ERIC Number: EJ1320271
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2021
Pages: 9
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-2146-0655
EISSN: N/A
Divergent Patterns of Variant Tag Questions in Pakistani English: A Corpus-Based Comparative Study
Hussain, Zahida; Asif, Muhammad; Aslam, Ayesha; Mahmood, Muhammad Asim
Pegem Journal of Education and Instruction, v11 n4 p370-378 2021
The research explores forms and function of variant tag questions (VTQs) in the native and non-native Englishes. For the said purpose, patterns of VTQs in Pakistani English are compared with two native (British and New Zealand) and two non-native (Indian and Singaporean) varieties. The components of the "International Corpus of English," henceforth ICE (Greenbaum & Nelson, 1996) of the said varieties, have been used. Each ICE component consists of one- million-word corpus of the regional variety, with a common design, in order to ensure maximum comparability between the components (Nelson 1996). The ICE samples the English of adults (age 18 or over) who have been educated through medium of English to at least the end of secondary schooling. Convenient sampling technique is used to collect data. All the possible tags were extracted using AntConc 3.5.9 and the collocation were then studied. The results revealed that VTQs are under-used in non-native Englishes while least used in Pakistani English. As for the forms of VTQs, Pakistani speakers follow the native speakers and observe the grammatical rules. The functions of VTQs are analysed in Pakistani English, following Axelsson's (2011) model, and compared with that of Indian English as both varieties share almost similar linguistic and sociocultural backgrounds. The results show that declarative VTQs are preferred to seek and exchange information in both the varieties. The research suggests that further linguistic entities may be explored to observe the similarities/differences in native and non-native varieties, including Indian and Pakistani Englishes, to establish their identities.
Descriptors: Language Variation, Grammar, Computational Linguistics, Foreign Countries, Second Language Instruction, Second Language Learning, English (Second Language), Language of Instruction, Phrase Structure, Questioning Techniques, Contrastive Linguistics, Native Language, Adults, Self Concept
Pegem Academy Publishing and Educational Guidance Services TLC. Mesrutiyet Caddesi, No: 45, Ankara, Kizilay 06420, Turkey. e-mail: editor@pegegog.net; Web site: http://www.pegegog.net/
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Pakistan; India; United Kingdom; Singapore; New Zealand
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A