Volume-6 2011

Philippine ESL Journal, Vol.
4, February 2010
Volume 6, February 2011

Foreword Leah Espada-Gustilo Classroom Opportunities that Foster Willingness to Communicate Glendora V. Tiu The Pragmantics of Okay in English Language Teaching by Phone Clarisse Anne P. Ilustre Ano ba talaga ang ano?: Exploring the meanings of ano in conversations Irish C. Sioson How the Deictic and Anaphoric Role of Na in Filipino Functions as a Cohesive Device in Classroom Interaction Miren Montoya Morales Modal Auxiliaries in Philippine English Newspapers: a Corpus-based Analysis Leah Espada-Gustilo
2011 Time Taylor International ISSN 1718-2298
Philippine ESL Journal, Vol. 4, February 2010
The Philippine ESL Journal: Volume 6, February 2011

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THE PHILIPPINE ESL JOURNAL

Volume 6, February 2011
Articles Foreword 1 Leah Espada-Gustilo Classroom Opportunities that Foster Willingness to Communicate ... 3 Glendora V. Tiu The Pragmantics of Okay in English Language Teaching by Phone . 24 Clarisse Anne P. Ilustre Ano ba talaga ang ano?: Exploring the meanings of ano in conversations ... 46 Irish C. Sioson How the Deictic and Anaphoric Role of Na in Filipino Functions as a Cohesive Device in Classroom Interaction ... 66 Miren Montoya Morales Modal Auxiliaries in Philippine English Newspapers: A Corpus-based Analysis 81 Leah Espada-Gustilo
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Foreword Rejoice with me as I note that the Philippine ESL Journal is now in its fourth year! I am honoured to be the guest editor of the current volume, the first in 2011. Since it started in 2008, the journal has been a significant voice for Filipino and other Asian teachers and researchers to publish their works, which contributed to our wider understanding of language use, language learning and teaching, and linguistic studies in our own setting. The current issue brings together four articles in the domain of Semantics and Pragmatics and one article on Language Learning. I thank my students and colleague who submitted their articles and patiently improved the quality of their paper for the present issue. Ms Glendora V. Tiu from Chiang Kai Shek College (a doctoral student in De La Salle University-Manila), presented her paper entitled Classroom Opportunities that Foster Willingness to Communicateher masteral thesis which was awarded Outstanding Thesis Award by De La Salle University, Manila. She sounded a call to all language teachers that we revisit the opportunities we afford our students because the students willingness to communicate is not only dependent on the students attitude and motivation; it also hinges on the kind of opportunities and the manner in which these opportunities are administered. The three other articles are under the domain of Pragmanticsa term coined by scholars to describe the overlap between Semantics and Pragmatics. Clarisse Anne P. Ilustre utilized a unique distance language learning as the setting of her study in order to analyze the functions of Okay. Her careful analysis of the telephone conversation transcripts exemplified how a linguistic item that is oftentimes glossed over in conversation can mean so much in discourse. Irish C. Siosons article exploited the readily available corpus on the Philippine English, the International Corpus of EnglishPhilippine Component compiled by Bautista, Lising, and Dayag (1999), to explore the functions of the Tagalog word Ano in discourse. She succeeded in exemplifying that Ano can have multifunctional interpretation depending on the context of the utterance. Miren M. Moraless paper is an intelligent application of Levinsonian framework in the Tagalog language. Because of her
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painstaking analysis, she was able to demonstrate that the Tagalog Na has several deictic and anaphoric uses. My paper on modal auxiliaries is a corpus-based investigation that focused on the semantic functions and verb-phrase structures of nine modals used in journalistic texts from the International Corpus of EnglishPhilippine component. Most of the uses of modal auxiliaries found conform to the norms of the dominant native English varieties, with the exception of shall and would. Such findings could serve as an eye-opener to researchers and propel them to further examine the matter using larger data and other types of texts. I hope that we continue to produce scholarly investigations like these and even surpass our efforts in order to contribute to knowledge creation and dissemination in Philippine Linguistics. My sincerest thanks to Dr. Carlo Magno for the opportunity he gave me to be the guest editor in the present issue. Leah Espada-Gustilo, Ph.D. Guest Editor
Dr. Leah Espada-Gustilo is a full-time professor and the vicechairperson in the Department of English and Applied Linguistics at De La Salle University-Manila, Philippines, teaching English communication, discourse analysis, qualitative research, translation and editing, and foundations of language. Her research interests concern contrastive rhetoric, computer-mediated discourse analysis, ESL writing, and Philippine English. She has published articles on contrastive rhetoric, online self-presentation, and language learning.
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Classroom Opportunities that Foster Willingness to Communicate Glendora V. Tiu De La Salle University, Manila Chiang Kai Shek College, Philippines Abstract This study sought to analyze the classroom opportunities provided by Chiang Kai Shek College (CKSC) to the first year high school students in relation to the latters willingness to communicate (WTC). It employed the descriptive research design to find out what these opportunities are. Likewise, it examined if these opportunities can provoke in the students the desire to communicate, as well as the manner by which students react and respond to the opportunities given them. Data were gathered from 320 first year students through the use of the researcher-made questionnaire/checklist. Informal interviews and observations were also done to enrich the study. Findings showed that all the opportunities provided by the school were intended to move students to speak; however, not all opportunities were found to provoke in the students the desire to communicate orally in the target language. It was also discovered that practical speaking or a normal conversation was one of the best opportunities the language students could experience inside and outside the classroom. Furthermore, the study showed that ordinary speech, talk or dialog is of big assistance to a language learner in the context of confidence, fluency, and competence. The researcher concluded that ones WTC is not solely dependent on the students attitude and motivation, but also on the opportunities provided them and the manner by which these opportunities are administered. Keywords: classroom opportunities, willingness to communicate (WTC), practical speaking Introduction Background of the Study Over the years, various countries and nationalities aim at becoming bilinguals, or even multi-linguals. Experts in the field have
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not stopped considering, discovering, planning and designing a vast array of programs, strategies, styles, and techniques to ensure learning. Unanimously, these people believe that learning a second or foreign language would mean progress and advancement in any field of endeavor. Among the languages, the English language is the most prominent one solely because it is the so-called international language, and that it is widely-spoken in many part of the world. English language learning is such an intricate course. It is not a simple, easy field of endeavor. It concerns the four major skills of reading, writing, listening, and speaking. Each of these skills is of utmost relevance in honing an individual towards accuracy and fluency as regards utilizing the language and communicating effectively. However, among these skills, speaking is the most functional because it involves actual production. Thomas Mann believed that speech is civilization itself. (Devito, 1970). This makes man different from and among all living things. It is also said that speaking is a better way to a more productive living. An individuals ability to speak will bring him to places and will give him rewards of triumphs in this thriving generation. Pedagogically speaking, Tatlonghari (1970) stated in his study that accuracy and fluency of speech is the ultimate goal of language teaching wherein ones ability to speak adequately is oftentimes a prerequisite for ones advancement in life. Needless to say, speaking and its importance in the English language learning are tantamount to the individuals triumphant journey in life. The historical overview of English language learning records the supremacy of learning to speak the language first over and above anything else. Experts and prominent figures express their stand as regards spoken language and its relevance in teaching and learning, basically manifested through various opportunities prepared by teachers and authorities for the benefit of the language learners from the ancient past to the recent present. Linguistic Environment at Chiang Kai Shek College (CKSC) Chiang Kai Shek College is a prominent Chinese school that offers English and Chinese curriculums. Subjects like Mathematics, Science, Social Studies, English, Filipino, Technology and Home Economics (THE), and other minor subjects such as music, arts, and
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physical education (MAPE) are considered under English classes. English is the medium of instruction and communication during English classes, with the exception of the Filipino period. Chinese literature, grammar and mathematics are included under Chinese classes where Mandarin and Hokkien languages are utilized during Chinese periods. Therefore, English is the language in the morning while Chinese is in the afternoon. Given such condition, the students still prefer to speak in Filipino, despite the fact that the majority are of Chinese descent. Conceptual Framework Cummins and Swain (1986) expounded linguistic interdependence as the central principle of bilingual education. This interdependence is believed as such because the first language (L1) plays an important role in processing responses in the target language. Hence, the second (L2) or the target language is quite dependent on the first language and vice versa. They emphasized that sufficient exposure to the school language is essential for the development of academic skills; however, equally or more important, is the extent to which students are capable of understanding the academic input to which they are exposed. In other words, linguistic interdependence depends largely on the input or task provided to the learners in the classroom. Through these opportunities, language students can enhance their potentials towards processing skill in speaking English. Hence, it would be difficult to think immediately in the target language as traditional language teachers suggest. Isolating Filipino as a language in studying English as a second language or third would not help at all. If the majority speaks the prevalent language, which in this case is Filipino, then every activity or opportunity is processed through Filipino first. These opportunities act as input, while responses as output. In the classroom, students are provided with various opportunities that are projected through L1, after which participating and taking part come in. This is done through L2 that basically serves as the output. MacIntyre, Clement, Dornyei, & Noels (1998) put emphasis on the importance of opportunities as regards ones willingness to communicate (WTC). They believed that the first three layers or the situation-specific influences of the heuristic model are directed from
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the opportunities provided to the second language learners. These layers, communication behavior, behavioral intention, and situated antecedents are prompted by the provision of these classroom opportunities. Apparently, they serve as initiators, as the starting point, or the springboard of any communicative event or happening in a classroom. Considering them is too crucial because they can either make or break the desire, or the willingness of the students to become active participants in any part of any communicative situation or gathering. Because of this, a figure of ideas was derived and was called stratum of processed speech (see figure 1). The diagram combines the linguistic interdependence as well as the situation-specific influences of the heuristic model. This reiterates the essence of considering the activities being provided to the language learners.
Responses in L2 = WTC orally Responses in L1 L1 L2
Opportunities
Figure 1. Stratum of Processed Speech These opportunities are situated in the lowest layer because they are to boost and persuade the students to act and participate in any communicative endeavor. These are expected to trigger the students initiative or willingness to express themselves more enthusiastically and more correctly. Upon relishing them, the students are then prompted to move up the next level, the processing level. This level proves the mutual dependence between L1 and L2 which is responsible for all the communicative responses whether they are done in L1, L2, or L3. This is the level that corresponds to the processing aspect of responses such as receiving input in L1 or L2 and providing output or responses through L1, L2, or, L3, whichever is required. This stratum points out the significance of taking these classroom opportunities into serious consideration. They serve as
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roots or as boosters and perhaps, if given due attention, can serve as a firm foundation when it comes to language learning. Therefore, this is the major objective of this study that is to analyze these speaking opportunities in order to find out whether they foster WTC in the target language, or not at all. Opportunities provided in the classroom are important facets of learning. They are means to achieve the goal of the English language learningfor students to use English particularly and willingly in any form or kind of communicative situation. The weakening desire of students to learn the English language can be remedied through provision of appropriate classroom opportunities. The students desire is much rooted with willingness to communicate. This is responsible in opening the learners heart and mind regarding the advantages of engaging themselves in day-to-day, small talk. This also can teach students to value the essence of knowing it is appropriate to speak, what is appropriate to speak about, to whom it is permissible to speak with, in which circumstance, how to gain the right to speak, how and when to change the topic and how and when to invite someone to speak (Nunan, 1989). This study can also aid teachers to evaluate their teaching strategies through the way they administer them. This also can instill among educators the ultimate goal of the learning processthat is, to engender or cause students to seek out communication opportunities and to manifest willingness to communicate in them. Overall, a program that fails to produce students who are willing to use the language is simply a failed program (MacIntyre, et al., 1998). Methodology This study was a descriptive-normative research project which aimed to identify, describe, and analyze the varieties of opportunities provided by CKSC to the first year high school students. The researcher-devised checklist/questionnaire, about 12 items, which is divided into two parts--information about self that was open-ended, and opportunities provided in the classroom that were answerable by Yes/No/Sometimes was used to established a specified norm along with random interviews of teachers and students as well as class observations. A total of 320 respondents took part in answering the checklist. Boys numbering 170 and girls, 150 whose ages ranged from
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12 to 15, came from eight various heterogenous sections of the first year high school level. The students average in English was between 75 to 85. To facilitate in-depth analysis and interpretation, a trial-run for the checklist/questionnaire was distributed to 20 students in order to find out the length of time in answering it, items which were unclear and other things which the checklist lacked. Then, checklist revision followed to guarantee accuracy. As soon as the checklists were gathered, classroom observation came next. Observation was done in the context of the checklist made. Not a particular standard observation sheet was used. Finally, random informal interviews of several teachers and students verified and affirmed the gathered information. Results and Discussion Daily Recitation Interactive communication among language users is the main goal of daily recitation in an English language class. One important factor that leads to such is the extent and time spent for the preparation which refers to the students habit of reviewing the past lessons and anticipating the future ones. Daily recitation includes the extent of given answers and the number of students who wanted to be called in class. Results showed that 37% took preparation seriously; they were those who responded positively to this opportunity. Only 4% did not mind it; they were those who responded negatively. However, 59% prepared irregularly; they were those who would probably prepare only if they were tasked to. Preparation entails the habit or discipline of reviewing the finished lessons and anticipating future ones on a day-to-day basis. Participation through raising hands manifests the students learning disposition as characterized by McIntyre et. al.(1998) in their situational model as a kind of communication attitude. This implies willing attitude to express themselves. Although 56% of the respondents preferred not to be called in class, if only given a choice, 28% chose to share their responses while 16% prefer sometimes which represent the bahala na(come-what-may) kind of children. These students do not feel the need to learn the language nor are they
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interested at all with the advantages of acquiring it. Guildford as quoted by Feist (1985) regarded the learners needs, interests, and desires as aspects of behavioral personality which can hamper or force language learning, as much as the same way as Ellis (1993) considered motivation as the learners overall goal or orientation. The respondents are somehow poorly-motivated because of their insensitivity as regards their status in the classroom. Learning a language entails active involvement, requiring effort in giving a share or contribution in a healthy speaking English classroom as perceived by Rubin & Thompson (1982). Interestingly, preparation among the respondents was not at all taken into serious consideration. Thus, failing to value its essence leads to incompetence and diffidence. Inability to prepare is equivalent to uncertainty and hesitancy towards recitation. The students have not equipped themselves with necessary pool of ideas for them to partake in the communicative act intelligibly. As Shehadeh (1999) puts it, output facilitates second language learning. Since the respondents' output is incapacitated, WTC, though innate and present, is hindered and paralyzed because during recitation an actual processing of responses happens. The students, as language learners, are asked directly and are expected provide answers right away. They are engaged in the interlanguage processing as Tarone and Liu (1995) discovered in their study on participation in different situational context. This processing either prompts one to utilize L1 or to deliver responses in L2 or in the target language, thus manifesting WTC orally. This interpretation strengthened the notion presented in figure 1 that the students linguistic interdependence (Cummins & Swain, 1986) is not practiced and challenged at all. Undoubtedly, majority of the respondents possessed the eagerness and desire to communicate as shown by the results. However, willingness to communicate in the target language seems to be deadening this innate characteristic due to reasons the respondents themselves are responsible for. The learners personality, the way they perceive life in school and in the classroom all come in between. These definitely affect their processing skills and, therefore, hinder their success in English language learning.
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Reading Newspaper This can be a rich source of topics for practical conversation, a fount for a new set of vocabulary words that are contextually-used, and even a medium of various forms of literature and writing. This opportunity is usually given as a homework. However, in some instances, newspapers are brought in the classroom as part of enrichment session in reading. Fortunately, as seen results stated, half of the respondents read the papers habitually. This 51% perceived the opportunity to read the papers a positive one. They understood the essentials and usefulness of reading the dailies. Nonetheless, 44% read the paper sometimes which represent those who need to be reminded often of the relevance of this opportunity. Only 5% perceived it as something negative, thus, they did not read it at all. The newspaper, being an authentic material, helps in the development and enhancement of the processing skills among language learners. It can equip students with what they hardly know and what they need to know in order to gain more advantages especially in the field of communication. It can be a source of different information that might awaken students consciousness on various aspects of life. Newspaper reading can make language learners knowledgeable which will make them more competent and confident each time they speak or partake in the communicative event. Miller (1995) believed that young readers are active participants in the communication process. Newspaper reading is an interactive endeavor that requires a kind of disciplines that readers must possess, which is, processing the information derived. Therefore, considering the editorial page can improve a lot of things in them namely: grammar, sequence or order of ideas, writing style, analytic skills and illustrative abilities, etc. Murphy (1995) in his book From Practice to Performance expressed the importance of establishing practice and patience as requisites of performance; the same thing is true in newspaper reading. Students must get used to reading newspapers through practice, simply by reading it daily. Patience can help in processing thoughts so it becomes spontaneous and natural. Performance is achieved, which is simply synonymous with WTC orally. Reading the dailies especially the editorial page enhances their ability to process things from first language (L1) to second language (L2), vice versa, right at the very
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moment which leads to comprehension and understanding of the text or the opinions cited, as much as its effects and implications. This point was further emphasized and supported by Hutchinson & Waters (1987) when they insisted that second language learning is a developmental process whereby learners use their existing knowledge to make the new information comprehensible; in this aspect, the insight expressed in the editorial, precedes learning. If and when students know how to make use of what they are learning, then, processing skills are developed to the fullest and thus, WTC is achieved and realized. Despite the richness of this opportunity, respondents were still uninformed on the essentials of reading each of its parts. This seemed to be the main reason for their indifference towards the editorial section which was read by only 3% of the respondents. Students had limited understanding of what this specific part can offer and give. They read for knowledge that represents the first step in the hierarchy of learning and so fail to go beyond these pieces of information. Pondering, which is the start of further processing was not realized at all. Consequently, the students were not really aware and exposed to reading the various parts of the newspaper, as well as their importance. Hence, being equipped with an opportunity where everything is almost enclosed in, it would still prove senseless when the students themselves would not entertain, welcome, nor value the various parts of the newspaper where a lot of things can be learned from. Inability to process the read information will likely lead to the students inability to participate, thus, signals failure of this opportunity to provoke in the students the willingness to communicate. Reporting It is one of the opportunities usually utilized by History, Social Science, Filipino and Science subjects as part of the teachers strategy in teaching. But, it has become one of the encouraging activities in the English classrooms as shown by the results. Forty-seven percent was given a chance to deliver reports during English class, 19% responded sometimes while 34% had not experienced it yet. It was found out that only a few English teachers employed this opportunity as disclosed by some interviewees. Reporting is done in varied ways. Based on interviews, a teacher can task the students to read
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something about the topic prior to the discussion, short information or bits of knowledge about the topic at hand is entertained. Reports need not be long and manner of delivering it is informal. At times, the teacher calls for a student simply asking him to share what he feels worth-sharing with the whole class. Another is when an idea springs up on the course of discussing the lessons that needs clarification and explanation, a particular someone in the class will be tasked to do it the next meeting. Consequently, things that are asked to be reported are small ideas, but important and necessary ones. Reporting gets the students into action. Through researching, students are expected to provide more; hence, they have to expose themselves to various English materials. Consequently, the students become responsible for their report. Being responsible is an indispensable act in language learning. This is a kind of opportunity which Rubin &Thompson (1982) meant when they emphasized that learners must create their own opportunities in learning a language. Language is best learned through constant practice and exposure. In this case, reporting gets the students into action; thus, they learn by researching and doing. Reporting is as rich as recitation too if it will only be given due attention and importance. Here, students are trained in two skills: memorization and processing. A student is expected to be well-versed in his report through his ability to internalize the reports he provides to the class. In like manner, the respondents were asked if they memorized their reports. Only 24% of the respondents memorized reports. Based on class observation, they were the serious, focused, concentrated learners; they were those responsible individuals for their own learning. Eighteen percent answered sometimes, who probably were the less serious ones in terms of performing well in class. They might also be the students who based everything in their mood at the moment. Likewise, 58% did not bother to memorize at all. They were those who magnified the extent of their preparation. They would simply read the report before the class and somehow disregard their ability to report it excellently. Perhaps, they were already contented to just report it that way. In reporting, the students are expected to enhance their processing skills when questions arise. Here, they are expected to provide answers right at the moment. In giving responses, the students are engaged in giving and sharing their personal insights. Given this kind of situation, self-confidence surfaces anew. Learners
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are said to be confident if they are competent with what they utter. A second language class such as this needs a great amount of preparation in order to realize creative and enthusiastic reports. Students who are tasked to report can transform the class into havoc of meaningful fun and exciting learning-filled memories. However, as the data showed, preparing, memorizing, internalizing, and creating a very nice report is far to achieve. This result manifested the students reluctance in doing their part which can be equated with their needs, interest, and attitudes (Feist, 1985) towards English language learning. CKSC respondents did not feel the need of using English neither did they find it interesting. This apparently shows their attitude toward the language. Hence, standing in front, reporting something without due regard and preparation would demonstrate uselessness of the opportunity. This particular chance is planned and intended for the benefit of the students, but if the students themselves would fail to value and realize its essentials, all combined efforts and strengthened patience would fail somehow. Opportunity such as reporting wherein students can speak and express themselves is one of the best opportunities to employ in an English class. However, students must be constantly reminded of its significance. They must be told often to grab the chance in order to enhance their speaking abilities that lead to the realm of WTC orally. Practical Speaking As an opportunity, practical speaking is seldom given emphasis, but it gives such a push or force on what really is vital and viable in manifesting ones willingness to communicate. Practical speaking involves the whole school, administrators, teachers, staff, maintenance and most importantly, the students, or the respondents themselves. Results showed that 58% of the students did not speak English in school. They were probably those who failed to envision the advantages of using English. Or, perhaps, they were still immature language learners whose eyes and mind are still closed to the great realms of learning the language. These respondents expressed rejection in using English in any communicative situation as per observed during class hours. They were probably the students who were not intrinsically motivated to speak the language. Neither did they have the desire nor the interest to learn the language. This
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holds true with what has been stated earlier in the beginning of the study, attitude and motivation interfere anew on the part of the students; hence, speaking the language was not at all realized. Also, 42% regarded English as a language beneficial to learn. These learners probably perceived English speaking as ordinary as any other languages for example, Filipino and Chinese. They were already accustomed in utilizing English in any form of communicative situation. Thus, they represented the respondents who considered this opportunity as something positive. Another aspect of this opportunity is the part that represented the students who conversed in English. Not so surprisingly, 89% failed to see the relevance of conversing with their teachers in English. They failed to realize that using English in conversing with their teachers could get them accustomed to it. They also set aside the benefit of being able to process thought on the spot through and while conversing with their teachers. In short, they let go of the precious chance. They were given an opportunity which could possibly bring them up to WTC in L2, but they stopped on the lower level utilizing L1 (see fig.1). Most English teachers desire to bring out the best among their students. They intend to influence them to do their best. The teacher encourages the students towards the essence of utilizing and maximizing English language use. In doing so, they see to it that speaking in English with the students can be of greater help. The survey showed that 91% of the respondents affirmed that their teachers speak English with them. This manifested the teachers desire to produce individuals who can speak in English. This shows teachers involvement in the learning program. Green (1993) believed that no matter how poorly motivated a learner may appear to be, the aware and sensitive teacher can actively develop strategies to generate, harness, and sustain the deadening desire of language learners to speak in English. The findings correspond to the long and lasting drive to speak in English, or the so-called English Speaking Campaign. However, since the school offers English and Chinese instruction, attention and concentration is divided. Chinese is the learners first language. From the observation made, Chinese is utilized only by Chinese teachers and elders alone. English is confined in the classroom and unluckily, in some instances, Filipino is even employed to clarify confusion, to avoid misunderstanding, and the like during class discussion.
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In this study, practical speech is a form of simple use of the target language by the language learners. Practical speech is practical speaking which is tantamount to a normal conversation. This is what Gumperz (1982) meant with conversational involvement. This is an inherent part of a normal conversation. Students as language learners must engage themselves in conversation everywhere. Talking to a seatmate, a schoolmate, a friend or even to a teacher is a conversation. It is using language. It is a manifestation of learners interest. It is also an expression of the willing spirit. During conversation, one is not being listened to because it is required; one does not speak or take turns because it is needed. Informally, one speaks and listens because he wants to; he is interested; he desires to. Utilizing English outside and inside the classroom must be done as normally and as spontaneously as possible. Willingness is equated with the desire to use it anytime, anywhere and with anyone else. One might say, I couldnt do it. I have a very poor vocabulary. According to Nation (1990), in his book on vocabulary learning and teaching, it is necessary to have a large vocabulary in order to speak; a language learner simply has to make use of the small number of words to practice the language. Getting accustomed with the language is the term for it. Though, it can be characterized as a kind of struggle, learning and being able to choose and use the right words to say some things are worth working for. As has been stated by Rubin & Thompson (1982), learners need to be personally involved in their own language learning because only through realizing it can they move to act and do something about their own development and improvement. Based on the observations made, normal conversations inside and outside the English classroom were characterized by codeswitching such as Sino ang absent ngayon? (who is absent today?) Do we have an assignment?Ano ang gagawin nating sa English?(what are we to do in English?)Magsusulat pa ako ng report ko sa History.(I will write my report in History.) Maam may test ba? (Maam do we have a test?) etc. A few of the common utterances which were normally heard inside and outside the classrooms when analyzed could be uttered in simple English and yet the students still preferred not to. This was even strengthened by the conducted reandom interviews from which only one question was asked WHY DONT YOU SPEAK IN ENGLISH? Most of the given responses were: Hirap eh! (Its hard!) Tinatamad ako
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eh! (I feel lazy!) Tagal eh! (Takes time!) etc. Majority of the interviewees confirmed that saying things in English takes much of their time. They even admitted that they were not used to speaking in English; they were more comfortable using Filipino. Besides, they hate being reprimanded or even insulted with such words like TAGALUGIN MO NA LANG! (Just say it in Tagalog!) This finding implied one thing; their peers, their environment, the people around, their very own attitudes hinder them in manifesting their desire to communicate in English orally; hence, their WTC in the L2 suffers. If there is one opportunity that is a must among language learners, it is the pleasure of engaging themselves in an ordinary conversation using the target language. Therefore, it is just but right, that this be given due emphasis and importance for the purpose of having genuine, real, sincere, English Speaking Campaign. Implications The results showed that the opportunities being provided to the first year students are indeed helpful in realizing an effective language class; hence, it is the right time for the administrators to evaluate course programs, curriculums and syllabi specifically defined to the purposes of willingness to communicate. The conceptual model can function when classroom teachers provide a different kind of atmosphere which is conducive for speaking the target language. One example is Taschners Text and Tasks (1994) which capitalizes on the provided text and things to do about it. Through this, teachers can think deeply so they emphasize WTC; they can also employ the virtues of patience, perseverance, determination and encouragement regarding the use of the target language by heart so that speaking goals and objectives can be realized. Since teachers are capacitated with such tremendous qualities, their drive or the desire to make their students communicate can boost their capacities to explore the unfathomed for the benefit of their dependents--the students. Teachers can categorize their talk in the class in something purposive such as (Malamah-Thomas, 1987) classroom verbal behavior which includes questioning vis--vis eliciting, presenting and explaining, organizing and giving instructions, etc. Students WTC is not much influenced by the way these opportunities were administered; however, since these opportunities
