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ALREADY IN SPOKEN COLLOQUIAL MALAYSIAN ENGLISH
ONG CHEN LIM
A report submitted in partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the award of the degree of
Bachelor of Science and Education (TESL)
Faculty of Education
Universiti Teknologi Malaysia
APRIL 2010
ii
“I declare that this thesis entitled “Already in Spoken Colloquial Malaysian English” is
the result of my own research except as cited in the references. This thesis has not been
accepted for any degree and is not concurrently submitted in candidature of any other
degree”.
Signature
: ………………………………
Name
: ONG CHEN LIM
Date
:
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To my Lord Jesus Christ and each individual who have involved in and contributed to
the completion of this study
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ACKNOWLEGDGEMENTS
Throughout this study, I was blessed to meet many people who have helped me
both directly or indirectly. First and foremost, I would like to thank my supervisor Assoc.
Prof. Dr. Ummul Khair Ahmad. As an experienced supervisor and lecturer, she knows
very well when to offer suggestions, comments, and clues for further development and
when to leave me alone so that I have enough time to reflect and to digest the
information. I am grateful for her commitment in guiding me throughout this study
despite her tight schedule. Undoubtedly, the knowledge I obtained from her supervision
will be the most valuable assets for my academic career.
I am also grateful to my beloved, Rena Koo Yoke Fah. Throughout this research,
she has sacrificed so much for my study that I can hardly find appropriate words to
express my gratitude. She cheers me up when I am down, balms my bruises when I fell
down. I am indebted to my parents and siblings who have supported me all this while,
giving me strength to pursue this project. They are my strong pillars and unfailing
support to me.
I would also like to thank my colleagues and friends who have supported me in
many different aspects. I would like to express special thanks to all my friends who have
sacrificed their time to help me collect data and loaned me their mp3 recorders for this
study. Without their help, my project could not have been accomplished smoothly.
Last but not least, I thank God for His amazing grace and His constant exceeding
abundant supply throughout this study. You have shown me how Grace is enough.
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ABSTRACT
The purpose of this study is to discover how temporal adverb already is used in
spoken colloquial Malaysian English. Unlike Standard English, the verb in spoken
colloquial Malaysian English is not always inflected with tense to indicate time. Rather,
time in spoken colloquial Malaysian English is marked by using temporal adverbials
such as still, yet, and already. In order to study how the temporal adverb already is
employed in spoken colloquial Malaysian English, 15 UTM students were shadowed to
record their casual conversation using mp3 recorder. Four recordings totaling two and a
half hours of conversation were transcribed and tokenized. 58 tokens of already were
chunked into 45 episodes and analysed according to their syntactic distribution in the
utterances. The result shows that the meanings and discourse functions of temporal
adverb already do not depend on their syntactic distribution in the utterances but they
are determined by which parts of speech the temporal adverb already modifies. In
general, the findings indicate that the temporal adverb already serves as a time marker
to mark time in the past if it modifies uninflected verb. If already modifies verbs in past
tense form, it serves as an emphatic marker to emphasize the past event as it occurs in
Standard English. In conclusion, the temporal adverb already in colloquial Malaysian
English has two discourse functions, namely as time marker and emphatic marker.
Finally, this study discussed the pedagogical implications and how already in colloquial
Malaysian English could be treated in classroom.
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ABSTRAK
Kajian ini bertujuan mengkaji bagaimana temporal adverba ‘already’ digunakan
dalam pertuturan bahasa basahan Inggeris Malaysia. Kata kerja dalam pertuturan bahasa
basahan Inggeris Malaysia tidak sentiasa ditandakan dengan kala untuk menunjukkan
masa seperti dalam bahasa Inggeris baku. Walaubagaimanapun, masa dalam pertuturan
bahasa basahan Inggeris Malaysia ditanda dengan menggunakan temporal adverba
seperti still, yet, dan already. Untuk mengkaji bagaimana temporal adverba already
digunakan dalam pertuturan bahasa basahan Inggeris Malaysia, seramai 15 mahasiswa
UTM telah diikuti untuk merakamkan perbualan biasa mereka dengan menggunakan
perakam audio mp3. Sejumlah empat rakaman sepanjang dua jam setengah telah
ditranskripsi dan disisih. 58 token already dikelompokkan kepada 45 episod dan
dianalisis
mengikut
distribusi
sintaksis
dalam
pertuturan.
Keputusan
kajian
menunjukkan bahawa makna dan fungsi wacana temporal adverba already tidak
bergantung kepada distribusi sintaksisnya. Sebaliknya, makna dan fungsi wacana
temporal adverba already adalah ditentukan oleh kata golongan yang diteranginya.
