scholarly journals Implicit Arguments in Ugandan English

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 147-166
Author(s):  
Bebwa Isingoma
Keyword(s):  
American English ◽  
World Englishes ◽  
Implicit Arguments ◽  
Transitive Verbs ◽  
Characteristic Features ◽  
Syntactic Behavior ◽  
Substrate Influence

In standard British/American English, some transitive verbs, which are ontologically specified for objects, may be used with the objects not overtly expressed (for example, leave), while other transitive verbs do not permit this syntactic behavior (for example, vacate). The former have been referred to as verbs that allow implicit arguments. This study shows that while verbs such as vacate do not ideally allow implicit arguments in standard British/American English, this is permitted in Ugandan English (a non-native variety), thereby highlighting structural asymmetries between British/American English and Ugandan English, owing mainly to substrate influence and analogization. The current study highlights those structural asymmetries and ultimately uncovers some characteristic features in the structural nativization process of English in Uganda, thereby contributing to the growing larger discourse meant to fill the gaps that had characterized World Englishes scholarship, where thorough delineations of Ugandan English have been virtually absent.

Colloquial features in Word Englishes

2013 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 479-505 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Collins ◽  
Xinyue Yao
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
American English ◽  
World Englishes ◽  
Evolutionary Status ◽  
First Person ◽  
Functional Interpretation ◽  
Person Plural ◽  
World English ◽  
First Person Plural ◽  
Grammatical Change

A powerful discourse-pragmatic agent of grammatical change in English since the mid-twentieth century has been the increasing acceptance of colloquialism. Little is known, however, about its influence on grammatical developments in regional varieties of World English other than the two inner circle ‘supervarieties’, British and American English. This paper reports findings from a corpus-based study of three grammatical categories known to be undergoing a colloquialism-related rise in contemporary English, across a range of registers in ten World Englishes: quasi-modals (have to, have got to, be going to, want to), get-passives, and first person plural inclusive let’s. In each case comparisons are drawn with non-colloquial variants: modals (must, should, will, shall), be-passives, and let us. Subsequent functional interpretation of the data is used to explore the effect upon the quantitative patterns identified of the phenomenon of colloquialism and of further factors with which it interacts (including Americanism, prescriptivism, and evolutionary status).

English in Australia – Extra-territorial Influences

2020 ◽  
pp. 202-227
Author(s):  
Kate Burridge ◽  
Pam Peters
Keyword(s):  
Quantitative Methods ◽  
American English ◽  
World Englishes ◽  
Qualitative And Quantitative ◽  
Qualitative And Quantitative Methods ◽  
Attitudinal Data ◽  
Corpus Data ◽  
Australian English

This chapter discusses the extra-territorial influence of American English on Australian English, in comparison with other varieties within the spectrum of World Englishes. Its aim is to compare the different orientations to American English in Australia that can be observed using qualitative and quantitative methods, and so to illuminate the different ways in which extra- and intra-territorial influences can impact on individual varieties. Two kinds of evidence are presented: (i) attitudinal data derived from Australians commenting in the complaint tradition on elements of pronunciation and spelling; and (ii) corpus data on lexical and morphosyntactic sets where shifting preferences are attributed to American influence. While perceptions of the extent of American influence are inflated, the inventory of Americanisms used in Australia continues to grow.

The present perfect in Nigerian English

2016 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 129-153 ◽  
Author(s):  
VALENTIN WERNER ◽  
ROBERT FUCHS
Keyword(s):  
American English ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
Internal Variability ◽  
Alternative Measure ◽  
Present Perfect ◽  
Learning Mechanisms ◽  
British English ◽  
Determining Factors ◽  
Substrate Influence

This article offers an analysis of present perfect (PP) use in Nigerian English (NigE), based on the Nigerian component of theInternational Corpus of English(ICE). First, we analyze variable contexts with the Simple Past (PT; determined by temporally specified contexts) as one of the main competitors of the PP, and thus assess the PP-friendliness of NigE in contrast to other varieties. We further provide an alternative measure of PP-friendliness and test register effects in terms of normalized and relative PP and PT frequencies. Our results indicate an overall reduced PP-friendliness of NigE and show internal variability in terms of PP frequencies in different variable contexts. As regards register effects, NigE does not show less variability of PP frequencies compared to British English (BrE). However, the distribution of the PP across registers in NigE does not follow the British pattern where certain registers are particularly PP-friendly. We discuss potential determining factors of the low frequency of the PP in NigE, and conclude that neither substrate influence nor general learning mechanisms on their own can comprehensively account for it. Instead, we suggest that historical influence from Irish and perhaps (at a later point) American English, in conjunction with general learning mechanisms, may be responsible.

Researching World Englishes in HEL Courses

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carol Percy
Keyword(s):  
English Language ◽  
American English ◽  
Code Switching ◽  
World Englishes ◽  
Literary Analysis ◽  
Online Newspapers ◽  
The World ◽  
The Status ◽  
History Of ◽  
Final Essay

This chapter describes assignments used to teach the History of the English Language (HEL) and its contemporary counterpart the English Language in the World. In both of these courses, linguistic concepts can be linked to literary analysis, which helps students learn how to analyze code-switching and/or style-shifting in the context of a literary argument. For discovering and interpreting issues about the status and use of English around the world, students have a number of options. For example, after reading specific articles about slang generally and analyzing examples chosen in class, some students choose to write a final essay on slang or jargon used within online newspapers or films that represent different World Englishes (e.g., in Nigerian “Nollywood” films). Thus, World Englishes become realer for students rather than exotic abstractions or curious variants of English or American English.