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are always a part of classroom interaction, teachers need to administer them in variety of way like that of Moskowitz (1978) who collected ideas for involving learners personal values and reactions in language learning and Wattenmaker & Wilsons described activities for self-expression in Savignon (1983). Creativity and resourcefulness count best in executing these planned procedures for better interactions. Language learning is indeed a journey. Students as travelers need to bring the right attitude which is a persons disposition towards an endeavor. Attitude involves both beliefs and feelings and therefore, is both cognitive and affective (Feist, 1985) Learning a language takes place if there is involvement. Active participation, which includes speaking and doing, ensures language learning. Language teaching is an important aspect of language learning. Specifically, training the students is everyones responsibility in the teaching field. No particular teacher is particularly assigned or tasked to educate his students all by him/herself alone. Teaching is a world of never-ending beginnings because teaching things to students is infinite; it is a long and lasting quest for knowledge. With the birth of WTC, there is much to explore and learn. Savignon (1983) stated one facet of WTC which is language for a purpose. This is where the following were given strength and emphasis: a) the focus of activity is content, not language learning; b)recourse to the learners native language is seen as natural and desirable; such code-switching and code-mixing are features of natural second language use; c)learners are not expected to give error-free, native-like responses to the teachers questions; d) the goal is the gradual adoption as a community language while support and encouragement are provided for the learners. It is this professions obligation to make learning more memorable and enjoyable through providing wonderful experiences which can be evoked from enticing teaching and learning moments. Also, Savignon (1983) believed that the use of language for real communicationin classroom management, in lessons in culture and grammar, in crafts and games, or even in a full program of academic studyallows the learners to experience the language, to use it as their own Upon doing so, language learners and teachers as well can treasure every single minute spent in their English classes. Thus, it is vital that teaching be given due importance. This study of WTC specifically encourages
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evaluation of teaching methods and strategies as well as techniques that are being utilized because not all opportunities can provoke the desire to communicate although they are intended as such. This study singled out the right attitude of the mind. Language learning is achieved when the mind is set and conditioned. It is the discipline of the most important faculty, the brain. It is about time for the language learners to develop discipline into a habit. They need to set their mind on something more worthwhile and beneficial. They are to develop a healthy, firm attitude towards language learning, towards school, towards education. Education is one of the most significant aspects of life that needs to be specifically considered over and above anything else. It involves a great deal and big amount of motivation. According to Greene (1993), motivational aspects of second language education are immutable phenomena. He emphasized the three levels of motivation: 1)holisticthe persons pursuit to achieve his fullest potentials like physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual, its driveegocentric; 2)cultural-linguisticthe persons use of non-native language/s in relation to others within and across the culturesits drive instrumental and integrative; 3)cognitive-linguistic which is the persons formal language-learning situations, its drivessecurity and progress, involvement in the learning program, cognitive engagement, incentive to sustain impetus and perception of language unity. This apparently led to the habit of processing language. Whether the learners perceive the opportunities as positive or as negative, provided they are fully and holistically motivated, they are still expected to excel in any other kind of endeavor especially speaking the L2. When optimal development of speaking opportunities provided in the classrooms becomes a goal of each and every respective department, the school program can further its campaign for extensive, massive and serious English language use among students, personnel, and staff. Hence, speaking the target language is gradually achieved and naturalized. Conclusions and Recommendations The results singled-out the relevance of knowing what, why, and how things are done. Opportunities and teachers alike are accomplices in the success of a language learner. Nevertheless the
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main source of triumph is the language learner him/herself. No matter how better or perfect an opportunity or a teacher is, when the person or the student him/herself is disinterested and inattentive to his own needs, everything would seem a failure. A persons will, choice, and preference would either bring him/her to the level of fulfillment, to the state of triumph or to the moments of distress and to the unending regrets of the past. Being aware is just a step towards the greater good, the success in language learning. But what matters most is the students expression and manifestation of willingness though their positive response to the opportunities given them. This kind of response would initiate them to do things on their own volition. A willing spirit strives for success, excellence and even perfection. When one is willing, everything, every task no matter how difficult and hard, becomes light, easy and achievable. Ones success in language learning definitely depends on oneself alone. Preparation is a concrete example of ones expression of decision that leads to full participation. Once preparation becomes a habit, participation follows as naturally and as spontaneously as breathing. This would lead to intelligible sharing which is natural and free flowing. Aiming for excellence is absolute, but it cannot be achieved and realized overnight. It entails years of developing and shaping good habits. It involves a great amount of practice, patience, perseverance, and determination, and most importantly, motivation. Success in language learning would be achieved if language learners would consider these opportunities that are provided for in the comforts of their classrooms. In the first place, they are intended and created for them. Finally, this study believes that opportunities are essentials of a productive language class; they can enhance motivation and interest as well as vigor and enthusiasm to the world of the aspiring language learners. It is recommended that administrators need to help in the development of a curriculum intended to instill multi-lingualism. Implementing a law or rule would strictly discipline everyone as regards language training. They need to set their firm stand regarding massive English language use in the morning and Chinese language use in the afternoon. They have to develop a policy that strictly uses Filipino. In this case, a particular arm under the administration becomes responsible. This study also suggests that teachers and educators need to be more reflective of their goals. They have to set
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clear and purposeful objectives and check if these are achieved. Teachers need to be more patient in encouraging the students to utilize the target language. They should keep in mind that processing takes time. They need to provide them with sufficient tasks in class. They have to prepare various types of lessons that can answer for the behavioral and somatic aspects of personality of their students. This paper opens the door for future-related research that can support and answer for WTC more deeply. Since this study is concerned only with the description of these utilized opportunities, this can branch out to more serious experimental, historical, and even ethnographical ones. Willingness to communicate or WTC is such a breakthrough in language learning. This goes beyond the individuals linguistic academic performance. WTC may help orient theory and research toward the ultimate goal of language learning: authentic communication between persons of different languages and cultural backgrounds (MacIntyre, et.al., 1998).
References Ajzen, I. (1998). Attitudes, personality and behavior. Chicago: The Dorsey Press. Baldovino, P. (1999). Developing oral competence through small group work. ACELT Journal 3(1), 93-97. Brown, H.D. (1994). Principles of language learning and teaching (3rd ed.). New Jersey, USA: Cambridge University Press. Brumfit, C. (1984). Communication methodology in language teaching: The roles of fluency and accuracy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Celce-Murcia, M., Dornyei, Z., & Thurnell, S. (1995). A pedagogically motivated model with content specification. Issues in applied linguistics, 6, 5-35. Chomsky, N. (1965). Aspects of the theory of syntax. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Chiang Kai Shek College (1994) ABC Manual for students. Chiang Kai Shek College, Manila. Clement, R. (1980). Ethinicity, contact and communication competence in a second language. In H. Giles, W. P. Robinson,
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& P.M. Smith (Eds.), Language:Social Psychological Perspectives (pp. 147-154). Oxford, England: Pergamon. Clement, R . (1986). Second language proficiency and acculturation: An investigation of the effects of language status and individual characteristics. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 5, 271-290. Cummins, J., & Swain, M. (1986). Bilingualism in education: Aspects of theory, research and practice. Great Britain: Longman Group Limited. De Vito, J. (1970). The psychology of speech and language: An introduction to psycholinguistics. USA: Random House. Eggen, P., & Kau Chak D. (1992). Educational psychology: Classroom connections. USA: MacMillan Publishing Co. Ellis, R. (1988). Classroom second language development: A study of classroom Interaction and Language Acquisition. Hertfordshire: Prentice Hall Intl. Inc. Feist, J. (1985). Theories of personality. New York: CBS College Publishing. Green, C. (1993). The cognitive-academic dimension. English Teaching Forum, 3, 3-40. Greene, H., & Petty, W. (1997). Developing language skills in the elementary schools. Boston: Allyn & Bacon Press. Gumperz, J. (1982). Discourse strategies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Hittleman, D. (1988). Developmental reading, teaching from a whole language Perspectives (3rd ed.). New York: Merrill Publishing Co. Hutchinson, T. & Waters, A. (1987). English for specific purposes: A learning-centered approach. Great Britain: Cambridge University Press. Hymes, D. (1972a). Models of the interaction of language and social life. In J. J. Gumperz & D. Hymes (Eds.), Directions on sociolinguistics: The ethnography of communication. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston. 35-71. Hymes, D. (1972b). On communicative competence. In J. B. Pride & J. Holmes (Eds.), Sociolinguistics (pp. 268-293). Harmondsworth, England: Penguin. MacIntyre, P. D., & Charos, C. (1996). Personality, attitudes, and affect as predictors of second language communication. Journal of Language and Social Psychology 15, 3-26.
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MacIntyre, P. D., & Clement, R. (May 1997). Willingness to communicate as a language learning strategy in a unilingual milieu. A paper presented at the 6th International Conference on Language and Social Psychology (ICLASP), Ottawa, Ontario. MacIntyre, P., Clement, C., Dornyei, Z., & Noels, K. (1998). Conceptualizing willingness to communicate in a second language : A situational model of second confidence and affiliation. The Modern Language Journal, 82, 545-562. McLaughlin, B. (1985). Second language acquisition in childhood: Schoolchildren (2nd ed.). USA: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Malmah-thomas, A. (1987). Classroom interaction. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Miller, M. (1995). The prentice hall reader. USA: Prentice Hall, Inc. Moskowitz, G. (1978). Caring and sharing foreign language class. A sourcebook on humanistic techniques. New York: Newbury House Publishers. Murphy, R. (1995). From practice to performance. Washington D.C.: Will Crocker, FPG International. Nation, I.S.P. (1990). Teaching and learning vocabulary. New York: Newbury Records. Rothfuss N. (1985). Communication: Competencies and contexts. New York: Newbury Records. Rubin, J., & Thompson, I. (1982). How to be a more successful learner. USA: Heinle & Heinle Publishers, Inc. Savignon, S. (1983). Communicative competence: Theory and classroom practice. USA: Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, Inc. Shehadeh, A. (1999). Non-Native Speakers Production of Modified Comprehensible Output and Second Language Learning. Language Learning 49(4), 627-675. Tarone, E., & Liu, G. (1995). Situational context, variation, and second language acquisition theory. In G. Cook & B. Seidlhofer (Eds.), Principle and Practice In Applied Linguistics: Studies in honor of H.G. Widdowson (pp. 107-124). Oxford: Oxford University Press. Taschner, J. (1994). Texts & tasks: A resource for Filipino Teachers of English, English Teacher Trainers & English Language Materials Developers. Philippines: Milwaukerr Area Technical College (for stateside assistance and of the final manuscript)
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Tatlonghari, M. (1970). Speech exercises in English. Unpublished masteral thesis, De La Salle University, Manila.
About the Author Glendora V. Tiu finished her masters degree on English for Specific Purposes at De La Salle University, Manila, Philippines. She is interested on the practical aspect of utilizing the English language. She currently writes her theoretical paper on an approach to language education which highlights the four facets of English language learning: grammar, literature, research and speaking. (glendora_tiu@yahoo.com ; tiuglendora@gmail.com)
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The Pragmantics of Okay in English Language Teaching by Phone Clarisse Anne P. Ilustre De La Salle University, Manila, Philippines Abstract This paper aims to explore the pragmantics of discourse okay in distance learning. English lessons by telephone of six Filipino English teachers, three male and three female, were transcribed and analyzed. The overall results are consistent with Borlongans (2008) paper, indicating that the main function of okay is to give a simple acknowledgment, as it occurred a little over 60% of okay in the corpus. It is therefore perhaps safe to say that in line with Borlongans claim, Filipino speakers of English tend to use okay as a form of acknowledgment. There is a significant difference between the second most frequent function, the third turn receipt marker, and the most frequent function, as the former occurred only a little over 25% in the data. Third turn receipt markers were found to be followed by requests for information (25%), signifying that instructors gave follow up questions and elicited more information from the students. Significant transitions was found to be the least frequent function, possibly because the structure of the 30-minute lesson is only divided into three and some teachers did not follow this guide. Significant transitions were mainly followed by discourse markers (26%), perhaps to mark a smooth shift from one topic to another. The instructors sex was clearly not a factor in the use of okay in this study, contradicting Swackers (1975, in Schleef, 2008) claim and consistent with Schleefs (2008) study. Keywords: Pragmantics, English distance learning, Introduction Linguists have seen how the semantics and pragmatics of English have evolved. This primarily stems from the use of certain words and expressions by speakers of a variety of English. Since then, distinct uses of words and expressions have been attributed not only to the speakers/users discourse community, but also to the 2011 Time Taylor International ISSN 1718-2298
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concentric circle (B. Kachru, 1985, in Y. Kachru, 1995) where they belong. It was almost three decades ago when scholars started paying attention to the functions of okay. This linguistic structure is primarily categorized as a structural marker, expressing discourse and conversational structure by signaling transitions from one information phase to another (Schleef, 2008). Okay seems to be one of the most frequently explored structural markers. It is analyzed both in British and American English, in relation to conversation closings (Schegloff and Sacks 1973; Button 1987, 1990, in Schleef, 2008), in University lectures (Levin and Gray 1983), and in face-to-face and computer mediated decisionmaking (Condon 1986), just to name a few. Okay performs functions at many levels of discourse. It can either signify approval, acceptance, and conrmation by the speaker (Condon, 1986) at the ideational level. In this function it is frequently categorized as a third turn receipt by a current speaker (Beach 1993, in Condon, 2001). Okay and alright are also frequently discussed due to their function as backchannel signals (Heisler 1996, in Schleef, 2008). In 2001, Condon revisited the functions of discourse okay in face-to-face and computer-mediated decision-making. The prediction was that for face-to-face interactions, the most frequent function that will follow okay is orientation; however, elaborates-repeats turned out to be the most frequent one. The second most frequent function is orientations and discourse markers. She also concluded that in computer-mediated interactions, the mean utterance length for orientations, suggestions, and agreements are lesser compared to explicit management strategies. In a more recent study, Schleef (2008) examined whether there is a correlational link between structural markers such as okay, alright, right, and now and the academic division, age, and sex of the American University lecturer. After analyzing 24 lectures from both the Humanities and Natural Sciences, the researchers argue that it is not gender that plays a major role in the variations in the use of structural markers in the academic setting; but rather, it is differences in preferred teaching styles and content in lectures across different academic divisions. Structural markers alright and okay were used more in Natural Sciences than in Humanities lectures. This was attributed to the fact that they belong to the hard and soft disciplines 2011 Time Taylor International ISSN 1718-2298
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respectively. Moreover, the activities performed in the lectures were also considered. Natural Sciences lectures used the blackboard frequently and information was delivered with variation--on boards, handouts, overheads; thus causing more pauses and more transitions. Age played a minor role, as younger lecturers used okay and alright more often, although no significant differences were found in the study. In the Philippine context, it was Borlongan (2008) who paid attention to the use of okay in Philippine English (PE). Adapting Condons (2001) framework, he looked at the most frequent function of okay in the corpus of both spoken and written texts. Results revealed that more than 85% of okay in ICE-PHI was used as a marker of acknowledgment. The second most frequent function of okay is when it is used as a significant transition in the discourse, accounting for only a little over five percent of the total occurrences of okay. Both functions, agreement with suggestion and third turn receipt marker, only occurred in spoken texts. The findings of Condon (2001) support the assumption that okay can be associated with expected transitions in decision-making. We have to recognize, however, that functions of utterances that succeed okay may depend on the interaction. It is therefore an objective of the present paper to explore the pragmantics of discourse okay in distance learning. It also seeks to extend the findings of Borlongan (2008) and identify what changes the context of academic discourse will bring to the results. Specifically, the research aims at providing answers to the following questions: 1. What function of okay will occur the most in the corpus? 2. Will gender be a factor in the use of okay? If yes, which gender group will use okay in the discourse more often and what function will be used the most? 3. What is the most common function of the utterance that follows okay? Given that face-to-face (FtF) interaction is impossible for the participants in this study, miscommunication may most likely occur because repair is either impossible or delayed. Moreover, communicative language teaching is used in this setting; students are encouraged to speak, lessening teacher talk time. Therefore, 2011 Time Taylor International ISSN 1718-2298
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acknowledgment will perhaps occur the most, similar to Borlongans (2008) findings. One reason why gender may be a factor in this study is because men tend to use more structural markers because they speak more and control the conversation (Swacker, 1975, in Schleef, 2008); whereas women focus more into facilitating conversation (Coates, 1993). The question is whether this extends to distance learning discourse. Significant transitions will most likely be followed by discourse markers (so, well, etc.) due to the fact that the latter marks transition points in the conversation. Third-turn receipt will perhaps be succeeded by an elaboration or repetition given that in a typical lesson, teachers tend to expound on or repeat the answers of their students. The final hypothesis is based on Borlongans (2008) assumption that Filipino speakers of English are inclined to use okay as a form ok acknowledgment. The present study hopes to contribute both theoretically and pedagogically. Theoretically, the paper intends to flesh out the functions of okay in Philippine English, specifically in distance English language teaching. In addition, it also hopes to fill in the gap in the analysis of okay in PE that has focused solely on the functions of the said focal word and not on the functions of utterances that succeed them. From a practical point of view, the paper suggest implications of the findings to English language teaching and how the functions that will be presented be beneficial to English language learning. Methodology This case study revolves around the analysis and description of discourse okay in distance learning. The data for this research are drawn from transcribed lectures of Filipino English teachers from a company that specializes in providing English lessons by telephone. Lessons of six teachers three male and three female were recorded then transcribed by the researcher herself. The teachers ages range from 24-36 years old. Age, however, is not a variable that was considered in the study. Given that classes are done by phone, participants do not see each other, for web cameras are not utilized. Students can schedule 2011 Time Taylor International ISSN 1718-2298
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30, 45, 60, or 90-minute lessons; but for the purposes of this study, only 30 minute-lessons were chosen. The ideal structure is: (a) 5 minutes for warm-up (i.e. discussion of the students week/end, the weather); (b) 20-22 minutes for the lesson proper, and; (c) 3-5 minutes for the summary, giving of feedback, and explanation of the homework. The company adheres to communicative language teaching; instructors are advised to lessen teacher talk time and let students improve their fluency. Accuracy is also targeted, especially if the learner requests that he be corrected. During students diagnostic or first lesson, their correction preferences are noted whether they want to be corrected after the mistake, after the thought, or right before the lesson ends. Regardless of what they choose, teachers also send an e-mail or a lesson report which includes the highlights of the lesson, the students weaknesses and grammar and pronunciation notes. Clients of the company are adult professionals from European corporations/companies, namely, France, Italy, Germany, Austria, Russia, and Spain. Only lessons that completed or exceeded the full 30 minutes were transcribed. Encoding was stopped at the 30th minute for those classes that exceeded the ideal duration. In analyzing the functions of okay and the utterance that follows it, utterances were divided into utterance units, defined by Condon (2001) as single clauses with all complements and adjuncts, including sentential complements and subordinate clauses (p.501) Discourse markers and other interjections such as mhhm and anyway were treated as separate utterances. The analytical framework of the present study was drawn from Condons (2001) revisit of the function of okay in discourse. The present study modified the functions of utterances that follow okay which Borlongan (2008) and Condon (2001) used in his paper. Initially, the functions are agreement with suggestion, disagreement with suggestion, complies with request, request for action, discourse markers, elaborates/repeats, and acknowledgement only. However, other types of functions that have emerged from the data have been identified. These are: correction and praise/greeting, and explicit management. On the functions of okay: 1. Significant transitions in the discourse signals a significant transition across[ significant structural]
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boundary as a default or expected one (Condon, 2001, p.496): (1) S: Sorry *** my colleagues are noisy I had to shut the door. T: I understand. Okay (1) so welcome back, as I mentioned earlier this is our second lesson together 2. Third turn receipt marker indicates adequacy of a response to an interview question and serves as a preparation for the next question (Beach, 1995, in Condon, 2001) (2) - T: So I think our teaching point here is about uh the past, you know the simple past tense, ok? - S: Yes. - T: So ok, uhm can you tell me about ah (3) a job interview that you had in the past? 3. Acknowledgement signals the hearers acknowledgement of previous utterances and to repetitions or completions of a partners previous utterance. (3) T: The, I need to hear that sound. The. S: The. T: Okay. On the functions of utterances that follow okay: 1. Acknowledges Only: Implies that okay was used to simply acknowledge what was previously stated by the student (Borlongan, 2008). Given this function, it may encourage the co-interlocutor to continue what s/he is saying, as in (4): (4) S: Cuba is very beautiful, the weather was perfect and the hotel that we booked was nice too. T: Mhmm. Okay. S: People were very nice T: Okay. 2. Correction: Utterances that explicitly state that what students have said are incorrect or those that contain the correct answer. This function was not considered in Borlongan (2008) and Condons (2001) research simply because of the nature of the conversations that they analyzed. (5) S: tree
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T: Okay. Its not tree. I need to hear th TH sound because if you simply say tree, that would be in the forest 3. Complies with Request: Utterances that are produced because students asked them to, as in (6): (6) T: Different with a T at the end. S: Differend? T: No no. Different. S: Sorry I didnt catch, can you spell for me? T: Okay. D-I-F-F-R-E-. Sorry D-I-F-F-E-R-E-N-T. 4. Discourse Markers: Forms like well, so, now, lets see, and alright that transition from one information phase to another and could not be interpreted as functioning in other ways as well (Condon, 2001, p. 503). For instance, the utterance could not be seen as a correction, or an elaboration/repetition. (7) T: We So thats it for today. S: Okay ***. T: Okay so our next lesson will be next Tuesday. 5. Elaborates/Repeats: Utterances that explicate either explicate a rule, define word, or repeat something that was previously said by the student: (8) S: They suggested him to go hiking. T: Okay, yes, suggested. 6. Explicit management: A means by which teachers guide students to what the have to do, like giving instructions, and those that are related to managing time: (9) T: Okay. Uh I think thats the only time we have for small talk. 7. Praise/Greeting: Shows that teachers commend or admire their students for something they had said or done. It also expresses a polite word or phrase as a sign of welcome or recognition. Just like the function correction, this was also not examined in Condons (2001) research. (10) T: Okay, thats it for now enjoy your Monday. 8. Request for Action: Utterances that triggers students to do something: (11) T: Uhum very good okay. So please use spearhead in your own sentence. 2011 Time Taylor International ISSN 1718-2298
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9. Request for Information: Queries that are directed to students and that should be answered based on what they have experienced or what they know. (12) T: So okay, uhm can you tell me about ah (3) a job interview that you had in the past? 10. Request for Validation: Questions that are directed to students as well, to check or prove the accuracy of what teachers know or are thinking about. (13) T: Oh okay, so its similar? Results This section presents the findings of the study relating to the functions of okay in language teaching by phone. Table 1 shows data on the most evident function of okay. Table 1 Functions of Okay in English Language Teaching by Phone Function of Frequency Percentage OKAY 43 11.35% Significant Transitions 101 26.65% Third turn Receipt Acknowledgment 235 62.01% TOTAL 380 100%
As shown above, the acknowledgment function is obviously the most frequent function of okay in English language teaching, occurring 235 times out of almost 400 occurrences of the focal word in the data. Extract (15) is an example: (14) T: Is everything ok now? -S: Yes yes *** Im sorry its an emergency, my boss called me-T: Okay 2011 Time Taylor International ISSN 1718-2298
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-S: And he asked me if I could bring the contracts -T: Uhuh. This accounted for a little over 60% of okay in the corpus, confirming Borlongans (2008) claim that Filipino speakers of English have a strong propensity to use okay as a marker of simple acknowledgment. The second most frequent function is when it is used as a third turn receipt marker, as in (15): (15): -T: Mmm well are you trying to compare two things? -S: Uhm (2) yes. -T: Okay so instead of much, what word should you use to compare? Chance? Your chance and lets say my chance? There is, however, a considerable difference between this function and the most frequent function; the former occurred only a little over 25% in the data. This seems to be inconsistent with Borlongans (2008) findings because after the acknowledgment function, significant transition in the discourse was presented to be the most frequent function of okay. He, however, investigated okay in telephone conversations in ICE-PHI, which is quite a broad category. The least occurring function in the corpus is significant transitions in the discourse, as it occurred only 43 times out of the total occurrences. That accounts for only a little over 10% of the functions in the data. (16) exemplifies this function: (16) S: Because the client just arrived -T: Mhm I see. -S: So Im really sorry for the late. -T: I understand. Okay (1) so welcome back, as I mentioned earlier this is our second lesson together This study also explored whether the instructors sex will be a factor in the use of okay. Table 2 indicates that although female teachers used okay more frequently than their counterparts, they both used okay at about the same extent. This does not confirm claims in literature that men would inevitably use more structural markers (Swacker, 1975, in Schleef, 2008) due to their competitiveness and 2011 Time Taylor International ISSN 1718-2298
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dominance during discussions (Coates, 1993). One possible reason is that both men and women teachers have the same role, which is to facilitate the lesson, elicit responses, and explain unclear points. Moreover, there is no need for them to be aggressive in this regard. This goes to show that, perhaps, gender differences may be a significant variable if we take into account the kind of talk (e.g. teacher vs. student talk), the learning environment (face-to-face vs. computer-mediated interaction), and the activity (e.g. graded discussion vs. regular classroom discussion) of both teachers and students. Out of the 380 occurrences of okay, 3 of them were coded as mmkay, as in (17) and (18), produced by a male and female teacher respectively: (17) - S: Yes I know what means safety. - T: Mmkay so a safe neighborhood, a quiet neigborhood. Alright? (18) S: Okay. Movies or films can be categorized by joon-re-T: Genre. - S: Genre - T: Mhmm. - S: Number one, action films. - T: Mmkay. Table 2 Teachers Sex and Use of Okay Function Frequency Percentage of OKAY Male 161 42.22% Female TOTAL 219 380 57.78% 100%
Two of these occurrences were from a male teacher and the other one from a female instructor. This goes to show that speakers also use varied forms of the token word. 2011 Time Taylor International ISSN 1718-2298
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Let us now look at the most common function of the utterance that follows okay. We shall discuss functions of utterances that follow a significant transaction in the discourse, a third turn receipt marker, and an acknowledgment by referring to Tables 3, 4, and 5 respectively. As can be seen in Table 3, significant transitions in language teaching done over the phone are mostly followed by discourse markers. This is somehow expected especially because transitions are more effective when discourse markers are used. Instructors that did not use transitions-discourse marker pair did not follow the standard lesson format that is endorsed by the company. These can be described as conversational lessons, meaning they started with the warm-up, and then used the topic at hand as the objective of the lesson (i.e. the teacher asks the student about her vacation for the warm-up, but then proceeds to talking about the said topic for the whole lesson). On the other hand, there are some lessons that adhere to the lesson format, transitioning from small talk to the lesson proper, as in (19): (19) -T: Okay so. What I just did is I just put it under uhm. Sorry the *site* the correction for each purchasing manager of each countries are coming I put it there (1.5) with the notes. Okay? - S: Uhuh - T: So they are coming one after the other or theyre coming one after another. - S: I understand. - T: Good. Okay anyway so today *** we are going to continue with the document uhm actually the article on the 28 finalists compete for the new 7 new wonders of nature. In the extract above, the instructor was correcting a mistake made by the learner after talking about her meetings. After the student verifies her understanding of the correction given, the teacher goes on to the lesson proper.
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Table 3 Functions of an Utterance that follows a Significant Transition in the Discourse Function Correction Discourse Marker Elaborates/ Repeats Explicit Management Praise/ Greeting Request for Action Requests Information Percentage 11.63% 25.58% 18.6% 18.6% 4.65% 11.63% 9.3%
An interesting function of okay in giving English lessons by phone is when it is used as a third turn receipt marker. A 30-minute discussion can be short due to explanations, narratives, and so on. Therefore, teachers have to control students once they begin to talk about unrelated topics. This is where the third-turn receipt marker okay comes in. Table 4 reveals what kind of utterance commonly succeeds the said function. Since third turn receipt markers allow for a smooth end of a topic to the next, requests information was found to be the most common function that follows them. To illustrate this clearly, let us look at extract (20): (20) T: Mhmm so theres movement detection, When theres movement it turns on, is that? - S: Yes - T: Okay, does it works as well? The motion sensor? Its called a motion sensor. Evidently, once the student affirmed that what they were talking about was movement detection, the teacher said okay and immediately followed this up with a different but related question 2011 Time Taylor International ISSN 1718-2298
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about the condition of the motion sensors. In extract (21), we can see that there are more turns for each interlocutor: (21) - T: (laughs) what what happened to you Rosanna? - S: Well from what I remember, we had a lesson 2 months ago? - T: Yes thats right, mhmm. - S: But then after that I had many many things to do in the office. - T: Mhmm. - S: And then my husband and I we finally had the chance to travel after our wedding - T: Okay. - S: And now we are back (.) unfortunately - T: Mhmm okay. - S: We went in Cuba for 1 month and there the sun is out, very very nice. - T: I see okay. So did you did you say that you just uh (1) you just got back from your honeymoon? Table 4 Functions of an Utterance that follows a Third Turn Receipt Marker
Function Correction Discourse Marker Elaborates/ Repeats Explicit Management Praise/ Greeting Request for Action Requests Information Requests Validation Percentage 11.88% 14.85% 16.83% 9.9% 8.91% 1.98% 24.75% 10.89%
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After a series of turn takings, and the teacher acknowledging what the student is saying, the former used the third turn receipt marker okay to perhaps stop the student from continuing her narrative and to elicit the word honeymoon. Finally, we will focus on the most frequent function of okay, which is acknowledgment. Table 5 reveals that teachers use okay to simply acknowledge that they understood what the learners were talking about. This, as mentioned earlier, is imperative in distance learning by phone because it adds up to the teachers attentiveness and commitment to what students are saying, as in (22): (22): -T: So okay, uhm can you tell me about ah (3) a job interview that you had in the past? -S: Okay let me remember (2) yes, for my first job at *** I was interviewed by a man -T: Mhmm -S: From the HR department -T: Okay. -S: He was very nice but I was very much nerv- nervous. -T: Mhmm. -S: He asked me about school and if I have worked for another company. -T: Mhmm. -S: I told him that I studied uh (2) pharmacy? -T: Okay.
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Table 5 Functions of an Utterance that Follows an Acknowledgment

