New Varieties Of English Research Articles

Modality in Spoken Malaysian English: A Comparison with the Supervarieties

The interest in Malaysian English generated many studies on Malaysian English focusing on various grammatical features. However, modality in Malaysian English is still under-researched, especially in post-independence and new Englishes contexts. As a new variety of English, it raises questions on how Malaysian English has developed from the historical input variety, i.e., British English and how resistant or accepting Malaysian English is to American English which is highly influential globally. This study aimed to contribute to the development of Malaysian English studies by reporting a corpus-based research of the frequency and statistical differences of a set of modal and quasi-modal verbs in three spoken corpora representing Malaysian, British, and American English. AntConc software (Version 3.5.9) (Anthony, 2020) was used to explore and generate the relevant data in the spoken Malaysian English corpus, while the spoken British and American English corpora were accessed online using the tools on the respective websites. The findings show that the use of modal and quasi-modal verbs in spoken Malaysian English does not entirely resemble either of the Supervarieties, i.e., spoken British English and American English. Log-likelihood test carried out in the study shows significant differences in the use of certain modal and quasi-modal verbs between the varieties, suggesting that Supervarieties are not always in the lead in using quasi-modals. The results also suggest that these significant differences are mainly accounted for by the nativisation process and evolution of Malaysian English as a new English variety. The findings shed new light on the current knowledge of modal and quasi-modal verbs in post-independence spoken Malaysian English. Keywords : corpus-based; modal verbs; quasi-modal verbs; spoken Malaysian English; Supervarieties

Chinese and English in the Globalization Epoch

Since the beginning of the period of “reform and opening-up” in the PRC, English became а part of the college entrance examination system gaokao. In the 2010s Chinese linguists even actively discussed the appearance of a new variety of English, the so called ‘China English’ or ‘Chinese-style English’. On the one hand, China understands that without the knowledge of the English language, the country will not be able to take its proper place in the world and successfully participate in the global competition, both economic and civilizational. On the other hand, at present the growing influence of English worries many politicians, public figures and linguists. In particular, they believe that it changes the attitude of the Chinese to their native language and character script, the most important dimensions of the Chinese civilization and the symbols of national identity. The issue of the permissible scale of English learning in the education system and even the exclusion of English from the gaokao system has been repeatedly raised in the country. At the same time, the Academy of Contemporary China and World Studies has initiated an investigation of the frequency and the degree of recognition of the new Chinese words in the English texts.

English Speakers in Hong Kong

This paper argues it is no longer possible to refer to Hong Kong English speakers en masse as EFL speakers, nor can we say they speak a fully formed new variety of English called Hong Kong English (HKE). Taking into account the language(s) used for school, for work, for entertainment, and for socializing, we can see that Hong Kong’s speech community is extremely heterogeneous, both regarding levels of English and degrees of English usage. A small but growing number of Hongkongers now report that they speak English as a native language. Hongkongers with white collar jobs have been found to write more English than Chinese while at work, making it reasonable to argue that they write English as a second language (ESL). Many Hongkongers seek out English-speaking social networks and choose to watch and listen to English-medium forms of entertainment, which means their English-speaking experience is very ESL-like. However, in addition to these variations, there are great differences in English speaking and writing abilities that correlate largely with socioeconomic status. Adding to this lack of homogeneity among English speakers is the fact that extremely few Hongkongers speak English among themselves outside of specific work or school contexts. This means that HKE is not yet a new variety of English, and will have a difficult time becoming one unless the linguistic habits of Hongkongers change. English language education should take all these individual differences into account, including potentially wide differences in the speaking, listening, reading and writing abilities among individuals themselves.

Teachers’ Feedback on a New Variety of English: The Case of Hong Kong English

The present short report reveals how teachers of English in Hong Kong (HKTEs) react to Hong Kong English (HKE). By employing a mixed method approach consisting of 100 survey responses and 28 interviews, types of feedback and activities teachers use when they encounter HKE in classroom were recorded and reported. The results showed that the two types of teachers of English – Native and Non-native English speakers – provided different kinds of responses because of the differences in attitude they held toward new varieties of English. The current study potentially sheds light on how different varieties of English could fit in traditional ESL curricula. Further research is warranted on how the feedback may affect English acquisition among Hong Kong students and whether the feedback brings positive or negative effects to the students.

