Passive Structures in Singapore English
Passive Structures in Singapore English

Author: Dominik Lorenz

Publisher: GRIN Verlag

Published: 2011-03

Total Pages: 41

ISBN-13: 3640862953

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Seminar paper from the year 2006 in the subject American Studies - Linguistics, grade: 2, University of Freiburg, course: Proseminar I, 12 entries in the bibliography, language: English, abstract: Ho and Platt (1993:1) argue that Singaporean English is a particularly interesting indigenized, or nativized, speech variety because it is so widely used and fills so many functions. I can confirm Ho and Platt's statement, since I was in Singapore in 2004. It was not difficult to notice Singapore English as a speech variety. This sparked my interest in participating in the proseminar 'English in Singapore' and consequently in researching into a certain grammatical phenomenon in Singapore English, namely the passive voice. In this term paper, a short analysis of the two passive structures specific to Colloquial Singapore English (the so-called kena passive and the give passive) will be presented. Further on, we the get passive will be examined. We will show that give- and kena-constructions are derived from the languages of Chinese and Malay, respectively. The bigger part of this paper will be to examine the overall frequencies thereof. Which of the two passive constructions will be closer in structure to the standard form? A personal analysis will help us to answer this question, always with the hidden desire to finally come up with a reasonable conclusion towards the end of the paper. We will probably have a winner of the competing substrate form and we will hopefully find out which passive construction is the most productive one in Singapore English. Moreover, we want to compare the frequency of the kena-passive with the getpassive's frequency in a corpus-based analysis. Admittedly, the corpus-based study will be relatively restrictive and not quite large in size. In addition, the give-passive will be ignored due to its rarity. Further on, we want to compare passive voice in Singapore with the passive in Standard English. To manage this, after having presented the develo

The Making of Vernacular Singapore English
The Making of Vernacular Singapore English

Author: Zhiming Bao

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2015-08-14

Total Pages: 231

ISBN-13: 1107022088

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Charts the history of Singapore English and explores the linguistic, historical and social factors that have influenced the variety as it is spoken today. This study will be of interest to scholars and advanced students working on language contact, world varieties of English, historical linguistics and sociolinguistics.

Singapore English
Singapore English

Author: Lisa Lim

Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing

Published: 2004

Total Pages: 200

ISBN-13: 9789027248930

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Singapore English: A grammatical description provides a vivid account of current, contemporary Singapore English, complementing older seminal accounts of this variety. Drawing primarily on the Grammar of Spoken Singapore English Corpus, which comprises naturally-occurring conversational speech, the contributions in this volume not only provide comprehensive and systematic descriptions of the structural features characterising colloquial Singapore English of the young, native speaker of today, but also propose the likely substrate sources of these features through insightful linguistic and historical examination. Clearly illustrating the particular rules of grammar that characterise Singapore English as a variety in its own right, this volume presents its evolution as a perfectly natural linguistic phenomenon which is best understood within the multiethnic and multilingual society that Singapore is and has been for the past two centuries. Theoretical linguists, sociolinguists, dialectologists, variationists, typologists and creolists, as well as those involved in education and policy-making, should find this description relevant and vital.

New Approaches to English Linguistics
New Approaches to English Linguistics

Author: Olga Timofeeva

Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing Company

Published: 2016-11-01

Total Pages: 334

ISBN-13: 9027266816

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This book aims at providing a cross-section of current developments in English linguistics, by tracing recent approaches to corpus linguistics and statistical methodology, by introducing new inter- and multidisciplinary refinements to empirical methodology, and by documenting the on-going emphasis shift within the discipline of English linguistics from the study of dominant language varieties to that of post-colonial, minority, non-standardised, learner and L2 varieties. Among the key focus areas that define research in the field of English linguistics today, this selection concentrates on four: corpus linguistics, English as a global language, cognitive linguistics, and second language acquisition. Most of the articles in this volume concentrate on at least two of these areas and at the same time bring in their own suggestions towards building bridges within and across sub-disciples of linguistics and beyond.

Crosslinguistic Influence in Singapore English
Crosslinguistic Influence in Singapore English

Author: Ming Chew Teo

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2020-01-06

Total Pages: 163

ISBN-13: 0429873875

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In a social setting where speakers with several languages interact extensively, a major source of variation in Colloquial Singapore English comes from the complex interaction between crosslinguistic influences and various social and linguistic factors. By unifying both social and linguistic aspects of the phenomenon through the use of multivariate analyses like logistic regressions and Poisson regressions, this book represents a novel approach to the study of crosslinguistic influence in Colloquial Singapore English. As multivariate analyses provide us with information regarding the relative strengths of each social and linguistic factor, they are useful tools that allow us to have a more nuanced understanding of crosslinguistic influence in contact situations. Linguistic features from a variety of linguistic domains – morphology, semantics, and discourse – will be quantified, and statistical analyses will be run in R to determine the degree to which various social and linguistic factors affect the extent of crosslinguistic influence. Well-known Singlish features like the optionality of past tense and plural marking, the unique meanings of already, got, and one, and discourse particles lah, leh, and lor, are analyzed using this approach. The statistical modeling of these features is a first step towards creating a unified framework to understanding crosslinguistic influence.

