Ethnicity versus National Integration in Nigeria: A Sociolinguistic Perspective

(The Journal of Cultural Studies: 2000 2(1): 206-218

A Comparative Study of Computer-mediated and Spoken Conversations from Pakistani and U.S. English using Multidimensional Analysis

Present study compares four computer-mediated conversational registers – comments, FB groups, FB status and tweets – and spoken conversations from Pakistani and US English using Biber's Multidimensional Analysis framework on three dimensions of variation, i.e. (i) Interactive versus Descriptive Explanatory Discourse, (ii) Expression of Stance, and (iii) Informational Focus versus 1st Person Narrative. Spoken conversations have a high score on dimension 2, while CM conversations show register and regional variation on dimension 1 and 3. FB groups are significantly different in both regional varieties, followed by FB status, comments and tweets. Pakistani FB groups discuss self-help related topics, and appear to be slightly interactive and highly informational, while the US ones are interactive and narrative discussing community and political issues. Pakistani FB status and tweets use English mainly for informational purposes, while the US counterparts have interactive and personal orientation indicating a wider functional role of English

Singaporean internet chit chat compared to informal spoken language: linguistic variation and indexicality in a language contact situation

This paper compares data from a Singaporean chit chat forum to informal spoken data. We first perform a qualitative analysis of text samples in a framework of indexicality. Then we present quantitative findings for two (sets of) features each of the contact variety Singlish (particles, the kena-passive) and spoken English in general (discourse markers, contractions). For the former some similarities are observed but we also find that the forum contributors tend to be creative and innovative in their choice of particles. In this connection we argue that they index specific subgroup identities and further point out that Singlish is a rather flexible set of resources. Our findings differ from those of previous research on Jamaican Creole as used in an internet forum, thus showing that the use of contact varieties in computer-mediated communication can take different forms. The general features of spoken English are used comparatively less in the forum data, indicating that using Singlish features in writing is not tantamount to writing down spoken language. Moreover, we draw attention to features of computer-mediated communication in in the chit chat forum data. Finally we discuss implications in terms of the Dynamic Model of the evolution of Postcolonial Englishes (Schneider 2007)

'Will' and 'would' in selected New Englishes: general vs. variety-specific tendencies

This paper presents a quantitative and qualitative investigation of the use of the modal verbs will and would in six New Englishes (Fiji, Indian, Singapore, Trinidadian, Jamaican and Bahamian English), with British English considered for comparison; will/would in their future use are also compared to other markers of futurity. The database consists of conversations from the respective components of the International Corpus of English or comparable data. The results show that the use of will versus would tends to be more variable in all New Englishes than in British English but that there are differences between the New Englishes in the type and degree of variation. Thus, both general and variety-specific tendencies seem to be at work in our data. Keywords: New Englishes; International Corpus of English; will/would; frequency; semantic