Multilingualism and the role of English in the United Arab Emirates

AbstractThe United Arab Emirates (UAE) has witnessed an unprecedented economic and cultural development since its foundation in 1971. Foreign labor and investment play a central role in this development, yielding a sharp imbalance between the Emirati and the foreign population. A population of no less than 85 per cent of highly transient foreigners strongly impacts the local linguistic landscape, with many languages competing in the public sphere. English occupies a special role in this multilingual texture, as it is used as a foreign language, a second language, and a lingua franca. It occurs in its standardized varieties, but also in several non‐standard forms, as foreign labor is recruited from places formerly under British or American influence. Based on a new questionnaire study of 692 university students, we explore the tension between English and Arabic, the prominence of English, the increasing use of English as a home language, and the emergence of a new variety of English: ‘Gulf English’.

“English as a Lingua Franca”: Rhetoric or Reality? Attitudes of Prospective English Teachers in Post-colonial Hong Kong

ABSTRACT As a consequence of English developing into a global language, new varieties of English have emerged and the language has assumed the role of a common medium of communication among speakers of different ethnolinguistic backgrounds. When Hong Kong was transforming from a British colony into “Asia’s World City” after its sovereignty was returned to China, the notions of “World Englishes” (WE) and “English as a Lingua Franca” (ELF) were also introduced to teacher-trainees taking English as their major subject in a local university in Hong Kong. Despite this, preference for the native English models seemed to prevail. This article examines the extent to which ELF was a rhetoric rather than a reality as perceived by this group of students. Through the Verbal-guise Technique and group interviews, the article examined the attitudes of 105 English teacher-trainees in Hong Kong towards four native and three Asian speech samples of English (including their own). The results showed that although the respondents displayed good confidence in their own accent and positive attitudes towards all speakers, their strong preference for the American and British models remained deep-rooted, suggesting that a linguistic hierarchy exists even in the WE paradigm.

Relativiser Alternation and Relative Clause Complexity: Insights from Nigerian and American Varieties

Idiosyncrasies and peculiarities distinguishing new Englishes from the established ones are often identified and measured by examining the extent to which structural choices and patterns vary across the board. The competition between relativisers wh- and that in the construction of relative clause, which itself is a structurally complex-versus-simple construction site, allows for showing the extent to which choice of a relativiser relates to the construction of a complex or simple relative clause, given different factors. On the other hand, such investigation can also shed some light on the extent to which structural com- plexity characterises new varieties of English. Relying on 628 relative clauses drawn from written academic corpus, the study shows that WH-relativiser is preferred to THAT-relativiser by the Nigerian speakers, and vice versa by the American speakers. It is also found that WH-relative clause is more likely to be complex-structured while THAT-relative clause is more likely to be simple-structured. Among eight factors tested for independent effects, the factors representing relativiser posterior syntactic form, syntactic function, and syntactic positioning of the relative clause appeared to be strong predictors of where we might (not) find a certain relativiser and whether a complex or simple relative clause will emerge.

New varieties of English: Issues of incomprehensibility and unintelligibility

The present article discusses new varieties of English with reference to intelligibility and comprehensibility. It has been observed that new varieties of English display deviant phonological features. Speakers of these varieties insert a sound, delete a sound, substitute a sound, and rearrange sounds when they pronounce certain words. Moreover, they use deviant word stress patterns. These things affect the intelligibility of their speech. The new varieties differ at the level of discourse as well; the content and language used to perform certain speech acts such as coaxing, responding to questions, etc., may result in miscommunication. Thus, unintelligibility is a result of mother tongue interference and incomprehensibility is a result of mother culture interference. The article illustrates unintelligibility and incomprehensibility using examples from non-native varieties of English.

The Structural Simplification Hypothesis and the Premodifiers in Nigerian English

This paper conducts a corpus-based study of the occurrence/non-occurrence, structural pattern, and forms of the premodifier in the Nigerian English noun phrase, comparing the scenarios that emerge with those of the British and Ghanaian varieties of English. These three phenomena, which are crucial to the nature of premodifier in new varieties of English, are investigated in relation to predictors representing syntactic function, register, post-dependent syntactic weight, and animacy, showing, among other things, the extent to which structural complexity/simplicity is present in the structure of the premodifiers studied. Corpus findings indicate that premodifiers are more likely to occur (53%) than not (47%) and that simple premodifiers (i.e. one-word premodifier structural pattern (79%)) are significantly preferred to complex premodifiers (i.e. two-word at 17% and longer patterns at 4%). Relating to form, single premodifiers are most likely to be realized as adjectives. It is also found that the alternation between simple and complex premodifiers is most strongly predicted by the syntactic functions that the NP performs, as well as the syntactic weight present in the post dependent slot. Register, which is reputed as a very strong indicator of structural variation (Schils and De Haan 1993; Biber et al. 2007; Schilk and Schaub 2016) is outweighed by syntactic function and post-dependent weight.

