Faculteit Letteren & Wijsbegeerte
Elise Vanderlinden
Language Variation across Varieties of
English: A Corpus-based Exploration
into the Use of Regularised Irregular
Verbs
Masterproef voorgedragen tot het behalen van de graad van
Master in het Vertalen
2014
Promotor Prof. Dr. Bernard De Clerck
Vakgroep Vertalen Tolken Communicatie
ABSTRACT
The purpose of this dissertation is to examine to ongoing trends of regularisation of irregular
verbs in World Englishes. It does by singling out the -t/-ed (e.g. burnt vs. burned) variation in
preterite forms in a selection of twelve verbs in four varieties of postcolonial English: Philippine
English, Malaysian English, Singapore English and Hong Kong English. First, a benchmark of
comparison will be established by studying these verbs in two inner circle varieties of English,
British and American English on the basis of which the attested patterns in the World Englishes
will be characterised. Secondly, the study will also look into cross- and intra-varietal parallels
and differences and examine the impact of colonisation history (using Schneider’s Dynamic
model), frequency on the behaviour of both verbs and varieties. The results show a complex
picture in which no clear correspondences could be attested between the listed variables and the
attested trends. They do show, however, that regularisation (or the lack of it) seems to be more
verb-related and less variety-related (as often stated in the literature), as fairly similar preferences
can be attested across varieties for some of these verbs. The data used for this study was taken
from the 1.9 billion corpus of Global World Englishes (GloWbe).
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to thank some people without whom the present dissertation would not have been
possible.
First of all, I would like to thank my supervisor, Prof. Dr. Bernard De Clerck, for his irresistible
enthusiasm regarding the subject of this dissertation, and of course for his invaluable help during
the writing process.
I am also grateful to my family and friends, not only for supporting me during this final year at
University, but especially for encouraging me throughout my entire time at Uni.
Last but not least, many thanks are due to Tine Gheldof, Dries Ledoux, Jonas Lefevere, Evelien
Vindevoghel and Sofie Raes. They have, each in their own way, helped me so much with my
dissertation.
7
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Table of contents ......................................................................................................................... 7
List of figures, tables and abbreviations ....................................................................................... 9
1
Introduction .............................................................................................................. 11
1.1 Scope and objectives ................................................................................................ 11
1.2 Overview of dissertation ........................................................................................... 12
2
Theoretical framework ............................................................................................. 13
2.1 Varieties of English .................................................................................................. 13
2.1.1 World Englishes ............................................................................................ 13
2.1.2 The classification of world Englishes ............................................................ 14
2.2 Language variation and change: the regularisation of irregular verbs ........................ 17
2.2.1 General observations ..................................................................................... 17
2.2.2 British vs. American English ......................................................................... 18
2.2.3 World Englishes: a case study ....................................................................... 20
2.3 Hypotheses ............................................................................................................... 21
3
Data and methods ..................................................................................................... 22
3.1 Glowbe: Corpus of Global Web-Based English ........................................................ 22
3.2 Data selection ........................................................................................................... 23
3.3 Methodology ............................................................................................................ 25
4
Comparative analysis................................................................................................ 25
4.1 General observations ................................................................................................ 25
4.1.1 Regularisation across varieties ...................................................................... 25
4.1.2 Regularisation across verbs ........................................................................... 27
4.2 In-depth analysis ...................................................................................................... 28
5
Accounting for the data ............................................................................................ 36
5.1 Accounting for variation between the varieties ......................................................... 36
5.1.1 Schneider’s (2007) Dynamic Model .............................................................. 36
5.1.1.1 Introduction ............................................................................................. 36
5.1.1.2 The Dynamic Model ................................................................................ 37
5.1.1.3 Position of the selected varieties on the Dynamic Model ......................... 39
a The Philippines ..................................................................................... 39
b Malaysia ............................................................................................... 40
c Singapore.............................................................................................. 42
d Hong Kong ........................................................................................... 43
5.1.2 Phases and verbal behaviour compared ................................................................. 44
5.2 Accounting for internal variation .............................................................................. 47
6
Conclusion ............................................................................................................... 50
8
References ................................................................................................................................. 53
Appendix I ................................................................................................................................ 55
Appendix II ............................................................................................................................... 59
9
LIST OF FIGURES, TABLES AND ABBREVIATIONS
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
Kachru's concentric circle model ......................................................................... 15
Strevens’s tree diagram of the way English has spread, showing the influence of
the two main branches, i.e. British and American English ................................... 16
McArthur's circle of World English .................................................................... 23
LIST OF TABLES
Table 1
Table 2
Table 3
Table 4
Table 5
Table 6
Table 7
Table 8
Table 9
Table 10
General overview -t/-ed proportion across the varieties in decreasing -ed
preference ........................................................................................................... 25
Figures for the chi-square test on the general overview for all varieties ............... 26
Figures for the chi-square test per variety ............................................................ 26
General overview -t/-ed proportion across 12 verbs in order of decreasing -ed
preference ........................................................................................................... 27
Figures for the chi-square test per verb................................................................ 28
-t/-ed proportion of the 12 verbs across the varieties ........................................... 29
Number of verbs per variety preferring -ed and preferring -ed with 75%
or more....................................................................................................................31
-t/-ed proportion of the 12 verbs across the varieties shadowing the verbs for
which the results were not significant.................................................................. 34
Schematic representation of the reached stages of the varieties with their -ed
preference ........................................................................................................... 45
Order of frequency compared with the order of -t preference .............................. 48
Appendix I: Absolute figures from GloWbe
Table 11
Table 12
Table 13
Table 14
Table 15:
Table 16
Table 17
Table 18
Table 19
General overview -t/-ed variation across the varieties.......................................... 56
General overview -t/-ed variation across 12 verbs ............................................... 56
Overview -t/-ed variation across the varieties and verbs ...................................... 57
-t/-ed variation in BrE across 12 verbs ................................................................ 57
-t/-ed variation in AmE across 12 verbs .............................................................. 57
-t/-ed variation in PhE across 12 verbs ................................................................ 58
-t/-ed variation in MyE across 12 verbs ............................................................... 58
-t/-ed variation in SgE across 12 verbs ................................................................ 58
-t/-ed variation in HKE across 12 verbs ............................................................... 59
10
Appendix II: Chi-square test per variety per verb
Table 20
Table 21
Table 22
Table 23
Table 24
Table 25
Chi-square test on 12 verbs in BrE ...................................................................... 60
Chi-square test on 12 verbs in AmE .................................................................... 61
Chi-square test on 12 verbs in PhE ...................................................................... 61
Chi-square test on 12 verbs in MyE .................................................................... 62
Chi-square test on 12 verbs in SgE ...................................................................... 62
Chi-square test on 12 verbs in HKE .................................................................... 63
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
ENL
ESL
EFL
IE
BrE
AmE
PhE
MyE
SgE
HKE
GloWbe
PCE
English as a native language
English as a second language
English as a foreign language
Indian English
British English
American English
Philippine English
Malaysian English
Singapore English
Hong Kong English
Corpus of Global Web-based English
Postcolonial English
11
1 INTRODUCTION
1.1 SCOPE AND OBJECTIVES
Due to regularisation processes the number of irregular verbs is gradually decreasing (Lieberman
et al., 2007). One of the obvious signs of these regularisation processes is that many irregular
verbs now also have a regular variant. Verbs that end in the irregular -t in the preterite and in the
past participle, often have a regular variant ending in -ed as well (Biber, 1999). For instance, burn
allows for both the -t and the -ed ending in the preterite and in the past participle. Research has
shown that British English prefers the irregular -t ending, while American English has a
preference for the regular -ed ending (Tottie, 2002; Biber, 1999). Although British and American
English are undeniably the two most important national varieties of English, it is clear that, today
there is no longer just one English language (Bhatt, 2001). At present, there are about 75
territories where English is spoken as a first language or as an unofficial second language in
fields such as education and government (Crystal, 2003). The question then arises as to how the
phenomenon of regularisation manifests itself in other varieties.
The present dissertation therefore aims to research the regularisation of irregular verbs in a
selection of English varieties situated in Kachru’s Outer Circle (see section 2.1). The varieties
from the Outer Circle that have been selected for this dissertation comprise Philippine English,
Malaysian English, Singapore English and Hong Kong English. This dissertation also aims to
research what stance these varieties take on this subject in comparison with British English and
American English. I will examine the regularisation of irregular verbs in these six varieties
through a comparative analysis with a selection of twelve verbs. Furthermore, an attempt will be
made to account for the obtained results.
The present dissertation will primarily probe into the field of language variation and change
through a synchronic study, and will focus on the following research questions:
Q1
To what extent do irregular verbs with strong -t forms resort to the regularised -ed
form?
Q2
How does this phenomenon manifest itself in British English and American English?
12
Q3
How does it manifest itself in Philippine English, Malaysian English, Singapore English
and Hong Kong English?
Q4
How do these varieties differ from one another?
Q5
Is there internal variation?
Q6
How can this variation be accounted for?
1.2 OVERVIEW OF DISSERTATION
In Chapter 2 a theoretical framework will be provided. First, I will examine the origins of the
notion World Englishes. The classification of World Englishes will be examined as well and how
this is relevant to the present dissertation. Then I will move on to the regularisation of irregular
verbs. It will be examined how this linguistic phenomenon fits into the wider research area of
language variation and change, and how it manifests itself in the two major national varieties, i.e.
British English and American English. Furthermore, the situation in Indian English will be
examined through a case study. This section will be concluded with a number of hypotheses
based on the systematic review.
Chapter 3 will describe the adopted data and methodology, and Chapter 4 provides a comparative
study observing the -t/-ed variation across the selected varieties and the selected verbs, using the
GloWbe corpus (see section 3.1). In Chapter 5 an attempt will be made to account for any
variation. I will try to explain observed variation between the varieties through Schneider’s
(2007) Dynamic Model, and observed internal variation through the impact of frequency. The
final chapter encompasses the conclusion and will provide a summary of this dissertation, as well
suggestions for future work.
13
2 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
2.1 VARIETIES OF ENGLISH
2.1.1 World Englishes
In the past decades, a general acknowledgement has arisen among scholars that there is no longer
just one English language. Today, a considerable number of varieties of English are used in
diverse sociolinguistic contexts. This phenomenon has been captured under the term World
Englishes (Bhatt, 2001). The plural Englishes is used to emphasise the diversity which this
language displays today, as well as the fact that English no longer has one standardising norm.
Another term for World Englishes is New Englishes, although both terms are characterised by
certain limitations. Indeed, World Englishes might be over-general, while the term New Englishes
is not quite correct; some of these New Englishes are actually older than Australian English, for
instance, which is not considered a New English (Mesthrie and Bhatt, 2008).
Jenkins (2003) divides the Englishes into two groups (British English is excluded here): the first
resulting from the first diaspora, and the second resulting from the second diaspora. The first
group consists of the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. English is
spoken as a mother tongue in this group. The second group acquired English through schooling;
the indigenous population learnt it as a second language. These countries include amongst others
India, the Philippines, Nigeria and Singapore. During the first diaspora, English was brought to
new territories by native speakers and was imposed as the sole official language. During the
second diaspora, the natives introduced English as a co-official language (Bhatt, 2001). The term
World Englishes generally concerns the varieties that have emerged during the second diaspora.
Jenkins (2003) refers to features all World Englishes share, formulated originally in Platt et al.
(1984: 2-3):
(i)
it was acquired by the natives through schooling;
(ii)
the language mostly spoken by the natives was not a native variety of English;
(iii)
it is used for a variety of functions by the natives who speak or write it in the region;
(iv)
by adopting some linguistic aspects of their own language, it has become nativised.
14
Originally, English in Asia and Africa was only spoken by the colonisers form Britain and North
America. The colonisers set up schools in the newly acquired territories to teach the indigenous
people English. After a while, the indigenous people who had mastered English began to teach
their compatriots, instead of the native English speaking colonisers. This English was
unavoidably different from that of their native speaking teachers. As a result, World Englishes
emerged as variety of English developing their own character (Jenkins, 2003).
2.1.2 The classification of World Englishes
Since English has expanded into a language spoken all over the world, it is difficult to establish a
single solid standard on the basis of one of the varieties of English. Nevertheless, such a distinct
and unambiguous standard does seem to be the purpose in the models of English as a world
language (Hundt, 2001). The models are classifications used to arrange all the existing varieties
of English according to what extent they are operated in different countries (Kirkpatrick, 2007).
