The linguistic features of ELF by Chinese users in China–ASEAN communication contexts: 中国-东盟交际语境下中国英语通用语使用者的语言特点

Ke Ji

doi:10.1515/jelf-2016-0020

Article

The linguistic features of ELF by Chinese users in China–ASEAN communication contexts

中国-东盟交际语境下中国英语通用语使用者的语言特点

Ke Ji
Ke Ji is a PhD candidate of Griffith University in Australia, with 18 years’ teaching experience of English majors at Guangxi University in China. She received her MA in Foreign Applied Linguistics from Guangxi University. Her current research interests include the study of English as a lingua franca in the context of China–ASEAN communication and its implications for English teaching in China. She is the head of the ACE China team.

Published/Copyright: September 14, 2016

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From the journal Journal of English as a Lingua Franca Volume 5 Issue 2

Abstract

Based on the Chinese component of the Asian Corpus of English (ACE), this study focuses on the lexicogrammar features of ELF by Chinese speakers in China–ASEAN communication contexts. It is found that non-standard forms do exist systematically in high distance social talk by the Chinese ELF users of comparatively high English proficiency. Examples and analysis are provided to illustrate the common non-standard lexicogrammar features in terms of lexical innovation, non-standard use of prepositions, the omission of subjects, objects and copula, grammatical disagreement, subject pronoun copying and tag question. These non-standard forms appear to be adopted due to mother tongue transfer, facilitation of communication or exploitation of language resources. However, no misunderstandings occur due to the non-standard forms.

摘要

基于亚洲英语语料库（ACE) 中国部分的语料，这个研究关注中国-东盟交际语境下中国说话者使用英语作为通用语的词汇语法特征。研究发现非标准的语言形式系统地存在于社交距离较远、英语水平较高的中国英语使用者之中。文章通过例子和分析阐明常见的词汇语法特征包括词汇创新，非标准的介词使用，主语、宾语和系动词的省略，语法不一致，主语代词重复和反意疑问句。这些非标准形式的出现是母语迁移、促进交流或者利用语言资源的结果。然而，这些非标准形式并没有造成误解。

Keywords: lexicogrammar; Chinese ELF users; ACE; non-standard features

关键词: 词汇语法; 中国英语通用语使用者; 亚洲英语语料库; 非标准特征

About the author

Ke Ji

Ke Ji is a PhD candidate of Griffith University in Australia, with 18 years’ teaching experience of English majors at Guangxi University in China. She received her MA in Foreign Applied Linguistics from Guangxi University. Her current research interests include the study of English as a lingua franca in the context of China–ASEAN communication and its implications for English teaching in China. She is the head of the ACE China team.

Appendix. Mark-up conventions

Adapted from “The ACE manual: Date collection and transcription for the Asian Corpus of English” (version of 14 June 2011).

Speaker IDs: Each speaker appears in sequence with the first being referred to as S1, the next S2 and so on.
Intonation: When a rising tone is used, a question mark “?” is added immediately after the word. A full stop is used after a word with a falling tone: “.”
Emphasis: Capital letters are used to show emphasis.
Pauses: A half second pause is marked as a full stop between two brackets “(.)” One second is expressed as “(1)”, two seconds “(2)” and so on.
Overlaps: Angled brackets are used to show more than one person speaking at the same time.
Lengthening: Lengthened utterances are symbolized with a colon.
Repetitions: All recorded repetition is represented in the corpus.
Word fragments: A hyphen is used to symbolize the uncompleted part of a word.
Laughter: It is represented by the “@” symbol. Each @ is the equivalent of one syllable of laughter.
Uncertain transcription: Uncertain utterances are transcribed within brackets.
Pronunciation variation and coinages: Words that cannot be found in the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary fall into the pronunciation variations and coinages category, marked as PVC.
Spelling out: If a word is spelt out or is pronounced using individual letters, then it is marked with “spel”.
Speaking modes: the pace, pitch, tone, style and method of speaking are marked, for example <fast>.
Breath: Breathing is expressed as “hh”.

Corpus references

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Published Online: 2016-9-14

Published in Print: 2016-9-1

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Articles in the same Issue

https://doi.org/10.1515/jelf-2016-0020

Keywords for this article

lexicogrammar; Chinese ELF users; ACE; non-standard features