Function
Acknowledges Only Correction Complies with Request Discourse Marker Elaborates/ Repeats Explicit Management Praise/ Greeting Request for Action Requests Information Requests Validation
Percentage
51.06% 3.83% 0.43% 5.11% 16.6% 0.43% 8.51% 2.98% 7.23% 3.83%
In the extract above, we can notice how okay and mhmm are used interchangeably to acknowledge understanding of what the student is narrating about a past job interview. This kind of acknowledgment seems to be prevalent in English language teaching by phone as well. If we exclude acknowledges only, the second most frequent function would be elaborates/repeats. This is the most frequent function that follows okay and so in decision-making (Condon, 2001). Here is an example of how the acknowledgment-elaborates/repeats pair is used: (23) S: Can you tell me how we make bubble baths? - T: (laughs) Okay, well usually you can have it if you have a tub, a bathtub or if you have a Jacuzzi. (24) -S: Okay so we cant say travels, how do we say then? -T: Okay, so in this case if you want to talk about more than 1, so instead of travels, you can say trips. Ok? 2011 Time Taylor International ISSN 1718-2298
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Examples (25) and (26) provide us with ways in which instructors acknowledge the students question before explaining a certain term and elaborating on a specific rule. The next two examples show how instructors acknowledged then repeated what the learners had just said: (25) - T: Okay. Uhm you said, you sent me an mail - S: So I must to say, an e-mail -T: Okay (.) an e-mail or A mail. A mail. (26) - S: The New 7 Wonders Foundation spearheads the New 7 Wonders of Nature campaign. (5) Uhm to lead. - T: Okay A-repeats to lead. Very good. So. Can you please use spearhead in your own sentence. In these two extracts, teachers seem to have acknowledged that the student produced a grammatically correct utterance or selected an accurate answer by saying okay. This moreover, is succeeded by a repetition, perhaps to emphasize and/or make the students remember the construction or the answer. Table 6 Functions of Utterances that Follow okay per Gender
Function Males Significant Transitions Discourse Markers 40% Elaborates/ Repeats 21.43% Third turn receipt Elaborates/ Repeats - 19.51% Requests Information 32.73% Acknowledgment Acknowledg es Only 63.46% Acknowledg es Only 41.22 Elaborates/ Repeats 12.5% Elaborates/ Repeats 19.85
Females
If we look at Table 6, we can see that for both male and female teachers, the majority of the occurrences of okay that functions as an acknowledgment is not followed by any utterances. Nevertheless, the second most frequent function that succeeds an acknowledgment for both genders is an elaboration or repetition. The differences between males and females can be seen when we look at the functions of 2011 Time Taylor International ISSN 1718-2298
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utterances that follow significant transitions and third turn receipt markers. For the former, males made use of discourse markers the most, whereas females preferred to elaborate/repeat. With regard to the latter, males opted to elaborate/repeat, and females tended to request information. Conclusion This study looked at the use of Filipino English teachers okay in distance learning. The overall results are consistent with Borlongans (2008) paper, indicating that the main function of okay is to give a simple acknowledgment, as it occurred a little over 60% of okay in the corpus. It is therefore perhaps safe to say that in line with Borlongans claim, Filipino speakers of English tend to use okay as a form of acknowledgment. In the context that was studied, it is maybe due to the lesson setting where face-to-face interaction is lacking, compelling teachers to acknowledge as much as they can. There is a significant difference between the second most frequent function, the third turn receipt marker, and the most frequent function, as the former occurred only a little over 25% in the data. Third turn receipt markers were found to be followed by requests for information (25%), signifying that instructors gave follow up questions and elicited more information from the students. Significant transitions was found to be the least frequent function, possibly because the structure of the 30minute lesson is only divided into three and some teachers did not follow this guide. Another possible reason is that teachers tried not to veer away from the topic that they were discussing in order to have a coherent lesson. As predicted, significant transitions were mainly followed by discourse markers (26%), perhaps to mark a smooth shift from one topic to another. The instructors sex was clearly not a factor in the use of okay in this study, contradicting Swackers (1975, in Schleef, 2008) claim and consistent with Schleefs (2008) study. Female teachers may have used the token word more frequently, but no considerable difference was found. Perhaps, gender differences may depend on the kind of talk (e.g. teacher vs. student talk), learning environment (face-to-face vs. computer-mediated interaction), and activity (e.g. graded discussion vs. regular classroom discussion).
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Given the findings of the present study, a reductive paraphrase of okay can then be presented in this context: (a) Okay functioning as a significant transition in the discourse= X and Y are talking about something sometimes X: starts to talk about something else starts to talk about something that Y does not know does not want to stop talking because of this, Y says okay to talk about another thing (b) Okay functioning as a third turn receipt marker= Y asks something to X X starts to talk and sometimes for a long time Because of this, Y says this and asks X another thing or talks about what X talked about (c)Okay functioning as a simple form of acknowledgment= X is talking about something Y says okay to make X feel that Y hears X because of this, X keeps talking about that something In conclusion, this article provides us a better understanding of the use of linguistic features like okay, not only in face-to-face interactions and telephone conversations in general, but also in distance learning. Their functions do not seem to be affected mainly by gender, but perhaps by the structure of lessons and the tasks performed. Moreover, we can observe how okay was used by teachers to introduce a new topic and signal a transition, give a correction, and elaborate and repeat what was said to emphasize a point. In this study, we can also see how the focal word signaled not only a greeting and a praise, but also questions to verify and elicit more information from their students to increase student talk time. These functions are, without a doubt, vital in English language learning. Further research will be needed to explore the functions of Filipino teachers okay in other learning milieus and also compare them with the findings of this study. Variables that can be looked into are the subject matter or academic division of the lecturer, gender, 2011 Time Taylor International ISSN 1718-2298
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gestures, kind of interaction and activity. Moreover, results of the present paper can be compared with the use of American teachers okay in distance learning. References Borlongan, A. M. (2007). Innovations in Standard Philippine English. In C. C. Mann (Ed.), Current research on English and applied linguistics: A De La Salle University special issue (pp. 1-36). Manila, the Philippines: Department of and Applied Linguistics, De La Salle University Manila. Borlongan, A.M. (2008). OK in Philippine English. Unpublished paper. Coates, J. (1993). Women, men and language: A sociolinguistic account of gender differences in language (2nd ed.). London: Longman. Condon, S. (1986.). The discourse functions of ok. Semiotica, 60, 73 101. Condon, S. (2001). Discourse ok revisited: Default organization in verbal interaction. Journal of Pragmatics, 33, 491-513. Kachru, Y. (1995). Contrastive rhetoric in World Englishes. English Today, 11(1), 21-31. Levin, H., & Gray, D. (1983). The Lecturers OK. American Speech, 58, 195200. Schegloff, E., & Sacks, H. (1973). Opening Up Closings. Semiotica, 8, 289-327. Schleef, E. (2008). The lecturers OK revisited: Changing discourse conventions and the influence of academic division. American Speech, 83(1).
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Appendix A Sample Analysis (M) teacher LEGEND: ***-name of student/teacher T: Yes good morning this is *** from (name of company) how are you doing? S: Hi good morning Im okay. T: Yes, good morning *** its a Friday today. And hows your Friday? S: Well, its very quiet. Many colleagues of me are in vacation. T: Oh really? Okay. Acknowledges only S: Yes yes its perfect because I feel very very sleepyT: -Mhmm S: I want to go back to vacation and you know, rest on the beach, sun bath and so on? T: (Lauhgs) S: I think I have 4 hours sleep only. T: Really? Why didnt you get enough sleep last night? S: Well I could not sleep as I am thinking of so many things T: Mhmm S: My wife and I you know we try not to sleep so (2) deep. T: Is it because youve been working to hard? Or is it insomnia that you werent able to sleep? S: No no no. Not that. Well because in our house (.) me and my wife, we just put a cameraT: -Mhmm S;and we started this project one month ago T: Mhmm S: It is very useful for us. T: Is it like a webcam? Yeah? S: No it is like uhm (2) I havent the word. (2) it helps you see your home even when you are in the office. You understand? T: Ah yes its like a security camera. You can see your home from your office? Right? S: Yes! T: Ok- Acknowledges only S: and we try and try to make put it there T: Mhmm S: but its not easy for us we are not professionals 2011 Time Taylor International ISSN 1718-2298
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T: Mhmm (.) So (.) so in in other words, it was difficult for you to install, right? S: Mmm yes yes/ T: So were you able to install the security camera? Were you able to successfully install them? S: Uhm sorry could you repeat please? T: Were you were you able to install the camera? To to make it work? S: At first no but yes yes after one month voila. T: Alright. Good good alright, so ah I suppose that time was well spent uh trying to set it up and have it set up huh? S: Yes oh yes. T: So how many days in total did it take you to set up your webcam? How many days in total did it take you to set up your security camera? S: More than one month I suppose because it has to work with a computer. T: (laughs). Is it a windows computer youre using? S: Yes windows 7 T: (L) So how did you finally make it work? What was the problem? What did you discover? S: Im sorry I didnt catch can you repeat please? T: What (1) what did you discover that fixed the solution? What (.5) what was the problem? Why wasnt it working? S: Oh. (3) T: Was it the sof-the hardware driver? S: I think its the software. T: Mhmm S: Because when something move in the house I get an email. T: Alright. S: It is very sensi-sensible. Sensitive. T: Mhmm so theres movement detection, When theres movement it turns on, is that? S: Yes T: Okay. 3rd turn-request info Does it works as well? The motion sensor? Its called a motion sensor. S: Oh so thats the name. T: Yeah. S: Yes it works alright. T: -Mhmm 2011 Time Taylor International ISSN 1718-2298
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S: It will send you an email when it feels someone walking or running or movingT: -Mhmm S: We receive each minute an email! Its crazy. T: (Laughs) each minute you receive an email? S: Yes! T: I-its not because you have a pet at home that likes to run around, thats why you have an email every minute do you? Do you have a pet at home or (.) something that moves around thats why the motion sensor sends you an email every minute? (Laughs) S: (Laughs) No we havent a pet like a dog. No no. T: (Laughs) alright something must be moving around your house right? (Laughs) About the author Clarisse Anne P. Ilustre is currently finishing her PhD in Applied Linguistics at De La Salle University, Manila, Philippines. She has been teaching at goFLUENT, Philippines, a Swiss-owned company which specializes in English distance learning. Her research interests concern pragmatics, contrastive rhetoric, computer-mediated discourse analysis, and bilingualism.
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Ano ba talaga ang ano?: Exploring the meanings of ano in conversations Irish C. Sioson De La Salle University, Manila, Philippines St. Scholasticas College, Manila, Philippines Abstract The study explores the different functions of the Tagalog word ano in conversations. Results show that ano, though conventionally means the interrogative pronoun what in English, serves other functions, which further supports the multifunctionality view of any language behavior (Condon, 2001). The study found out that ano functions frequently as a gap filler in conversations, followed by the use of the interrogative pronoun what, then by substitution, expression of hesitation, tag questions and , finally, expression of irritation. The gap-filling function of ano may provide insights on the different factors involved in conversations and could be seen as an effect of the speakers effort to make the message clearer. Implications for language teaching and learning and second language research have then been drawn. Keywords: conversational context, Philippine English, co-operative principle, conversational implicature, semantic primitives Introduction The relationship between meaning and context has long been established in the field of semantics and pragmatics. For instance, Grice (1968) has made a distinction between what was said which he treated as artificial to some extent, and what is implicated which he treated as something that is suggested or implied in an utterance. He further distinguished conventional implicature which arises from the meaning of some word or phrase used, and nonconventional implicature which springs from outside the specification of the conventional meaning of the words used (Grice, 1968, p. 65). Perhaps what is of importance is Grices conversational implicatures in which contexts provide certain information or
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assumptions to the participants (Grice, as cited in Recanati, 1989, p. 97). While these implicatures are part of what the utterance communicatesthey are not conventionally determined (p. 97) and, therefore, are more determined by pragmatics rather than by semantics. Recanati (1989) cautions though, that while an expression may yield various interpretations, semantic ambiguity may not be the source for a variety of interpretation. This is because meaning can be accounted for by both semantics (and the literal level) and pragmatics (contextual level). Of these two, pragmatic interpretation is more preferred because the principles and assumptions they appeal to are very general and independently motivated (Recanati, 1989, p. 98). However, Recanati asserts that the gap between semantics and pragmatics has become wider in the sense that what is said can no longer be distinguished from other pragmatic aspects that yield other possible interpretations. Grice (1968, as cited in Recanati, 1989) believes that the meaning of an utterance does not rely solely on the conventional meaning of the words, but rather the meaning resides in a number of factors in a specific context. Recanati (1989), however , argues that the division between semantics and pragmatics are not clear because there are other aspects in communication that need to be considered other than the context of knowing the who, what, and the when. Recanati further asserts that the relationship between and among the words must be accounted for to yield a more specific interpretation. This paper then attempts to further establish the relationship between meaning and context in conversations in the Philippine setting. It is hoped that the results of the study would provide additional literature that recognizes the complementary relationship between semantics and pragmatics and that they work together to make communication and interpretation somewhat clearer for the participants. Furthermore, it is hoped that this study would provide support to the argument that the particular uses of the forms must be examined to understand their functions and their orientation to the talk (Condon, 2001, p. 494). This study looks into what happens in conversations in the use of Philippine English by Filipino speakers. It has been observed that certain expressions in the native language turn up in conversations carried out in English. Particularly, this paper is concerned with the Tagalog word ano. 2011 Time Taylor International ISSN 1718-2298
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The word ano is the Filipino equivalent of the interrogative pronoun what in English and is the conventional meaning of the word; that is, the traditional and most common meaning in Filipino. However, ano is used in a variety of contexts specifically in conversations, and the instances of the use of ano do not seem to fit or conform to the conventional meaning of the word. In other words, ano seemingly has different functions other than asking about an incident, entity, or a person. For instance, in Barons (2008) dictionary of Filipino slang words and idioms, when ano is used in combination with strings of words, anos definition may slightly differ in connotation. For example, the expression ano ba yan which literally means, what is that? is defined by Baron as an expression indicating shock, disgust, or disapproval and that its meaning can become different by adding the word ba. She also included the expression ano ka ba? to mean whats the matter with you? or what the heck are you doing? addressed to already confused people doing something dumb. The third entry of ano in Barons dictionary is anong nakain mo?. Here ng is attached to ano as ligature. This expression is literally translated as what have you eaten?, though this conveys sarcasm in the sense that it is the same as the expression what has gotten into you?. Lastly, the expression anong say mo? is asking for an opinion and is the slang for what do you think?. This last entry seems to function as the conventional meaning of ano as this is intended for someone who is asked of his/ her opinion. While studies have been conducted on the meanings of discourse markers such as ok, and well, there seems to be limited studies conducted in Philippine English which accounts for the use of Filipino words or expressions incorporated in English conversations by Filipino speakers. For instance, in her study on the use of no in Philippine English, Bautista (in press), categorized no as a kind of pragmatic particle that serves either as fillers or discourse markers. She found that, no is used in any part of a sentence, and its functions include as a completion marker, as a continuation marker, as a filler which may be equivalent to uh and yknow and in informal settings, the contraction of the word ano as either as confirmation question or as a substituted word for another word not recalled by the speaker.
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To account for the kind of context this paper addresses, a slight modification of Karttunens (1974) conversational context is used. According to him, conversational context is
what[the] common set of background assumptions contains depends on what has been said previously and other aspects of the communicative situation. In a fully explicit discourse, the presuppositions of the next sentence uttered are satisfied by the current contextOnce the new sentence has been uttered, the context will be incremented to include the new information (p. 190).
This paper, however, is limited to the shared background assumptions between the interlocutors as suggested by their previous utterances, which in turn, enriches the current context in which the word ano is used; therefore, the topic of the discourse becomes the primary point of analysis. Topic here is treated as the subject matter of the conversation or what is being talked about. This topic then becomes enriched throughout the course of the conversation and the relationship between the interlocutors is inferred using the background assumptions. The other aspects of the communicative situation such as the physical setting when the conversation took place, suprasegmental features, noise, and emotional or physiological conditions of the interlocutors have not been accounted for in the study. Furthermore, this study only explores the functions of the word ano, and not its contracted form no since Bautista (in press) found that there was a variety of functions of no that behaves differently from ano which may not be necessarily the contracted form of ano and that no cannot substitute for ano in some cases. Hence, this paper aims to fill the gap in such area. Specifically, this study aims to answer the following questions: 1. What are the functions of ano in Filipino conversations? 2. Which of these functions are the most frequently used in conversations? Method The Corpus The International Corpus of English- Philippines (ICE-PHI) compiled by Bautista, Lising, and Dayag (1999) was used as the
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database for this study. Consisting of spoken, manuscript, and printed samples of English discourses, ICE includes corpora from countries where English is treated either as a native language or as an officially recognized additional language (Bautista, 2000). Categorized into two divisions, the spoken and the written, a corpus has about one million words having 500 texts with about 2, 000 words. In spoken texts, dialogues and monologues are both included. Since ICE considers the educated English, sample texts are based on adult English users (18 years old and above) who have received formal education through the English language. The texts included in ICEPHI are based on English speakers who have reached at least some level of education in college since the number of years of schooling in the Philippines is fewer compared to other countries. Only the spoken discourses, specifically conversations, were included in the study since ano seems to be a characteristic of Filipino conversations. The study did not include other spoken discourses such as legal, and academic since the assumption is that these settings have specific jargons, registers, or levels of formality that somehow lessen the occurrence of ano. ICE has a specific system in marking spoken texts to indicate hesitation, pause, and repetition, among others. The symbol <indig> is used to indicate that the word enclosed by that symbol is indigenous, i.e. it is a word specific to the native speakers of the language. Hence, instances of the word ano is enclosed in this symbol. Procedure The word ano was searched in the ICE-PHI program which generated transcribed conversations. Of these conversations, only 32 were used in the study since only the first 100 occurrences of ano were subjected to analysis. Based on the analysis, categories for the uses of ano were made. The analyses were then validated by an English faculty and a doctoral student of Philippine Studies. There was 96% agreement in the categorizing of the uses of ano between the researcher and the validator, and they arrived at an agreement in case of discrepancies in the coding.
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Results and Discussion To answer the first objective of the study, categories were made for the occurrences of ano. There were six functions of ano that came up in the corpus: 1) as an interrogative pronoun equivalent to what, 2) as a gap filler, 3) as a tag question, 4) as an expression of hesitation, 5) as an expression of irritation, and 6) as a form of substitution. Before each category is discussed, it is important to note here that although there were 100 instances of ano which were analyzed, 109 cases of ano were categorized. This means that in some utterances, ano seems to serve more than one function, and that the distinction of the functions are not clear cut, especially since textual analysis had been employed by the study, and therefore, it did not account for other factors such as the suprasegmental features of the utterances. This particular finding of the study seems to lend support to the view that all language behavior is multifunctional [since]it simultaneously performs more than one function (Condon, 2001, p. 494). For example, in a study by Beach (1995, as cited in Condon, 2001) on the use of the discourse marker ok in medical interviews, ok simultaneously served as a signal for the patients adequacy in his/ her response and as a tool for bridging the next question. Having explained this, examples for each category of ano will then be given to further illustrate the uses of ano. In the first 100 occurrences of ano examined, six categories were identified: 1) interrogative pronoun, 2) gap filler, 3) tag question, 4) expression of hesitation, 5) expression of irritation, and 6) substitution. Each category is discussed below. Interrogative pronoun The first category of ano is that of an interrogative pronoun to mean what. In most instances, this kind of ano can clearly be identified as exemplified in the following utterances: a. D: Anong oras ka uuwi Me-Ann A: Oh my gosh Oh yeah I have a class b. A: She doesn't need to have a visa 'cause she has this green 2011 Time Taylor International ISSN 1718-2298
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ano what do you call that B: Yeah green card In such instances, the interrogative what can replace the word ano. Speaker D in the first example wanted to know what time speaker A would leave, and although speaker A did not directly answer Ds question, A was reminded of the time and that she still had a class to go to. In the second example, a direct question ano which was followed by its direct question counterpart in English was asked by speaker A as she seemed to forget a particular term (green card), to which speaker B replied. This instance may further support that there is a shared understanding between the two speakers (Condon, 2000). Gap filler The second category of ano is gap filler which is similar with a verbalized pause. The word ano in this category may be substituted by the filler um. This category can be further classified into two: 1) gap filler as a result of groping for the right word, and 2) gap filler as a marker of a false start. The second classification means that the speaker has started to say something and then backtracks and reformulates, rephrases, or self corrects the previous word, phrase, or idea mentioned. The first two examples illustrate the first classification, while the last three examples show the second classification of ano in this category. c. A: Because the ball is on her ano na hand e d. B: And then another advantage of a full-load uhm compared with ano compared with full with a part-time e. C: And the ano and another problem is ano yong underemployment f. B: Whe where did you where was it ano </indig> I mean uhm where did it take place g. A: So you mean your gowns are not B: No everything actually has been basically mapped out for 2011 Time Taylor International ISSN 1718-2298
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the ano I mean we 're just wai we 're just working kasi with you know suppositions The gap fillers may have a predictable pattern, that is, usually the gap filler in the first classification has the formula ano + the word intended by the speaker, while the second classification has the pattern ano + I mean or any self-correction made. Tag Question The next category is ano as a tag question which is a yes-no question in relation to something that was previously said. Here, there is an intention to ask someones opinion or confirm or affirm ones opinion by asking a question to the listener, although this does not necessarily mean that a tag question can always be expected to be answered. The two examples below exemplify this function. h. A: Different pa yan because she's lots of telas these are all what do you call this B: Fabric Yeah furniture ano A: Di ba washable B: Yeah i. B: I enjoyed it very much when she went to England to see (unclear words) A: Oo nga daw ano B: Yeah that was very nice In the first example, speaker A seems to be asking B to affirm or agree with As idea that the fabric was washable, to which B answered in the affirmative. In the second example, B was talking about how much she enjoyed that the dean went to England when B was also in England at that time. A was asking B to affirm whether the information A got that B indeed enjoyed the deans visit to England, and to which B responded yeah. The word ano in such utterances may be replaced by the English equivalent tag questions, is it?, isnt it, does it?, or doesnt it? This category seems to correspond to Tottie and Hoffmanns (2006 in Borlongan, 2008) confirmatory function of tag questions 2011 Time Taylor International ISSN 1718-2298
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which means that it is an attempt to verify what the speaker is unsure of (p. 122). Borlongan also observed that the Tagalog tag questions such as ano, no, hindi ba, and di ba were more frequently used than English tag questions, and offered a hypothesis that this was probably because these Tagalog tag questions were morphologically and phonetically simpler than their English counterpart. Expression of Hesitation The fourth category of ano is expression of hesitation which may be brought about by either a sensitivity of the topic and character appraisal. In this case, ano seems to be functioning as a mitigating device, considering that sensitivity of the topic is very personal and that judging or evaluating someones character can be a face threatening act to the person being appraised. The first example shows hesitation due to a sensitive topic, pornography, while the second example shows hesitation due to character appraisal. j. A: Ano ba 'yon 'cause I can't I was like twelve years old when he looked at my uh drawer and he saw some pornographic materials inside Then he said hey this is this is really not what it 's uh uh meant to be or meant for it 's not what it 's meant for k. A: You uh have you found anybody interesting here B: Well not really I guess they 're just ano nice to look at (laughter) A: Nice to look at that 's all The utterance above (k) is Bs answer to As query whether B had found any guy that she liked in their school. This is character appraisal in the sense that instead of directly saying that she did not find such person, she replied indirectly and perhaps tried to mitigate her response by saying that is somewhat positive and following it up by laughter. The last example in this category shows a possible combination of sensitivity of topic and character appraisal. Speaker B is describing
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his father and what happened to his son after his grandfather (that is Bs father) passed away. l. B: Uh so ano he he took he really took it very badly because he viewed my father I would say uhm not so much as a lolo I mean both as a lolo because he was spoiled rotten really (laughter) Uh but also he but my Dad was his father image So when my Dad died he he he he his studies were you know he just didn't wanna study anymore Here, what might be the cause of speaker Bs hesitation is that he was talking about two people he cared about: his father and his son and the effect of the grandfathers death on the speakers son. It is noticeable too from the two examples in character appraisal, the utterance with the ano is usually followed by laughter. This is probably to lighten up somehow a sensitive matter and the mood of the conversation. Expression of Irritation The fifth function of ano in the corpus under study is expressing irritation toward a person or a situation. Two examples are given below to demonstrate this function. Speaker A seems to be upset about a person who borrowed money from her and had not paid her yet. The first example perhaps illustrates Barons (2008) observation that, when ano is used in combination with the word ba, anos definition may slightly differ in connotation and may be interpreted as an expression indicating shock, disgust, or disapproval. m. A: Ano ba naman yung every month she 'll save up a hundred instead of texting all her she she spends around four thousand pesos for cell phone usage And I don't like her reasoning na she doesn't wanna pay me because it 's not her priority because I have money Because she doesn't know what I 'm going through n. A: I 've given her so much leeway already I mean I 'm so ano
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Substitution The last category is that of substitution. Ano in this situation resembles the second function (gap filler) in that the speaker could not think of the word at that moment to express his/ her idea; this function is different, however, in the sense that it is characterized by never having said the actual word that speakers are trying to think of or the listener never having supplied the appropriate word, yet both are able to understand what ano stands for. Two examples are given to further illustrate this function. o. A: Computerized so in their compu ano they had laptops with them B: That small thing uhh I think they were equipped so that in case they have to ask questions p. B: Yes so I just wanna ano I just A: No I think you know the the highest number that they can give you that's how much they can fit In the first example, the speakers were talking about teaching in a specific school and that speaker A was trying to describe the situation to B. Here, the word ano seemed to be a substitute for the word classroom but notice that neither A nor B supplied the exact word. With Bs response to As utterance, without having to supply what the word ano means may indicate that both interlocutors have the shared knowledge provided by the context of their conversation. The speakers in the second example were talking about Bs plans for her wedding reception, commenting on the number of guests a venue can accommodate. Ano in this instance can be inferred as limiting the number of guests or changing the venue. Speaker A disagrees with B but, again, both seem to understand what the word ano stands for despite not having articulated its exact word or meaning. This category is also somewhat similar with Bautistas (in press) classification of ano as an indefinite substitute for a specific word the speaker could not recall and which is equivalent to thingamabob, and thingamajig. Furthermore, such examples further reinforce the default verification i.e. participants in an 2011 Time Taylor International ISSN 1718-2298
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exchange have similar ideas of what is going on and that they rarely specify the understandings they establish (Condon, 2001, p. 493). Combination of the Functions As mentioned, there are some instances where ano has more than one function. For example, ano in the example below has three possible interpretations: A: You like my shades B: Huh (laughter) A: Ano ba B: Nice A: They 're nice 'no The first possible interpretation here is the function of an interrogative pronoun since speaker A seems to be asking speaker Bs opinion on the shades speaker A bought; another possibility is that ano may be functioning as a tag question as speaker A wanted B to confirm As opinion about her own shade, i.e. that if indeed they are really nice. Lastly, this can be interpreted as an expression of irritation by A towards Bs reaction of laughing and refusal to respond to the question of A. Another example of a duality in the function of ano is shown below. In this utterance, San Miguel refers to the name of the person who borrowed money from A and did not pay. B: Grabe itong ano uh San Mig nakakatakot (noticing a vehicle swerving into their lane) A: Yeah yeah San Miguel B: Huwag ka na lang lumapit diyan (talking to the driver) Speaker B is commenting on San Miguel. Ano here can either be a gap filler that is B may be trying to remember the name of the person or may be uncertain of the name of the person being talked about, or it can also function as an expression of hesitation, considering that the topic of financial matter may be sensitive and that it may be a kind of hesitation brought about by character 2011 Time Taylor International ISSN 1718-2298
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appraisal of an individual. The hesitation marker uh could further strengthen both assumptions. A: I 've given her so much leeway already I mean I 'm so ano In the above example which illustrated the function of ano as an expression of irritation, ano may also be functioning as a substitution since none of the speakers supplied what the word ano is , yet it could interpreted as something that is understood by both the participants. Here, ano might mean mad, or upset to describe what A was feeling about the incident. Because there is no way of confirming which of the two interpretations (irritation and substitution) is more accurate since this is the last utterance in the text, both interpretations may be acceptable. The last example for the duality of the function of the word ano can be seen in the example below. Here, speaker B is describing his father who died. B: He was not uh he was not ano I mean at least with us 'no with us kids very (foreign word) And then uhm I don't think he had much of a sense of humor Ano can be interpreted either as gap filler or as expression of hesitation. Bs utterance may indicate both as a false start and as probably a way of thinking the appropriate word for what he wanted to say. The second interpretation may be ano as a form of hesitation because it seems that B is appraising the characteristics of his deceased father, and may make it more difficult for B considering his relationship with his father and the fact that his father was already dead made the topic more serious and more sensitive. To answer the second question of the research, the categorized functions of ano were tallied and a simple frequency count was used to determine how often a kind of function of ano occurs. Table 1 presents the functions of ano vis--vis the frequency and percentage of each type.
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Table 1 Functions and frequency of ano Function 1: interrogative pronoun what 2: gap filler a. groping for words b. false start 3: tag question 4. hesitation 5: irritation 6: substitution
f 18 61 10 4 6 3 7
% 16.67 55.96 9.17 3.67 5.50 2.75 6.42
As can be seen, majority of the instances of ano are used as a gap filler specifically to signal that the speaker is looking for an appropriate word. It is surprising that there seems to be a huge difference in terms of the occurrences of ano as a gap filler (55.96%) and its more conventional function as an interrogative question (16.67%). It is important to note that gap fillers are a natural occurrence in speech. However, one probable explanation for the frequency of ano as a gap filler is the speakers intention of making the message clearer for the listener by using more accurate words or terms to express themselves. Grices Co- operative Principle perhaps is called to mind by this explanation. This principle is summed up in the statement Make your contribution such as required, at the stage at which it occurs, by the accepted purpose or direction of the talk exchange in which you are engaged (Grice, 1975, as cited in Davies, 2000), of which there are four maxims: Quantity, Quality, Relation, and Manner. Of the four, perhaps, it is the maxim of manner which could somehow explain the instances of ano in this context; that is, it is conceivable that in the speakers effort to avoid obscurity and ambiguity, he or she may be groping for words to help them articulate his or her thoughts as accurate as possible. Such idea is closely associated with the interaction effect. The context of meaning negotiation entails speakers to consider some discourse constraints such as the what to speak about, the how to speak, the when to speak (Brown, 1994).
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It may also be attributed to affective factors since the knowledge of the speakers that their conversations were being recorded may have affected their performance due to anxiety. According to Brown (1994), one of the main difficulties of language learners is overcoming their anxiety especially in speaking situations brought about by the thought of blurting things out that are wrong, stupid, or incomprehensible (p. 255), and therefore results in reluctance to take risks. This idea is associated with language ego that becomes threatened due to the perception that speakers are judged by their listeners (Brown, 1994). Another possibility that could explain this occurrence is the interlocutors effect put forth by Nunan (1991, as cited in Brown, 1994) which looks into the characteristics of the interlocutor that could affect the performance of the speaker. This means that ones performance is always colored by that of the person he or she is talking with (Brown, 1994, p. 255). Moreover, the frequent use of ano as a gap filler may suggest that Filipino speakers may not be that fluent in expressing their thoughts or feelings in English. Fluency in this case refers to the smoothness of flow of ideas in natural talk. This might be traced from lack of practice in the English language and/or limited vocabulary. Ano as an expression of irritation, on the other hand, yielded the least number of occurrence in the corpus. This may be attributed to the knowledge of the speakers that their conversations were being recorded and although anonymity had been ensured, the speakers may have inadvertently chosen a topic that would not require them to talk about matters that may upset or annoy them. The same reason of the nature of the data may also somehow provide an explanation why ,perhaps, expression of hesitation regarding a sensitive subject or a character appraisal has yielded fewer occurrences in the corpus. Since the corpus would be eventually used for future consumption, the speakers may have unconsciously chosen topics that are less personal. Another caution perhaps that needs to be noted here is the limitation on the coding of other prosodic or suprasegmental features in conversations. Such speech features carry additional meaning other than the conventional meaning of an utterance since the tone, pitch, and stress are essential elements that convey the speakers attitude. As other researchers noted, (e.g. Adell, Bonafonte, & Escudero, 2005; Braga & Marquez, 2004), emotions, prosody, and pragmatics tend to
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be correlated and, therefore, yield to a somewhat more accurate interpretation of a speakers intent or emotion. The uses of false start, hesitation, tag question and substitution have almost the same percentage in terms of occurrences in the corpus. The use of false starts is similar with the gap filling function of ano, but the speaker tries to reformulate his/ her utterance and this may have been the reason why ano is used for groping for words; that is, there is an intention on the speakers part to clarify the message he/ she wants to convey. On the other hand, the occurrence of a few instances of using ano as a tag question may be partially ascribed to the use of an alternative tag question in Filipino which is di ba. It might be suspected that di ba could be an unmarked form of Filipino tag questions while ano may be its marked form. Lastly, the use of ano as substitution might provide further support to the assumption that when expectations are satisfied, ano can help facilitate shared knowledge. As the result of the study, the Tagalog word ano can then be defined using its functions which would then further strengthen the relationship between semantics and pragmatics (i.e. the contextual meanings). Having identified the functions of ano, semantic primitives may be arrived at to define what is ano. Ano in this study can have any one or more interpretation given in a particular context: (function 1: as an interrogative pronoun) X said ano to Y = X wants to know something that X thinks Y knows and X believes that Y can say that to X (function 2: as a gap filler) X said ano to Y = X wants to say something to Y but X cannot think of the word X wants to say for some time after some time, X thinks of the word and X says the word (groping for words) or X wants to say something to Y but X cannot think of the word X wants to say for some time 2011 Time Taylor International ISSN 1718-2298
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after some time, X thinks of the word and X says the word X thinks of other words to say to Y (false start) (function 3: tag question) X said ano to Y = X wants to ask something to Y and X thinks that Y may have the same or different idea with X, X wants to know what Y thinks about it Y may or may not say what Y thinks (function 4: hesitation) X said ano to Y = X thinks of something that may be bad or X thinks of something bad about someone, X wants to say it to Y but X thinks Y may think bad of X so X falters to say what X thinks (function 5: irritation) X said ano to Y = X thinks of something that may be bad or X thinks of something bad about someone, X wants to say it to Y (function 6: substitution) X said ano to Y= X wants to say something to Y but X cannot think of the word X wants to say but Y knows what X wants to say Conclusion and Recommendation The different uses of ano may be a mark of an identity of Filipinos and may be a common feature of Philippine English, at least as far as conversations are concerned. Since the conversations in the study used the English language, the Filipino speakers still have traces of expressions in their first language. A characteristic of natural talk includes gap fillers and can support shared knowledge, indicate hesitation and express irritation. Such uses help signal that the speaker still has something to say and can therefore become a facilitating tool for the interlocutors conversation. 2011 Time Taylor International ISSN 1718-2298
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The study has looked into ano which yielded multiple meanings based on the functions. The meanings (semantics) of a particular word cannot be restricted to the semantics domain alone but that exploration of possible meanings of a word can only be seen in the light of the function it serves as dictated by the context. While it may be impossible to account for all uses of a particular word, the assumption that a words meaning can be fully understood when in context may be further validated by the results of the study. It also strengthens the position that a particular expression may have multifunctional interpretation depending on how it is used by considering both the semantic and pragmatic aspects of the conversation. Therefore, the importance and relevance of contextual meaning cannot be disregarded. Implications for Second Language Learning, Teaching The following implications for second language learning and teaching may be drawn from the present study. 1. While a characteristic of natural talk includes gap fillers which can help facilitate shared knowledge, gap fillers can be distractors if they frequently occur. English language learners (ELL) therefore, would benefit from explicit teaching of other expressions or conversation gambits to substitute for their verbalized pauses. 2. Since the use of too many gap fillers may also be traced from limited vocabulary, strategies to widen ones vocabulary should then be taught to ELL so that they will have a wide range of vocabulary that they can call anytime they need a particular word. 3. ELL should also be given opportunities to practice speaking in the English language to further improve their fluency. 4. Since speaking is considered a face-threatening act, especially for ELL because of the notion that they are being judged by the way they speak, affective factors must then be considered by teachers by providing a positive classroom atmosphere to help students become comfortable with the spoken language.
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Recommendations for Future Research In the light of the findings of the current study, the following recommendations may be drawn: 1. that factors such as prosodic or suprasegmental features be accounted for to further see the contextual meaning of an utterance as such features carry other implications such as the speakers attitude or mood that were not fully accounted for by this study; especially considering that ano is described by Baron (2008) as having the effect of incredulity and surprise depending on the tone of the speaker; 2. that other possible Filipino features of Philippine language be explored such as di ba, kasi among others to further establish the relationship between meaning and function; 3. that studies investigate the nonverbal aspects of communication such as gestures, facial expressions, and body language and how such factors can help in interpreting the speakers intention. References Adell, J, Bonafonte, A., & Escudero, D. (2005). Analysis of prosodic features: towards modeling of emotional and pragmatic attitudes of speech. Procesamiento del Lenguaje Natural, nm. 35 (2005), pp. 277-283 Baron, C. S. (2008). Ano yon? Ano yan? The whats and whys of being Filipino. [on-line site] www.anoyon.com Bautista, M. L. (2000). Defining standard Philippine English: Its status and grammatical features. Manila: De La Salle University Press, Inc. Bautista, M. L. (in press). Some notes on no in Philippine English. Borlongan, A. M. (2008). Tag questions in Philippine English. Philippine Journal of Linguistics, 39, 109-134. Braga, D., & Marques, M. A. (2004). The pragmatics of prosodic features in the political debate. [on-line site] http://www.iscaspeech.org/archive Brown, H. D. (1994). Teaching by principles: An interactive approach to language pedagogy. USA: Prentice Hall Regents.
