (2011)
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Volume 31 (2010)
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Volume 30 (2009)
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Volume 29 (2008)
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Volume 28 (2007)
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Volume 27 (2006)
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Volume 26 (2005)
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Volume 25 (2004)
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Volume 24 (2003)
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Volume 23 (2002)
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Volume 22 (2001)
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Volume 21 (2000)
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Volume 20 (1999)
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Volume 19 (1998)
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Volume 18 (1997)
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Volume 17 (1996)
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Volume 16 (1995)
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Volume 15 (1994)
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Volume 14 (1993)
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Volume 13 (1992)
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Volume 12 (1991)
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Volume 11 (1990)
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Volume 10 (1989)
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Volume 9 (1988)
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Volume 8 (1987)
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Volume 7 (1986)
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Volume 6 (1985)
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Volume 5 (1984)
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Volume 4 (1983)
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Volume 3 (1982)
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Volume 2 (1981)
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Volume 1 (1980)
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English in Hong Kong: Functions and status
Author(s): K.K. Luke and Jack C. Richards
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