English World-Wide - Volume 41, Issue 3, 2020

Abstract

This article examines the distribution and socio­linguistic patterning of (quasi-)modals which express strong obligation/necessity, namely must, have to, have got to, got to and need to, in Australian English. Variationist studies in other varieties of English have had contrasting findings in terms of distributions of root forms, as well as their conditioning by social and linguistic factors. The corpus analysis suggests real-time increased use of need to and decrease in have got to through comparison to earlier findings. The variationist analysis shows quasi-modals have to, have got to and got to as sensitive to speaker age and sex, and a recent increase of have to via apparent time modelling. Linguistic conditioning relating to the type of obligation and subject form is also found. The study contributes to socio­linguistic understanding of this large-scale change in English and the place of Australian English amongst other varieties.

Abstract

To find empirical evidence for Schneider’s (2007) periodisation for the emergence of Hong Kong English, Evans (2014, 2015) scrutinised various historical documents, such as newspapers, council proceedings and jury lists. Taking the increasing use of the terms Hongkonger and Hongkong people during the 1980s as evidence for the emergence of a new Hong Kong identity, he argued that the Chinese population considered themselves part of the community. This paper systematises Evans’ (2014) approach by analysing terms denoting ingroup and outgroup members in English news discourse in Hong Kong from 1903 to 1999. By tracing changes in frequency, reference and discourse topics associated with the terms, periods of identity reconstructions are uncovered and Schneider’s and Evans’ periodisations reassessed. The study thus contributes to our understanding of the social dynamics in Hong Kong’s history, which are considered key to the emergence of Hong Kong English.

Abstract

Quotative be like has been described as “one of the most striking developments [in English]” (Tagliamonte and D’Arcy 2004: 493). Despite the vast research on quotatives and the upsurge of be like, the potential impact of discourse type on the grammar of quotation has rarely been assessed. Yet, discourse type has proved a relevant factor in linguistic variation (see Travis 2007; Buchstaller 2011; Travis and Lindstrom 2016). Drawing on vernacular spoken data from our multigenerational corpus of Australian English, we include discourse type as a predictor in our recursive partitioning and logistic regression models. Our results show that similar linguistic constraints operate on be like across discourse types. However, significant differences emerge regarding its social conditioning in narrative as opposed to non-narrative discourse, pointing to a strong association between be like and female storytelling.

Abstract

This paper introduces a previously undiscussed English construction, termed the make us difficult construction. Examples of the construction are presented, from the International Corpus of English and the Corpus of Global Web-Based English, and a quantitative analysis is conducted of the construction’s text frequency and variant rates. Quantitative data on specific usage patterns is employed to inform an analysis of the construction and its productivity, and recommendations are made for future research.

This article reviews Nigerian EnglishEUR 99.959781501504600

This article reviews Processes of Change: Studies in Late Modern and Present-Day EnglishEUR 1059789027204141

This article reviews Corpus Linguistics and Sociolinguistics: A Study of Variation and Change in the Modal Systems of World EnglishesEUR 1279789004381520