Intensifiers in Asian Englishes

Intensifiers in Asian Englishes Robert Fuchs (Münster), Lilian Coronel (Augsburg) and Ulrike Gut (Münster) (An article, based on an extended version of this presentation, will appear as Fuchs, Robert, Gut, Ulrike. (2015). Register variation in intensifier usage across Asian Englishes. In Pichler, Heike (Eds.), Discourse-Pragmatic Variation and Change: Insights from English. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.) Fuchs, Coronel & Gut Intensifiers in Asian Englishes Overview 1. Introduction  Conference Themes 2. Previous Research  Categories  Communities  (Standard) Varieties 3. Research Questions and Methods  Research Questions  Methods 4. Results  Frequency  Cluster Analysis  Interpretation 5. Conclusion Fuchs, Coronel & Gut Intensifiers in Asian Englishes Introduction Conference Themes Major themes of this conference (2) What are the major features of English in Asia and what are the parameters that frame its development? (3) If the varieties of English in Asia should loosen their ties with British and American English, what norms would emerge that guide its uses inside selected countries and across the region? Fuchs, Coronel & Gut Intensifiers in Asian Englishes Overview 1. Introduction  Conference Themes 2. Previous Research  Categories  Communities  (Standard) Varieties 3. Research Questions and Methods  Research Questions  Methods 4. Results  Frequency  Cluster Analysis  Interpretation 5. Conclusion Fuchs, Coronel & Gut Intensifiers in Asian Englishes Previous Research Categories Intensifiers following Quirk et al. (1985: 589-603) Intensifiers modify the degree of a gradable expression  Amplifiers: upward scaling  Maximisers: upper extreme of the scale (completely)  Boosters: high point on the scale (very)  Downtoners: downward scaling  Questioning the expression  Approximators: approximation to the force of the verb (almost)  Compromisers: slight lowering effect (rather)  Grading intensity  Diminishers: low point on the scale (only)  Minimisers: lower extreme of the scale (hardly) Fuchs, Coronel & Gut Intensifiers in Asian Englishes Previous Research Communities Studies on Intensifiers in Specific Communities  Intensifier usage thought to be highly variable and a marker of identity  Most frequent amplifiers in York English conversations (Ito & Tagliamonte 2003): very (38 %), really (30 %) and so (10 %)  Newfoundland teenagers on social networking sites (Bulgin et al. 2008): so, very, really Fuchs, Coronel & Gut Intensifiers in Asian Englishes Previous Research (Standard) Varieties Varieties  Amplifiers in BrE and AmE conversations (Biber et al. 1999)  BrE: very (800 pmw), so (600), really (350)  AmE: so (900), very (600), really (600) Fuchs, Coronel & Gut Intensifiers in Asian Englishes Previous Research (Standard) Varieties Varieties 2  de Klerk (2005) compared Xhosa English (XhE) to New Zealand English (NZE)  Coronel (2011) compared PhilE to NZE  Generally fewer intensifiers in PhilE/XhE than in NZE  But in PhilE, some boosters (very, especially, truly, highly and fully) more frequent than in NZE  Focus on a few lexical items in Xhosa English; wider lexical range in PhilE Fuchs, Coronel & Gut Intensifiers in Asian Englishes Previous Research (Standard) Varieties Summary Previous Studies  No large-scale studies comparing more than two varieties  Previous studies analysed maximum of 23 intensifiers or fewer  Many studies restricted to intensification of adjectives Fuchs, Coronel & Gut Intensifiers in Asian Englishes Overview 1. Introduction  Conference Themes 2. Previous Research  Categories  Communities  (Standard) Varieties 3. Research Questions and Methods  Research Questions  Methods 4. Results  Frequency  Cluster Analysis  Interpretation 5. Conclusion Fuchs, Coronel & Gut Intensifiers in Asian Englishes Research Questions & Methods Research Questions Questions  What are the patterns of intensifier usage in Asian Englishes?  How far can Asian Englishes be said to have developed away from their ‘parent’ varieties?  