August 25, 2012

Investigating the grammatical features

of Philippine English
(Ma. Lourdes Bautista)
Prepared and discussed by:
RUDY P. ESPOSO II
MAEd ELT
English expressions which are
neither American nor British,
which are acceptable and used
in Filipino educated circles, and
are similar to expression
patterns in Tagalog. (Llamzon,
1969:46)
To validate the features already
identified by using a
concordancing program on the
one-million word Philippine
corpus, the Philippine
component of the International
Corpus of English (ICE-PHI)
Identify which grammatical
features occur in ICE-PHI, and
investigate their frequency of
occurrence in comparison with
their occurrence in the other
corpora
Corpus Analysis using the
concordance program in Oxford
University Press WordSmith
Tools (version 4) applied to the
one-million word corpus each
for the Philippines, Singapore,
Hong Kong, and Great Britain
Forms:
with a plural noun (one of the
boys)
followed by a collective noun
(one of the crowd)
followed by an adjective in
superlative
degree (one of the finest)
Table 1.
One of the Noun in ICE corpora
Corpus
Occurrences of
one of the
+ Plural noun/
collective noun/
adjective
(Standard Use)
+ Singular noun
(Non-Standard
Use)
No. % No. %
ICE PHI 383 358 93.5 25 6.5
ICE SIN 285 256 89.8 29 10.2
ICE HK 403 319 79.2 84 20.8
ICE GB 423 418 98.8 5 (?) 1.2
Examples:
Thats one of the related
problem we
will also be discussing. (PHI.s)
Okay one of the good example
is the
bottom one. (SIN.s)
CRM will become one of the
high
growth area in the IT industry in
the
coming years. (HK.w)
British dataset:
and that Rupert Sheldrake is
one of
the leading sort of biologists
(GB.s)
I mean this is one of the big sort
of uh
criticisms of the Jackonian
period in the
eighteen thirties. (GB.s)
Possibly one of the best variety
of
statistical mapping is isoline
mapping.
(GB.w)
Questions raised:
Is the presence of the singular
noun
influenced by the presence of the
number
one?
Is it due to interference from the
first
language (in Tagalog, for
instance, the
plural marker mga is optional in a
phrase
with isa one: isa sa tanong ko
alternates
with isa sa mga tanong ko one of
my
questions)?
Three of the most common
words in the English language
are also three of the most
difficult to use. We are referring
to the articles a, an, and the.
(Swales & Feak, 1994:221)
Table 2.
Majority in I CE Corpora
Corpus
Occurrences of
Majority
With article
(Standard Use)
Without article
(Non-Standard
Use)
No. % No. %
ICE PHI 76 54 71.1 22 28.9
ICE SIN 62 58 93.5 4 6.5
ICE HK 87 74 85.1 13 14.5
ICE GB 95 95 100.0 0 0.0
Examples:
But a survey done by Pulse Asia
shows
majority of their respondents
want
President Estrada to keep his
post.
(PHI.s)
The Philippine production
system is
currently at the pre-industrial
stage, i.e.
majority of the animals subsist
on
valueless resources. (PHI.w)
Examples:
Uh our own uh indications surveys
had
uh shown that majority of
Singaporeans
support this particular relief.
(SIN.s)
Footprint is an organization of
enthusiastic university students
towards
nature and environmental
protection,
majority of whom are students or
graduates of from the Chinese
University
of Hong Kong. (HK.w)
Questions raised:
Is majority equated with many
and
therefore an article is not
required?
Is majority so closely associated
with the
ready-made phrases majority
voting or
majority decision or majority
opinion in the
speakers minds that they omit
the
article when majority is used as
a noun?
Forms:
followed by the indefinite article a/an
when it is used as a count noun
(such a story)
the article is not needed when the
noun
following such is a mass noun (such
information)
or a plural count noun (such books)
or when
such is preceded by a modifier such
as no, one,
any, first (no such proposal, one
such proposal)
Table 3.
Such + Noun in Asian Corpora
Corpus
Total number
of
Such + Noun
Use of a/an or
Standard Use
Non-Standard
Use
Indeterminate
Use
No. % No. % No. %
ICE PHI 256 224 87.5 20 7.8 12 4.7
ICE SIN 282 259 91.8 17 6.0 6 2.1
ICE HK 419 318 75.9 71 16.9 30 7.2
Examples:
the House of Representatives is
not
attempting to raise the standard
of
ethical perfection for our political
leadership nay for all of us.
Such person
does not walk the earth today
even after
Jesus Christ redeemed mankind
from
original sin. (PHI.s)

Examples:
But the President said he is
willing to
do that for the sake of the
people if such
act would bring down the oil
prices.
(PHI.w)
We hope that with such
instrument
given to our students thereby
they will
be able to make use of the
CADCAM
facilities. (SIN.s)
Examples:
but anyway the documents uh
of the Po
Leung Kuk Archives do reflect
such
disguise and I will uh explain
about uhm
the Archives later. (HK.w)