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Condon, S. L. (2001). Discourse ok revisited: Default organization in verbal interaction. Journal of Pragmatics, 33, 491- 513. Davies, B. (2000). Grices cooperative principle: Getting the meaning across. [on-line site] http://www.leeds.ac.uk/linguistics/WPL/WP2000/Davies.p df Grice, H. P. (1991). Utterers meaning, sentence- meaning, and word meaning. In S. David (Ed.), Pragmatics: A reader (pp. 65-76). New York: Oxford University Press. International Corpus of English (2010). [on-line site] http://icecorpora.net/ Karttunen, L. (1974). Presupposition and linguistic context. [on-line site] www2.parc.com/istl/members/karttune/.../presupplingcont ext.pdf Recanati, F. (1991). The pragmatics of what is said. In S. David (ed.), Pragmatics: A reader (pp.97- 120). New York: Oxford University Press. About the Author Irish Chan Sioson is a full-time college faculty member and the Language area coordinator at St. Scholasticas College-Manila. She is also a part-time graduate school professor at the Philippine Normal University where she finished her bachelors degree in Secondary Education major in English. She took Master of Arts in Teaching English Language and graduated with Distinction at De La Salle University and is currently taking Doctor of Philosophy major in Applied Linguistics at the same university. Email: irishsioson01@yahoo.com
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How the Deictic and Anaphoric Role of Na in Filipino Functions as a Cohesive Device in Classroom Interaction Miren Montoya Morales De La Salle University, Manila Abstract The purpose of this study is to find out how na functions as a discourse deixis or anaphora in classroom conversational turn-taking as a linguistic device in achieving cohesion for classroom interaction. The data involve the transcription of student-teacher exchanges of a one class session on Philippine Literature taught in Filipino. The study uses Levinsons categories as a framework for the discourse analysis to incorporate a more dynamic situational approach where particular emphasis is made on the intra-text or extra-text polarities that identify deictic with anaphoric functions. Levinsons model shows that demonstratives as a discourse deixis are intra-text but has a deictic function and vice-versa. Results of the discourse analysis confirm the multifarious nature of na. The word na has several grammatical purposes in Filipino: it may be a demonstrative, an adverb, relative pronoun, an infinitive, and even an equivalent of the English perfect tense. In fact, this study exhibits that na in its deictic and anaphoric function further demonstrates this multifarious identity. The use of na as a deixis applies in its function as a demonstrative pronoun (exophoric symbolic) and spatial/temporal adverb deixes; whereas, the anaphoric use of na is shown in its function as a relative pronoun as well as the non-deictic na use which shows a necessity for grammatical well-formedness of the utterance. These findings support Levinsons view that the deictic usage varies across languages because the formation of deictic relations is largely a cultural construct. The language teachers awareness of these deictic and anaphoric functions and principles will be particularly useful in how they engage their students classroom interaction in terms of organization of ideas and its comprehensibility in bilingual and multilingual settings. Keywords: deictic usage, discourse deixis, exophora, endophora
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Introduction A number of studies have identified the role of deixis use as an essential element to consider in the success of both mutual comprehension and turn-taking between interlocutors of the conversation which depend on the agreed identification of deictic uses (Huang, 2007; geyik, 2007; Methven, 2006; Lyons, 1995). Huang (2007) affirms that Deixis is a universal linguistic phenomenon, that is, all human languages contain deictic terms (p.132) and that a language without deictics cannot serve the communication needs of its users as effectively and efficiently as a language that does have them (p.132). Deictic expressions then are basic elements in human communication that function as grammatical markers to establish the cohesion of spoken discourses. However, much of what is understood about deictic use is that there are clear divisions among its categories; in fact, Hindmarch and Health (2000) pointed out that traditional understanding of deixis and reference ignores the socially situated and collaborative organization of referential practice (p. 1856). Thus, the aim of this paper is to incorporate a more contextual approach in the study of deixis categories by applying both deictic and anaphoric use of demonstratives following Levinsons (2004) more dynamic situational approach where a number of clear distinctions between different ways in which deictic expressions may be used (p.30). Particular emphasis is made on the intra-text or extra-text polarities that identify deictic with anaphoric functions. Levinson shows that these divisions may overlap when applied in actual utterances. The pragmatic concept of anaphora is also a referential grammatical device whose function rests on deictic notions (Levinson, 1983) and thus will be included in clarifying deictic usage, particularly discourse deixis. The present study explores the deictic and anaphoric uses of the Filipino word na in a spoken classroom discourse of Filipino tertiary students by applying Stephen Levinsons deictic categories including his distinct uses of demonstratives. The content of the teacher-student interaction is Philippine Literature in Filipino. The purpose of this study is to find out how na functions as a deixis or anaphora in classroom conversational turn-taking as a linguistic device in achieving cohesion for classroom interaction on literature.
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Previous studies on the analysis of deixis use in other languages show that deictic functions are socio-culturally situated which is consistent with Levinsons view. In geyiks (2007) study of Turkish oral narratives, his analysis showed that the way a person interprets the textual meaning may vary and deictic expressions are the clues for describing and interpreting texts. He further explains that the reception and the interpretation of deictic forms in the context of utterances by the receivers may change depending on the receivers world knowledge, cultural background, life style, the community in which they live, the language level etc. (p.16). Another relevant study was made by Methven (2006) in which he also applied Levinsons social deixis in comparing Chinese and English deictic forms and concluded that cultural connotations which go beyond mere context determine the differences in pragmatic uses of deictic categories. Particularly insightful for the purpose of this study is the research by Ribera (2007), where a clear distinction between endophoric and exophoric uses of demonstratives have been studied and applied in comprehending literary texts. Ribera concludes that discourse deixis functions as a metaphorical referential device which maps the ground of utterance onto the text, thus combining the referential properties of deixis and anaphora (p.165). This relates to geyiks (2007) study previously mentioned where he explored how deictic expressions in Turkey may be analyzed to assist the cultivation of textual and contextual understanding and to determine the point of view in narrative texts (p.8). The primary goal of any spoken and written communication is to be able to transmit or transact messages comprehensively. In Pragmatics, one essential aspect that contributes to comprehensibility of spoken and written utterances would be the use of deixis and anaphora particularly in achieving textual cohesion. This study will focus on discourse deixis which Huang (2007) defines as concerned with the use of a linguistic expression within some utterance to point to the current, preceding or following utterances in the same spoken or written discourse (p.172). Specifically, this study focuses on discourse deixis which refers to demonstratives. One of the most prominent figures who studied the role of deixis in general and discourse deixis as part of that general theory of Pragmatics is Levinson. Many studies have applied Levinsons model (1983) for its
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astuteness in bringing to the fore both endophoric and exophoric uses of demonstratives. According to Levinson (2004), when deixis refers to the world outside a text, then reference to the context surrounding an utterance is often referred to as primary deixis, exophoric deixis or simply deixis alone. Primary deixis is used to point to a situation outside a text (situational deixis) or to the speaker's and hearer's (shared) knowledge of the world (knowledge deixis) whereas contextual use of deictic expressions is known as secondary deixis, textual deixis or endophoric deixis. Such expressions can refer either backwards or forwards to other elements in a text. The perceptive aspect about Levinsons model is that although demonstratives as a discourse deixis are intra-text, it has a deictic function and vice-versa. This study, applying Levinsons pragmatic approach, would then show these clear distinctions of deictic and anaphoric uses in the Filipino demonstrative na. Methodology Data and Participants This study uses a discourse analysis method in analyzing deictic and anaphoric features of student-teacher classroom exchange of a Literature class which used a student storytelling format as a way to discuss the short story of Carlos Bulosans My Fathers Tragedy (translated into Filipino by Honorato I. Cabrera, Jr.). The participants are 50 students and one female Filipino teacher. The data consist of a one hour and 20 minute class (Literature class in Filipino) which was audio recorded by the teacher herself to enhance the natural flow of communication which may be jeopardized if the researcher were visible. The audio recording was later transcribed by the researcher. The limitation of the study is that the suprasegmental features and non-verbal cues such as facial expression, gestures, and movements were variables that were not included in the framework and data analysis. According to Levinson (2004) meaning is relational, and the meaning of an indexical is characterized as the relation between utterance/resource situations and described situations (p.16) as such the points of reference may not be easily predetermined but its
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establishment as a reference depends largely on pragmatic context as was demonstrated in the Levinsonian categories below. Analytical Framework and Categories This study will apply Levinsons deictic categories to this classroom dialogue between the teacher and students to demonstrate the main assertions which Levinson (2004) makes about the functions of discourse deixis, namely: (1) That indexicality (deixis reference) exceeds the bounds of the built-in indexical expressions in any language (p.21). (2) The field of indexical expressions is in the last resort not clearly delimited, because in so far as most referring expressions are not fully individuating solely by virtue of their semantic content, but rather depend for success on states of mutual knowledge holding between participants in the discourse, the great majority of successful acts of reference depend on indexical conditions (p.21). These two Levinsonian tenets stated above is seen through the understanding of Levinsons discourse deictics which are used based on the following pragmatic features. The first principle deals with basic deictic properties. For Levinson, there is a clear class of indexical expressions referred to as deictics, which have an inbuilt variable whose value is instantiated in the context. In other words when deictics function as a reference to point out relationships of grammatical features within a speech event, the reference may only be correctly interpreted by taking into consideration what he calls relevant index referring to the speaker, time and place of speaking. This type of indexicality is also known among pragmatists as pure indexicals. However, Levinson includes another set of indexical expressions where a deictic function requires additional semantic conditions in order to interpret the reference correctly. The following examples show these two types of deictic functions:
Pure Indexicals: I now here
relevant index speaker time place
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Indexical expressions which also expresses additional semantic conditions we speaker + one person today the diurnal span which contains the coding time nearby a place distinct from here but close to here Nearly all deictics are heavily dependent on pragmatic resolution whereCome here may mean come to this sofa or come to this city according to context. The second feature is referred to as Distinct Demonstrative Uses (Levinson, 2004, p.23) where discourse deixis is intra-text but deictic in function. In the context of the actual data on the contextual use of na, only the following distinct uses apply: (3) I like this city. (exophoric symbolic: does not require gesture) (8) The cowboy entered. This man was not someone to mess with. (anaphoric) In Filipino, the word na has several uses in different utterances. The first set of pragmatic use that will be applied in this study is the deictic uses, listed below, which correspond to Levinsons categories; the second set will be the uses of na as an anaphor which is a textual reference to relative pronouns functioning as adjective clauses. Examples were drawn from the transcribed data and translated into English. A. Deictic Uses (1) Spatial/temporal adverb deixis which signal a context reference of time or space. The examples below all refer to time in relation to the speaker as proximate time. now = Magbabalik aral na tayo! (Let us now review our lessons.) already = Alam na niya [tungkol kay Burick]. (He already found out.) about to = Malapit ka na sa Panggasinan. (You are about to arrive in Panggasinan) If the word na is omitted as in Malapit ka sa Panggasinan
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The meaning of the utterance will change to You are near Panggasinan since malapit means near. (2) Tense temporal deixis (relative temporal deixis) is a reference to verb tense: a. After a verb in the past tense, na is equivalent to the English perfect tense has/ have Passive voice Ubos na lahat [ung manok]. The entire rooster has been consumed. b. Had; past tense of have. Generally rendered by the past tense of the Tagalog verb followed by na Active voice Wala na yung manok [ng dumating si tatay]. The rooster had disappeared when Father arrived. (3) Subordinate conjunction when which is a reference to during which time. Rendered by its ligature na Indicative clause Pagnatapos na siya sa kanyang ulat... when she finishes her report... By removing na in the utterance, the mood of the clause would become conditional (subjunctive): Pagnatapos siya sa kanyang ulat... If she finishes her report... (4) Na connects modifier with word modified which may be considered parallel but not equivalent to the English that-clause. Mahirap na tao A person that is poor But notice that this structure is rarely used in English, rather the nominal phrase a poor person or a poor man is more likely to be used.
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It is also possible for this ligature (connective) na to take the form of -ng attached to the vowel sound ending of the word it follows or if the word ends in n; however when the descriptive word such as mahirap ends with a consonant /p/ sound an ng form cannot be attached. That is why mahirap na tao is considered the correct form or the structure is reversed taong mahirap (still considered less preferred, that is, colloquial form). Although mayamang tao or mayamang pamilya is acceptable because mayaman (which means wealthy) ends with n. B. Uses of na as an anaphor 1. Who. Expressed by the ligature na May isang lalaki na lumapit sa kanya para mikapagkasundo. There was a man who came near him to make a deal. 2. Whose; of whom; of which Ang manok na si Burick The cock whose name is Burick a. Which Ang manok na panabong ni tatay The rooster which your father owns for cockfighting. b. That; Whom Iyon ang bahay That is the house
na ginawa ni Juan. 1 that John built.
Results and Discussion The results of the present study have shown what kinds of deictic and anaphoric features of na actually appear in the learners classroom interaction with their teacher as they discuss the short story in order to arrive at a deeper appreciation of the storys narrative
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elements. The analysis proves that indeed na has multifarious pragmatic uses as a cohesive device for the smooth flow of the delivery of oral exchanges and as prompts for appropriate turntaking responses. The first set of na-function refers to deictic uses, which have four subtypes, namely: (1) Levinsons (2004) distinct demonstrative use that is the exophoric symbolic use. This deictic function does not require a gesture to establish its reference or index. For example, in the phrase Sa araw na ito which means on this day in English, here na is used as a demonstrative this. Even though this deictic function requires a reference point of the time and day of the speakers utterance yet a physical gesture or physical indication is not required for establishing its semantic content. This deictic use was identified in Riberas (2007) metaphorical discourse where the situational conditions for establishing reference were transposed from the natural to the textual (non-gestural). This was the process used in the class to reach both literal and inferential comprehension of a piece of literature (narrative short story). A difference of exophoric structure in English and Filipino appears in na. The word na is used both as a deixis and simultaneously as a linker of linguistic elements, unlike the English this/that which simply act as a deixis. To illustrate, the literal translation of this day in Filipino would be itong araw where the na is omitted. This is taken as an awkward form. (2) The second subtype is na used as an adverb in Magsiupo na. If we are to translate na as used in this phrase as meaning now then it could be considered as a pure indexical. However, in Filipino na is not an equivalent meaning with now. Instead it may be taken to mean as a command or the synonym of let us be seated. Consider the following illustrations: In S15 (pre-lesson teacher discourse), Prof. Esquivels utterance: Mahirap na iyong magbigay tayo ng sarili nating haka-haka ng hindi talaga nating alam kung ano ang nangyayari. This spoken utterance may have two senses depending on the intent of the speaker manifested by her suprasegmental effects such as juncture, length of pause, and other non-verbal cues such as facial expression or gesture used in the utterance. This example confirms Levinsons (2004) deictic description: The field of indexical expressions is in the last resort not clearly delimited, because in so far as most referring expressions are not fully individuating solely by virtue of their semantic content, but rather depend for success on states of mutual
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knowledge holding between participants in the discourse, the great majority of successful acts of reference depend on indexical conditions (p.21). Sense 1: Mahirap na / iyong magbigay tayo ng sarili nating haka-haka... 1 In this case, na expresses the speakers perspective of emphatic use of mahirap which is a polysemous word in Filipino which may denote/connote varied meanings depending on how it was used in the sentence or utterance. Mahirap na expresses levels of analogical or metaphorical difficulty as in: a) it is dangerous, b) it is rash, or c) it is wrong or unethical which are all possible interpretations that may have a synonymous sense to the Filipino slang sasabit tayo diyan (the English translation is there might be a glitch) which is an equivalent semantic content to mahirap na. Sense 2: Mahirap / na [iyong] + magbigay tayo ng sarili nating haka-haka... In this second sense, the na will function as a linker as in na magbigay. This second sense uses na as an infinitive structure comparable to English that means to give. This will alter the illocutionary act of the statement. Sense 1 emphasizes on the harm of unfounded conclusions while Sense 2 shifts the emphasis on the act of the verb which is na magbigay which doesnt literally mean to give as one donates a gift but more appropriately means to convey. Unlike Prof. Esquivels other statement: Sasamantalahin ko itong pagkakataong ito na paaalalahanan kayo... The use of na here has one unequivocal sense of na as linker to-preposition as in to warn since the preceding word to na is ito which cannot be used as ito na in a meaningful way in that particular context. Na in this utterance functions as an infinitive. (3) The third subtype is na used as an adverb already as in Tapos na (It is done) indicating a prior elapsed time to that of the speakers present utterance. Examples: 1. Niluluto na ng asawa niya yung manok. (The rooster is already being cooked.) 2. Ngayon palang natatawa na kayo pero... (At this point, you are already finding it funny, what more...) The first two examples indicate a proximate time in reference to the speaker. However, the use of na as already may also indicate a prior
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elapsed time from a contextual time reference, for instance, in example 3, an historical time reference was applied. Example 3: Mayroon na silang sariling literatura. (They already own a native literature.) (4) The fourth subtype uses na as a linker for the modifier with the word modified which may be considered parallel but not equivalent to the English that-clause. A valuable illustration of this deictic use is the phrase kapatid na babae which is translated literally in English as a sibling that is female or a female sister. On one hand, specific gender distinctive terms in English do not have a counterpart in Filipino, for example, the pronouns he and she in English do not exist in Filipino; only the generic siya is used. Likewise, there is no equivalent Filipino word for the English kinship reference sister or brother. On the other hand, there is a hierarchical kinship term for elder brother (kuya) or elder sister (ate) not found in English. There are also two other instances from the extract that is noteworthy in showing the importance of na as a linker in Filipino which would have no equivalent structure in English. In the second example, na is used to link the two elements susunod (next) and linggo (Sunday or a weeks time). Example 2 Student (Bernice): Naka. Nakatakda yoong laban nila sa susunod na linggo. English Translation: The cockfight would be scheduled next week. Example 3: Student (Leonard): Nakapagtapos mam [referring to Carlos Bulosans life], at maging ano, maging ganap na manunulat. English Translation: He was able to graduate in order to be an exemplary writer. These four subtypes of na deictic uses verify its extensive function as a deixis in Filipino and these deictic functions in turn would be the basis for its effectiveness as a cohesive device for both classroom spoken interaction and in narrative structure. This effectiveness would be further supported by the anaphoric uses discussed below. The second set of na function refers to anaphoric uses which are of two subtypes: (1) subordinate clause connective word and (2)
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relative pronoun uses. This first anaphoric use appeared frequently in the data analysis. (1) Clause connector a. ...isa na naming araw [na ipinagkaloob mo sa amin]. b. ...salamat po [na isa nanamang linggong katatapos naming]. c. ...sa lahat [na lagi kaming nagsisikap at lagging gumagawa]. d. ...kung totoo [na taga sa atin ang a namatay]... e. ...ipakita natin [na meron mang nagyaring ganito].... f. ...palatandaan [na malapit ka na sa Pangasinan]... g. ...uulitin ko uli [na sa paguulat ay kinakailangan]... h. ...sinabi ni Bernice [na si Carlos Bulosan ay nagmula]... i. ...binasa ni Bernice [na karamihan sa kuwento ni Carlos]... j. ...mga insect na lumilipad [na kumakain ng palay]... k. ...ipagpalagay... [na ang nagkukuento nito ay mismong may akda]... In Filipino, the non-deictic na use shows a necessity for grammatical well-formedness of the utterance which connects the matrix clause to the subordinate one as a relative pronoun functioning as an adjective clause. The speaker uses the nondeictic na as an anaphor for textual cohesiveness. (2) Anaphor: relative pronoun usages. This second subtype has an equivalent use of relative pronouns in English where na is used either as who (human) or which (non-human) when modifying the noun beside it. Examples: 1. mga kaibigan na hindi kayo ipapahamak = relative pronoun who (friends who would not bring you to harms way) 2. Lahat lahat ng palay sinira ng mga baling na galing sa karatig bayan. = relative pronoun which (All the rice grain was eaten by the insects which came from the nearby town.)
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Conclusion In Filipino, the word na may be used not merely as a demonstrative but may also function as an infinitive (the counterpart of the English infinitive to), an adverb, a relative pronoun, and even an equivalent of the English perfect tense categories. Because of the multifarious nature of na, it is a word that frequently appears in spoken discourses. This study showed that na in its deictic and anaphoric function further demonstrates this multifarious identity. The use of na as a deixis applies in its function as a demonstrative pronoun (exophoric symbolic) and spatial/temporal adverb deixis. Whereas the anaphoric use of na is shown in its function as a relative pronoun and the non-deictic na use. The latter anaphoric function is necessary in Filipino to achieve grammatical well-formedness of certain utterances. This non-deictic na use connects the matrix clause to the subordinate one as a relative pronoun functioning as an adjective clause. In Filipino spoken usage, it appears that deictic categories are less definite. The interlocutors are able to know the point of reference through focusing not on the agents themselves but on the action, event, or ideas spoken about. There is a tendency for Filipino utterances to exhibit the speakers self-effacing attitude. In Filipino, the action is stated first before the agent (deictic I or me). The findings of this study show that deictic and anaphoric categories have a distinct application, situational interpretation and structure in Filipino and may be used as a method of descriptive analysis for comparative study of deictic and anaphoric use for future research. As language teachers in a bilingual or even multilingual context, there is a need for these teachers to grasp and use the pragmatic component in language learning and language acquisition. In the Philippine context, the mother tongue of the majority of students nationwide is not Filipino but their regional language. In addition, the bilingual policy in Philippine schools requires both Filipino and English as the medium of instruction. Thus, learning two target languages, which in many instances are rarely used outside of the classroom, is quite a feat. Viewed from this perspective, pragmatics is a useful tool in deciding language learning approaches, styles, and strategies, realizing that pragmatic components, when
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applied in different languages vary in form, order and function which are largely a cultural construct. References De Boer, J. J. (1965). The new building better English 4th ed. New York: Harper & Row. Chalker, S., & Weiner, E. (1998). Dictionary of English grammar. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Crystal, D. (1985). A dictionary of linguistics and phonetics. New York: Basil Blackwell. Crystal, D. (1992). The Cambridge encyclopedia of language. Oxford: Blackwell. English, L. J. (1986). TagalogEnglish dictionary. Mandaluyong: National Pub. Glover, K. D. (2000). Proximal and distal deixis in negotiation talk. Journal of Pragmatics, 32, 915-926. Huang, Y. (2007). Pragmatics. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Levinson, S. C. (2004). Deixis and pragmatics. In L. R. Horn & G. Ward (Eds.), Handbook of Pragmatics. MA: Blackwell. Levinson, S. C. (1983). Pragmatics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Lyons, J. (1995). Linguistic Semantics: An introduction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Methven, A. (2006). A Comparative Study of Deixis in Chinese and English. Unpublished manuscript. School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. [on-line site] http://www.soas.ac.uk/ Metila, R.A. (2007) Recurrent patterns of English-Filipino code switching: Bases for language teaching modifications. Philippine Journal for Language Teaching, 46, 2-13. Nunberg, G. (1993) Indexicality and Deixis. Linguistics and Philosophy, 16, 1, 1-31. geyik, M.C. (2007) Deictic expressions and the types of deixis in Turkish narratives. The International Journal of Language Society and Culture, 22, 8-18. Ribera, J. (2007). Text deixis in narrative sequence. International Journal of English Studies, 7, 149-168. Swales, J. M. (1991). Genre analysis: English in academic and research
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settings. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. White, A. (2003). Classroom spoken discourse module: TESL/TEFL program. Birmingham: Birmingham University Press Yaguchi, M. (2001). The function of the non-deictic that in English. Journal of Pragmatics 33, 1125-1155. Endnote
1
This example in the analytic framework for indicated anaphoric uses were taken from the Tagalog-English Dictionary authored by Leo James English (1986) because the anaphoric use of whom was not applied in the discourse analysis transcription data used in the study. 2 Slash [/] is the symbol used to represent a juncture and the horizontal arrow [] is the symbol for subordinate clause marker.
About the Author Miren M. Morales is presently pursuing a Ph.D in Applied Linguistics at De La Salle University, Manila, Philippines. She earned two degrees from the University of the Philippines, Diliman; namely, Bachelor of Secondary Education and M.A. English Studies: Language. She has taught English, Communication, and Language Education courses for nine years in both private and public tertiary level schools in the Philippines. Her research interests include pragmatics, dramaturgy, World Englishes, and Bilingual Education. (e-mail addresses: miren.morales@dlsu.edu.ph;poshimoochie@yahoo.com)
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Modal Auxiliaries in Philippine English Newspapers: a Corpus-based Analysis Leah Espada Gustilo De La Salle University, Manila, Philippines Abstract The present study made use of five text categories sourced from newspapers in the data bank of the Philippine component of the International Corpus of English (ICE-PHI) compiled by Bautista, Lising, and Dayag (1999). The five text categories chosen for analysis belong to the major text category of written printed data: Skills and Hobbies (Instructional), Press Editorials (Persuasive), Press News Reports (Informational-Reportage), Humanities (Informational-Popular), and Social Science (Informational-Popular). The total number of texts analyzed for the present study is 50 (approximately 100,000 words). The present study aimed at describing the semantic functions of nine modals under study and investigating as to whether there are features in the use of modals in the Philippine context that do not conform to the current usage taught in the textbooks that conform to the American and British usage. The findings lead to tentative conclusions and implications to language teaching and open new windows for research. Key words: corpus-based analysis, Philippine English, Modal auxiliary Introduction The analysis of English modal auxiliaries has been a subject of lively interest among linguists who are particularly interested in characterizing its use in different varieties of English and in different genres of text-types (Coates, 1983 cited in Kennedy, 1998; Biber, Conrad & Randi 1998; Jung & Min, 1999). For one, the complexity of the meanings associated with modals has posed a challenge to both semantic theory and descriptive grammar (Jung & Min, 1998). It is no wonder that different classificatory labels have been made by different writers in their attempts to analyze the semantic functions of modals. For example, Quirk, Greenbaum, Leech, and Svartvik (1985) classify modals in terms of their root and epistemic meanings and
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Celce-Murcia and Larsen-Freeman (1983) in terms of their social interactional and logical uses. Verstraete (2001) talks about modals using deontic, epistemic, and dynamic categories. Yet some others such as Azar (2001), Swan and Walter (2001), and Swan (2001) describe the semantic functions of modals without much ado about classifications. Despite their differences in labeling, they all agree about the role of modal auxiliaries in expressing modality in language communication. As has always been the case, researchers tread different routes using different frameworks and approaches in investigating modal auxiliaries. For instance, modal verbs have been investigated within the Contrastive Rhetoric framework in order to prove the presence of culture in writing and the differences in writing traditions across cultures. Differences in distributional frequencies have been the basis for concluding different values attached to modals. Of interest is the work of Vassileva (2001) whose contrastive analysis of English, Bulgarian, and Bulgarian English academic texts has gleaned results pointing to popular use of modal verbs in expressing detachment when writing academic texts and the less importance given to modal verbs in expressing boosting or commitment to the proposition. More interestingly, research in modal verbs has been enriched using an approach to linguistic analysis known as corpus linguistics which has greatly expanded especially during the 1990s (Schneider, 2000). This cuttingedge development in terms of scientific techniques and methods lends itself to various investigations involving large quantities of data and computeraided analysis. Valuable information about the use of modals in different varieties of English has been made available through systematic corpusbased study. According to Kennedy (1998), Coates (1983) who used representative samples of about 200 tokens from each of the modals in the London-Lund and LOB corpora arrived at important findings which have become a baseline of comparative research on modals with other English varieties. Some of her findings include: (1) Would is the most frequent modal in written British English, while will is more favored in the spoken English; (2) Shall is used to express obligation much more in written than spoken texts; (3) there seems to be significant differences between genres in terms of relative frequency of the root and epistemic uses of some modals; and (4) the epistemic use of must, should, may and shall is more frequent than the root use in spoken compared to written English.
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Linguistics from the Outer Circle and the Expanding Circle, too, have made significant contributions to the characterization of modals using corpus analysis. Schneider (2000) exploited the Kolhapur Corpus to investigate how different or innovative Indian English is in comparison to two dominant norms, American and British English. In his analysis of subjunctives, he found that should is the dominant main structural alternative to subjunctives after suasive expressions in the Kolhapur Corpus and that Indian English tended to behave more similarly with British English than with American English. Bautista (2010) replicated Schneiders (2000) study using ICE-PHI and ICE-SIN, comparing the two Englishes with Indian English. Her findings indicated that should as a structural alternative to the subjunctive in ICE-PHI and ICE-SIN is not as frequent as it is in the Kolhapur corpus, adhering more to the American English pattern than it did to the British pattern. Jung and Min (1998), investigated the use of Korean English in Korean newspapers with respect to the other varieties of English. Three modals will, shall, and would were analyzed in terms of frequency and semantic functions. Some of their findings include: (1) Will and would are the most common modal forms; (2) Similar to other English varieties compared, the epistemic meanings are more common than root meanings. Bautista (2004), in her work on Philippine English verb usage inspired by Svalverg (1998) on Brunei English, investigated the responses of 205 Filipino university students to grammatically correct and incorrect verbforms in a Grammaticality Judgment Test. In the area of modal use, she found the participants to have had difficulty recognizing non-standard uses of would. In concomitance with the grammaticality test, she conducted a corpus-based analysis of would from local newspapers and journals. Her analysis revealed the presence of would non-standardisms in the data, which might be caused by the writers need to communicate non-assertively, imperfect learning, and the propensity to simplify complex structures. In the first glance, an evaluation of the previously mentioned literature on modal verbs seems to tell that a lot of information has already been given to describe English modal auxiliaries. However, there is more to be learned about the system of English modals in the context of Philippine English. Specifically, the semantic functions and complex verb-phrase structures of modal verbs in Philippine-English is still an unseeded ground.
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This gap in research triggered me to investigate the nine English modals in order to gain insights as to how they are used in five different subgenres of the newspaper genre in Philippine English. In particular, the present study aims at providing answers to the following questions: 1. What are the semantic functions attached to the nine modals that occurred in the five journalistic texts in the ICE-PHI corpus? 2. What are the most extensively used modals in the five text categories? 3. What are the similarities and differences in the use of modals across genres? 4. Are there unique features found in the use of modals in five text categories that do not conform to the current use of American and British English. Methodology Corpus The data used here were chosen from the larger data bank of the Philippine component of the International Corpus of English (ICE-PHI) compiled by Bautista, Lising, and Dayag (1999). The five text categories chosen for analysis belong to the major text category of written printed data. The five text categories which were sourced from newspapers include: Skills and Hobbies (Instructional), Press Editorials (Persuasive), Press News Reports (Informational-Reportage), Humanities (Informational-Popular), and Social Science (Informational-Popular). Since there are only 10 texts specified for Skills and Hobbies, Editorials, Humanities, and Social Science, I only made use of 10 out of 20 texts available in the Press News category. The total number of texts analyzed for the present study is 50 (approximately 100,00 words). Analytical Framework Coding of the semantic functions of the modals was largely based on the chart of modals by Azar (2001), which I modified in order to incorporate
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the functions listed by Quirk et al. (1985) and Swan (2001) on modals. For the analysis of would, the works of Svalverg, 1998; Bautista, 2004; Verstraete, 2001; Swan and Walter, 1997; and Alexander, 1988 proved to be very helpful (See Appendix A). Unit of Analysis The unit of analysis is the occurrence of each type of modal in the texts as identified by the concordance system of Wordsmith Tools. All the occurrences of each type of modal were manually analyzed in terms of their semantic functions and complex verb-phrase structures. Coding and Data analysis The first stage in the analysis involved coding of the semantic functions of modals based on the analytical framework adapted for the present study. Each occurrence of a modal was read thrice or more and coded according to its function in the sentence. The contextual environment of the modals in the sentences was considered. Lexical nouns that are homophones of modals were removed from the total count of occurrences during the process of coding. In the analysis of would , an intercoder who worked independently for a month coded half of the data. This action was resorted because of some of the problematic usages of would in the data. Trial sessions were made prior to the intercoding. Initially, we reached over 98% intercoder agreement, but 100% agreement was made after we settled some of the disagreements in coding. Stage two of the analysis consisted of the identification of the verbphrase structures in which the modals occur. Stage three involved tallying and percentaging of the distributional frequencies of the occurrences, complex verb-phrase structures, and semantic functions of modals.
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Results and Discussion Overall Distribution of the Nine Modals The total number of tokens of each modal in five text categories is summarized in Table 1. Table 1 Overall Distribution of the Nine Modals in the ICE-Phi Corpus Journalistic Texts Modals Will/'ll Can Would/'d Should May Could Must Might Shall Total Frequency 343 327 202 163 153 119 111 33 6 1,457 Percentage 23.50% 22.40% 13.90% 11.20% 10.50% 8.20% 7.60% 2.30% 0.40% 100%
The figures in Table 1 show that the most frequently occurring modal is will/ll, accounting for nearly one fourth of the total number of modals in five genres under study. This finding seems to agree with Jung and Mins (1999) observation that will outnumbers would in Korean English journalistic texts but runs counter to Coates (1983, cited in Kennedy (1998) finding that would is the most frequent modal in written British English. Would only comes next to can, which is the second most frequently used modal. Shall and might are infrequent modals and appear to be less important than should and may, respectively.
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Complex Verb-phrase Structures of Modals Table 2 lists the verb-phrase structures in which the modals occurred and the extent to which the modals are used in those structures. Table 2 Verb-phrase Structures of Modals in the ICE-Phi Journalistic Texts and their Frequencies Modal Structures Frequency Percentage Modal alone 3 0.21% Modal + Infinitive ( e.g. can attest) 1,113 76.38% Modal + be + Past Participle 231 15.90% (e.g. can be made) Modal + be + Present Participle 19 1.30% (e.g will be seeing) Modal + have + been + Past Participle 13 0.90% ( e.g. could have been said) Modal + have + Past Participle 51 3.50% (e.g. may have gone) Modal + Periphrastic modal + be + Past Participle 3 0.20% (e.g. may have to be deferred) Modal + Periphrastic modal + Infinitive 23 1.60% (e.g. may have to bear) Modal + be + Periphrastic modal + Infinitive 1 0.06% (e.g. may be able to do) Total 1,457 100% *Percentage is with respect to the total number of structures in all text categories As shown in Table 2, the modals occur in nine structures with different frequencies. Constituting the greatest percentage is the Modal + Infinitive (e.g. should call) and seconded by the Modal + be + Past Participle (e.g. can be erased) structure. There are only three structures which involved the combination of modals with semi modals (e.g. will have to be surpassed) and they are less common.
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Frequencies, Structures, and Semantic Functions of Modals in Each Text Category Can and Could The frequency of occurrence of can and could in each text category is presented in Table 3. Table 3 Frequency of occurrence of can and could
Skills / Hobbies Can Could 126/335 (37.6) 13/335 (3.9) Press Reportage 24/275 (8.7) 21/275 (7.6) Editorials 73/335 (20.6) 32/335 (9.01) Humanities 43/168 (25.6) 23/168 (17.7) Social Science 61/324 (18.8) 30/324 (9.25)
*Percentage is with respect to the total number of modals in each text category
It is clear that can is comparatively highly frequent than could across five genres. Can is more frequently used in editorials, social science, skills and hobbies, and humanities than in press reportage. Of the four genres, however, skills and hobbies tends to put more importance on the modal can. Why this is so cannot be answered by the present data, but we can conjecture that this striking difference may be attributable to the differences in content among the genres under consideration; that is, the texts in skills and hobbies may have focused on what one can possibly or able to do more than the other four journalistic genres. As regards the verb-phrase structure of can and could, we can see patterns in which they are more likely to occur . Can and could both have over 70% of their tokens in the Modal + Infinitive structure (e.g. can make, could speak). All five genres tend to unanimously give priority to Modal +Infinitive structure for both can and could. However, while can appeared only in two structures (Modal+Infinitive and Modal +Be+Past Participle), could is found in five verb-phrase structures, namely Modal+Infinitive, Modal +Be + Past Participle, Modal+Be+Present Participle, Modal +Have+Been+Past Participle and Modal+Have+Past Participle. Three major functions are associated with can and could; possibility, ability and permission; but only ability and possibility functions figured in
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the data. Table 4 presents the figures for the semantic functions of can and could. Table 4 Frequencies of the Semantic Functions of can and could
Modals CAN Ability Possibility Total COULD Possibility Ability (Past) Total 13 (100%) 0 13 (100%) 21 (100%) 0 21 (100%) 30 (93.8%) 2 (6.25%) 32 (100%) 18 (78.20%) 5 (1.7%) 23 (100%) 30 (100%) 0 30 (100%) 3 (2.0%) 123 (98.0%) 126 (100%) 3 (12.5%) 21 (87.5%) 24 (100%) 4 (5.5%) 69 (94.5%) 73 (100%) 11 (25.5%) 32 (74.4%) 43 (100%) 3 (4.9%) 58 (95.1%) 61 (100%) Skills/Hobbies Press Reportage Editorials Humanities Social Science
*Percentage is with respect to the total number of semantic functions of the modal in each text category
The possibility function of can and could constitutes the greatest percentage in all genres, a finding which parallels with that of Kennedy ( 1998). His analysis of the use of modals in the London-Lund and LOB corpora yielded results which revealed that the possibility meaning was the predominant function attached to can and could. According to Swan (2001), the possibility sense of can and could is associated with theoretical or general possibility, as in (1) and (2); while the ability sense is attached to general ability, as in (3) and (4).
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(1) <ICE-PHI:W2E-006#52:2> NPC solons can talk themselves to death and win the hearts of every freedom-loving Filipino, but there is no way they can get Charterchange die-hards to their side. (2) <ICE-PHI:W2E-008#71:5> There is a very real danger that the so-called <mention> 'lost commands' </mention> of the <indig> Moro </indig> rebel groups could seize the foreign journalists. (3) <ICE-PHI:W2E-010#109:3> They were undistinguished by name, property or intellectual gifts, so he lavished our taxes on his chums so they could pretend to be capitalists. (4) <ICE-PHI:W2B-008#12:1> From his various prints and watercolors of Filipinos, whether as streetwise urbanites ( 1974); overseas workers and scholars ( 1978); victims of natural calamities ( 1990); or as languid musicians ( 1995), BenCab proves he can dish out modern life with both gusto and sensitivity. May and Might The figures in Table 5 represent the frequency of occurrence of may and might in each text type.
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Table 5 Frequency of occurrence of may and might