Sounding native: rating speakers of English from Asia

This study explores whether a shift is taking place in terms of how the native speaker construct is viewed in relation to Asian Englishes. It investigates this issue through a speech ratings task. The goal of the current research is not to judge nativeness or ultimate attainment of the participants. Rather, the study investigates whether the construct of native speaker is being redefined as new varieties of English are gaining acceptance as legitimate varieties of English. The study comprises ratings of speech samples from 33 native speakers of English from Asia and 7 native speakers of English from Inner Circle countries. A total of 45 listeners rated each sample for nativeness on a 9-point Likert scale. The study also examined how listeners’ perceptions of where the speaker was from and which the variety they felt the speaker spoke influenced ratings, as well as how the listeners’ own backgrounds influenced ratings.

EVOLUTION OF ENGLISH IN THE INTERNET AGE

Although the Internet came into existence in the second half of the twentieth century, its influence on language began to escalate in 1990 onwards. It has drastically changed the way people communicate and use English both in writing and speaking. Consequently, the world has become increasingly interconnected through synchronous and asynchronous communicational scripts, such as SMS, online chat, Yahoo messengers, emails, blogs, and wikis, which have become retrievable as accessible corpora for analysis. These corpora can yield anecdotal evidence of historical language change. The arrival of Web 2.0 tools and applications, such as Facebook, Twitter, Skype, WhatsApp, and Viber, can likewise reveal changes that English has recently undergone. The Internet has given rise to what is arguably a new variety of English that differs from standard varieties. This article provides an account of the development of English from dialects spoken by a small number of people in the British Isles to an international and global language. It emphasizes the language shifts that have taken place more recently since the widespread use of the Internet. The pervasiveness of the Internet has led to new changes in form and usage described as Internet English.

On the Differences and Correlations between Chinese English and Chinglish

The terms “Chinese English” and “Chinglish” have always been confusing to most people. As a new variety of English, Chinese English is quite different from Chinglish. In order to make a distinction between them, different definitions are mentioned so as to know what Chinese English and Chinglish really are. Chinese English is featured with great Chinese characteristics and its characteristics will be analyzed in details. There are three characteristics for the two terms respectively. Later different formation manners between Chinese English and Chinglish are examined at length. Finally a correlation between the two terms is discussed briefly. The above-mentioned analysis aims to offer some implication to a more comprehensive understanding of Chinese English and Chinglish in ELT practice in China.

How Indian is Indian English?: Indian Words in Registers of Indian English

The rising status of English as a world language has led to the emergence of several non-native or new varieties of English, with Indian English being a major new variety. Much work on Indian English has focused on establishing the Indianness of the language. As Kachru points out, studies of Indian English consider “linguistic interference and the Indian cultural context as essential for the understanding and description of the Indianness in this variety of English” (The Indianness of Indian English 391). Other early research on the Indianness of Indian English includes Verma, Dubey, Hosali, and Bhatt, to name just a few. The work represented by most previous studies on Indian English, which focus largely on the nature and degree of difference of Indian English from external norms, does not, however, provide a clear picture of the system underlying Indian English. The current study focuses on the Indianness of Indian English, but tests Kachru’s claims regarding the progressive Indianisation of Indian English. The first part of the study is an empirical investigation of Indian words in three spoken and three written registers of the language from a corpus compiled in the year 2000 and earlier, and identifies distinct semantic categories of words in the registers. Based on the results of this first analysis, the second part of the study analyses the occurrence of Indian words in a smaller corpus of a register of written Indian English compiled in 2016. The first part of the study shows that there are marked differences in the degree of Indianisation of Indian English among different registers, and the second part of the study shows that with respect to the register studied, written Indian English seems to be undergoing a process of un-Indianisation.

