English World-Wide - Volume 33, Issue 1, 2012

In this paper we aim to contribute to both the synchronic and diachronic description of the grammar of South African English (SAfE) in its written register. In the handful of previous studies on the variety’s grammar (e.g. Bowerman 2004b) the traditional method of pointing out peculiarities has restricted its research potential to a great extent, whereas we now endeavour to move in the opposite direction of full description in the hope of creating a comparative platform with other Southern Hemisphere Englishes (SHEs). A historical corpus of written SAfE is used to trace the path of modality from the 19th to the late 20th century as preserved in letters, newspapers and fictional writing. The findings are, firstly, that modals decline only in the second half of the 20th century, after remaining relatively stable throughout the 19th and first half of the 20th century, and, secondly, that semi-modals do not increase in usage to the same extent as observed for other varieties of English. These patterns are attributed to a number of forces: trade-off relations between different modals to move away from excessive politeness to more direct forms, and developments within particular registers that favoured or disfavoured the use of specific modals.

Focus marking in Indian English (IndE) with adverbs such as only, also, and too has been investigated recently by several authors. Based on the Indian and British sections of the International Corpus of English, this article argues that usage of also in IndE differs significantly from British English (BrE). Also often follows its focus immediately, has developed a presentational use, and is often used in negative contexts, corresponding to either. All these innovations are shown to be more frequent in spoken and informal than in written and formal language, respectively. Finally, evidence for substrate influence from Indo-European and Dravidian languages is presented.

The phenomenon of “singular agreement” (“SA”) in there-existentials — the combination of a plural post-verbal notional subject and a singular verb — has been the subject of a number of studies which have confirmed its covariation with a range of social, stylistic and grammatical factors. Whereas the focus of most such studies has been on the relative influence of these factors, that of the present study is on the nature and frequency of SA across (a selection of eight) World Englishes. Beginning with the assumption, for which there is indirect evidence in the literature, that SA is on the rise in contemporary English, an attempt is made to relate the degree of advancement of the eight varieties to their evolutionary status and characteristic style orientations.

Even the most cursory browse through any slang dictionary will immediately reveal that rhyming slang is a highly productive category of word-formation in contemporary British and Australian English. However, because of the inextricable difficulty in tracking what is essentially an oral (and often improvisational) phenomenon, dictionaries have typically overlooked rhyming slang items whose use is restricted to specific geographical areas, especially in Ireland and Scotland. Conceived as a sequel and companion piece to a previous study on Scottish rhyming slang by this author (Lillo 2004b), this article examines the way rhyming slang has thrived in Scotland over the past few years, thereby providing interesting insights into its role in the articulation of Scottish identity and its spread and growth around the anglophone world. While Scottish rhyming slang shows largely the same morphological characteristics as other rhyming slangs, its home-grown flavour is apparent in a significant proportion of its repertoire, which serves as a real marker of national identity and pride among Scots. The final section of the article presents a glossary of Scottish rhyming slang made up for the most part of previously unrecorded items collected by the author.