Most classifications make a basic distinction between English as a native language (ENL),
English as a second language (ESL) and English as a foreign language (EFL), on the basis of
which further distinctions are made. ENL is spoken in countries where the majority of the
population speak English as a native language, such as the United Kingdom and the United
States. ESL is spoken in countries where English is an important and often co-official language,
but not the main language. These countries are often ex-colonies of the UK or the US, such as
India, Hong Kong and Malaysia. Lastly, EFL appears in countries where English is usually not
spoken in everyday life. It is taught at school, however. Examples of countries where EFL is
spoken include China and Japan as well as most European countries (Kirkpatrick, 2007).
However, the most influential classification in which these distinctions are conceptualised is the
concentric three circles model by Kachru (see Figure 1). The Inner Circle refers to the
“traditional bases of English” (Crystal, 2003: 60). The Outer Circle encompasses those countries
where English plays an important role in the chief institutions of the country and is often spoken
as a second language. The Expanding Circle includes those countries that acknowledge the
importance of English as an international language, but have not been colonised by countries of
the Inner Circle, nor do they grant English a special status (ibid.). Kirkpatrick (2007) asserts that
15
Kachru’s model has two major advantages. In the first place, he states that Kachru’s model
“makes English plural so that one English becomes many Englishes1” (Kirkpatrick, 2007: 28).
Secondly, he praises the model because it does not suggest that one variety is linguistically better
than another.
Figure 1: Kachru's concentric circle model
In addition, the oldest model displaying the spread of English is that of Strevens (see Figure 2)
(Jenkins, 2003). Strevens (1980) argues that another observation can be made regarding the
varieties where English is spoken as a second language, in other words regarding the varieties in
Kachru’s Outer Circle, i.e. whether a variety is oriented towards British English or American
English. He argues that a variety where English is spoken as a second language “is certain to
belong to one branch of the family or the other” (Strevens, 1980: 17). Based on this assumption,
he created a model which is actually a map of the world displaying an upside-down tree diagram
showing the way in which some varieties stem from linguistic contact with Britain, and the others
from linguistic contact with the US (Jenkins, 2003 and Strevens, 1980).
1
Bold font was used by the original author.
16
Figure 2: Strevens’s tree diagram of the way English has spread, showing the influence of the two main branches, i.e. British
and American English.
The English varieties situated in Kachru’s Outer Circle selected for this dissertation comprise
Philippine English (PhE), Malaysian English (MyE), Singapore English (SgE) and Hong Kong
English (HKE). According to Strevens’s world map of English, PhE is oriented towards AmE.
MyE, SgE and HKE are oriented towards BrE. However, as Jenkins (2003) states, the World
Englishes are varieties of English displaying their own linguistic particularities. Lanssens (2013),
for instance, researched the spelling diversity of World Englishes using ICE data. Proportions of
purported British and American spelling were attested concerning the -ize/-ise, -isation/-ization, our/-or, -re/-er and -oes/-os endings in Indian English, Hong Kong English, Tanzanian English
and Jamaican English. The study revealed that HKE, for instance, did not show a clear preference
for either spelling variant. The study further revealed that there is both variation between the
varieties and internal variation.
In this study, I will research to what extent the verbs in the selected World Englishes are subject
to regularisation. More specifically, I will examine whether the selected World English varieties
prefer the irregular -t ending in the preterite (which is assumed to be more typical of BrE; see
section 2.2) or the regular -ed ending (which is assumed to be more typical of AmE; see section
2.2 as well) in verbs that allow for both endings. In addition, I will also examine the position that
they assume towards BrE and AmE. First, however, I will highlight the features of regularisation
of irregular verbs that are most relevant to this dissertation through a concise systematic review,
followed by a case study.
17
2.2
LANGUAGE
VARIATION
AND
CHANGE:
THE
REGULARISATION
OF
IRREGULAR VERBS
2.2.1 General observations
Language variation is the variable use of forms of a language; i.e. in this study the variable use of
the -t or -ed ending in the preterite of different varieties of English (Swann, Deumert et al., 2004).
Language change refers to the fact that all natural languages are in a constant state of flux on
every linguistic level; I will examine the changing preference of an irregular verb for the regular ed ending over the irregular -t ending, i.e. the regularisation of irregular verbs (Swann, Deumert
et al., 2004).
The regularisation of irregular verbs is the process of gradual decrease of some particular
grammatical rules. Verbs that are conjugated in accordance with the standard rules of the native
language are called regular verbs (Lieberman et al., 2007). In Modern English, the preterite and
the past participle of regular lexical verbs are formed by adding the suffix -ed to the stem. This
rule does not apply, however, to irregular verbs. (Biber et al., 1999). Irregular verbs obey
exceptional rules, or sometimes no rules at (Lieberman et al., 2007). Regular and irregular verbs
are identical regarding their morphology for -(e)s forms and -ing forms, but they differ in the
formation of the preterite and the past participle. There are many irregular variants, however, that
have a regular variant as well. The verb burn, for instance, allows for both burnt and burned in
the preterite and in the past participle. If this is the case, there is usually a clear preference for one
alternative or the other (Biber et al., 1999). This will be further discussed in the following
section.
The possible reasons for regularisation are multiple. One reason for regularisation could be found
in the combination of “laziness” and imitation (Mencken, 2009: 277). It might appear rather
paradoxical that laziness could account for change, while this is tantamount to the wish to take
well-worn paths rather than inventing something new. However, Kroch (2001: 700) states that
language change is inevitably “a failure in the transmission across time of linguistic features”.
This basically means that adult native speakers of a language replace a particular linguistic
feature by another feature for some reason, which is the case when newly coined terms replace
old ones. However, the situation is somewhat different for syntactic features: syntactic language
18
change seems to be the result of hiccups in language acquisition. The reason for these hiccups
must be sought either in some change in the character of the attainable evidence to the learners or
in some change in the learners themselves (Kroch, 2001). In addition, research has shown that
high-frequency patterns are learnt more easily than low-frequency irregular patterns (Seidenberg
and McClelland, 1989 cited in Hare and Elman, 1995). In other words: it is possible that at some
point, the transfer of the past tense of a particular irregular verb to a learner has gone awry for
some reason. As a result, the learner resorts to what he already knows and forms the past tense of
the verb in analogy to the better known, regular verbs. Regularisation is, after all, inherently a
form of simplification; in other words, it makes the language less complicated (Mencken, 2009). I
will now turn to the situation in the two main varieties of English: British English and American
English.
2.2.2 British vs. American English
On the phonological, lexical and pragmatic level, the British-American differences have been
widely observed and described, while the grammatical differences have been pushed to one side.
Possible reasons for this are the insufficient amount of data for a contrastive study and the view
that there are hardly any grammatical differences to describe at all (Rhodenburg and Schlüter,
2009). In theory, three types of grammatical variation between national varieties can be
distinguished (Hundt, 2001):
(i)
absolute differences in basic rules;
(ii)
statistical tendencies (structures used more or less in a particular variety);
(iii)
authentic national collocations or idioms.
The last type rarely occurs and there has never even been an actual example of the first type. It is
the second type that accounts for the major part of grammatical variation and it is this type that is
also of interest for the present dissertation (ibid.). I will particularly discuss the morphological
variation by looking into the -t/-ed variation in the preterite.
As mentioned in the previous section, some verbs that are irregular in the past tense, allow for the
regular variant as well; and when they do, there is usually a preference for either one ending or
the other (Biber et al., 1999). It has been observed that BrE has a preference for the irregular -t
19
ending, while AmE displays a clear preference for the regular -ed ending (Tottie, 2002)2.
Linguists researching this field do not always agree about the extent to which the irregular forms
are used in these two varieties, but most scholars agree that AmE is far more advanced in the
regularisation of irregular verbs than BrE. As AmE initiates many grammatical changes, it might
be expected that BrE will follow the American example and will display an increased use of the
-ed form in the future3 (Levin, 2009). Moreover, the expected trend is towards an increased use of
the regular -ed ending, and it could therefore be expected that AmE will be more advanced than
BrE in this respect (Biber et al., 1999). Research has also shown that there is variation in both
varieties, but that AmE displays much less variation than BrE. The expected trend for BrE is that
it will hold on to its irregulars, as the irregular form is deeply embedded in this variety (Levin,
2009).
However, it would be erroneous to assume that BrE has never embraced the regular past form for
its irregular verbs. Diachronic research has shown that the regularisation process was already
well in operation in BrE before it spread to AmE, but in the second half of the twentieth century
the irregular forms gained popularity once more in BrE. The current British preference for the
irregular past forms may be due a conservative strategy implying that the regular forms are
morphological Americanisms and therefore to be avoided. In any event, although AmE was
initially lagging behind in the ongoing process of regularisation, it is now without doubt in the
lead regarding the regularisation of irregular verbs in the preterite and past participle (Hundt,
2009).
In the following section, I will examine a case study displaying the situation in Indian English
(IE), as IE is also a variety located in Kachru’s Outer Circle.
2
It is noteworthy, however, to remark that the differences between British and American grammar are rarely
categorical. After all, both speakers generally use the same grammar; it is the variation between the varieties in the
use of the rules that is of interest (Tottie, 2009).
3
Caution must be exercised when putting forward such an assumption, since there are also preserving forces at work.
Indeed, the different past endings represent a different function: the irregular form is used more frequently “with
punctual action, in the past participle, in the passive and in adjectival uses”. Therefore, these specific functions
ascertain that the irregular past form is not (yet) discarded (Levin, 2009: 82).
20
2.2.3 World Englishes: a case study
In De Clerck and Van Opstal (2014) it was examined whether IE is also subject to the forces of
regularisation and, if so, to what extent. The study attempts to account for internal variation
exploring the impact of frequency and vowel change. Thirteen verbs were selected, i.e. burn,
dream, dwell, kneel, lean, leap, learn, light, smell, speed, spell, spill and spoil, and it was
examined to what extent these verbs prefer the regular -ed or the irregular -t ending in IE with
respect to BrE and AmE.
For the synchronic analysis, data from the GloWbe (see section 3.1) corpus was extracted. It was
apparent from this research that all three varieties prefer the regular -ed ending, but that there
seems to be a difference concerning the preterite and the past participle: the -ed forms are first
established in the preterite and then in the past participle. This process also evolves at a different
pace in AmE, BrE and IE. Furthermore, most verbs prefer the -ed ending, but some verbs display
a clear preference for the -t ending. It was also observed that AmE clearly displays the most
pronounced preferences. In BrE, fewer verbs displaying a clear preference could be
distinguished. In general, the verbs that show a strong preference for the -t ending in BrE are the
same verbs that show a strong preference for the -t ending in AmE, except for leap. IE shows
both analogies and differences in this respect. Only six verbs show a strong preference for either
the -t or -ed ending, which is the same as in BrE and unlike AmE. The verbs displaying a clear
preference for the -t ending are again dwell, kneel, speed and light, but unlike BrE, spill and lean
show a strong preference for the -ed ending. IE also displays an exception when compared with
BrE and AmE: IE displays a central tendency (45% up to 55%) for the -t ending in dream. Spoil,
on the other hand, displays a stronger preference for the -ed ending than it does in BrE.
In conclusion, some of the general trends reappear in IE, such as the resolute preference for the -t
ending that some verbs display and the milder preference for the -ed ending like in BrE, but
unlike AmE. However, exceptions have been observed too, like the preference of dream for the
-t ending, which is unlike BrE and AmE, and the preference of spoil for the -ed ending like AmE,
and unlike BrE.
In addition, no link was established between the frequency and the preference for the -t ending.
However, vowel change could possibly account for the internal variation, as the data showed that
21
there is indeed a tendency towards a stronger preference for the -t ending in verbs with vowel
change, although it should be noted that this is not more than a trend (De Clerck and Van Opstal,
2014).
2.3 HYPOTHESES
On the basis of this systematic review, four hypotheses were formulated regarding the expected
outcome of the comparative study of selected varieties PhE, MyE, SgE and HKE.
H1
Regularisation of irregular verbs ending in -t in the preterite and the participle form
has been observed in both BrE and AmE (Biber, 1999; Tottie, 2002; Levin, 2009).