The role of individual/personal differences in EFL pronunciation learning

1IntroductionOne of major responsibilities of teacher or language instructor should be working towards lowering apprehension level of their learners because less inhibited or anxious students take more risks to communicate and may perform better. Although research in field of phonetics1 provides support for existence of a relationship between inhibition and SL pronunciation learning, outcomes are neither statistically significant nor pedagogically ethical (cf. Guiora et al. 1972; 1980; Schumann et al. 1978). Moreover, most of pronunciation research carried out in Poland was predominantly descriptive and relied mainly on questionnaires as main instrument of data collection (cf. Pawlak 2003; Pospieszynska, & Pawlak 2003). Seldom did studies involve researcher audio- or videotaping classroom interaction processes in order to verify results obtained by questionnaires (cf. Szpyra-Kozlowska et al. 2002; Wrembel 2002; Scheuer 2003). Although there were few examples of researchers actually 'coming into classroom' audio-taping or videotaping learning-teaching processes (cf. Pospieszynska, & Pawlak 2003; Stasiak, & Szpyra-Kozlowska 2003b; Szyszka 2003 in Poland, and Yule, & MacDonald 1995 abroad), these are just noteworthy exceptions in whole scarcity of research studies.2The place of pronunciation teaching in language curriculumThe place of pronunciation teaching is particularly important in EFL pedagogy. Not only can pronunciation teaching/learning influence quality of spoken language but it also helps understand certain linguistic phenomena concerning speech acts, vocal tract or speech production, transmission and perception. Especially a person who is trained to be an teacher should be both good at foreign language using and at interpreting particular phonological rules and principles.In his book on issues in language teaching and learning, Widdowson (2003) presents two quotations, which can be interpreted as representing two opposing positions on language change. The first quotation is taken from Yeats's (1996:187) The Second Coming:Things fall apart: centre cannot holdMere anarchy is loosed upon world.The second quotation is taken from Tennyson's (2004:257) Idylls of King:The old order changeth, yielding place to newAnd God fulfills himself in many ways,Lest one good custom should corrupt world.Let us try to understand Widdowson's interpretations of quotations mentioned above. In case of Yeats', Widdowson says the centre can be taken as Inner Circle and assumption is that if it cannot hold language in place, linguistic anarchy will be loosed upon speaking world (Widdowson 2003:58). In case of other quotation, Widdowson claims whether you attribute it to some kind of divine intervention or not, old established order of Inner Circle changes and yields place to new varieties of English (Widdowson 2003:58).Although current trend for language intelligibility and global understanding in EFL may undermine role of pronunciation teaching/learning, majority of both teachers and students find it equally important as teaching/learning grammar or lexis. (The acronym ELF, as Lingua Franca2, in reversing F and L of EFL, may be taken as a symbol of conceptual and practical contrasts between EFL and ELF). Some may, however, claim that there is no reason to teach phonetics at all age levels due to fact that critical period for pronunciation is believed to be earliest of all (~6 years old). However, even though not all learners will achieve native-like pronunciation, recent research has shown that highly motivated adult learners with sufficient training can attain it (e.g. Pennington 1994).English has become a means of global communication, so maybe 'being intelligible' should be aim of phonetics teaching in globalization era? …

EFL: REVISITING ELT PRACTICES IN INDONESIA

In the last decades, we have witnessed a revolutionary spread of English worldwide. This global spread of English can be attributed to the combination of various historical, political, economic, cultural, and technological factors. This led to the emergence of new varieties of English, multiple linguistic and cultural identities. However, for decades, the Western paradigm of English language teaching has occupied a prestigious position in Asia, including Indonesia. This paradigm neglects the emerging varieties of English. Furthermore, it is important to recognize that language teaching and learning is affected by a host of factors ranging from the macro political and cultural environments of a country or region to the micro perceptions and practices of individual teachers or learners, which calls for different methodologies for different learners or learning situations. This article attempts to discuss briefly the current issues in English language teaching (ELT) in Indonesia from English as lingua franca (ELF) perspectives, particularly by taking a close look at all the local features and limitations in the established theories and practices in ELT in Indonesia.

