Question Tags in Philippine English

Westphal, Michael

doi:10.1007/s41701-020-00078-w

Cited by 5 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 27 publications

(38 reference statements)

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“…The strong dominance of invariant forms in general and the use of many indigenous forms is in line with other studies on New Englishes that have also investigated variant and invariant question tags (Wilson et al, 2017;Mbakop, 2020;Westphal, 2020). In contrast (Gómez González, 2018: 122) shows a higher frequency of variant than invariant question tag forms for British English.…”

Section: Discussion and Conclusion: The Multilingual Pragmatics Of Ni...supporting

confidence: 85%

“…The corpus-pragmatic analysis of six dialogue text types of ICE-Nigeria has shown that Nigerian speakers use a wide range of English and non-English question tag forms. Similar multilingual variation has been described for Cameroonian (Mbakop, 2020), Philippine (Westphal, 2020), and Trinidadian English (Wilson et al, 2017). In contrast to the overwhelming focus on variant question tags in previous research (e.g., Tottie and Hoffmann, 2006;Borlongan, 2008;Barron, 2015;Parviainen, 2016;Hoffmann et al, 2017) in World Englishes, these types of question tags are marginal in Nigerian English as they only account for 2.5% of occurrences.…”

Section: Discussion and Conclusion: The Multilingual Pragmatics Of Ni...supporting

confidence: 49%

“…Gómez González (2018) investigates both types of question tags in British English, showing that variant ones are five times as frequent as invariant ones. In contrast, recent research on New Englishes (Wilson et al, 2017;Mbakop, 2020;Westphal, 2020) has shown that invariant question tags outnumber variant ones by far. These studies have also demonstrated that the use of isn't it is rare.…”

Section: Pragmatic Variation In World Englishesmentioning

confidence: 86%

“…Similar to Wilson et al (2017) and Westphal (2020), text type also has a strong effect on the selection of particular question tag forms over others. The analysis has shown that most non-English question tag forms are mainly used in informal private dialogues, while they are rare in more formal public text types.…”

Section: Discussion and Conclusion: The Multilingual Pragmatics Of Ni...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Abi is restricted to informal situations and variant question tags are used across all text types. OK is mainly used facilitatively, and Nigerian teachers used it particularly often for this purpose, similar to Trinidadian and Philippine teachers (Wilson et al, 2017;Westphal, 2020). Hence, the choice of specific forms is determined by the communicative needs of speakers in accordance with their discursive role.…”

Section: Discussion and Conclusion: The Multilingual Pragmatics Of Ni...mentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Multilingual Pragmatics of New Englishes: An Analysis of Question Tags in Nigerian English

Westphal

2022

Front. Commun.

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This paper presents a variational pragmatic analysis of multilingual question tags in Nigerian English, combining a corpus-pragmatic analysis of the Nigerian component of the International Corpus of English with a survey study on the preferences and attitudes of Nigerian students toward different question tag forms. The corpus study highlights multilingual pragmatic variation in terms of form and function of variant as well as English and non-English (i.e., derived from indigenous Nigerian languages) invariant question tags in six text types: conversations, phonecalls, classroom lessons, broadcast discussions, broadcast interviews, and legal cross-examinations. Nigerian speakers combine a wide range of English and non-English invariant forms, whereas variant question tags only play a marginal role and are not characteristic of Nigerian English. Text type influences the overall frequency of question tags and – together with the pragmatic function – constrains the use of individual forms. The survey study shows diverging results as the participants generally prefer variant over invariant question tags and show a strong dispreference for indigenous Nigerian forms when speaking English. Nevertheless, their preferences for specific forms over others are guided by the communicative setting and requirements of a given situation. The students also hold most positive attitudes toward variant question tags, while non-English tags are rated less positively on items reflecting decency. However, all question tag forms are valued in terms expressiveness. Hence, Nigerian students’ dispositions toward multilingual question tag use are guided by a prescriptive ideology that is biased toward canonized English forms. While indigenous Nigerian forms are well integrated into question tag use, indicating a high degree of nativization of Nigerian English at a pragmatic level, acceptance for these local forms is lagging behind. In general methodological terms, the paper shows that question tags – or discourse-pragmatic-features in general – have high potential for studying multilingual variation in New Englishes. However, studies on the multilingual pragmatics of New Englishes need to consider the full range of multilingual forms, take into account variety-internal variation via text type, and should ideally also study the users’ perspectives.

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Section: Discussion and Conclusion: The Multilingual Pragmatics Of Ni...supporting

confidence: 85%

Section: Discussion and Conclusion: The Multilingual Pragmatics Of Ni...supporting

confidence: 49%

Section: Pragmatic Variation In World Englishesmentioning

confidence: 86%

Section: Discussion and Conclusion: The Multilingual Pragmatics Of Ni...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussion and Conclusion: The Multilingual Pragmatics Of Ni...mentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Multilingual Pragmatics of New Englishes: An Analysis of Question Tags in Nigerian English

Westphal

2022

Front. Commun.

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The use and perception of question tags in Trinidadian English

Westphal

2023

PRAG

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This study presents an analysis of the use and perception of variant question tags and the seven invariant forms eh, ent, nah, OK, not so, right, and you know in Trinidadian English. The analysis of use is based on four dialogue text types from the Trinidad and Tobago component of the International Corpus of English and takes a variationist approach. The analysis of the perception is based on a survey that combines a multiple-choice test, where participants were presented with different dialogue scenarios and had to select the form they found most appropriate, and an indirect language attitude test, in which participants rated the use of the eight question tags on attitudinal scales and added open comments. The usage and perception profiles of the eight forms largely overlap but there are marked differences for individual forms.

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