Modals May Might Skills/Hobbies 46/335 (13.7) 3/335 (.89) Press Reportage 21/275 (7.6) 8/275 (2.9) Editorials 39/355 (11) Humanities 12/168 (7.1) Social Science 35/324 (11) 7/324 (2.2)
12/335 3/168 (1.8) (3.4) *Percentage is with respect to the total number of modals in each genre
The obviously striking difference between the two modals is the extensive use of may and the proportionally less common use of might in all genres. Of the five genres, however, may is more common in skills and hobbies, editorials and social science. Might received the least attention in skills and hobbies which only accounts for less than one percent of its total occurrences. May and might tokens tend to use quite extensively the modal+ infinitive structures . Interestingly, this is the same structure that mostly realized the can and could modals discussed earlier. But unlike the latter, may and might appear to have more verb-phrase structures. May occurred in five structures, while might in seven structures. Table 6 displays the frequencies of the semantic functions attached to may and might. Table 6 Frequencies and Semantic Functions of May and Might
Modals May Possibility Concession Permission Total Might Possibility 3 (100%) 8 (100%) 12 (100%) 3 (100%) 7 (100%) *Percentage is with respect to the total number of semantic functions of the modal in each text category 46 (100%) 21 (100%) 39 (100%) 12 (100%) 43 (93.5%) 3 (6.5%) 21 (100%) 38 (97.4%) 1 (2.6%) 1 (2.9%) 35 (100%) 12 (100%) 34 (97.1) Skills/Hobbies Press Reportage Editorials Humanities Social Science
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Looking specifically at the figures, we can see that all genres tend to give preference to may over might to express possibility. May and might are used to talk about the present or the future. They are used to say that there is a chance that something is true or possible, as in (5) and (6): (5). <ICE-PHI:W2E-010#120:3> But this failure to recognize a Filipino contribution may go deeper than language. (6). <ICE-PHI:W2B-011#126:2> A rebirth of central planning might just come about. Might can occur as a past form of may in indirect speech situations (e.g., We were afraid that you might be late), in which case, the tense of might is back shifted to the past tense verb of the main clause. However, there is no such construction that figured in the data. There is more to may than just the possibility meaning. It has a concessive force in main clauses preceding but, as in (7): (7). <ICE-PHI:W2E-001#59-60:2> Second, it is what Hillary Clinton should have fed US President Bill Clinton from the first time they met. There may be a firm basis for the first, but the second seems to rest on shaky grounds. There is one instance of may associated with formal request for permission: (8). <ICE-PHI:W2B-015#7:1> Though there are a variety of ways to answer these questions, may I suggest a rather unorthodox means?
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In sum, the difference between may and might in the present data is not only the less common use of might in favor of may to express possibility but also the number of meanings attached to each of them. Shall and Should Table 7 presents the frequency of occurrence of shall and should in each text category. Table 7 Frequency of Occurrence of shall and should
Modals Shall (with third person subject) Should Skills/Hobbies 0 42 (12.5%) Press Reportage 2 (.72%) 23 (8.4%0 Editorials 3 (.84%) 45 (12.7%) Humanities 0 14 (8.3%) Social Science 1 (.30%) 39 (12.0%)
*Percentage is with respect to the total number of modals in each genre
Shall is a rare modal auxiliary in both British and American English (Quirk et.al, 1985). As can be seen in Table 7, the present data seem to support this unpopular use of shall. The main functions of shall are bifurcated into two: prediction and volition, which are both associated with the first person subject (Quirk et. al, 1983; Swan & Walter, 1997). Although less favored than will in expressing information about the future, shall is used with no difference of meaning from will in most situations. I/we shall and I/we will had the same meaning (Swan & Swalter, 1997). Surprisingly, in the present data shall represents a usage that caused a difference between the exonormotive and Philippine English use of shall. Shall here is used with a predictive sense associated with the third person subject as in (9) and (10): (9). <ICE-PHI:W2D-008#28:1> They shall be represented to the fullest extent possible in the various bodies that formulate policies, subject to the existing by-laws and policies of such bodies. (10) <ICE-PHI:W2D-008#52:1>
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The University shall ensure that they are afforded support in pursuing graduate studies and participating in conferences/seminars and training programs to fulfill the abovementioned expectation in accordance with the provisions of the established Faculty Development Program. All five shall tokens in the data are predicated with the third person singular. This seems to suggest that shall has developed a meaning similar to that of the third person predictive sense of will. Or, to put it in another way, it seems that the association of shall with the first person subject as prescribed by grammar books (e.g. Quirk et al, 1985; Swan & Walter, 1997) is not respected in the current use of shall in the Philippine English journalistic texts. The tentative nature of this finding should be substantiated by an analysis involving larger amount of data. Table 8 Frequencies of the semantic functions of shall and should
Modal Functions SHALL Prediction (with 3rd person subject) SHOULD Advisability /Obligation Tentative Inference Hypothetical Total Skills and Hobbies 0 Press News Editorials Humanities Social Science 1 (100%)
2 (100%)
3 (100%)
37 (88%) 4 (9.4%) 1 (2.3%) 42 (100%)
20 (87%) 0 3 (13.0%) 23 (100%)
34 (76%) 10 (22.2%) 1 (2.2%) 45 (100%)
11 (78.6%) 2 (14.2%) 1 (7.1%) 14 (100%)
37 (95%) 2 (5%)
39 (100%)
Should is represented with more frequency in skills and hobbies, social science, and editorials than in press news and humanities . The majority of its tokens are found in Modal + Infinitive structures, over one fourth in Modal +Be + Past Participle, and a few in four other structures . Should, the more frequent relative of the modal ought to and the weaker counterpart of must, is used as the past form of shall in indirect speech and in future in the past situations and as a marker of hypothetical
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and putative meaning. It is also used to express tentative inference and when talking about obligation or giving advice. The last function of shall received more importance in the present data as confirmed by the frequency count of its main functions. According to Kennedy (1997), Mind (1995) has arrived at the same finding in his qualified analysis of the English Modals. The following excerpts are examples of its obligation/advisability function: (11) <ICE-PHI:W2E-001#59:2> Second, it is what Hillary Clinton should have fed US President Bill Clinton from the first time they met. (12) <ICE-PHI:W2E-005#53:3> The Department of Health should start a thorough and comprehensive testing of the quality of drinking water before a major outbreak of gastro-intestinal disease takes place in the city. Must Table 9 summarizes the frequency of occurrence of the modal must. Table 9 Frequency of occurrence of Must
36/355 25/168 (10.1) (14.9) *Percentage is with respect to the total number of modals in each categor Must Skills and Hobbies 12/335 (3.6) Press Reportage 5/275 (1.8) Editorials Humanities Social Science 33/324 (10.2)
Must is exploited in editorials, humanities, and social sciences ; it is less common in skills and hobbies and press reportage. It occurs in five complex verb-phrase structures but tends to exploit more extensively the Modal+Infinitive structure . The logical necessity sense of must appears to be outnumbered by the obligation/compulsion meaning which is uniformly favored in all text categories (see table 10 below).
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Table 10 Frequency of the semantic functions of must