The Oxford Companion to the English Language

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tom McArthur ◽  
Jacqueline Lam-McArthur ◽  
Lise Fontaine
Keyword(s):  
Digital Literacy ◽  
Text Messaging ◽  
English Language ◽  
American English ◽  
World Englishes ◽  
English Language Teaching ◽  
British Sign Language ◽  
Technological Advances ◽  
China English ◽  
British Sign

Over 1,400 entriesThis new edition of a landmark Companion notably focuses on World Englishes, English language teaching, English as an international language, and the effect of technological advances on the English language. More than 130 new entries include African American English, British Sign Language, China English, digital literacy, multimodality, social networking, superdiversity, and text messaging. It also includes new biographical entries on key individuals who have had an impact on the English language in recent decades, including Beryl (Sue) Atkins, Adam Kilgariff, and John Sinclair.It is an invaluable reference for English language students and fascinating reading for any general reader with an interest in language.

The use of the be-passive in academic Englishes: local versus global usage in an international language

Corpora ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-61 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marianne Hundt ◽  
Gerold Schneider ◽  
Elena Seoane
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Historical Data ◽  
American English ◽  
World Englishes ◽  
Text Type ◽  
International Language ◽  
Apply Regression Analysis ◽  
University Of Zurich ◽  
The University ◽  
First Time

In this paper, we examine the diffusion of a syntactic change in a specialised text type in different World Englishes – in particular, the use of be-passives in academic discourse in nine contact varieties of English and six English as a Native Language (ENL) varieties. The Zürich-parsed International Corpus of English (ICE) makes it possible to retrieve automatically, for the first time, the two variants in the envelope of variation: active transitive constructions and be-passives. We apply regression analysis in order to gauge the effect of potential external factors that play a role in the choice between them: regional variety (with potential influence from the substrate in the contact varieties) and academic sub-discipline. The use of the passive has undergone change in the twentieth century (see, for example, Leech et al., 2009 ). As a necessary backdrop for variation found in the ICE corpora, we therefore use historical data from the extended Brown family of corpora, which have also been parsed at the University of Zürich. The results of our analysis show that regional variety is less important than academic sub-discipline: with the sole exception of American English, be-passives are about equally frequent in both ENL and contact varieties; moreover, they are distributed similarly across all varieties according to academic sub-discipline (humanities, social sciences, natural sciences and technology).

Case Marking and French Psych-Verbs

1992 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-40 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julia Herschensohn
Keyword(s):  
Subject Position ◽  
Thematic Roles ◽  
Thematic Role ◽  
Accusative Case ◽  
Verb Classes ◽  
Syntactic Position ◽  
Psych Verbs ◽  
Transitive Verbs ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Syntactic Behavior

This article confirms that two classes of psych-verbs in French, amuser-type ("accusative") and manquer-type ("unaccusative"), involve movement into the subject position. However, the two classes are distinguished by their ability to assign accusative Case: the former assign accusative Case and thereby mimic the syntactic behavior of transitive verbs; the latter assign only partitive Case, thus precluding accusative clitics, passive and WH extraction. The existence of different syntactic configurations of thematic roles with different psych-verb classes indicates a lack of direct correlation between syntactic position and thematic role.

Innovation in functional categories: slash, a new coordinator in English

2017 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 621-644
Author(s):  
BRENT WOO
Keyword(s):  
American English ◽  
Noun Phrases ◽  
Spoken Language ◽  
Functional Category ◽  
Functional Categories ◽  
Corpus Study ◽  
English Expression ◽  
Syntactic Behavior ◽  
Syntactic Properties ◽  
English I

This article presents an analysis of the distribution and syntactic behavior of the English expression slash, as in John is a linguist slash musician. The interpretation of this ‘effable slash’ is largely equivalent to intersective and, but it differs from other connective devices like Latin cum, N–N compounding and the orthographic slash </>. A corpus study of American English finds that slash is productive in this use. Its syntactic properties confirm its status as coordinator, but it is distinguished from standard coordinators and and or, in that it imposes category restrictions on the conjuncts: it cannot coordinate full clauses or noun phrases with determiners. I propose that words like slash, period and quote form a class of ‘effable punctuation’ that entered the spoken language from writing. In sum, by incorporating slash into the grammar of English, I argue that slash is a rare example of innovation in a ‘very closed’ functional category.

The coding of perfect meaning in African, Asian and Caribbean Englishes

2017 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 509-529
Author(s):  
CRISTINA SUÁREZ-GÓMEZ
Keyword(s):  
High Frequency ◽  
American English ◽  
World Englishes ◽  
Evolutionary Stage ◽  
Outer Circle ◽  
Text Type ◽  
The Caribbean ◽  
The One

The perfect in World Englishes has attracted much attention recently, especially from a semasiological perspective, in which the analytic have + participle is analysed in comparison with the synthetic preterite. This article intends to achieve a more holistic picture of the expression of perfect meaning in World Englishes, which allows us to identify how perfect meaning is expressed in all pragmatic contexts. In this study, all the occurrences of ten high-frequency verbs are examined in order to single out those expressing perfect meaning. The corpus (8.8m words in total) includes ten components of the International Corpus of English: eight Outer Circle varieties from Africa, Asia and the Caribbean, and two reference varieties: British and American English. The relevant examples are tabulated across variables such as presence of adverbials, type of perfect meaning, lexical verb, mode, text type and evolutionary stage. The results show that the envelope of variation is much wider than the one traditionally acknowledged in current grammars of English, and that type of meaning, lexical verb or text type are crucial determiners in the choice of particular forms to express perfect meaning. By contrast, mode or evolutionary stage does not seem to have a bearing on the differences between varieties.

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