What are the emerging norms that determine intensifier usage in Asian Englishes? Which of these norms are shared by all Asian varieties? Fuchs, Coronel & Gut Intensifiers in Asian Englishes Research Questions & Methods Methods Methods  ICE subcorpora of four varieties: Great Britain, Singapore, India, Philippines  Subcorpora are parallel  Concordances of 68 intensifiers with AntConc and IceCup  Manual classification as intensifier, as well as the intensified item, negation, and position of the intensifier Fuchs, Coronel & Gut Intensifiers in Asian Englishes Research Questions & Methods Methods Methods  Not an intensifier if it changes the meaning of the sentence beyond intensification  Frequent collocations  Similarities and differences between varieties/registers: cluster analysis with R Fuchs, Coronel & Gut Intensifiers in Asian Englishes Research Questions & Methods Methods Which Intensifiers  Amplifiers  10 Maximisers: totally, definitely, absolutely, completely, entirely, utterly, altogether, thoroughly, dead, quite  32 Boosters: very, really, so, especially, too, fully, truly, strongly, extremely, quite, particularly, highly, perfectly, terribly, awfully, frightfully, heavily, greatly, badly, deeply, incredibly, enormously, by far, jolly, amazingly, bitterly, violently, hugely Expletives: bloody, fucking, damned, grossly  Downtoners  8 Approximators: sort of, kind of, almost, nearly, virtually, practically, virtually, practically  7 Compromisers: quite, pretty, rather, fairly, enough, more or less, sufficiently  6 Diminishers: simply, slightly, merely, somewhat, partially, mildly, (just, only excluded)  5 Minimisers: hardly, barely, scarcely, at all, in the least Fuchs, Coronel & Gut Intensifiers in Asian Englishes Overview 1. Introduction  Conference Themes 2. Previous Research  Categories  Communities  (Standard) Varieties 3. Research Questions and Methods  Research Questions  Methods 4. Results  Frequency  Cluster Analysis  Interpretation 5. Conclusion Fuchs, Coronel & Gut Intensifiers in Asian Englishes Results Frequency Frequency in BrE & Asian Englishes  SinE largest number of intensifiers among Asian varieties Fuchs, Coronel & Gut Intensifiers in Asian Englishes Results Frequency Boosters across varieties  very most frequent in all varieties Fuchs, Coronel & Gut Intensifiers in Asian Englishes Results Frequency Details on Boosters  incredibly, terribly, perfectly are used more often in BrE than in Asian Englishes  Different preferences among varieties Fuchs, Coronel & Gut Intensifiers in Asian Englishes Results Frequency Maximisers  Each variety has its own preferences Fuchs, Coronel & Gut Intensifiers in Asian Englishes Results Frequency Minimisers and Diminishers  at all most preferred minimiser, simply most preferred diminisher in all varieties  at all frequent in BrE, simply and hardly in PhilE Fuchs, Coronel & Gut Intensifiers in Asian Englishes Results Frequency Approximators and Compromisers  almost most frequent approximator in Asian varieties; sort of in BrE Fuchs, Coronel & Gut Intensifiers in Asian Englishes Results Frequency Details on Approximators and Compromisers  When kind of and sort of occur with a VP or AP, they do so exclusively in informal speech and writing (social letters)  quite most preferred compromiser in BrE and SinE Fuchs, Coronel & Gut Intensifiers in Asian Englishes Results Frequency Details on Approximators and Compromisers  PhilE has same distribution as BrE, even though it has least number of quite-tokens Fuchs, Coronel & Gut Intensifiers in Asian Englishes Results Cluster Analysis Motivation  Comparison of overall frequency does not take account of differences in frequency of individual intensifiers.  If two varieties/registers show similar overall frequency, the first could still prefer other intensifiers than the second.  