Modal Functions Logical Necessity Obligation/compulsion Total Skills and Hobbies 0 12 (100%) 12 (100%) Press News 0 5 (100%) 5 (100%) Editorials 5 (13.9%) 31 (86.1%) 36 (100%) Humanities 4 (16%) 21 (84%) 25 (100%) Social Science 2 (6.0%) 31 (93.9%) 33 (100%)
The advisability/compulsion of must is exemplified in (13) and the logical necessity in (14): (13)< ICE-PHI:W2E-005#67:4> The group takes another tack, saying that <quote> “ the constitutional mandate ( Article II-Section 15) requiring the State to protect and promote the right of health of the people and instill health consciousness among them, must include the duty to warn the people of products, places and conditions that may be injurious to their health. ” </quote> (14)<ICE-PHI:W2E-009#88:3> Congressmen, including the whistle blowers, are certainly aware of this constitutional requisite and they must have already been alerted to the fact that whatever provisions were included in the Omnibus Power Bill on second reading would be no different when the third reading comes about.
Will and Would The frequency of occurrence of will and would in five text categories is summarized in Table 11.
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Table 11 Frequency of Occurrence of Will and Would

Modal Will/'ll Would /'d Skills/Hobbies 78/335 (23.3) 15/335 (4.5) Press Reportage 112/275 (40.7) 59/275 (21.5) Editorials 61/355 (17.2) 54/355 (15.2) Humanities 18/168 (10.7) 30/168 (17.9) Social Science 74/324 (22.8) 44324 (13.6)
As shown above, will is more favored than would in all text categories except in humanities where would outnumbers will. Will is used quite extensively in press news first, next in skills and hobbies, then in social science, and last in editorials. Would is utilized in editorials, social science and humanities, but not as often as in press news. The majority of the tokens of will and would occurs in Modal +Infinitive structures. However, would occurs in 7 structures, while will in only 4 structures. The main functions associated with will are those of prediction and volition which are closely related to the future concept. Table 12 presents the figures for the semantic functions of will. Table 12 Frequency of the semantic functions of will
Functions of Will Prediction Volition Total Skills and Hobbies 63 (88.5%) 9 (11.5%) 78 (100%) Press News 106 (94.6%) 6 (5.4%) 112 (100%) Editorials 50 (82%) 7 (18%) 61 (100%) Humanities 12 (67%) 6 (33%) 18 (100%) Social Science 71 (96%) 3 (4%) 7 (100%)
As can be seen in Table 12, the prediction sense in (15) supersedes the volitional meaning of will in all text categories. (15) <ICE-PHI:W2B-004#67:1> The Executive House which is where the administrative office of the National Museum is located, will open in 2001 as the National Museum of Art.
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The volition sense of will includes both willingness and intention, as in (16) and (17). However, it is not easy to distinguish the willingness sense from the intention sense of will. (16)<ICE-PHI:W2E-006#44:2> To the question which is foremost in everyone 's mind--Why does nobody believe the President when he says he will not stay any minute longer in his post after his six-year term ends on June 30, 1998?--the Cardinal provided the answer. (17) <ICE-PHI:W2C-002#19:1> This time, he said, the new lawyers will be concentrating on nothing but the recovery of the Marcos assets with the collaboration of state prosecutors. Similar to will, would carries predictive meaning which includes prediction in the past sense or future in the past situations and habitual prediction which describes characteristic behavior or personal habits (Quirk et. al, 1985). In addition, would is also used to express habitual behavior in the past tense narratives, politeness, volition, hypothetical meaning, and non-assertion/less definite form of will/hedging. Table 13 summarizes the frequencies of the semantic functions of would. As shown in Table 13, the functions of would received different frequencies in five text categories; but its striking feature lies in the preponderance of prediction in the past sense in the press reportage category and of non-assertion in press reportage and editorials texts. While the present data limit us from making a claim about the differences in figures, we can offer an explanation that may be traced to genre constraints. As is well known, press reportage deals with a type of discourse that reports events and information that tend to exploit reported speech constructions. What is said by the original speaker in the future or present tense becomes a future in the past or an indirect speech situation when reported in the news. Clearly then, it comes as no surprise to find predictions in the past sense proliferate in press reportage. In the case of the clustering or nonassertion/less definite form of will meaning of would in press reportage and editorial texts, perhaps, there is a greater need for the writers in press
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reportage and editorials to show non-assertion or less definiteness when they write about events that may have an uncertain outcome, or when they talk about topics for which they lack certainty. Table 13 Frequency of the Semantic Functions of Would
Functions of Would Prediction Past Prediction or Future in the past' Habitual prediction Volition/Preference Polite for 'want' Hypothetical Non-assertion/less definite form of will/hedging Others Total Skills and Hobbies 1 3 3 0 3 5 Press News 31 5 1 0 3 16 Editorials Humanities Social Science 8 6 4 4 7 12
9 2 3 0 13 24
3 10 0 1 6 9
0 15
3 59
3 54
1 30
3 44
The following excerpts are examples of the semantic functions of would identified in the present data: Past Prediction/Future in the Past (18). <ICE-PHI:W2C-001#6:1> But while the government said it would exert all efforts to reach an accord with the MILF, the military reported violations of a truce signed last week. Here, would is backshifted to the past tense verb of the main clause as triggered by the indirect speech situation. Volition/Preference (19) <ICE-PHI:W2A-007#50:1>
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The Moros in particular viewed the Filipinos as Christians and they would not want to be called Filipinos because they would not want to become Christians. (20) <ICE-PHI:W2C-001#16:1> Mr. Estrada had said he would not give in to the rebels ' demands but agreed to meet Salamat late this month to discuss economic prospects in mineral-rich Mindanao. Sometimes, it is difficult to distinguish between the future in the past sense and the volitional sense, as in (18) above because would in (20) is also within the indirect speech construction. Only the context of the sentence tells that the sense of would here is volition because it talks about preference between two options. Habitual behavior (21) <ICE-PHI:W2B-014#89:1> In fact, they told of how their pupils, children of poor peasant Muslim families, would go to school with rice and <mention> Silver Swan </mention> ( brand of soy sauce) as meal. Politeness (22) <ICE-PHI:W2D-020#58:1> We would like <indig> Mang </indig> Luis and others like him to learn a better way of doing what they already know. The quality is not consistent and the color fades or runs. Hypothetical meaning (23)<ICE-PHI:W2B-012#133:3> Many Filipinos will likely tell Orwell that the world would be better off if permanently rid of the likes of Echegaray. Non-assertion/less definite form of will/hedging
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Drawing on Svalberg (1998), and Bautista (2004), would may express non-assertion when talking about an uncertain future or an uncertain outcome for which the writer lacks complete certainty. This meaning of would appears to correspond to what Alexander (1988) calls the less definite form of will which is used when we want to sound less definite (p. 238), or to what other writers such as Vassileva (2001) observes as a hedging device to show attenuation as in the extracts below: (24)<ICE-PHI:W2E-006#101:4> With his decision to convert a 53-hectare land in Rizal into a golf course, Torres is being asked, didn't he anticipate the problems his actions would create on the water situation in the metropolis? </p> (25) <ICE-PHI:W2E-006#103:4> Torres ' latest reversal of a DAR ruling would pave the way for the building of a 36-hectare golf course that, farmers say, would naturally damage the watershed area nearby. </p> The writer here writes about events in the future which are not preprogrammed. It appears that the use of would is a manifestation of a nonassertive claim, considering that the building of a golf course and the damage of the watershed may or may not happen in the future. (26) <ICE-PHI:W2B-015#113:2> They would ease a lot of the problems of government welfare and human rights agencies by suggesting to their flock how to treat each other and behave more humanely, especially during life-threatening situations. In (26) the writer talks about a possibility that priests may help resolve some of the problems of the government, an outcome which is uncertain. The writer appears to have used would to make his/her claim less definite. (27). <ICE-PHI:W2B-017#101:2> This would turn out to be slightly above 59 percent.
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Would is also used when the writer is making an approximation of facts as in the above example (27). Here would seems to show that the author is quite uncertain about the exact figure. (28). <ICE-PHI:W2B-018#49:1> The idea is to become the most user friendly foreign investment code in the Asia-Pacific, to come up with a code that would basically give foreign investors “ national treatment, ” or providing them with equal rights as domestic investors. </p> In (28), would is contrasted to must. The must sentences prior to the sentence where would occurs tend to show the authors certainty about the information he/she conveys. Whereas, in the sentence where would is found, it appears that would is meant to express a hedged claim about an uncertain result in the future. Others For a lack of a better term, others is placed here for the senses of would that appear to be problematic and fail to be accounted for by the non-assertion/less definiteness/hedging sense of would, a result which Bautista (2004) also found in her study. To illustrate: (29) The synchronization will include all annual investments in the National Capital Region of all the cities and municipalities and the national government [ICE-PHI:W2E-008#21:2]. This would be part of the Regional Development Plan for the National Capital Region [ICEPHI:W2E-008#22:2]. In the first sentence, the author wrote about an announcement made by a politician on the synchronization of annual investments using the modal will, which is associated with 100% certainty (Azar, 2001). The second sentence, which is still referring to the synchronization, was expressed with would. Why did the writer use would to express a proposition that was formerly associated with certainty in the same linguistic environment? This is a question in which we do not have an answer as of the moment.
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(30) They were asked to rate each one as <mention> “ Very Important, ” </mention> <mention> “ Somewhat Important ” </mention> or <mention> “ Not Important. ” </mention> [ICE-PHI:W2B-019#25:1] The summary indicator would be the margin of importance: percentage of <mention> Very Important </mention> minus percentage of <mention> Not Important </mention> [ICE-PHI:W2B-019#26:1]. (31) The summary margin was the sum of the percentages for <mention> Very Important </mention> and <mention> Fairly Important </mention> , minus the sum of the percentages for <mention> Not Very Important </mention> and <mention> Not at All Important </mention> [ICE-PHI:W2B-019#55:1]. The writer in (30) and in (31) reports about findings of a study which was conducted in the past. It was puzzling why he used would in (30) but later used was in (31) to refer to the same statistical item. The nonassertion/less definiteness theory cannot account for the would in (30) because the context of the sentences tells that the writer talks about a past event. She/He has nothing to hedge or to be less definite about because the action referred to was in the past. It appears that the usage of would here is problematic. Conclusion and Recommendations I would like now to give a thumbnail summary of the salient findings of this study. 1. The most frequently occurring modal in the journalistic texts considered is will. 2. The greatest percentage that constitutes the semantic functions of can, could, may, and might is the possibility meaning, corroborating previous findings about these modals. Can and may are more extensively used than could and might to express possibility. 3. Shall, an infrequent modal in American and British English, is also found to be unpopular in the present data. However, the association of shall with the 3rd person subject diverges from the exonormotive use of shall which associates it with the first person subject.
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4. Must and should are predominantly attached to the obligation sense. 5. The predictive sense of will outnumbers its volitional sense. 6. Three findings about would are quite revealing: (1) It has the most number of functions; (2) There seems to be a preponderance of the future in the past semantic function of would in the press reportage category and of non-assertion/less definiteness/hedging sense in press reportage and editorials texts; (3) There are problematic usages of would that cannot be accounted for by non-assertion. It is puzzling why a writer is very certain in the first mention of a topic using will, then uses would in the next mention within the same linguistic context. 7. The modals appear in 9-verb phrase structures. Modal +Infinitive structure, which accounts for almost 80% of the modal structures, is the most represented verb-phrase structure. 8. Why a modal or a semantic function of a modal is more frequently favored in one genre but less extensively used in other genres is difficult to tell. However, some of the differences in the frequencies of modals may be accounted for by the differences in the nature of genres being considered. The findings of this corpus-based investigation of modal auxiliaries suggest the following tentative conclusions and recommendations. First, the patterns of use of modal auxiliaries in the texts considered mirror some characteristics of Philippine English in relation to other English varieties. Most of the modal auxiliaries conform to the norms of the dominant native English varieties, with the exception of shall and would. Such findings could serve as an eye-opener to researchers and might propel them to further examine the matter. Second, it also suggests that investigations of language use or structure across genres be proliferated, since different genres or text-types may be responsible for why a particular linguistic variable behaves differently in different contexts or linguistic situations. Third, since corpus-based analysis of language seems to be an effective approach to linguistic description, more studies of this nature must be done. It does not only introduce efficient linguistic description by allowing automatic analysis of texts, it also greatly expands the empirical bases of analysis while, at the same time, saves the researcher from the drudgery usually associated with linguistic analysis.
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Finally, the findings of this study reveal that shall has a divergent use from the currently prescribed usage of native English variety. Further investigations must be made to ascertain if this is a feature of Philippine English. Would has several complex semantic functions that may have caused some of the problems in its usage in the present data. It might prove beneficial if language curriculum designers, as well as language teachers, take a deeper look at how modals are given importance and taught in our schools. References Alexander, L.G. (1988). Longman English grammar. London: Longman. Azar, B. S. (2002). Understanding and using English grammar (3rd ed.). New York: Longman. Bautista, M. L. S. (2004). The verb in Philippine English: A preliminary analysis of modal would. World Englishes, 23(1), 113-127 Bautista, M. L. S. (2010). Exemplary analyses of the Philippine English Corpus. In L. Billings & N. Goudswaard (Eds.), Piakandatu ami Dr. Howard P. McKaughan (pp. 5-23). Manila: Linguistic Society of the Philippines and SIL Philippines. Biber, D., Conrad, S., & Reppen, R. (1998) Corpus linguistics: Investigating language structure and use. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Celce-Murcia, M., & Larsen-Freeman, D. (1983). The grammar book: An EFLESL teachers course. Rowley, MA: Newbury House Publishers, Inc. Flowerdew, L. (2003). A combined corpus and systematic-functional analysis of the problem-solution pattern in a student and professional corpus of technical writing. Tesol Quarterly, 37(3), 489-510. Jung, K., & Min, S. J. (1999). Some lexico-grammatical features of Korean English Newspapers. World Englishes, 18(1), 23-27. Kennedy, G. (1998). An introduction to corpus linguistics. New York and London: Longman. Quirk, R., Greenbaum, S., Leech, G., & Svartvik, J. (1985). A comprehensive grammar of the English language. NY: Longman. Verstraete, J. C. (2001). Subjective and objective modality: Interpersonal and Ideational functions in the English modal auxiliary system. Journal of Pragmatics, 33(21), 1505-1528.
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Vassileva, I. (2001). Commitment and detachment in English and Bulgarian academic writing. English for Specific Purposes, 20, 83-102. Schneider, E. (2000) Corpus linguistics in the Asian context: exemplary analysis of the Kohlapur corpus of Indian English. In M. L. S. Bautista, T. Llamzon, & B. Sibayan (Eds), Parangal Cang Brother Andrew: Festschrift for Andrew Gonzales for his sixtieth birthday, 115-37. Manila: Linguistic Society of the Philippines. Svalvberg, A. (1998) Nativization in Brunei English: deviation vs. standard. World Englishes, 17(3), 325-44. Swan, M. (1980). Practical English usage. Oxford University Press. Swan, M., & Walter, C. (1997). How English Works. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
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Appendix A
The asterisks indicate which author whose description for a modal function was adapted in the study. The examples in the table are copied from the sources listed above except for the 5th and 6th function of would which were extracted from the present data.
Table 1 Coding Categories for the Nine modals