Secara umumnya, dapatan menunjukkan bahawa temporal adverba already menjadi
penanda masa untuk menanda masa lampau apabila ia menerangkan kata kerja tidak
berinfleksi. Manakala, sekiranya ia menerangkan kata kerja dalam bentuk kala lampau,
ia akan memainkan peranan sebagai penanda penegas untuk menegaskan peristiwa atau
aksi itu telah berlalu. Kesimpulannya, temporal adverb already dalam pertuturan bahasa
basahan Inggeris Malaysia mempunyai dua fungsi wacana, iaitu sebagai penanda masa
dan penanda penegas. Akhirnya, kajian ini diakhiri dengan implikasi pedagogi dan
cadangan untuk menerangkan temporal adverba already dalam pertuturan bahasa
basahan Inggeris Malaysia dalam pangajaran Bahasa Inggeris.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER
1.
TITLE
PAGE
DECLARATION
ii
DEDICATION
iii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
iv
ABSTRACT
v
ABSTRAK
vi
TABLE OF CONTENTS
vii
LIST OF TABLES
xi
LIST OF ABBREVIATION
xii
LIST OF APPENDICES
xiii
INTRODUCTION
1
1.1
Background of the problem
1
1.2
Statement of the problem
3
1.3
Aims of this study
3
1.4
Objectives of this study
4
1.5
Research questions
4
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2.
1.6
Scope of the research
4
1.7
Significance of the research
5
LITERATURE REVIEW
6
2.1
Definition of Varieties of English
6
2.1.1 Standard English
7
2.1.2 Malaysian English
7
2.2.3 Singapore English
10
2.2
Temporality: How time is expressed in natural languages
11
2.3
Tense and aspect system in Standard English
12
2.3.1 Simple aspect
13
2.3.2 Perfect aspect
13
2.3.3 Progressive aspect
14
2.3.4 Perfect Progressive aspect
14
2.4
Tense and aspect system in English of Singapore and
Malaysia (ESM)
15
2.5
The temporal adverb already in Standard English
18
2.6
Temporal adverb already in English of Singapore and
2.7
Malaysia
20
Summary
22
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3.
METHODOLOGY
23
3.1
Data collection
23
3.1.1 Respondents
24
3.1.2 Method of gathering
24
3.1.3 Investigating tools
25
Data Analysis
25
3.2.1 Analysis techniques
25
Summary
26
3.2
3.3
4.
FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
4.1
27
The syntactic distribution of temporal adverb already in a
sentence
27
4.1.1 Pre-verbal already
30
4.1.2 Post-verbal already
33
4.1.3 Post-adjectival already
40
4.1.4 Pre-adverbials and post-adverbials already
42
4.1.5 Already at clausal endings
45
4.2
Clipped form of temporal adverb already
49
4.3
Summary
50
4.4
Conclusion
53
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5.
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
5.1
Syntactic distribution of already and its meanings
5.2
Discourse functions of already in spoken colloquial
54
54
Malaysian English
56
5.3
Limitation of the study
57
5.4
The pedagogical implication
57
5.5
Recommendations for future research
58
5.6
Conclusion
59
REFERENCES
60
APPENDICES A-F
63 - 97
xi
LIST OF TABLE
TABLE NO.
TITLE
PAGE
2.1
Different dialectal continuum used by different researchers
8
2.2
Description of subdivision of Malaysian English
9
2.3
Tense and aspect combinations in Standard English
12
2.4
The cut-off points between anterior and posterior events
17
2.5
Types of sentences that can co-occur with temporal adverb
already
2.6
Position of temporal adverb already in sentences of
Standard English
4.1
20
Number of occurrence of already according to its
Distribution and its discourse functions
4.2
20
28
The syntactic distribution of already and its discourse
functions
51
xii
LIST OF ABBREVIATION
ESM
English of Singapore and Malaysia
ME
Malaysian English
SCE
Singapore Colloquial English
SSE
Standard Singapore English
UTM
Universiti Teknologi Malaysia
xiii
LIST OF APPENDICES
APPENDIX
TITLE
PAGE
A
Transcription Convention
63
B
Fillers and Particle Unique to Malaysians
64
C
Tapescript A
65
D
Tapescript B
90
E
Tapescript C
93
F
Tapescript D
96
1
CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
Time is a basic concept and is so intimately entrenched in our life. Since no
human society can function properly without the expression of time, all natural
languages have a way to express temporality. In Standard English, it is expressed in
tense system, inflected morphologically in the verbs and also realized in temporal
adverbials. However, colloquial Malaysian English has a unique way of expressing
temporality. The rich contact of the various languages in Malaysia has made
colloquial Malaysian English an interesting study as it has several linguistic
variations when compared to the Standard English. One of them is the use of already.
