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The definite article in World Englishes

  • Markku Filppula and Juhani Klemola
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Changing English
This chapter is in the book Changing English

Abstract

Article usage is an area of syntax where a great deal of variation exists in different varieties of English. This study focuses on the uses of the definite article in two specific types of context: with names of social institutions and with the quantifying expressions both of, half of, most of, when followed by a postmodifying of-phrase. Differences in usage are known to exist between British and American English but in this study the scope is extended to selected varieties spoken in different parts of the world. The social distinction between standard and non-standard language is also examined with respect to British Isles varieties. Language contacts leading to substratal influence on article usage, universal semantic or pragmatic constraints, and possible “angloversal” features emerge as the main factors that can provide plausible explanations for a large part of the variability in definite article usage.

Abstract

Article usage is an area of syntax where a great deal of variation exists in different varieties of English. This study focuses on the uses of the definite article in two specific types of context: with names of social institutions and with the quantifying expressions both of, half of, most of, when followed by a postmodifying of-phrase. Differences in usage are known to exist between British and American English but in this study the scope is extended to selected varieties spoken in different parts of the world. The social distinction between standard and non-standard language is also examined with respect to British Isles varieties. Language contacts leading to substratal influence on article usage, universal semantic or pragmatic constraints, and possible “angloversal” features emerge as the main factors that can provide plausible explanations for a large part of the variability in definite article usage.

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. List of abbreviations vii
  4. Changing English: global and local perspectives xi
  5. I. Towards the study of Global English
  6. Editors’ Introduction to Part I 3
  7. Crisis of the “Outer Circle”? – Globalisation, the weak nation state, and the need for new taxonomies in World Englishes research 5
  8. The Ecology of Language and the New Englishes: toward an integrative framework 25
  9. II. Ongoing changes in Englishes around the globe
  10. Editors’ Introduction to Part II 59
  11. The Present Perfect as a core feature of World Englishes 63
  12. Innovative structures in the relative clauses of indigenized L2 Asian English varieties 89
  13. Morphosyntactic typology, contact and variation: Cape Flats English in relation to other South African Englishes in the Mouton World Atlas of Variation in English 109
  14. Omission of direct objects in New Englishes 129
  15. The definite article in World Englishes 155
  16. Aspects of Verb Complementation in New Zealand Newspaper English 169
  17. Extended uses of the progressive form in Inner, Outer and Expanding Circle Englishes 191
  18. III. Expanding the horizons: lingua franca, cognitive, and contact-linguistic perspectives
  19. Editors’ Introduction to Part III 219
  20. A glimpse of ELF 223
  21. Lending bureaucracy voice: negotiating English in institutional encounters 255
  22. On the relationship between the cognitive and the communal: a complex systems perspective 277
  23. Transfer is Transfer; Grammaticalization is Grammaticalization 311
  24. Subject index 331
  25. Languages and Varieties index 340
  26. Author Index 343
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110429657-009

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. List of abbreviations vii
  4. Changing English: global and local perspectives xi
  5. I. Towards the study of Global English
  6. Editors’ Introduction to Part I 3
  7. Crisis of the “Outer Circle”? – Globalisation, the weak nation state, and the need for new taxonomies in World Englishes research 5
  8. The Ecology of Language and the New Englishes: toward an integrative framework 25
  9. II. Ongoing changes in Englishes around the globe
  10. Editors’ Introduction to Part II 59
  11. The Present Perfect as a core feature of World Englishes 63
  12. Innovative structures in the relative clauses of indigenized L2 Asian English varieties 89
  13. Morphosyntactic typology, contact and variation: Cape Flats English in relation to other South African Englishes in the Mouton World Atlas of Variation in English 109
  14. Omission of direct objects in New Englishes 129
  15. The definite article in World Englishes 155
  16. Aspects of Verb Complementation in New Zealand Newspaper English 169
  17. Extended uses of the progressive form in Inner, Outer and Expanding Circle Englishes 191
  18. III. Expanding the horizons: lingua franca, cognitive, and contact-linguistic perspectives
  19. Editors’ Introduction to Part III 219
  20. A glimpse of ELF 223
  21. Lending bureaucracy voice: negotiating English in institutional encounters 255
  22. On the relationship between the cognitive and the communal: a complex systems perspective 277
  23. Transfer is Transfer; Grammaticalization is Grammaticalization 311
  24. Subject index 331
  25. Languages and Varieties index 340
  26. Author Index 343
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