AUXILIARY USES PRESENT/FUTURE PAST
May
Might Should
1. Permission** 2. Possibility** 3. Subordinate clauses of concession or purpose 4. Polite request (only with I or we) ** (1) Possibility** (1) Advisability/Obligation**
You may leave the room. We may never succeed. We may have our differences, but May I borrow your pen? He might be at the Library I should study tonight. He said he might be at the library. I should have studied last night, but I didnt.
(2) Tentative inference* (3) Hypothetical clauses*
Must
(1) Obligation/compulsion /strong necessity** (2) logical deduction** (1) 100 % certainty/ Prediction** (2) Willingness/Decisions/Intentions*** (1) Ability* (2) Possibility*
The mountains should be visible from here. Should an electrical failure occur in the motor, the grounded plug will protect the uses I must go to class today. Mary isn't in the class today. She must be sick . He will be here at 6:00. The phones ringing. Ill get it. Can you remember where they live? Even expert drivers can make mistakes. I could run fast when I was a child. He could have been at home. Mary must have been sick today.
Will
Can
Could
(1) Past ability**
(2) Possibility** (3) Polite request**
He could be at home. Could you help me?
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Shall Future prediction (with I or we as a subject)** 1) Prediction Past Prediction/Future in the Past* I shall arrive at nine.
Would
I was told that I would feel better after this medicine. The old lady would sit in front of the television continuously. I would rather go to the park than stay home. I would like an apple, please. If there were an accident, we would have to report it. (Name)'s latest reversal of a DAR ruling would pave the way for the building of a 36hectare golf course that farmers say, would naturally damage the. The synchronization will include all annual investments in the National Capital Region of all the cities and municipalities and the national government. This would be a part of the Regional Development of Metro Manila, which includes
Habitual Prediction/behavior* 2) Volition/Preference**
I would rather have gone to the park.
3) Polite form for want (with like) ** 4) Hypothetical (mostly in conditional sentence with if)* 5) Non-assertiveness/Less definite form of hedging (when talking about an uncertain future or when showing non-assertion)****
6) Others. The usage is problematic. It does not fit in any of the categories above.
* Quirk et al (1985) ** Azar (2001) *** Swan (1988) **** Bautista, 2004/Verstraete (2001)
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About the Author Leah Espada-Gustilo, Ph.D., is a full-time professor and the vice-chairperson in the Department of English and Applied Linguistics at De La Salle University-Manila, Philippines, teaching English communication, discourse analysis, qualitative research, translation and editing, and foundations of language. Her research interests concern contrastive rhetoric, computermediated discourse analysis, ESL writing, and Philippine English. She has published articles on contrastive rhetoric, online self-presentation, and language learning.

