American influence on written Caribbean English
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Stephanie Hackert
Abstract
This paper presents a diachronic analysis of press news reports in the Bahamas and in Trinidad and Tobago with a view to shedding light on the question of Americanisation. We analyse four corpora, one from the 1960s and one contemporary from each country. The following features are studied: (1) contractions of negatives and verb forms, (2) the be-passive, (3) relative that vs. which, and (4) pseudotitles. Our results show that Americanisation is a factor to be reckoned with in Caribbean English, as are colloquialisation and densification; at the same time, Caribbean journalistic writing definitely retains a distinct flavour of formality which distinguishes it from newspaper language not just in the US but also in Britain. Keywords: Caribbean; Americanisation; newspapers; Bahamas; Trinidad and Tobago
Abstract
This paper presents a diachronic analysis of press news reports in the Bahamas and in Trinidad and Tobago with a view to shedding light on the question of Americanisation. We analyse four corpora, one from the 1960s and one contemporary from each country. The following features are studied: (1) contractions of negatives and verb forms, (2) the be-passive, (3) relative that vs. which, and (4) pseudotitles. Our results show that Americanisation is a factor to be reckoned with in Caribbean English, as are colloquialisation and densification; at the same time, Caribbean journalistic writing definitely retains a distinct flavour of formality which distinguishes it from newspaper language not just in the US but also in Britain. Keywords: Caribbean; Americanisation; newspapers; Bahamas; Trinidad and Tobago
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction 1
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PART 1. Inner Circle Englishes
- Diachronic variation in the grammar of Australian English 15
- At the crossroads of change 43
- Do -support in early New Zealand and Australian English 65
- The progressive in Irish English 87
- Cross-variety diachronic drifts and ephemeral regional contrasts 119
- Passives of so-called ‘ditransitives’ in nineteenth century and present-day Canadian English 147
- Dual adverbs in Australian English 179
- The evolution of epistemic marking in West Australian English 205
- May and might in nineteenth century Irish English and English English 221
- The present perfect and the preterite in Australian English 247
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PART 2. Outer Circle Englishes
- Recent diachronic change in the progressive in Philippine English 271
- Linguistic change in a multilingual setting 297
- Patterns of regularisation in British, American and Indian English 335
- An apparent time study of the progressive in Nigerian English 373
- American influence on written Caribbean English 389
- Cultural keywords in context 411
- Recent quantitative changes in the use of modals and quasi-modals in the Hong Kong, British and American printed press 437
- The development of an extended time period meaning of the progressive in Black South African English 465
- Index 485
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction 1
-
PART 1. Inner Circle Englishes
- Diachronic variation in the grammar of Australian English 15
- At the crossroads of change 43
- Do -support in early New Zealand and Australian English 65
- The progressive in Irish English 87
- Cross-variety diachronic drifts and ephemeral regional contrasts 119
- Passives of so-called ‘ditransitives’ in nineteenth century and present-day Canadian English 147
- Dual adverbs in Australian English 179
- The evolution of epistemic marking in West Australian English 205
- May and might in nineteenth century Irish English and English English 221
- The present perfect and the preterite in Australian English 247
-
PART 2. Outer Circle Englishes
- Recent diachronic change in the progressive in Philippine English 271
- Linguistic change in a multilingual setting 297
- Patterns of regularisation in British, American and Indian English 335
- An apparent time study of the progressive in Nigerian English 373
- American influence on written Caribbean English 389
- Cultural keywords in context 411
- Recent quantitative changes in the use of modals and quasi-modals in the Hong Kong, British and American printed press 437
- The development of an extended time period meaning of the progressive in Black South African English 465
- Index 485