Getting at GET in World Englishes
Getting at GET in World Englishes

Author: Elisabeth Bruckmaier

Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG

Published: 2017-02-20

Total Pages: 344

ISBN-13: 311049731X

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Despite its exceptional frequency and versatility, GET has never been a focus of research in its entire variability, which goes from lexical to grammatical uses, nor in large amounts of data from different varieties of English. The present corpus-based study deals with over 11,600 tokens of GET in written and spoken language from three varieties of English and thus provides new insights for variationist linguistics. Firstly, it offers a comprehensive semasiological-syntactic analysis of GET, i.e. an analysis of all its meanings and all the constructions into which it enters, suggesting ten categories as being necessary for its complete description. Secondly, it contributes to the understanding of factors that are at work in variation in World Englishes and lead to quantitative differences between regional standard varieties. Thus, the present study demonstrates that the use of GET in the New Englishes analysed is less affected by substrate effects than by the effects of Second Language Acquisition and the varying influence of British and American English norms. Moreover, it can be shown that the New Englishes display more grammatical uses of GET than does British English.

The Variability of Current World Englishes
The Variability of Current World Englishes

Author: Eugene Green

Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG

Published: 2014-08-27

Total Pages: 296

ISBN-13: 3110352109

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Faces of English explores the phenomenon of increasing dialects, varieties, and creoles, even as the spread of globalization supports an apparently growing uniformity among nations. The book's chapters supply descriptions of Jamaican English in Toronto, English as an L2 in a South African mining township, Chinese and English contact in Singapore, unexpected, emergent variants in Canadian English, and innovations in the English of West Virginia. Further, the book offers some perspective on internet English as well as on abiding uniformities in the lexicon and grammar of standard varieties. In the analyses of this heterogeneous growth such considerations as speakers' sociolinguistic profiles, phonological, morpho-syntactic, and lexical variables, frequencies, and typological patterns provide ample insight in the current status of English both in oral and electronic communities. The opening chapter presents a theoretical framework that argues for linguistic typology as conceptually resourceful in accommodating techniques of analysis and in distinguishing the wide arrays of English found throughout the globe. One clear function for Faces of English is that of a catalyst: to spur studies of diversities in English (and in other languages), to suggest approaches to adapt, to invite counterargument and developments in analysis.

Introducing English Grammar
Introducing English Grammar

Author: Kersti Borjars

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2013-01-11

Total Pages: 328

ISBN-13: 1134671512

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Answering key questions such as 'Why study grammar?' and 'What is standard English?', Introducing English Grammar guides readers through the practical analysis of the syntax of English sentences. With all special terms carefully explained as they are introduced, the book is written for readers with no previous experience of grammatical analysis. It is ideal for all those beginning their study of linguistics, English language or speech pathology, as well as students with primarily literary interests who need to cover the basics of linguistic analysis. The approach taken is in line with current research in grammar, a particular advantage for students who may go on to study syntax in more depth. All the examples and exercises use real language taken from newspaper articles, non-standard dialects and include excerpts from studies of patients with language difficulties. Students are encouraged to think about the terminology as a tool kit for studying language and to test what can and cannot be described using these tools. This new edition has been fully revised in line with recent research. There is a new chapter on World English, a new glossary and a free website with extensive further reading and answers to the exercises.

Change in Contemporary English
Change in Contemporary English

Author: Geoffrey Leech

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2009-10-22

Total Pages: 371

ISBN-13: 113948317X

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Based on the systematic analysis of large amounts of computer-readable text, this book shows how the English language has been changing in the recent past, often in unexpected and previously undocumented ways. The study is based on a group of matching corpora, known as the 'Brown family' of corpora, supplemented by a range of other corpus materials, both written and spoken, drawn mainly from the later twentieth century. Among the matters receiving particular attention are the influence of American English on British English, the role of the press, the 'colloquialization' of written English, and a wide range of grammatical topics, including the modal auxiliaries, progressive, subjunctive, passive, genitive and relative clauses. These subjects build an overall picture of how English grammar is changing, and the linguistic and social factors that are contributing to this process.

Null Subjects in Englishes
Null Subjects in Englishes

Author: Verena Schröter

Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG

Published: 2019-09-02

Total Pages: 338

ISBN-13: 3110645351

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This book presents the first systematic quantitative study of null subjects not only in British English, but also in the contact varieties Indian, Hong Kong and Singapore English. Analysing informal spoken language, it addresses issues relevant for language contact and World Englishes, corpus linguistics and variationist sociolinguistics, linguistic typology and syntax.