English in Southeast Asia: Pedagogical and policy implications

ABSTRACTThe roles of English within and between the many of the countries which make up Southeast Asia are increasing, and English is constantly being used and negotiated as a mutual means of communication by Asian multilinguals for whom English is an additional language. It is timely, therefore, to consider ways in which these Englishes have been developing, along with the roles English is currently playing. Areas worthy of investigation include the influence of language contact and the motivations for the presence of non‐standard forms in these new varieties of English. Given the recent research reviewed in this paper, the criteria by which the use of non‐standard forms are classified as characteristic of the particular variety need to be revised. The paper will conclude by considering whether the role of English as a lingua franca in the region has reached its zenith and whether regional language education policy is likely allow the languages of Asia to thrive.

China English: To be or not to be? - A Survey on the Sociolinguistic Background of Its Recognition and Development

Spreading at the present rate, English will further increase its importance as the global lingua franca in this century, not only in countries of the inner and outer circles, but also in the expanding circle. Meanwhile, with the appearance of the ‘craze for learning English’ these past years in China, one of the EFL countries, more attention is focused on the research about this language phenomenon, and ‘China English’ thus has been proposed by Chinese linguists to represent the result of the localization and nativization of English in Chinese background. However, little notice about ‘China English’has been taken by linguists and researchers in other countries. Also fewer empirical or survey studies can be found in this field since such research is only at the starting point in China. Therefore, this paper investigates the sociolinguistic background of the recognition and development of China English. 365 subjects of various levels are involved in the questionnaire survey. Their answers are about the ultimate aims of learning English and the social functions of English in their life. The results are in favor of a more objective and convincing conclusion, that is, China English is inevitably going to be an important variety of English and will exert the personal function of English for efficiency and effectiveness in both intercultural and intracultural communications. It is hoped that the discussion would help both recognition and acceptance of the new variety of English in the world. Suggestions on the relationship between China English and EFL teaching are also provided as references.

Some Syntactic Innovations in New Literatures in English

New literatures in English mirror the identity of non-native writers who are eager to weave linguistic and thematic elements in English in divergence to the so-called Anglo English literature so that their nationality appearing in the characterization and various literary devices would contribute to the uniqueness of new varieties of English. This paper pays attention to an innovative facet of such linguistic components, particularly regarding syntax, which are manifested in the discipline of World Englishes. It aims to present particular types of syntactic innovations used in literary texts in English produced by Asian, African and Caribbean authors whose mother tongue is not English, through a range of previous studies. It appears that those authors mainly point out six types of syntactic creativity - literal translation, overgeneralization, omission, reduction, restructuring and progressive verb forms - to highlight their writings which reflect localization of the English language.

Who wants Swiss English?

Recently, new varieties of English, in particular insular ones, have been discovered and described by sociolinguists: Bermuda English, Falkland Islands English, St Helena English, Tristan da Cunha English, to name but a few. Concomitantly, applied linguists have started to take an interest in ‘lingua franca English’ as used in countries where English has no official status. Euro-English and, more recently, Swiss English are examples of such English as a Lingua Franca (hereafter, ELF) varieties. Any scientific exploration into unknown territory presupposes that there is something to be found – ideally something that already has a name. Quests for new varieties of English are motivated by the same fundamental desire, namely, to find ‘X-an English’ (Groves, 2011: 35).

Characteristic morphological and syntactic features of English in Kenya: a corpus study (ice)

Abstract Natalia Budohoska. Characteristic Morphological and Syntactic Features of English inKenya: A Corpus Study (ICE). Lingua Posnaniensis, vol. L IV (1)/2012. The Poznań Society for the Advancement of the Arts and Sciences. PL ISSN 0079-4740, ISBN 978-83-7654-103-7, pp. 45-56. This study discusses characteristic morphological and syntactic features of English in Kenya on the basis of the International Corpus of English (ICE) for Kenya. It contains a list of typical traits compiled following the universal criteria for describing varieties of English set up by Kortmann (2008: xxv-xxix). The features found were confronted with the Szmrecsanyi & Kortmann (2009: 68) concept of the inherent simplification of the new varieties of English. Finally, the amount of variation found in the ICE was placed into a wider context of other postcolonial varieties of English. The results of this analysis add to the discussion of recognizing English in Kenya as an emancipated variety of English (Budohoska 2011a, b). This study presents a high degree of characteristic features of English in Kenya, many of them shared with other recognized varieties of English. It also reveals tendencies of simplification common to New Englishes. The estimated frequencies of these features, however, are too low to reveal stigmatized forms of Kenyan English.