Colloquial Singapore English:
Nobody eat uh only him. He
doesnt
like such thing one you know.
He
doesnt order this kind. (SIN.s)

Hong Kong data:
And so I want to find such kind
of job.
(HK.s)
We have such thing called shop
houses.
(HK.s)

The indeterminate (i.e.
borderline) cases are those
where anaphoric reference
takes place, with such + noun
referring in meaning and form to
a previous utterance.
Examples:
In case of an approved
absence, the
event is recorded in the faculty
class
record, but such absence is not
counted
toward a students excess, as
indicated
in Section 6.5. (PHI.w)

{such absence > an approved
absence}
Examples:
A planting holemust be dug and
backfilled with a good quality top
soil
and compost mixture. It would
also be
advantageous to add more of
such soil
mixture to form a mound. (SIN.w)

{such soil mixture > such soil and compost
mixture}
Analysis:
In the Philippine context,
the appearance of such without an
article preceding singular noun
might be the result of applying a
simplification rule, something along
the lines of use such without an
article in all instances since, after
all,
that is the rule.
The verb assure requires an
indirect object followed by a
(that)-clause direct object. (Quirk
et al., 1985:1213)
Table 4.
Assure in I CE Corpora
Corpus
Occurrences
of Assure
+ Indirect
Object
(Standard
Use)
Indirect
Object and
other non-
standard uses
(Non-Standard
Use)
Followed by a
simple Noun
Phrase
(Indeterminate
Use)
No. % No. % No. %
ICE PHI 75 55 73.3 9 12.0 11 14.7
ICE SIN 42 37 88.1 4 9.5 1 2.4
ICE HK 33 23 69.7 7 21.2 3 9.1
ICE GB 18 17 94.4 0 0.0 1 5.6
Examples:
The President assured he is not
merely
laying down the basis to declare
Martial
Law. (PHI.s)
He assured that in addition he is
planning to send a set of
moldings to
inject. (SIN.s)
Examples:
this will allow us to investigate
the
exact cause of the failure and
assure that
this does not occur again in any
future
productions. (HK.w)


The indeterminate use
category in the table earlier
refers to a noticeable variation
in the use of assure in the
corpora, its use with a simple
noun phrase as direct object,
i.e. assure not completed by an
indirect object and a (that)-
clause direct object but assure
simply completed by a noun
phrase direct object.
Examples:
That they would assure the rapid
development and improvement
of our
military capability. (PHI.s)
the review process should be set
up for
efficiency and effectiveness
while
assuring the protection of public
health
and environmental safety.
(PHI.w)
Examples:
And Asias upcoming Tiger
Vietnam
assures its commitment to
foreign
investors. (SIN.s)
Excellent point I would have to
say that
that assures the efficiency and
power that
Lego ad hoc has... (HK.w)
Analysis:
The use of assure without an
indirect object in the Philippine data
may again be the result of a
simplification process, abetted by the
fact that in Philippine languages noun
phrases can be dropped optionally.
Since the indirect object can be
determined from the context and
occasionally seems redundant, that
might be the explanation for the
inclination to drop it.
The canonical use of wherein is
given by Collins COBUILD
Dictionary (1987:1661), which
labels wherein as a formal and
old-fashioned word;
it is a relative pronoun that means
in which place and
in which part or respect.
Table 5.
Wherein in the different Corpora
Corpus Occurrences of Wherein
ICE PHI 78
ICE SIN 0
ICE HK 2
ICE GB 1
Wherein is used in both speech and
writing (surprisingly, in speech so far
more than in writing), in dialogic and
monologic speech, in informal and
formal text categories. It appeared in
conversation, class lessons,
broadcast discussions and interviews,
parliamentary debates, legal cross-
examinations, business transactions,
unscripted speeches, legal
presentations, student untimed
essays, social letters, and news press
reports among others.
Examples:
Yeah just like the Flintstones that
Flintstones advertisement wherein
the
kid one time uhm her Mom went out
oh
I think went to work. (PHI.s)
Conversation
Yes one potential danger if you have
fall-outs
from the volcanic eruption is you get
a very
irritating skin disease wherein you
have a
freckle-like uh spots. (PHI.s)
Broadcast Discussion
Examples:
Then there was the Moscow Treaty
wherein
Germany and USSR agreed that they
will not
use violence on each others
territories.
(PHI.w)
Student Exam Essay
Dont worry about weight because it
is a very
small tool wherein you could put the
whole
container into your back
pocket.(PHI.w)
Social Letter
But wherein also corresponds to in
which, by which, through which, etc.
in other varieties of English, when
where is inappropriate and the
speaker/writer would need to choose
the right preposition before which.
As further proof, consider the fact that
many of the instances of wherein in
the data appear to substitute for the
Tagalog all-purpose linker and
relativizer na, which links words,
phrases, and clauses.
Examples:
And I dont like her reasoning na she
doesnt
wanna pay me because its not her
priority
because I have money. (PHI.s)
Will it be some kind of a lovers
quarrel na
after a short period of time theyre
back in
bed but under more honorable
conditions.
(PHI.s)