1.1
Background of the problem
The studies of new Englishes in multilingual countries have become popular
in recent years. As for Malaysian English, much descriptions have been reported in
the literature by Tongue (1974), Crewe (1977), Richard (1979), Platt and Weber
(1980), Tay (1981), Wong (1981) and Baskaran (2005). Some of them divided
Malaysian English into two divisions (Tongue, 1974, Crewe, 1977, Richard, 1979,
and Wong, 1981), namely formal and informal (colloquial) while the others divided
Malaysian English into a three-tiered continuum (Platt and Weber, 1980, Tay, 1981,
2
and Baskaran, 2005): official Malaysian English, unofficial Malaysian English and
broken Malaysian English. The official (acrolectal) Malaysian English is a dialect of
English that is similar to native English at all levels except in phonology where some
indigenized sounds are used. This version is the form of English which is taught in
school and used in official settings. The unofficial (mesolectal) Malaysian English,
on the other hand, is a dialect of English used in informal settings by Malaysians not
because they do not know the Standard English, but because of other sociolinguistic
reasons such as they feel that it is part of the identity of being Malaysian, or they use
it to foster solidarity with other Malaysians. This mesolectal dialect consists of
features with more deviations from Standard English not only in phonology, but also
in morphology, syntax, and style. However, it should not be confused with broken
Malaysian English which is the stigmatized patois form. This is the dialect that is
acquired by “man on the street” on “an ad lib basis” without the formal English
instruction (Baskaran, 2005: 20).
Different types of Malaysian English are marked by many features in all
levels namely phonological, morphological, syntactical and discourse levels. As this
study aims to look into the “already” and its use in contemporary casual conversation,
I will focus my discussion of its occurrences at syntactic and discourse levels only.
The word “colloquial” will be used throughout this study since I am looking at how
Malaysian English is used in casual settings. As subjects for the study are confined to
a specific age group, the language described in this study may not qualify to be
termed as mesolect as described in Platt and Weber (1980) and Tay (1981).
While the official Malaysian English is closer to the Standard English, the
unofficial Malaysian English or colloquial Malaysian English, as some other
researchers have called, is marked by many unique features that are simplifications
of Standard English. For example, many Malaysians English speakers treat most
nouns in English as countable, even though they are treated as uncountable in
Standard English (Wong, 1981). Many grammatical features are dropped in
Malaysian English, among them the expletives there and it, the copula be, the –ed
inflectional suffix to mark past tense form of verbs, etc (Wong, 1981). Instead of
using tense and aspects as in Standard English, Malaysian English speakers tend to
use adverbials to indicate time instead of inflecting the form of verb (Platt and Weber,
3
1980). Some samples of adverbials are yesterday, just now, last week, two days ago,
already, etc.
1.2
Statement of the problem
Research has documented that Colloquial Malaysian English employs a lot of
simplifications to convey the same message, reducing a lot of complexity in the
system of Standard English (Wong, 1981). Some of these common phenomena in
colloquial Malaysian English occur in temporality. Perhaps, already is part of the
simplification to indicate tenses in colloquial Malaysian English. In addition, the
functions of already may not be limited to express aspect as it is in Standard English
used by native speakers. It may be an indicator of tenses or it may be taking over the
functions of tenses in Standard English. Although some research has been done on
tense and aspect in Malaysian English by Yeoh (1978) and Hanem (1986), there is no
specific study being conducted on the use of already in spoken colloquial Malaysian
English. The exact pragmatic meanings and the discourse functions of already is still
unclear and yet to be spelled out explicitly. Hence, it would be interesting to look at
how already is used in colloquial Malaysian English.
1.3
Aims of this study
There are two major aims in this study. They are:
1.3.1 To find out the pragmatic meanings of already from the discourse
perspectives.
1.3.2 To discover how already is used systematically in contemporary colloquial
Malaysian English speech.
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1.4
Objectives of this study
There are two objectives that this study is trying to achieve. They are:
1.4.1 To describe the syntactic occurrences of already and its meaning as used in
casual conversations in contemporary Malaysian English
1.4.2 To find out the discourse functions of already employed by contemporary
Malaysian English speakers
1.5
Research questions
The three research questions of this study are:
1.5.1 What is the syntactic distribution of already in spoken colloquial Malaysian
English?
1.5.2 Does the position of already in a sentence influence its meaning and how?
1.5.3 What are the discourse functions of already in spoken colloquial Malaysian
English?
1.6
Scope of the research
This study only focuses on the temporal adverb already in spoken Colloquial
Malaysian English and its discourse functions. This study is not concerned with other
temporal adverbials such as still, yet, and before. Also, this study chose the subjects
whose age ranging between 18-26 years old due to convenient sampling. Therefore,
the data collected may not represent the whole spectrum of all the contemporary
Malaysian English speakers from all walks of life.