Regularisation will therefore also be observed in the past tense for this type of verbs in
PhE, MyE, SgE and HKE, as these varieties originate from BrE and AmE.
H2
Variation between the varieties will be observed. In addition, it is expected that the results
from MyE, SgE and HKE will be relatively comparable to the results from BrE, as these
varieties have British roots according to Strevens’s Map. It is expected that the results
from PhE will be relatively comparable to those of AmE, as PhE has American roots
according to Strevens’s map.
H3
Internal variation will be observed in the selected varieties, as it has been observed in
IE in De Clerck and Van Opstal (2014) and in Levin (2009).
H4
The selected verbs will behave in a similar way across the different varieties, as it has
also been observed in De Clerck and Van Opstal (2014) and in Levin (2009).
22
3 DATA AND METHODS
3.1 GLOWBE: CORPUS OF GLOBAL WEB-BASED ENGLISH
The data used for this study was retrieved from the Corpus of Global Web-Based English
(GloWbe). The Corpus was created by Mark Davies of Brigham Young University, situated in
Provo, Utah, USA, and was released in 2013. It is composed of 1.9 billion words from 1.8 billion
web pages extracted from 340, 000 websites in 20 English-speaking countries. With its 1.9 billion
words of text, the GloWbe Corpus is more than four times larger than the COCA Corpus (Corpus
of Contemporary American English), and nearly twenty times larger than the BNC (British
National Corpus). The size is therefore an advantage for this research, since it offers a richness
that the other corpora could not have provided (Davies, 2013). However, quantity does not
necessarily mean quality. GlowBe data is representative for web data, but this does not
necessarily mean that it is representative for the varieties.
However, the real strength of this corpus is the possibility to provide data on differences between
varieties of English, as it contains data of 20 different English-speaking countries4. In this way, it
is possible to compare the frequency of a word, phrase or grammatical construction, which makes
it suited for this study. Kirkpatrick (2007: 133) describes the major advantage of researches using
large corpora containing different varieties of the language in question: “[…] as it allows
researchers to analyse the use of specific features across a wide range of varieties of English and
allows researchers to identify which features are shared across several varieties and which may
be specific to just one”.
One last advantage of GloWbe is the material of which the data is constituted, i.e. web pages.
These reflect the current linguistic situation in the varieties rather well, as web pages are a very
agile and current genre, and therefore likely to quickly adopt any changes.
4
At present, following countries are included: the United States, Canada, Great Britain, Ireland, Australia, New
Zealand, India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, Hong Kong, South Africa,
Nigeria, Ghana, Kenia, Tanzania and Jamaica.
23
3.2 DATA SELECTION
This study concerns the following varieties: AmE, BrE, PhE, MyE, SgE and HKE. The varieties
have been selected on the basis of a number of practical reasons. First of all: AmE and BrE, being
the two main varieties of English, serve as a benchmark of comparison for the other varieties,
whose English is deduced from either AmE or BrE (see section 2.1). The selected varieties from
Kachru’s Outer Circle (see section 2.1), i.e. PhE, MyE, SgE and HKE, are chosen on the basis of
their geographical proximity. McArthur’s Circle of World English (see Figure 3) classified the
selected varieties under the heading “East Asian Standardizing English” (Mesthrie and Bhatt,
2008). These varieties are also incorporated in GloWbe, and can therefore be compared with one
another on the basis of the data in this corpus. Lastly, the varieties also have a different colonial
history, as PhE has been colonised by the Americans, and MyE, SgE and HKE have been
colonised by Britain (see section 5.1). This could possibly lead to interesting observations
concerning the variation between the varieties.
Figure 3: McArthur's circle of World English
The verbs have been selected on the basis of their past form. The verbs that end in -t in the
preterite and the past participle, but also allow for the regular -ed ending, have been selected5.
Subsequently the following twelve verbs were chosen for this study: burn, bless, lean, learn,
5
According to the list of irregular verbs featuring in the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English (2003).
24
spill, spell, smell, spoil, dream, leap, dwell and kneel in written AmE, BrE, PhE, MyE, SgE and
HKE.
3.3 METHODOLOGY
I will only focus on the preterite as accuracy testing of part-of-speech tags (based on random
samples of 100 instances for a selection of verbs) for preterite and past participle uses turned out
to be near perfect for preterites, but an error rate of 10% was attested for past participles (see De
Clerck and Van Opstal, 2014). For the selection of the preterites, I made use of the PoS list on
GloWbe and inserted for each verb the following PoS tag: [v?d*]. For instance for burn:
burned.[v?d*] to find its preterites ending in -ed, and burnt.[v?*d] to find its preterites ending in
-t6.
When the frequencies of the -t forms and the -ed forms for the selected verbs of the selected
varieties were obtained, the total frequencies for both the -t ending and the -ed ending were
accumulated per variety. Then the total frequencies of each verb were calculated per ending by
accumulating the frequencies of the selected varieties. Subsequently, a combination of these two
elements was calculated, resulting in the frequencies of the -t and -ed ending for each verb per
selected variety. The proportions were calculated for each of the acquired results, in order to
provide a clearer display of the results.
Furthermore, the results were submitted to statistical analysis through the chi-square test to test
the significance of distribution of the -t and the -ed ending7. If the p-value is lower than the
predetermined significance level of 0.05, the differences are found to be statistically significant. I
made a distinction between two significance levels, i.e. 0.05 and 0.01. A highly significant
difference, i.e. lower than 0.01, is denoted by three asterisks (***), whereas a significant
difference, i.e. lower than the 0.05, is denoted by one asterisk (*). Not significant differences do
not receive any asterisks. I rounded the results of the p-value to three decimal places.
6
7
The accuracy of the PoS tagging appeared to be very high when the keywords in context were verified.
The statistical tests were carried out online via the website http://www.quantpsy.org/chisq/chisq.htm.
25
4 COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS
4.1 General observations
4.1.1 Regularisation across varieties
I will first analyse whether the selected varieties prefer -t or -ed endings in general, and what
stance they assume towards British and American English. Table 1 provides an overview of the
proportions of the -t and -ed uses in each of the selected varieties for all twelve verbs, in order of
decreasing -ed preference8.
AmE
-t
-ed
.08
.92
-t
.10
PhE
-ed
.90
-t
.27
HKE
-ed
.73
-t
.32
BrE
-ed
.68
MyE
-t
-ed
.34
.66
-t
.36
SgE
-ed
.64
Table 1: General overview -t/-ed proportion across the varieties in decreasing -ed preference
A number of observations can be made on the basis of this table. First of all, it shows that all six
varieties prefer the regular -ed ending. AmE indeed displays the clearest preference for the -ed
ending, as was expected from the systematic review (see Chapter 2). PhE shows a strong
preference (75% or more) for the -ed ending as well. These two varieties clearly show the most
notorious preference for the regular -ed ending, with AmE displaying a 92% preference and PhE
displaying a 90% preference. The other varieties display a milder preference for the -ed ending
regarding the former two varieties, yet it is still clear that the regular past form is well preferred
over the irregular past form. HKE displays a 73% preference for the regular -ed ending;
apparently, it displays a stronger preference for the regular form than BrE, which shows a
preference of 68% for the -ed ending. Out of the selected varieties, MyE and SgE display the
mildest preference for the -ed ending: respectively 66% and 64 %. Overall, it can be said that the
regular past forms are clearly preferred in any of the examined varieties, with AmE and PhE
displaying a very pronounced preference for the -ed ending, followed by HKE. BrE, MyE and
SgE are all closely positioned to one another, with a respective majority for the -ed ending of
68%, 66% and 64%.
In order to examine whether the distribution of the -t and -ed ending for all varieties taken
together is statistically significant, the chi-square was calculated. A contingency row was built
with two rows (representing the values for the -t and -ed ending) and six columns (representing
8
For a full overview of the absolute figures, Appendix I can be consulted.
26
the varieties). The chi-square test showed a p-value lower than 0.01, which means that the
difference is highly significant (see Table 2).
All varieties
-t
13171
-ed
54260
Total
67431
Statistical significance
0.000***
(χ²= 6346.338)
Table 2: Figures for the chi-square test on the general overview for all varieties
This goes for the results of the chi-square test per variety as well (see Table 3): every test showed
a p-value lower than 0.01, which means that the differences are all highly significant. For this
table, the chi-square goodness of fit test was used, which means that the expected frequencies
were inserted. The expected frequency for each group is the average frequency of the -t and -ed
frequencies taken together.
BrE
AmE
PhE
MyE
SgE
HKE
-t
-ed
Statistical significance
Observed
7467
14734
0000***
Expected
11100.5
11100.5
(χ²= 2378.69)
Observed
2393
29550
0.000***
Expected
15971.5
15971.5
(χ²= 23088.083)
Observed
426
3878
0.000***
Expected
2152
2152
(χ²= 2768.658)
Observed
919
1789
0.000***
Expected
1354
1354
(χ²= 279.505)
Observed
1095
1981
0.000***
Expected
1538
1538
(χ²= 255.2)
Observed
871
2328
0.000***
Expected
1599,5
1599,5
(χ²= 663.598)
Table 3: Figures for the chi-square test per variety
However, the frequency of the verbs has a major impact on the general preference for either -t or
-ed. A high-frequency verb that prefers mostly the -ed ending, will increase the proportion
towards the -ed ending; hence the importance of examining the selected verbs individually.
27
4.2 Regularisation across verbs
The individual behaviour of the selected verbs will be examined on the basis of the data provided
in Table 4.
Bless
Burn
Lean
Learn
Spill
Spell
Smell
Spoil
Dream
Leap
Dwell
Kneel
-t
.01
.12
.13
.15
.19
.21
.23
.26
.34
.65
.76
.88
-ed
.99
.88
.87
.85
.81
.79
.77
.74
.66
.35
.24
.12
Table 4: General overview -t/-ed proportion across 12 verbs in order of decreasing -ed preference
Table 4 clearly illustrates that there is variation between these verbs concerning their preference
for either the -t or the -ed ending. Some verbs display an obvious preference for the -t ending,
while others follow the regular pattern and prefer the -ed ending. In this research, three out of
twelve verbs prefer the irregular -t ending, i.e. dwell, kneel and leap, while the other nine verbs
favour the regular -ed ending, i.e. burn, bless, dream, lean, learn, smell, spell, spill and spoil. The
extent to which these verbs prefer one ending or the other also differs. In ten out of twelve cases,
the verbs show a strong inclination towards either one ending or the other, with nine out of
twelve verbs showing a 75% or more preference (spoil shows a 74% preference for the -ed
ending). For dream, which prefers the regular past ending, and for leap, which prefers the
irregular past ending, however, the distinction is not that obvious with an average 65% -t/ 35% ed ratio for the latter and vice versa for the former. However, these verbs still display a rather
outspoken preference for either -t or -ed, but not as outspoken as the other verbs. From this data it
is also obvious that bless is rarely used in the irregular form given the 1% -t/ 99% -ed ratio.
Overall, it may be concluded that most verbs clearly prefer the regular -ed ending, but that there
are a few verbs, i.e. dwell, kneel and leap, that display a notorious preference for the irregular -t
ending. It can also be concluded that the preferences are generally very outspoken, as nearly ten
out of twelve verbs display a 75% or more preference towards one ending or the other. The chisquare test was calculated again based on these figures (see Table 5).
28
Burn
Bless
Dream
Dwell
Kneel
Lean
Leap
Learn
Smell
Spell
Spill
Spoil
Observed
Expected
Observed
Expected
Observed
Expected
Observed
Expected
Observed
Expected
Observed
Expected
Observed
Expected
Observed
Expected
Observed
Expected
Observed
Expected
Observed
Expected
Observed
Expected
-t
592
2442
13
774
1287
1891
381
251.5
896
510
457
1721
1427
1106
6557
21585
556
1227.5
409
975
238
627.5
380
717.5
-ed
4292
2442
1535
774
2495
1891
122
251.5
124
510
2985
1721
785
1106
36613
21585
1899
1227.5
1541
975
1017
627.5
1055
717.5
Statistical significance
0.000***
(χ²= 2803.03)
0.000***
(χ²= 1496.437)
0.000***
(χ²= 385.845)
0.000***
(χ²= 133.362)
0.000***
(χ²= 584.298)
0.000***
(χ²= 1856.707)
0.000***
(χ²= 186.331)
0.000***
(χ²= 20925.715)
0.000***
(χ²= 734.684)
0.000***
(χ²= 657.141)
0.000***
(χ²= 483.539)
0.000***
(χ²= 317.509)
Table 5: Figures for the chi-square test per verb
Again, the results appeared to be highly significant, as the p-value did not surpass 0.01 in any of
the tests.
