The invariant tag isn't it in Asian Englishes

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to conduct a quantitative corpus‐based analysis in order to detect how frequently the invariant tag isn't it is used in the English varieties of India, Singapore, Hong Kong and the Philippines. American and British English were added to the study for point of reference. The data were obtained from the International Corpus of English for all other varieties except for spoken American English, for which the Santa Barbara Corpus of Spoken American English was used. The results indicate that the use of isn't it as an invariant tag appears almost solely in spoken language and the highest frequencies can be found in Indian English, followed by Singaporean English, Hong Kong English and Philippine English.

Question Tags in Philippine English

“…While variant QTs have a rather focused functional profile as they mainly function informatively, they are not telling of text type variation in the subcorpus. Thus, variant QTs cannot be assumed to be especially characteristic for PhiE contrary to previous conclusions on QT use in PhiE (Borlongan 2008;Parviainen 2016;Takahashi 2016). The overwhelming focus on variant QTs in research on English QTs is not necessarily justified by actual usage patterns in PhiE.…”

The use of question tags in different text types of Trinidadian English

“…Columbus (, , ) only uses spontaneous private conversations from the ICE corpora for her analysis and does not take into account variation along different text types. Parviainen () also uses the ICE corpora to study the invariant tag isn't it across six different varieties. She uses the entire corpora but only distinguishes between spoken and written text types, showing that isn't it appears almost exclusively in spoken language.…”

New Englishes, New Methods

“…the "canonical form" (Algeo 2006, 293): for example, Barron et al (2015) study variant QTs in British and Irish English, Tottie and Hoffmann (2006) compare British and American English, and Kimps (2018) analyzes variant QTs and innit in British conversations. Most studies on QTs in New Englishes also focus on variant QT forms, including invariant uses of isn't it and is it: for example, Wong (2007) studies variant QTs in Hong Kong English; Borlongan (2008) analyzes their use in PhiE; and Parviainen (2016) investigates QTs in four Asian New Englishes. All three studies use the ICE corpora and interpret their findings in comparison to variant QT use in British and American English.…”

“…All three studies use the ICE corpora and interpret their findings in comparison to variant QT use in British and American English. Wong (2007) highlights that invariant uses of is it are characteristic of Hong Kong English, whereas Borlongan (2008) and Parviainen (2016) conclude that PhiE and the four Asian Englishes, respectively, are characterized by a high frequency of invariant uses of isn't it. Other invariant QT forms, including local forms (e.g.…”