Method: Sum of differences between all pairs of registers  Example: S1A-IND very = 5000 pmw, really = 6000 pmw S2A-SIN very = 4000 pmw, really = 7000 pmw  Distance = (5000 – 4000) + (7000 – 6000) = 2000 Fuchs, Coronel & Gut Intensifiers in Asian Englishes Results Cluster Analysis Register Differences • Graphical representation of similarity: Varieties appearing near to each other are similar • Main factor: frequency of intensifiers, correlates with formality Fuchs, Coronel & Gut Intensifiers in Asian Englishes Results Cluster Analysis Register Differences • Variation between registers greater than between varieties • Largest individual differences among private dialogues Fuchs, Coronel & Gut Intensifiers in Asian Englishes Results Cluster Analysis Register Differences • Letters, public discussions and unscripted speeches: Similar frequency of intensifiers, but differing preferences Fuchs, Coronel & Gut Intensifiers in Asian Englishes Results Interpretation Frequency  IndE and PhilE use fewer intensifiers than BrE and SinE, particularly downtoners.  SinE already on stage 4 (endornomative stabilisation) of Schneider’s model (Schneider 2003: 263-6), often tends towards Inner Circle (e.g. Schneider 2004: 246).  PhilE and IndE still on stage 3 (nativization) of Schneider’s model (Schneider 2003: 260-3; 2007: 165-173). Fuchs, Coronel & Gut Intensifiers in Asian Englishes Results Interpretation Frequency 2  Most frequent boosters in all varieties very, really, so, second/third place differ  Confirms previous findings by Biber et al. (1999); Bulgin et al. (2008); Coronel (2011); de Klerk (2005); Ito &Tagliamonte (2003)  Preferences in downtoner usage more variable Fuchs, Coronel & Gut Intensifiers in Asian Englishes Results Interpretation Similarities and Differences  Frequency of intensifiers seems to correlate with “maturity” of a variety  Little evidence for common Asian pattern of intensifier usage  Each variety has developed distinctive patterns of intensifier usage Fuchs, Coronel & Gut Intensifiers in Asian Englishes Results Interpretation Similarities and Differences  Possible explanations  Use of intensifiers as identity markers  Varieties with fewer intensifiers prefer other intensification strategies such as reduplication, superlatives Fuchs, Coronel & Gut Intensifiers in Asian Englishes Overview 1. Introduction  Conference Themes 2. Previous Research  Categories  Communities  (Standard) Varieties 3. Research Questions and Methods  Research Questions  Methods 4. Results  Frequency  Cluster Analysis  Interpretation 5. Conclusion Fuchs, Coronel & Gut Intensifiers in Asian Englishes Conclusion Our Questions Our Questions in Relation to the Conference Themes  How far can Asian Englishes be said to have developed away from their ‘parent’ varieties?  What are the emerging norms that determine intensifier usage in Asian Englishes? Which of these norms are shared by all Asian varieties? No common norms evident across Asian varieties Each variety has its own patterns of intensification Fuchs, Coronel & Gut Intensifiers in Asian Englishes References Biber, Douglas, Stig Johansson, Geoffrey Leech, Susan Conrad, & Edward Finegan (1999). Longman grammar of spoken and written English. 6th impression 2007. Harlow: Pearson ESL. Bulgin, James, Nicole Elford, Lindsay Harding, Bridget Henley, Suzanne Power, & Crystal Walters (2008). So very really variable: Social patterning of intensifier use by Newfoundlanders online. Linguistica atlantica 29, 101–115. Coronel, Lilian (2011). Patterns of intensifier usage in Philippine English. In: Studies of Philippine English: Exploring the Philippine Component of the International Corpus of English. Ed. by Ma. Lourdes S. Bautista. Manila: De La Salle University Centennial Book Series, pp. 93–116. De Klerk, Vivian (2005). Expressing levels of intensity in Xhosa English. English World-Wide 26, 77–95. Fuchs, Coronel & Gut Intensifiers in Asian Englishes References Ito, Rika & Sali Tagliamonte (2003). Well weird, right dodgy, very strange, really cool: Layering and recycling in English intensifiers. Language in Society 32, 257–279. Quirk, Randolph, Sidney Greenbaum, Geoffrey Leech, & Jan Svartvik (1985). A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language. 9th, revised impression 1991. London, New York: Longman. Schneider, Edgar W. (2003). The Dynamics of New Englishes: From identity construction to dialect birth. Language 79, 233–81. — (2004). How to trace structural nativization: particle verbs in world Englishes. World Englishes 23.2, 227–249. — (2007). Postcolonial English: Varieties around the world. Cambridge: CUP. Fuchs, Coronel & Gut Intensifiers in Asian Englishes