It should be noted, however, that these are just general tendencies. These figures may still
conceal much variation across the selected varieties. Therefore, I will discuss the frequencies of
the -t/-ed variation per verb across the selected varieties in the following section.
4.2 In-depth analysis
Table 3 provides an overview of the -t/-ed variation between the selected verbs across the six
selected varieties. First, variation between the varieties will be discussed, followed by a
discussion on internal variation.
29
Burn
Bless
Dream
Dwell
Kneel
Lean
Leap
Learn
Smell
Spell
Spill
Spoil
-t
.18
.02
.41
.69
.90
.25
.78
.30
.41
.42
.30
.44
BrE
-ed
.82
.98
.59
.31
.10
.75
.22
.70
.59
.58
.70
.56
-t
.07
.01
.24
.79
.86
.03
.50
.03
.08
.06
.09
.04
AmE
-ed
.93
.99
.76
.21
.14
.97
.50
.97
.92
.94
.91
.96
-t
.09
.01
.40
.85
.86
.12
.25
.04
.11
.07
.05
.05
PhE
-ed
.91
.99
.60
.15
.14
.88
.75
.96
.89
.93
.95
.95
-t
.26
.01
.50
.63
.88
.06
.72
.32
.31
.32
.32
.51
MyE
-ed
.74
.99
.50
.37
.11
.94
.28
.68
.69
.68
.68
.49
-t
.21
0
.46
.44
.76
.07
.61
.38
.17
.35
.19
.46
SgE
-ed
.79
1
.54
.56
.24
.93
.39
.62
.83
.65
.81
.54
-t
.15
0
.31
.71
.97
.20
.50
.25
.28
.32
.17
.37
HKE
-ed
.85
1
.69
.29
.03
.80
.50
.75
.72
.68
.83
.63
Table 6: -t/-ed proportion of the 12 verbs across the varieties
From Table 6 can be deduced that in BrE, nine out of twelve verbs prefer the regular -ed ending,
i.e. burn, bless, dream, lean, learn, smell, spell, spill and spoil; only dwell, kneel and leap prefer
the irregular past form. However, the preferences are not as outspoken as was shown in the
previous sections. Dream, smell, spell and spoil display a preference ratio of about 50% to 60%
for the regular -ed ending. Only five verbs, i.e. burn, bless and lean (preferring the -ed ending),
and kneel and leap (preferring the -t ending), show a strong preference of 75% or more.
In AmE, nine out of twelve verbs prefer the regular -ed ending, i.e. burn, bless, dream, lean,
learn, smell, spell, spill and spoil. Leap displays a 50%-50% ratio, and dwell and kneel prefer the
irregular -t ending. It is clear that in AmE preferences are more outspoken than in BrE: eleven out
of twelve verbs show a strong preference of 75% or more for either one or the other ending. Only
leap appears to be a case of doubt displaying a 50%-50% ratio. In BrE, this verb preferred the -t
ending displaying an outspoken 78% preference.
PhE appears to show an even clearer preference for the regular -ed ending than AmE: ten out of
twelve verbs prefer the -ed ending, i.e. burn, bless, dream, lean, leap, learn, smell, spell, spill,
spoil. Only dwell and kneel prefer the irregular -t ending. Moreover, the -ed preferences are also
more outspoken than in AmE. Leap, which is the one verb that does not show a strong preference
in AmE displaying a 50% preference, shows a 75% -ed preference in PhE. The one verb that does
not show a strong preference in PhE, i.e. dream, still displays a 60% -ed preference. In total,
eleven out of twelve verbs show a strong preference of 75% or more, like in AmE.
30
In MyE, only seven out of twelve verbs prefer the regular -ed ending, i.e. burn, bless, lean, learn,
smell, spell and spill. Dwell, kneel, leap and spoil prefer the irregular -t ending, and dream
displays a 50%-50% ratio. The preferences are not very outspoken compared with AmE and PhE,
and seem to be more in line with BrE. Only three out of twelve verbs display a strong preference
of 75% or more towards either one or the other ending, i.e. bless, lean (preferring the regular -ed)
and kneel (preferring the irregular -t). BrE displayed five verbs with a strong preference, AmE
and PhE eleven. However, burn (preferring the -ed ending) and leap (preferring the -t ending)
display a preference between 70% and 75%, which could still be considered to be substantial.
Dwell (preferring the -t ending), learn, smell, spell, spill (preferring the -ed ending) show a
preference ranging from 63% up to 69%. Only spoil (preferring the -t ending) shows a mild
preference of 51%.
In SgE, ten out of twelve verbs prefer the regular -ed ending, i.e. burn, bless, dream, dwell, lean,
learn, smell, spell, spill and spoil. Consequently, SgE and PhE display the most verbs preferring
the -ed ending in this study. Only leap and kneel prefer the irregular -t ending (in PhE only dwell
and kneel preferred the -t ending). However, the preferences for one ending or the other are not
very outspoken: only five out of twelve verbs show a strong preference of 75% or more, i.e. burn,
bless, lean, smell (preferring the regular -ed) and kneel (preferring the irregular -t). In SgE, it is
notable that many of the selected verbs display a relatively mild preference: six out of twelve
verbs show a preference ratio of 54% (dream and spoil) up to 65% (spell). In addition, there are
no cases of bless with the -t ending.
In HKE, nine out of twelve verbs prefer the regular -ed ending, i.e. burn, bless, dream, lean,
learn, smell, spell, spill and spoil. This is the same number as in BrE and AmE. Dwell and kneel
are the only verbs that prefer the irregular -t ending; which is like in AmE and PhE.
Consequently, one verb displays a 50%-50% ratio, which is leap. Six out of twelve verbs show a
strong preference of 75% or more, i.e. burn, bless, kneel, lean, learn and spill. However, the
remaining verbs (except for leap) show a preference ratio between 63% and 72%, which can still
be considered to be relatively substantial. In HKE, too, there are no cases of bless in the irregular
past form.
In conclusion, PhE clearly displays the most notorious preference for the regular -ed ending
owing to the combination of both ten out of twelve verbs preferring the -ed ending and the
31
strongest preferences, with eleven out of twelve verbs displaying of preference of 75% or more.
However, AmE displays a clear preference for the -ed ending as well, with nine out of twelve
verbs preferring the -ed ending, and one verb displaying a 50%-50% ratio. Furthermore, AmE
shows very outspoken preferences as well: eleven out of twelve verbs prefer display a preference
of 75% or more, which is the same as in PhE. In SgE, ten out of twelve verbs prefer the -ed
ending, which is the same figure as in PhE, but it does not display many verbs with a strong
preference: only five out of twelve verbs display a strong preference. HKE, then, displays nine
out of twelve verbs preferring the -ed ending, with one verb displaying a 50%-50% ratio. Six out
of twelve verbs show a strong preference of 75% or more towards one ending or the other.
Furthermore, BrE also displays nine out of twelve verbs preferring the -ed ending, but only five
verbs showing a strong preference of 75% or more. Lastly, the regular -ed ending is used the least
in MyE: only seven out of twelve verbs prefer the -ed ending, with one verb displaying a 50%50% ratio. Four verbs prefer the irregular -t in MyE, which is the highest number in this research.
In terms of preference, it may be concluded from Table 7 that PhE seems to follow the same
patterns as AmE, displaying the same amount of verbs preferring the -ed ending with 75% or
more. Although SgE displays as many verbs preferring the -ed as PhE, which is the highest
number compared with the rest of the selected varieties, the number of verbs showing a strong
preference for the -ed ending is rather small and more in the line with BrE, MyE and HKE.
-ed
-ed (75% or more)
BrE
9
3
AmE
9
9
PhE
10
9
MyE
7
2
SgE
10
4
HKE
9
4
Table 7: Number of verbs per variety preferring -ed and preferring -ed with 75% or more
As for the internal variation, it may be concluded that in all six varieties the following verbs are
distinctly preferred with the regular -ed ending: burn, bless, lean, learn, smell, spell and spill.
Dream is also always preferred with the -ed ending, except in MyE, where this verb displays a
50%-50% ratio. Dwell is always preferred with the -t ending, except in SgE. Kneel is the only
32
verb that is always preferred in the irregular past form. Leap is preferred in the irregular form in
half of the selected varieties, i.e. in BrE, MyE and SgE. Leap shows a 50%-50% ratio in AmE
and HKE, and is only preferred in PhE with the regular -ed ending. Spoil is generally preferred in
the regular past form, except in MyE, but SgE and BrE prefer it only by a narrow majority,
respectively 54% and 56%.
After this general overview, a few points deserve attention:
(i)
it is remarkable that SgE displays ten out of twelve verbs preferring the regular -ed
ending, while MyE displays only seven verbs preferring the -ed ending. Moreover,
only two of these verbs prefer the -ed ending with 75% or more. These varieties have
a long mutual colonial history (see section 5.1), and it would be expected that these
varieties develop in the same direction, which is not the case;
(ii)
while every variety shows a general preference for the -ed ending, the amount of verbs
displaying an -ed preference per variety does not immediately display the varieties
that notoriously prefer the -ed ending, but the amount of verbs showing a strong
preference does;
(iii)
BrE and AmE do not display such different patterns as would be expected from the
literature;
(iv)
the varieties of Kachru’s Outer Circle do not seem to behave quite accordingly to their
linguistic roots (see section 2.1); indeed, PhE follows the same rough patterns as
AmE, but SgE and HKE seem to follow a pattern somewhat divergent from BrE;
(v)
the selected verbs do not always display the same preference across the selected
varieties: eight out of twelve verbs always prefer the same ending across the varieties,
but this is not the case for four verbs, i.e. dream, leap, spoil and dwell;
(vi)
the general overview across the varieties generally appeared to be a rather good
prognosticator for the variation of the selected verbs across the selected varieties,
except for MyE and SgE. According to Table 1, SgE displays the least verbs
preferring the regular past form, followed by MyE. According to Table 6, however,
this is not the case. MyE displays the least verbs preferring the -ed ending of all the
selected varieties, while SgE shows the most verbs preferring the -ed ending (together
with PhE);
33
(vii)
the same goes for the general overview across the verbs: dwell, kneel and leap were
indeed the verbs most frequently preferred with the -t ending, as was observed in
Table 4.
I will now examine the verbs per variety after the results of the chi-square goodness of fit test9.
The chi-square tests on the selected verbs in BrE (see Table 20) showed verb a p-value below
0.01 for each verb, which means that the difference between the -t ending and the -ed ending was
found to be statistically highly significant. The chi-square test on the selected verbs in AmE (see
Table 21) provided for all verbs, except for leap, a p-value below 0.01, which means that they are
all highly significant. For leap, the result was not significant, as it displayed a p-value higher than
0.05. In PhE (see Table 22), the results were all highly significant as well. In MyE (see Table 23),
however, three out of twelve results proved to be not significant, i.e. dream, dwell and spoil,
whereas the rest of the results were highly significant. In SgE (see Table 24), dream, dwell, spoil
and leap were not significant, whereas spell was significant and the other seven verbs highly
significant. In HKE (see Table 25), the results for two verbs were not significant, i.e. leap and
spoil. The results for the other verbs were all statistically highly significant.
