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- Volume 43, Issue 1, 2022
English World-Wide - Volume 43, Issue 1, 2022
Volume 43, Issue 1, 2022
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Into-causatives in World Englishes
Author(s): Thomas Brunnerpp.: 1–32 (32)More LessAbstractThe paper analyses the frequency and use of the relatively rare, yet highly productive into-causative construction in twenty varieties of English on the basis of the 1.9-billion word Corpus of Web-based Global English (GloWbE; Davies 2013)1 and Schneider’s (2007) Dynamic Model. It hypothesises differences in frequency, variation in the preference for particularly frequent fillers as well as productivity differences in line with Schneider’s stages of linguistic evolution. However, it shows that only frequency differences reflect the Dynamic Model; with regard to the preference for frequent realisations and productivity, postcolonial varieties turn out to be very similar to British English. These results come as a surprise against the background of similar studies of the way-construction, where all of these effects have been documented convincingly. It is argued that the properties of into-causatives themselves (e.g. their idiomatic and semantic simplicity) might contribute to their more native-like usage patterns in postcolonial varieties of English.
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Intensifying and downtoning in South Asian Englishes
Author(s): Nina Funke and Tobias Bernaischpp.: 33–65 (33)More LessAbstractAs 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 International Corpus of English. 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.
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The trappings of order
Author(s): Raymond Oenbring and Matthias Klummpp.: 66–95 (30)More LessAbstractThis 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 be-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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Regional variation in British English voice quality
Author(s): Erica Gold, Christin Kirchhübel, Kate Earnshaw and Sula Rosspp.: 96–123 (28)More LessAbstractThis study considers regional variation of voice quality in two varieties of British English – Southern Standard British English and West Yorkshire English. A comparison of voice quality profiles for three closely related but not identical northern varieties within West Yorkshire is also considered. Our findings do not contradict the small subset of previous research which explored regional and/or social variation in voice quality in British English insofar as regionality may play a small role in a speaker’s voice quality profile. However, factors such as social standing and identity could perhaps be even more relevant. Even when considering homogeneous groups of speakers, it is not the case that there is a cohesive voice quality profile that can be attached to every speaker within the group. The reason for this, we argue, is the speaker-specificity inherent in voice quality.
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Review of Kohn, Wolfram, Farrington, Renn & Van Hofwegen (2020): African American Language: Language Development from Infancy to Adulthood
Author(s): Stephan Gramleypp.: 124–129 (6)More LessThis article reviews African American Language: Language Development from Infancy to Adulthood
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Review of Honkanen (2020): World Englishes on the Web: The Nigerian Diaspora in the USA
Author(s): Lars Hinrichspp.: 130–134 (5)More LessThis article reviews World Englishes on the Web: The Nigerian Diaspora in the USA
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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