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Philippine ESL Journal, Vol.

Volume 6, February 2011

2011 Time Taylor International ISSN 1718-2298

Philippine ESL Journal, Vol. 4, February 2010

The Philippine ESL Journal: Volume 6, February 2011

2011 Time Taylor International ISSN 1718-2298

Philippine ESL Journal, Vol. 4, February 2010

THE PHILIPPINE ESL JOURNAL

2011 Time Taylor International ISSN 1718-2298

2011 Time Taylor International ISSN 1718-2298

2011 Time Taylor International ISSN 1718-2298

2011 Time Taylor International ISSN 1718-2298

2011 Time Taylor International ISSN 1718-2298

2011 Time Taylor International ISSN 1718-2298

Philippine ESL Journal, Vol. 6, February 2011

Philippine ESL Journal, Vol. 6, February 2011

Philippine ESL Journal, Vol. 6, February 2011

Philippine ESL Journal, Vol. 6, February 2011

Philippine ESL Journal, Vol. 6, February 2011

2011 Time Taylor International ISSN 1718-2298

Philippine ESL Journal, Vol. 6, February 2011

2011 Time Taylor International ISSN 1718-2298

Philippine ESL Journal, Vol. 6, February 2011

Philippine ESL Journal, Vol. 6, February 2011

Philippine ESL Journal, Vol. 6, February 2011

Philippine ESL Journal, Vol. 6, February 2011

Philippine ESL Journal, Vol. 6, February 2011

2011 Time Taylor International ISSN 1718-2298

Philippine ESL Journal, Vol. 6, February 2011

Philippine ESL Journal, Vol. 6, February 2011

2011 Time Taylor International ISSN 1718-2298

Philippine ESL Journal, Vol. 6, February 2011

2011 Time Taylor International ISSN 1718-2298

Philippine ESL Journal, Vol. 6, February 2011

Table 5 Functions of an Utterance that Follows an Acknowledgment

Philippine ESL Journal, Vol. 6, February 2011

Philippine ESL Journal, Vol. 6, February 2011

2011 Time Taylor International ISSN 1718-2298

Philippine ESL Journal, Vol. 6, February 2011

Philippine ESL Journal, Vol. 6, February 2011

2011 Time Taylor International ISSN 1718-2298

Philippine ESL Journal, Vol. 6, February 2011

Philippine ESL Journal, Vol. 6, February 2011

Philippine ESL Journal, Vol. 6, February 2011

2011 Time Taylor International ISSN 1718-2298

2011 Time Taylor International ISSN 1718-2298

2011 Time Taylor International ISSN 1718-2298

2011 Time Taylor International ISSN 1718-2298

2011 Time Taylor International ISSN 1718-2298

2011 Time Taylor International ISSN 1718-2298

2011 Time Taylor International ISSN 1718-2298

2011 Time Taylor International ISSN 1718-2298

% 16.67 55.96 9.17 3.67 5.50 2.75 6.42

2011 Time Taylor International ISSN 1718-2298

2011 Time Taylor International ISSN 1718-2298

2011 Time Taylor International ISSN 1718-2298

2011 Time Taylor International ISSN 1718-2298

2011 Time Taylor International ISSN 1718-2298

2011 Time Taylor International ISSN 1718-2298

2011 Time Taylor International ISSN 1718-2298

2011 Time Taylor International ISSN 1718-2298

Pure Indexicals: I now here

relevant index speaker time place

(2) Possibility (3) Polite request