Burn
Bless
Dream
Dwell
Kneel
Lean
Leap
Learn
Smell
Spell
Spill
Spoil
-t
.18
.02
.41
.69
.90
.25
.78
.30
.41
.42
.30
.44
BrE
-ed
.82
.98
.59
.31
.10
.75
.22
.70
.59
.58
.70
.56
AmE
-t -ed
.07
.93
.01
.99
.24
.76
.79
.21
.86
.14
.03
.97
.50
.50
.03
.97
.08
.92
.06
.94
.09
.91
.04
.96
PhE
-t -ed
.09
.91
.01
.99
.40
.60
.85
.15
.86
.14
.12
.88
.25
.75
.04
.96
.11
.89
.07
.93
.05
.95
.05
.95
MyE
-t -ed
.26
.74
.01
.99
.50
.50
.63
.37
.88
.11
.06
.94
.72
.28
.32
.68
.31
.69
.32
.68
.32
.68
.51
.49
SgE
-t -ed
.21
.79
0
1
.46
.54
.44
.56
.76
.24
.07
.93
.61
.39
.38
.62
.17
.83
.35
.65
.19
.81
.46
.54
HKE
-t -ed
.15
.85
0
1
.31
.69
.71
.29
.97
.03
.20
.80
.50
.50
.25
.75
.28
.72
.32
.68
.17
.83
.37
.63
Table 8: -t/-ed proportion of the 12 verbs across the varieties shadowing the verbs for which the results were not significant
In short, BrE and PhE displayed all highly significant results. In AmE, leap was the only verb
whose chi-square test was not significant, while in MyE, the results for dream, dwell and spoil
9
These tables are to be found in Appendix II. As the figures would not fit into the automatic chi-square calculator
used on the other tables, because this calculator allows maximum ten conditions and ten groups, the chi-square has
been calculated per national variety, but this meant creating six rather large tables. Hence the decision to place these
tables in a second Appendix.
34
were not significant. In SgE, the results for dream, dwell, spoil and leap were not significant.
Lastly, in HKE the results for spoil and leap were statistically not significant (see Table 8).
This means that it is not possible for these verbs (for which the results were not statistically
significant) to statistically state whether they prefer the -t or the -ed ending, since the statistical
difference between the two inflections is not significant in this study. Subsequently, some new
remarks can be added:
(i)
after the first examination, it was assumed that MyE preferred the irregular -t ending
the most out of the selected varieties, displaying four verbs that prefer the -t ending.
However, only two results for the verbs that prefer the -t ending are statistically
significant;
(ii)
moreover, it was assumed after the first examination that MyE and SgE displayed
rather contrastive results, despite their mutual colonial history. The statistical study,
however, showed that the results for three verbs where the two varieties had a
different outcome, are not significant. They display the same preferences for the
remaining verbs; consequently, it may be concluded that MyE and SgE do not display
such different patterns as was first assumed;
(iii)
kneel is the only verb preferring the irregular -t ending whose results from the chisquare are statistically significant in every variety;
(iv)
from the first study is was assumed that eight out of twelve verbs show a clear
preference for one ending or the other throughout the varieties. Four verbs did not
show an obvious preference throughout the varieties, i.e. dream, leap, spoil and dwell.
After the statistical tests, it is clear that these verbs are also the verbs for which the
results from the chi-square test are not significant in some varieties;
After this comparative analysis, the hypotheses formulated at the end of Chapter 2 can already be
addressed. The first hypothesis assumed that regularisation would also be observed in the World
Englishes selected for this study. The comparative analysis confirms that this is indeed the case,
as all varieties displayed a majority of the verbs preferring the -ed ending. The second hypothesis
assumed that variation between the different varieties would be observed; this is also the case, as
both the general overview as the in-depth analysis displayed variation between the varieties.
35
However, the varieties were also expected to behave accordingly to their linguistic roots, and this
is not entirely the case. PhE indeed roughly follows the same patterns as AmE, but the attested
patterns from SgE and HKE seem to be somewhat divergent from the BrE patterns angling
towards the AmE pattern. The third hypothesis, then, assumed that internal variation would be
observed. This was the case as the verbs displayed a divergent preference both in the general
overview as in the in-depth analysis. Finally, the last hypothesis assumed that the verbs would
behave in a similar way across the varieties. This hypothesis cannot whole-heartedly be
confirmed, as I did observe some divergent behaviour between the verbs across the varieties. For
instance, leap displayed a different behaviour in all the varieties. However, these are generally no
more than exceptions, and on the whole it can indeed be confirmed that the verbs roughly attain
the same patterns across the different varieties.
In the following Chapter, I will attempt to explain some of these tendencies. I attempt to provide
a clarification for the differences between the varieties through Schneider’s (2007) Dynamic
Model. As for the internal variation, I will attempt to provide an explanation through the impact
of frequency on the attested patterns. Naturally these are just a few of the many variables that
have an impact on the preferred patterns discussed in this study. Rather than attempting an
exhaustive explanation, this study will merely explore two of the possible causes for variation.
36
5 ACCOUNTING FOR THE DATA
5.1 ACCOUNTING FOR VARIATION BETWEEN THE VARIETIES
5.1.1 Schneider’s (2007) Dynamic model
5.1.1.1 Introduction
Schneider’s (2007) “Dynamic Model of the Evolution of Postcolonial Englishes” provides a
theoretical framework against which the evolution of postcolonial Englishes (PCEs) may be
positioned. The Model claims that “there is a shared underlying process which drives their [i.e.
the PCEs] formation, accounts for many similarities between them, and appears to operate
whenever a language is transplanted” (Schneider, 2007: 29). The model provides a
developmental cycle applied to different varieties of English, presenting the history of the PCEs
as a diachronic succession of five phases, i.e. Foundation, Exonormative stabilization,
Nativisation, Endonormative stabilization, and Differentiation (Schneider, 2007: 5).
Furthermore, Schneider points out four parameters for each of these phases in order to further
clarify them. Each parameter causes the next parameter to emerge (Schneider, 2007: 30-31):
(i)
sociopolitial background: extralinguistic factors which lead to;
(ii)
identity constructions: particular identity issues on both sides of the parties involved,
i.e. the settlers and the indigenous population, which lead to;
(iii)
sociolinguistic conditions: sociolinguistic adaptations which cause;
(iv)
linguistic effects: profound structural changes regarding the language varieties
involved.
In section 5.1.2, I will examine whether the attested differences between the selected varieties
may be linked to different positions on this evolutionary cline. First, however, a description of the
main features of the model will be provided, followed by a discussion concerning the position of
the selected varieties on the model.
37
5.1.1.2 The Dynamic Model
Schneider (2007: 29) describes the main feature of his model as follows:
Fundamentally, the evolution of PCEs is understood as a sequence of characteristic stages
of identity rewriting and associated linguistic changes affecting the parties involved in a
colonial-contact setting.
This process implies a tug-of-war between two parties: the settlers and the indigenous population.
Both are trying to reconstruct their identity; a struggle characterised by sociolinguistic and
linguistic processes. At first, the settlers consider themselves essentially an extension from their
home country and quite different from the natives. In the course of time, however, both parties
grow accustomed to one another and the mutual dissension somewhat diminishes. It is through
this process of intervention, negotiation and, eventually, acceptance, that a new identity is
constructed along with the emergence of new language varieties. In short: it is argued that the
emergence of new PCEs is firmly associated with the construction of identity (Schneider, 2007).
In the first phase, the Foundation, the settlers bring English to the new colony where the
indigenous population had never spoken English before. At this stage, both parties are just
becoming aware of each other’s existence, and perceive the other group as quite different. The
language-contact at this point consists of two different types of ecologies: on one hand, there is
the language difference among the settlers themselves. These settlers all originate from different
regions and consequently speak a different dialect. On the other hand, there is the language
ecology that emerges from the contact between the settlers and the indigenous population. This
second type of language-contact ignites the process of language variation. At this stage, the only
language-contact between both parties is purely functional, e.g. for trading and negotiating.
Whenever interlocution between the settlers and the indigenous population was necessary, the
former assigned someone from the latter group to be trained as an interpreter, albeit not always
voluntarily (Schneider, 2007).
The second phase of the cycle is the Exonormative stabilization. The name is derived from the
fact that the norm originates from outside the territory where is it spoken (Kirkpatrick, 2007). In
this phase colonies are established. English is now regularly spoken and often installed as the
language of official instances, such as administration and education. The natives now have
regular contacts with the settlers and as a consequence, more profound cross-cultural contact
38
between the settlers and the natives emerges and entails more fundamental changes concerning
the linguistic system. Initially, this process will manifest especially on the lexical level, but later
on it will affect the syntactical and morphological structures as well (Schneider, 2007).
Schneider considers the third phase, Nativisation, to be the most important one, as it is “the
central phase of both cultural and linguistic transformation” (2007: 40). In this phase, the
indigenous population is striving towards independence, and may well achieve it by now.
Linguistically, modifications are most obvious on the level of vocabulary, involving especially
loan words from the indigenous languages, but there are also morphological and syntactic
changes. At this stage, natives start to build their own variety of English. English no longer serves
as a second language, but gradually becomes a first-language blended with the indigenous
language (Schneider, 2007).
In the fourth phase of the cycle, Endonormative stabilization, further developments in the variety
emerge locally (Kirkpatrick, 2007). The immigrants now consider themselves as inhabitants of a
newly founded nation, quite freestanding from the original home country. This newly adopted
identity implies a step-by-step acceptance of local English varieties as an instrument to express
the new identity. The new government also accepts this new form of English as a linguistic norm.
By this time, a new language variety has developed, which is observably different from the
language that was originally brought to the territory. It is remarkable that this new variety is
rather homogenous. This is partly due to the koinéization process in the early stages of the cycle,
which favours simplified language use in order to promote the mutual understanding between the
settlers and the natives. Koinéization cannot, however, completely account for this phenomenon:
the new nation wants to demonstrate unity by unifying their language as well. This is thought to
strengthen the mental sense of belonging to the same nation. Naturally, this new language variety
still displays some variation, but it is deemphasized in favour of the national unity (Schneider,
2007).
Codification is an important feature of acceptance for a new language variety. In order to achieve
official recognition, a language variety must be established in an accepted reference work, such
as a dictionary or grammar work. Grammar works usually come later, since the number of
grammatical differences is more confined than the number of newly emerged local words.
Dictionaries, however, are a more obvious illustration of codification and therefore of official
39
acceptance. Codification also initiates a mutual supporting process: the newly adopted identity
triggers an awareness of the existence of new language varieties, and this awareness in turn
results into the publishing of dictionaries which reinforces the national and linguistic identity
(Schneider, 2007).
The final phase is the Differentiation phase. The new nation, once dependent on the mother
country in one way or another, is now politically and culturally completely self-reliant, regulating
its own norms. At this point, new varieties of what used to be a new variety of English emerge,
i.e. regional and social dialects (Schneider, 2007). In conclusion, Schneider (2007: 53)
summarises the state of the new variety in this phase as follows:
The emergence of a new variety of English as a part and consequence of this process trails
off, and is almost a thing of the past, recorded and remembered in recent history but
largely completed, no longer a prominent, disputed issue.
In his study Schneider also positions different varieties of English on his model through an
evolutionary account. I will have a closer look at the PCEs discussed in this dissertation: PhE,
MyE, SgE and HKE. The overview is structured according to the phases of the model. At the end
of every account, a number of hypotheses will be formulated regarding the features of the
varieties on the model and the results obtained in Chapter 4.
5.1.1.3 Position of the selected varieties on the Dynamic Model
a
The Philippines
Unlike many other varieties of English, PhE is not the result of English colonisation, but of
American colonisation. Nowadays, English plays a less important role in the Philippines, due to a
policy promoting the indigenous language as the official state language (Schneider, 2007).
The first two phases (Foundation and Exonormative Stabilization) succeeded each other quite
rapidly. The reason for this quick succession of the first and second phase is the fact that the
Americans, who were given authority over the Philippines after more than three centuries of
Spanish reign, perceived their own language preferable to that of the indigenous people. English
was now the official language, and the Americans lost no time in teaching the natives English.
40
AmE spread extremely quickly, thanks to the effective approach of the Americans and the fact
that the acquisition of this language constituted a means of climbing the social ladder (Schneider,
2007).
Schneider assumes that the third phase, Nativisation, began in 1937. The Philippines had until
then been semi-independent having received limited sovereignty, but in that year the government
made Tagalog, a lingua franca spoken in the south of Luzon10, a national language. During the
Second World War, however, English gained more prominence, as it became the language of
resistance against the Japanese occupation. After the war, the government accepted both English
and Tagalog, now renamed Filipino, as official languages. The Philippines, sporting a bilingual
education system, had embraced English as an official language, which explains to a large extent
the persistent strong role English plays in the country. However, Philippine English has not
proceeded into the fourth phase for a number of reasons. For the most part, this stagnation can be
ascribed to political turmoil because the then government was more in favour of the local
traditions than the Western traditions. Both English and Filipino are established as official
languages, but Filipino is more widely accepted, especially in the lower classes. English is still
used in official instances, however, and continues to be held in high regard by the higher classes
(Schneider, 2007).
