Nativisation and acceptability in Malaysian English

Malaysian English (ME) grammar is said to contain unique, local features that exist alongside exonormative counterparts. Such usages are often regarded as errors by prescriptivists although their widespread use especially through the basilect and mesolect may prompt some descriptivists to label them...

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Main Author:	Wahid, Ridwan
Format:	Conference or Workshop Item
Language:	English English
Published:	2013
Subjects:	P Philology. Linguistics PE English
Online Access:	http://irep.iium.edu.my/34673/ http://irep.iium.edu.my/34673/1/ESEA_2013_Tentative_Conference_Programme-vFINAL.pdf http://irep.iium.edu.my/34673/5/Nativisation_and_Acceptability_in_Malaysian_English.pdf

id	iium-34673
recordtype	eprints
spelling	iium-346732014-08-07T06:32:38Z http://irep.iium.edu.my/34673/ Nativisation and acceptability in Malaysian English Wahid, Ridwan P Philology. Linguistics PE English Malaysian English (ME) grammar is said to contain unique, local features that exist alongside exonormative counterparts. Such usages are often regarded as errors by prescriptivists although their widespread use especially through the basilect and mesolect may prompt some descriptivists to label them as innovations instead. Probably due to the lack of codification, the distinction between ‘error’ and ‘innovation’ with regard to nativised features is even less clear among speakers of ME themselves. This paper aims to prove that the blurring of this distinction characterises much of the ME that is used by some of its most dedicated speakers. It presents findings from a survey of acceptability of 11 deviant grammatical items adapted from Bautista (2004) and 28 divided usages adapted from Lee (2001). In contrast to previous studies that relied on speaker proficiency as an indicator of nativisation, this survey targets a group of two contrastive speakers: English majors and non-English majors. The two groups are differentiated based on the extent of their use of English at present and in the future; collectively English majors tend to use more English in their studies and future workplaces than non-English majors. Although use of a language and proficiency in that language may be interrelated, the former can be usefully isolated so that its effect on nativisation can be studied. The paper will show that English majors tend to have more liberal attitudes towards nativised grammatical features than non-English majors, suggesting that increased use by some speakers of ME may contribute to a higher degree of nativisation of this variety. Both groups will be shown to be equally receptive to both prescribed and proscribed items of the divided usages, implying that the putative ungrammaticality of those items is a non-issue to the majority of ME speakers.. 2013-12-04 Conference or Workshop Item NonPeerReviewed application/pdf en http://irep.iium.edu.my/34673/1/ESEA_2013_Tentative_Conference_Programme-vFINAL.pdf application/pdf en http://irep.iium.edu.my/34673/5/Nativisation_and_Acceptability_in_Malaysian_English.pdf Wahid, Ridwan (2013) Nativisation and acceptability in Malaysian English. In: The 17th English in Southeast Asia Conference (ESEA 2013), 4-6 Dec 2013, Kuala Lumpur. (Unpublished)
repository_type	Digital Repository
institution_category	Local University
institution	International Islamic University Malaysia
building	IIUM Repository
collection	Online Access
language	English English
topic	P Philology. Linguistics PE English
spellingShingle	P Philology. Linguistics PE English Wahid, Ridwan Nativisation and acceptability in Malaysian English
description	Malaysian English (ME) grammar is said to contain unique, local features that exist alongside exonormative counterparts. Such usages are often regarded as errors by prescriptivists although their widespread use especially through the basilect and mesolect may prompt some descriptivists to label them as innovations instead. Probably due to the lack of codification, the distinction between ‘error’ and ‘innovation’ with regard to nativised features is even less clear among speakers of ME themselves. This paper aims to prove that the blurring of this distinction characterises much of the ME that is used by some of its most dedicated speakers. It presents findings from a survey of acceptability of 11 deviant grammatical items adapted from Bautista (2004) and 28 divided usages adapted from Lee (2001). In contrast to previous studies that relied on speaker proficiency as an indicator of nativisation, this survey targets a group of two contrastive speakers: English majors and non-English majors. The two groups are differentiated based on the extent of their use of English at present and in the future; collectively English majors tend to use more English in their studies and future workplaces than non-English majors. Although use of a language and proficiency in that language may be interrelated, the former can be usefully isolated so that its effect on nativisation can be studied. The paper will show that English majors tend to have more liberal attitudes towards nativised grammatical features than non-English majors, suggesting that increased use by some speakers of ME may contribute to a higher degree of nativisation of this variety. Both groups will be shown to be equally receptive to both prescribed and proscribed items of the divided usages, implying that the putative ungrammaticality of those items is a non-issue to the majority of ME speakers..
format	Conference or Workshop Item
author	Wahid, Ridwan
author_facet	Wahid, Ridwan
author_sort	Wahid, Ridwan
title	Nativisation and acceptability in Malaysian English
title_short	Nativisation and acceptability in Malaysian English
title_full	Nativisation and acceptability in Malaysian English
title_fullStr	Nativisation and acceptability in Malaysian English
title_full_unstemmed	Nativisation and acceptability in Malaysian English
title_sort	nativisation and acceptability in malaysian english
publishDate	2013
url	http://irep.iium.edu.my/34673/ http://irep.iium.edu.my/34673/1/ESEA_2013_Tentative_Conference_Programme-vFINAL.pdf http://irep.iium.edu.my/34673/5/Nativisation_and_Acceptability_in_Malaysian_English.pdf
first_indexed	2023-09-18T20:49:53Z
last_indexed	2023-09-18T20:49:53Z
_version_	1777409923652517888

Nativisation and acceptability in Malaysian English

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