Hypotheses
H1
As the Philippines were colonised by the Americans, their attested
patterns
could
be
expected to show the same tendencies as AmE.
H2
As PhE is still in phase three, their attested patterns could be expected to be lie relatively
closely to those of the original coloniser, i.e. the US.
b
Malaysia
Malaysia was colonised by the British at the end of the eighteenth century. The British first took
over the city of Penang, which is situated on the east shore of what is now northern Malaysia, and
eventually all the important southern settlements, comprising Melaka and Singapore. They were
10
Luzon is the largest island of the Philippines.
41
called the Straits Settlements. The influence of the settlers remained rather limited due to the
restricted interference of the colonisers into the daily habits of the natives (Schneider, 2007).
British influence gradually diffused throughout the country: the coastal cities and the early
establishments reached the second phase much earlier than the non-Federated States. During this
period, a great number of migrations took place, especially Chinese and Indian workers. By then,
Britain had gained a stable colonial status, entailing the need for an English language education
system. Christian missions and the government joined forces to establish English schools in the
early nineteenth century. The purpose of this education was, however, purely pragmatic as it only
sought to serve the British: they wanted to train some locals to fulfil the administrative functions
(Schneider, 2007).
Malaysia achieved independence in 1957, which limited the English status. It was preserved as a
co-official language, but it was really the intention of the government to install Malay as the sole
national language, which happened officially in 1976. Since then, Malaysia has given proof of
conflicting tendencies, making it very difficult to predict the effect of their language policies.
However, despite these disagreements, Schneider (2007: 148) claims that “Malaysian English has
proceeded substantially into phase 3: nativisation”. Malaysia still maintains a certain bond with
Britain, albeit not as strong as it once was, as it is still a member of the Commonwealth. On the
sociolinguistic level, English is especially used as a means of communication between different
ethnic populations. The amount of Malaysian-born who speak English as a mother tongue
remains relatively low. Nevertheless, Schneider (2007: 150) states that “in many social contexts
an informal register of Malaysian English has clearly become an unmarked language of everyday
informal communication”. However, it is too early to say that Malaysian English has proceeded
into phase four, but there are some aspects discernible of this next phase, e.g. its future
codification is discussed and literary creativity in this variety is documented and analysed
(Schneider, 2007).
Hypotheses
H1
As Singapore was colonised by the British, their attested patterns could be expected to
show the same tendencies as BrE.
42
H2
As Singapore is still in phase three, it could be expected that their attested patterns still lie
relatively close to those of the original coloniser, i.e. Britain.
c
Singapore
In the beginning of the 19th century, Singapore became part of the Straits Settlement together
with Penang and Melaka. Because of its excellent location, Singapore soon attracted a high
number of immigrants, originating predominantly from China and India. These populations with
different ethnic backgrounds tended to remain separated from one another, an inclination that is
still present in today’s educational policy (Schneider, 2007).
The transition to the second phase can be connected to the year of 1867, when Singapore became
a crown colony. During the following years, Singapore expanded as a trading centre and
developed an Asian elite who adopted many aspects of the British culture. Singapore became a
cultural blend of European and Asian traits. In terms of linguistic development, bilingualism was
promoted, but English remained a privilege for the elite. In this period, MyE had a very strong
influence on SgE. This situation remained stable until the Second World War (Schneider, 2007).
After three years of Japanese occupation, the colonial heritage had been interrupted, causing an
uprising against the colonisers. As a result, Singapore gained independence in 1965. This
development announced the third phase. Although Singapore seemed to be heading towards a
bleak future, having no thriving economy and struggling with ethnic fragmentation, it soon
proved the sceptics wrong thanks to a substantial economic growth and its language policy. The
population considered itself primarily Singaporeans, and SgE has become their language. These
evolutions introduced the fourth phase (Schneider, 2007).
A vernacular commonly spoken by the Singaporeans is Singlish, or Colloquial Singaporean
English. Singlish developed in the late 1970s and is probably the result of the second generation
English speakers in Singapore. It is very popular with the Singaporean population, although some
do raise the question of falling standards of English. Some believe that British English should
still be norm to be strived to, while others call for a Singaporean Standard. Some would even go
as far as to argue that Singaporean English is moving into Kachru’s Inner Circle. Either way, it
43
cannot be denied that Singaporean English has well moved into the fourth phase, with the
flourishing literature, the emergence of dialects and the establishment of codification (Schneider,
2007).
Hypotheses
H1
As Singapore was colonised by the British, their attested patterns could be expected to
show the same tendencies as BrE.
H2
As Singapore is already in phase four, this variety could be expected to show less
adherence to the variety of its original coloniser (i.e. Britain) than the other three varieties,
who are still in phase three.
d
Hong Kong
English was brought to Hong Kong in the seventeenth century through activities by the British
East India Company. The first phase is said to have started in 1841 – 1842, when Hong Kong
Island was occupied by Britain and became a colony after the first Opium War. Missionary
activities had started as well, which brought English education to Hong Kong. The first phase
lasted all throughout the nineteenth century. As elsewhere, the missionary activities encouraged
the spread of English, and as there was only a small amount of European residents in Hong Kong,
there was hardly any dialect mixture (Schneider, 2007).
The second phase started with the Treaty of 1898. This Treaty implemented Britain’s hold on
Hong Kong by leasing the New Territories for ninety-nine years, and it provided stability to the
whole territory for the twentieth century. Economy thrived and Hong Kong became an important
centre of trade between Britain and Southern China. Hong Kong enjoyed a politically stable
status of British crown colony in Asia, which is a typical feature of the second phase.
Bilingualism also kept spreading, but there was a distinct elitist quality about it, as only a small
fraction of the indigenous people had access to education (Schneider, 2007).
The start of the third phase can be dated towards the end of the lease, i.e. in the 1960s.
Negotiations about the future status of Hong Kong eventually led to Joint Sino-British
44
Declaration of 1984, which entailed the status of Hong Kong as a part of the People’s Republic of
China. In this way, Hong Kong did not experience the typical nativisation process, as it did not
gain independence but was assigned to another power. This also led to a general weakening of the
political ties between Hong Kong and Britain. As a result of the thriving economy and
internationalisation, English was very positively valued. Bilingualism was also no longer an
elitist privilege, but was now widely spread owing to the introduction of the Anglo-Chinese
secondary schools. Another feature displaying Hong Kong’s evolution into the third phase, is the
general worry of the lacking standards of both Chinese and English. The future of HKE is
difficult to predict, what with the uncertain sociological, economic and political developments of
both Hong Kong and China. It is remarkable, however, that despite the fact that the ties have
been broken with the former coloniser, English is still clearly treasured in Hong Kong
(Schneider, 2007).
Hypotheses
H1
As Hong Kong was colonised by the British, their attested patterns could be expected to
show the same tendencies as BrE.
H2
However, Hong Kong no longer has ties with Britain, so it could expected that their
attested patterns will show less tendencies towards BrE than MyE, despite being still
in
phase three.
5.1.2 Phases and verbal behaviour compared
In this section it will be examined whether the observed patterns in Chapter 4 can be linked to the
colonial history of the varieties and the phase they are allocated in. Table 9 provides an overview
of the reached phases of each variety, their original colonisers and the proportion of their -ed
preference from the general overview of the varieties from Chapter 4.
45
Variety
Coloniser
Phase
-ed preference
BrE
/
/
.68
AmE
/
/
.92
PhE
US
3 (Nativisation)
.90
MyE
GB
3 (Nativisation)
.66
SgE
GB
4 (Endonormative
.64
stabilization)
HKE
GB
3 (Nativisation)
.73
Table 9: Schematic representation of the reached stages of the varieties with their -ed preference
On the basis of the general overview of -ed frequencies of the examined varieties, there appears
to be no correlation between how far the varieties have evolved as an independent language and
whether they prefer the -ed ending over the -t ending. It can be observed, however, that it is
indeed so that BrE, MyE and SgE do have near enough the same frequency of -ed preferences,
while PhE has about the same frequency of -ed preferences as AmE. HKE lies somewhere in
between, which is not surprising either as this variety no longer has ties with its former coloniser
and Malaysia and Singapore are still member of the Commonwealth (The Royal Household, s.d.).
Moreover, Hong Kong is now an important business centre, and as the US is still the most
important economy in the world, it is not unlikely to assume that AmE has had some influence on
HKE in this respect (Economy Watch, 2013) . It was expected, however, that SgE, being the only
variety to have reached phase four, would show less tendency towards BrE than MyE, which is
still in phase three. Actually, SgE does show less tendency towards BrE than MyE, but in the
opposite direction as it shows a smaller preference for the -ed ending than either BrE or MyE.
The differences between these three varieties, however, are very small. In order to observe
whether the varieties will be more inclined to follow the same attested patterns as their former
coloniser, I will look at the attested patterns per verb and per variety on the basis of Table 6 (see
section 4.2).
Both BrE and AmE display nine verbs preferring the -ed, just like HKE. PhE displays ten verbs
preferring the -ed ending, and so does SgE. In terms of verbs preferring the -ed ending, SgE here
shows the most preference for the regular form together with PhE. Consequently, in this case SgE
does seem to take a different stance than its former coloniser. HKE as well, but it was already
mentioned that Hong Kong no longer has ties with Britain and that AmE might be more used in
46
this business centre, so this is not surprising. MyE shows the highest number of verbs preferring
the irregular form, which is in line with the predictions made in the previous section, as this
variety is only in phase three and Britain was its coloniser.
I will now look at the strength of the preferences to see whether that tells us a different story.
BrE, AmE and HKE all displayed nine verbs preferring the -ed. However, HKE and AmE do
display each a moderate 50% -t preference for leap, while BrE shows a strong 78% -t preference
for leap. Therefore, it may be concluded that HKE seems to angle more towards AmE, although
the preferences are not as strong as in AmE. PhE shows a strong 75% preference for the -ed
ending for leap, displaying a strong adherence towards the -ed ending. SgE also shows ten verbs
preferring the -ed, like PhE. However, while SgE displays the most verbs preferring the regular
form, along with PhE, five out of ten verbs preferring the -ed only prefer the regular form with a
moderate majority, whereas PhE only displays one verb preferring the -ed with a moderate
majority. MyE displays the least verbs displaying an -ed preference, but when looking at the
strength of the preferences, it can be observed that one verb displays a weak preference for the
irregular form of 51%. Apart from that one verb, MyE angles strongly towards BrE. It can
therefore be concluded that, when looking at the strength of the preferences, the results are much
less pronounced.
In short, PhE is situated in the third phase and displays a very strong adherence towards the
regular form in general. MyE is also situated in the third phase but favours the irregular forms in
four out of twelve verbs. HKE is situated in the third phase as well, and shows an -ed preference
in nine out of twelve verbs, albeit less pronounced than in AmE and PhE. SgE is the only variety
in this selection that is situated in the fourth phase, and it does display ten verbs preferring the -ed
ending, but in five cases it is a weak to moderate majority. Consequently, it can be concluded
from this study that, while Schneider’s model is a robust classification model, it does not seem to
be able to predict the preference of irregular verbs for either the -t or the -ed ending. However, it
is noteworthy that HKE and SgE, which were both colonised by Britain, seem to show an
inclination towards the AmE patterns. For HKE, a possible explanation has been mentioned
before, but for SgE, its tendencies towards the -ed ending could indeed be linked to the fact that
this variety has already moved into the fourth phase. It could be that these observations are
testimony to the emergence of a new, official, independent language variety. However, this study
47
is not elaborate enough to confirm this and should be restricted to tentative assertions. The
question remains then, however, as to why there is variation between these varieties. As there are
many other variables exercising an influence on the varieties, each variety forms a hybrid
language system. Consequently, there is no obvious answer to this question.
5.2 ACCOUNTING FOR THE INTERNAL VARIETIES
I will try to account for the internal variation by exploring the impact of frequency on the attested
patterns. Several studies, of which I will point out two, have observed a link between the choice
to either discard or retain the irregular inflection and the frequency of the verb. I will then draw
up a table displaying the frequency of the verb and its -t frequencies in the preterite.
Bybee (2006: 715) introduces the notion conserving effect as an effect of token frequency that
relates to the morphosyntactic structure of a sequence. The conserving effect states that highfrequency sequences are less likely to have their morphosyntactic structure modified because
they are more firmly embedded in their structure, and vice versa. As a consequence, in the
English language the low-frequency irregular verbs are much more likely to become regular than
the high-frequency irregular verbs. Bybee suggests that the high frequency reinforces the
“memory representations of words or making them easier to access whole and thus less likely to
be subject to analogical reformation”. Bybee assumes that this effect applies to grammatical
sequences as well. This means that high-frequency verbs uphold a more conservative structure
(Bybee, 2006).
Lieberman et al. (2007: 713-716), too, have observed in their research that the regularisation rate
of a verb depends on the frequency of word usage. Less than 3% of modern English verbs are
irregular today, nevertheless the ten most frequent verbs are irregular. The irregular verbs appear
to be indeed very responsive to high frequencies of occurrence. Linguists have suggested that this
phenomenon can be explained with the evolutionary hypothesis stating that infrequent irregular
verbs tend to disappear more rapidly because they are more difficult to master and easier to
forget. According to the study of Lieberman et al. (idem) “the half-life of an irregular verb scales
as the square root of its usage frequency”, which means that a verb that is a 100 times less
frequent will regularise 10 times as rapidly (Lieberman et al., 2007).
48
It may therefore be concluded that the verbs selected for this study will behave accordingly,
which means that the verbs with a relatively low frequency will be more likely to adopt the
regular -ed ending than those with a relatively high frequency. This equally means that the verbs
with a relatively high frequency occurrence will be more likely to retain their irregular -t form. If
we accept this hypothesis as true, we should notice that the verbs with a relatively low frequency
occurrence display a preference for the -ed form, and that the verbs preferring the irregular
ending with a relatively high frequency occurrence maintain their -t form. However, in this study
every verb is relatively infrequent, so the question is more specifically: do more frequent verbs
with both inflectional options prefer the -t ending more than less frequent verbs with both
inflectional options? The following table shows a ranking of the verbs according to frequency
(ranked in order of decreasing frequency) accompanied by a ranking of the verbs according to
their preference for the -t ending (ranked in order of decreasing -t frequency). The same verbs
should appear in one row.
All
varieties
-t
Learn
Kneel
(177,956) (.88)
Burn
Dwell
(17,029) (.76)
Bless
Leap
(16,197) (.65)
Dream
Dream
(13,253) (.34)
Smell
Spoil
(9,550)
(.26)
Spell
Smell
(7,073)
(.23)
Lean
Spell
(5,910)
(.21)
Dwell
Spill
(5,199)
(.19)
Spoil
Learn
(4,276)
(.15)
Spill
Lean
(3,777)
(.13)
Freq.
BrE
-t
AmE
-t
PhE
-t
MyE
-t
SgE
-t
HKE
-t
Kneel
(.90)
Leap
(.78)
Dwell
(.69)
Spoil
(.44)
Spell
(.42)
Dream
(.41)
Smell
(.41)
Learn
(.30)
Spill
(.30)
Lean
(.25)
Kneel
(.86)
Dwell
(.79)
Leap
(.50)
Dream
(.24)
Burn
(.11)
Spill
(.09)
Smell
(.08)
Spell
(.06)
Spoil
(.04)
Lean
(.03)
Kneel
(.86)
Dwell
(.85)
Dream
(.40)
Leap
(.25)
Lean
(.12)
Smell
(.11)
Burn
(.09)
Spell
(.07)
Spill
(.05)
Spoil
(.05)
Kneel
(.88)
Leap
(.72)
Dwell
(.63)
Spoil
(.51)
Dream
(.50)
Learn
(.32)
Spell
(.32)
Spill
(.32)
Smell
(.31)
Burn
(.26)
Kneel
(.76)
Leap
(.61)
Dream
(.46)
Spoil
(.46)
Dwell
(.44)
Learn
(.38)
Spell
(.35)
Burn
(.21)
Spill
(.19)
Smell
(.17)
Kneel
(.97)
Dwell
(.71)
Leap
(.50)
Spoil
(.37)
Spell
(.32)
Dream
(.31)
Smell
(.28)
Learn
(.25)
Lean
(.20)
Spill
(.17)
49
Leap
(2,754)
Kneel
(1,058)
Burn
(.12)
Bless
(.01)
Burn
(.12)
Bless
(.02)
Learn
(.03)
Bless
(.01)
Learn
(.04)
Bless
(.01)
Lean
(.06)
Bless
(.01)
Lean
(.07)
Bless
(0)
Burn
(.15)
Bless
(0)
Table 10: Order of frequency compared with the order of -t preference
The table above provides an overview of the frequencies of occurrence in the GloWbe corpus; the
frequencies of each verb have been accumulated per selected variety. This table also provides an
overview of the -t proportions discussed in Chapter 4. On the basis of Table 10, it can therefore
be verified whether the above hypothesis tallies with the observations.
This table shows that there is no correspondence between the frequency of the verbs and the
retention of the -t form. According to the hypothesis, relatively high-frequency verbs like learn,
burn and bless should display a strong preference for the -t form, but these verbs occur only at the
bottom of the ranking, which is quite contrary to the expectations. Contrariwise, the relatively
low-frequency verbs like kneel and leap show a conspicuously strong preference for the -t form.
In other words, it could be suggested that an opposite trend is emerging, but closer examination
of the variation between the varieties revealed that the hypothesis is less obviously contradicted:
spill is a relatively low-frequency verb and is in some varieties indeed regularised. In AmE en
PhE, for instance, this verb hardly ever occurs in the -t form (respectively 9% and 5%).
Moreover, in BrE, PhE, MyE and SgE the relatively high-frequency verb dream shows a
relatively high preference for the -t form, the proportions going from 41% up to 50%, which
could also confirm the hypothesis, but none of these findings are very convincing. This
examination does not seem to show an obvious correspondence between the frequency of the
examined verbs and their preferences for either one ending or the other. It may therefore be
concluded from Table 10 that the hypothesis is not confirmed, nor that an opposite trend has been
observed.
50
6 CONCLUSION
The overall aim of the present study was to examine to what extent verbs ending in the irregular
-t ending in the past tense, but allowing for the regular -ed ending as well, prefer the regular over
the irregular ending in the preterite form in different varieties of English. In order to examine
this, different research questions have been formulated:
Q1
To what extent do irregular verbs with strong -t forms resort to the regularised -ed
form?
Q2
How does this phenomenon manifest itself in British English and American English?
Q3
How does it manifest itself in Philippine English, Malaysian English, Singapore English
and Hong Kong English?
Q4
How do these varieties differ from one another?
Q5
Is there internal variation?
Q6
How can this variation be accounted for?
First, a theoretical framework was established stemming from the fields of language variation and
change. From Kachru’s concentric three circle model (Crystal, 2003) four varieties of English
were selected, i.e. Philippine English, Malaysian English, Singapore English and Hong Kong
English. Subsequently, the regularisation of irregular verbs in general was examined, followed by
a probe into the situation in British English and American English. It was observed from this
literature that American English seems to favour regularisation of irregular verbs more than
British English (Biber, 1999; Tottie, 2002; Levin, 2009). However, from comparative analysis it
was clear that these two varieties do not display that much difference as assumed from the
literature.
On the basis of the theoretical framework, four hypotheses were formulated:
H1
Regularisation of irregular verbs ending in -t in the preterite and the participle form
has been observed in both BrE and AmE. Therefore, regularisation will also be observed
in the past tense for this type of verbs in PhE, MyE, SgE and HKE, as these varieties
originate from BrE and AmE.
51
H2
Variation between the varieties will be observed. It is expected that the results from MyE,
SgE and HKE will be relatively comparable to the results from BrE, as these varieties
have British roots according to Strevens’s Map. In addition, it is also expected that
the results from PhE will be relatively comparable to those of AmE, as PhE has
American roots according to Strevens’s map.
H3
Internal variation will be observed in the selected varieties, as it has been observed in
IE in De Clerck and Van Opstal (2014) and in Levin (2009).
H4
The selected verbs will behave in a similar way across the different varieties, as it has
also been observed in De Clerck and Van Opstal (2014) and in Levin (2009).
Through a comparative analysis these hypotheses have been investigated. After the comparative
analysis, the formulated hypotheses could be addressed: the first hypothesis could be confirmed,
as regularisation was indeed found in each of the varieties, and in nine out of twelve verbs. The
second hypothesis could not be entirely confirmed; Philippine English did follow the same rough
patterns as American English, and Malaysian English followed more or less the British patterns.
However, Hong Kong English and Singapore English showed some inclination towards the
American patterns, which was opposite to the expectations. The third hypothesis could also be
confirmed, as well as the last. Generally, it can be said that the verbs follow the same patterns
across the varieties. Therefore, regularisation or contrarily the retention of the irregular form can
be said to be more verb related and less variety related.
The systematic review and the comparative analysis answered five out of six research questions.
An attempt was made to formulate an answer to the final question in the last chapter. I attempted
to account for the variation between the varieties through Schneider’s (2007) Dynamic Model.
This model positions the Postcolonial Englishes on an evolutionary cline, closely linked to
identity. Philippine English, Malaysian English and Hong Kong English have moved into the
third phase, Nativisation, which means that their own variety of English is emerging. Singapore
English has already moved into the fourth phase, Endonormative Stabilisation, characterised by
the attempts to unify their newly acquired language variety and the emergence of codification. It
was examined whether the position of the varieties on the model could account for the -t/-ed
distribution. However, no clear link was found between these two aspects. Subsequently, it was
52
attempted to account for the internal variation through the impact of frequency on the attested
patterns. It was assumed that the relatively frequent verbs would retain the -t form more than the
relatively less frequent verbs. However, this appeared to be not the case; consequently, frequency
could not account for the internal variety in this study.
As a final remark it should be noted that each language variety establishes a very hybrid system,
influenceable by many variables. It is therefore difficult to make any assumptions based on such
limited research. Furthermore, researchers who would aim to tap into this particular branch of
language variation and change could, for instance, investigate the past participle form of these
varieties and verbs, as only the preterite was investigated in this study. De Clerck and Van Opstal
(2014) have already observed that there is a variation between these two forms regarding the
preference for either the -t or -ed ending. As for the variation between the varieties, it could be
useful to examine the prescriptivism per variety to see whether that aspect could influence the
variation between varieties.
53
REFERENCES
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Education ESL.
Bybee, J. (2006). From usage to grammar: the mind’s response to repetition. Language. (82)4,
711-733. [Online] http://www.jstor.org/stable/4490266?__redirected [13.02.2014].
Crystal, D. (2003). English as a Global Language. Second Edition. Cambridge: University
Press.
Davies, M. (2013). Introduction. [Online] http://corpus2.byu.edu/glowbe/ [13.05.2014].
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[13.05.2014].
De Clerck, B. and Van Opstal, K. (2014). Patterns of regularization in Indian English: a closer
look at irregular verbs and -t/-ed variation. Manuscript in preparation.
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approach. Revue belge de philologie et d’histoire. (79)3, 737-756. [Online]
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_4545 [21.02.2014].
Hundt, M. (2009). Colonial lag, colonial innovation or simply language change? In
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between British and American English. (pp. 13 – 37). New York: Cambridge University
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[Online]
http://www.govtedu.com/wp-content/uploads/ebooks/english/onelanguage-two-grammars.pdf [17.04.2014].
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93CA3CCBB9DB2B190 [10.04.2014].
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and Schlüter, J. (Eds.), One Language, Two Grammars? Differences between British
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55
APPENDIX I
ABSOLUTE FIGURES FROM GLOWBE
Total freq.
-t
Total freq.
-ed
BrE
7467
AmE
2393
PhE
426
MyE
919
SgE
1095
HKE
871
14734
29550
3878
1789
1981
2328
Table 11: General overview -t/-ed variation across the varieties
Burn
Bless
Dream
Dwell
Kneel
Lean
Leap
Learn
Smell
Spell
Spill
Spoil
Total -t
Total -ed
Prop. -t
Prop. -ed
592
13
1287
381
896
457
1427
6557
556
409
238
380
4292
1535
2495
122
124
2985
785
36613
1899
1541
1017
1055
.12
.01
.34
.76
.88
.13
.65
.15
.23
.21
.19
.26
.88
.99
.66
.24
.12
.87
.35
.85
.77
.79
.81
.74
Table 12: General overview -t/-ed variation across 12 verbs
Burnt
Burned
Blest
Blessed
Dreamt
Dreamed
Dwelt
Dwelled
Knelt
Kneeled
Leant
Leaned
Leapt
Leaped
Learnt
Learned
Smelt
Smelled
BrE
310
1376
8
345
620
897
85
38
339
38
347
1025
858
241
3842
9170
365
534
AmE
171
2367
6
818
385
1209
230
60
352
56
51
1498
369
365
612
20249
90
982
PhE
21
202
1
195
99
151
35
6
82
13
23
167
29
85
109
2830
13
108
MyE
38
108
1
85
79
77
12
7
16
2
4
65
56
22
594
1242
34
74
SgE
28
106
0
59
67
78
4
5
41
13
10
140
44
28
800
1330
27
131
HKE
24
133
0
33
37
83
15
6
65
2
22
90
44
44
600
1792
27
70
56
Spelt
Spelled
Spilt
Spilled
Spoilt
Spoiled
275
380
151
350
264
340
55
904
47
486
25
556
8
111
3
54
3
56
33
71
17
36
35
34
19
35
13
56
42
49
19
40
7
35
11
19
Table 13: Overview -t/-ed variation across the varieties and verbs
Burn
Bless
Dream
Dwell
Kneel
Lean
Leap
Learn
Smell
Spell
Spill
Spoil
Total -t
Total -ed
Prop -t
Prop -ed
310
8
620
85
339
347
858
3842
365
275
151
264
1376
345
897
38
38
1025
241
9170
534
380
350
340
.18
.02
.41
.69
.90
.25
.78
.30
.41
.42
.30
.44
.82
.98
.59
.31
.10
.75
.22
.70
.59
.58
.70
.56
Total t
Total ed
Prop t
Prop ed
171
6
385
230
352
51
369
612
90
55
47
25
2367
818
1209
60
56
1498
365
20249
982
904
486
556
.07
.01
.24
.79
.86
.03
.50
.03
.08
.06
.09
.04
.93
.99
.76
.21
.14
.97
.50
.97
.92
.94
.91
.96
Total t
Total ed
Prop t
Prop ed
21
1
99
35
82
23
202
195
151
6
13
167
.09
.01
.40
.85
.86
.12
.91
.99
.60
.15
.14
.88
Table 14: -t/-ed variation in BrE across 12 verbs
Burn
Bless
Dream
Dwell
Kneel
Lean
Leap
Learn
Smell
Spell
Spill
Spoil
Table 15: -t/-ed variation in AmE across 12 verbs
Burn
Bless
Dream
Dwell
Kneel
Lean
57
Leap
Learn
Smell
Spell
Spill
Spoil
29
109
13
8
3
3
85
2830
108
111
54
56
.25
.04
.11
.07
.05
.05
.75
.96
.89
.93
.95
.95
Total -t
Total -ed
Prop -t
Prop -ed
38
1
79
12
16
4
56
594
34
33
17
35
108
85
77
7
2
65
22
1242
74
71
36
34
.26
.01
.50
.63
.88
.06
.72
.32
.31
.32
.32
.51
.74
.99
.50
.37
.11
.94
.28
.68
.69
.68
.68
.49
Total -ed
106
59
78
5
13
140
28
1330
131
35
56
49
Prop -t
.21
.00
.46
.44
.76
.07
.61
.38
.17
.35
.19
.46
Prop -ed
.79
1.00
.54
.56
.24
.93
.39
.62
.83
.65
.81
.54
Total -t
Total -ed
Prop -t
Prop -ed
24
0
37
15
65
22
133
33
83
6
2
90
.15
.00
.31
.71
.97
.20
.85
1.00
.69
.29
.03
.80
Table 16: -t/-ed variation in PhE across 12 verbs
Burn
Bless
Dream
Dwell
Kneel
Lean
Leap
Learn
Smell
Spell
Spill
Spoil
Table 17: -t/-ed variation in MyE across 12 verbs
Burn
Bless
Dream
Dwell
Kneel
Lean
Leap
Learn
Smell
Spell
Spill
Spoil
Total -t
28
0
67
4
41
10
44
800
27
19
13
42
Table 18: -t/-ed variation in SgE across 12 verbs
Burn
Bless
Dream
Dwell
Kneel
Lean
58
Leap
Learn
Smell
Spell
Spill
Spoil
44
600
27
19
7
11
Table 19: -t/-ed variation in HKE across 12 verbs
44
1792
70
40
35
19
.50
.25
.28
.32
.17
.37
.50
.75
.72
.68
.83
.63
59
APPENDIX II
CHI-SQUARE TEST PER VARIETY PER VERB
Burn
Bless
Dream
Dwell
Kneel
Lean
Leap
Learn
Smell
Spell
Spill
Spoil
Observed
Expected
Observed
Expected
Observed
Expected
Observed
Expected
Observed
Expected
Observed
Expected
Observed
Expected
Observed
Expected
Observed
Expected
Observed
Expected
Observed
Expected
Observed
Expected
-t
310
843
8
176.5
620
758.5
85
61.5
339
188.5
347
686
858
549.5
3842
2227
365
449.5
275
327.5
151
250.5
264
302
-ed
1376
843
345
176.5
897
758.5
38
61.5
38
188.5
1025
686
241
549.5
9170
2227
534
449.5
380
327.5
350
250.5
340
302
Statistical significance
0.000***
(χ²= 673.995)
0.000***
(χ²= 321.725)
0.000***
(χ²= 50.579)
0.000***
(χ²= 17.959)
0.000***
(χ²= 240.321)
0.000***
(χ²= 335.047)
0.000***
(χ²= 346.396)
0.000***
(χ²= 2181.646)
0.000***
(χ²= 31.77)
0.000***
(χ²= 16.832)
0.000***
(χ²= 79.044)
0.002***
(χ²= 9.563)
-t
171
1269
6
412
385
797
230
145
352
204
51
774.5
369
367
612
10430.5
-ed
2367
1269
818
412
1209
797
60
145
56
204
1498
774.5
365
367
20249
10430.5
Statistical significance
0.000***
(χ²= 1900.085)
0.000***
(χ²= 800.175)
0.000***
(χ²= 425.924)
0.000***
(χ²= 99.655)
0.000***
(χ²= 214.745)
0.000***
(χ²= 1351.717)
0.8820871
(χ²= 0.022)
0.000***
(χ²= 18484.817)
Table 20: Chi-square test on 12 verbs in BrE
Burn
Bless
Dream
Dwell
Kneel
Lean
Leap
Learn
Observed
Expected
Observed
Expected
Observed
Expected
Observed
Expected
Observed
Expected
Observed
Expected
Observed
Expected
Observed
Expected
60
Smell
Spell
Spill
Spoil
Observed
Expected
Observed
Expected
Observed
Expected
Observed
Expected
90
536
55
479.5
47
266.5
25
290.5
982
536
904
479.5
486
266.5
556
290.5
0.000***
(χ²= 742.224)
0.000***
(χ²= 751.617)
0.000***
(χ²= 361.578)
0.000***
(χ²= 485.303
-t
21
111.5
1
98
99
125
35
20.5
82
47.5
23
95
29
57
109
1469.5
13
60.5
8
59.5
3
28.5
3
29.5
-ed
202
111.5
195
98
151
125
6
20.5
13
47.5
167
95
85
57
2830
1469.5
108
60.5
111
59.5
54
28.5
56
29.5
Statistical significance
0.000***
(χ²= 146.91)
0.000***
(χ²= 192.02)
0.001***
(χ²= 10.816)
0.000***
(χ²= 20.512)
0.000***
(χ²= 50.116)
0.000***
(χ²= 109.137)
0.000***
(χ²= 27.509
0.000***
(χ²= 2519.17)
0.000***
(χ²= 74.587)
0.000***
(χ²= 89.151)
0.000***
(χ²= 45.632)
0.000***
(χ²= 47.61)
-t
38
73
1
43
79
78
12
9.5
16
9
-ed
108
73
85
43
77
78
7
9.5
2
9
Statistical significance
0.000***
(χ²= 33.562)
0.000***
(χ²= 82.047)
0.87190032
(χ²= 0.026)
0.25131119
(χ²= 1.316)
0.001***
(χ²= 10.889)
Table 21: Chi-square test on 12 verbs in AmE
Burn
Bless
Dream
Dwell
Kneel
Lean
Leap
Learn
Smell
Spell
Spill
Spoil
Observed
Expected
Observed
Expected
Observed
Expected
Observed
Expected
Observed
Expected
Observed
Expected
Observed
Expected
Observed
Expected
Observed
Expected
Observed
Expected
Observed
Expected
Observed
Expected
Table 22: Chi-square test on 12 verbs in PhE
Burn
Bless
Dream
Dwell
Kneel
Observed
Expected
Observed
Expected
Observed
Expected
Observed
Expected
Observed
Expected
61
Lean
Leap
Learn
Smell
Spell
Spill
Spoil
Observed
Expected
Observed
Expected
Observed
Expected
Observed
Expected
Observed
Expected
Observed
Expected
Observed
Expected
4
34.5
56
39
594
918
34
54
33
52
17
26.5
35
34.5
65
34.5
22
39
1242
918
74
54
71
52
36
26.5
34
34.5
0.000***
(χ²= 53.928)
0.000***
(χ²= 14.821)
0.000***
(χ²= 228.706)
0.000***
(χ²= 14.815)
0.000***
(χ²= 13.885)
0.009***
(χ²= 6.811)
0.90581285
(χ²= 0.014)
-t
28
67
0
29.5
67
72.5
4
4.5
41
27
10
75
44
36
800
1065
27
79
19
27
13
34.5
42
45.5
-ed
106
67
59
29.5
78
72.5
5
4.5
13
27
140
75
28
36
1330
1065
131
79
35
27
56
34.5
49
45.5
Statistical significance
0.000***
(χ²= 45.403)
0.000***
(χ²= 59)
0.36111843
(χ²= 0.834)
0.73900851
(χ²= 0.111)
0.000***
(χ²= 14.519)
0.000***
(χ²= 112.667)
0.059
(χ²= 3.556)
0.000***
(χ²= 131.878)
0.000***
(χ²= 68.456)
0.029*
(χ²= 4.741)
0.000***
(χ²= 26.797)
0.46326278
(χ²= 0.538)
-t
24
78.5
0
16.5
-ed
133
78.5
33
16.5
Statistical significance
0.000***
(χ²= 75.675)
0.000***
(χ²= 33)
Table 23: Chi-square test on 12 verbs in MyE
Burn
Bless
Dream
Dwell
Kneel
Lean
Leap
Learn
Smell
Spell
Spill
Spoil
Observed
Expected
Observed
Expected
Observed
Expected
Observed
Expected
Observed
Expected
Observed
Expected
Observed
Expected
Observed
Expected
Observed
Expected
Observed
Expected
Observed
Expected
Observed
Expected
Table 24: Chi-square test on 12 verbs in SgE
Burn
Bless
Observed
Expected
Observed
Expected
62
Dream
Dwell
Kneel
Lean
Leap
Learn
Smell
Spell
Spill
Spoil
Observed
Expected
Observed
Expected
Observed
Expected
Observed
Expected
Observed
Expected
Observed
Expected
Observed
Expected
Observed
Expected
Observed
Expected
Observed
Expected
Table 25: Chi-square test on 12 verbs in HKE
37
60
15
10.5
65
33.5
22
56
44
44
600
1196
27
48.5
19
29.5
7
21
11
15
83
60
6
10.5
2
33.5
90
56
44
44
1792
1196
70
48.5
40
29.5
35
21
19
15
0.000***
(χ²= 17.633)
0.049*
(χ²= 3.857)
0.000***
(χ²= 52.239)
0.000***
(χ²= 41.286)
1
(χ²= 0)
0.000***
(χ²= 594.007)
0.000***
(χ²= 19.062)
0.006***
(χ²= 7.475)
0.000***
(χ²= 18.667)
0.144
(χ²= 2.133)