Definite article usage across varieties of English
This paper seeks to explore the extent of definite article usage variation in several varieties of English based on a classification of its usage types. An annotation scheme based on Hawkins and Prince was developed for this purpose. Using matching corpus data representing Inner Circle varieties a...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Wiley-Blackwell
2013
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| Online Access: | http://irep.iium.edu.my/29870/ http://irep.iium.edu.my/29870/1/http___authorservices.wiley.com_bauthor_onlineLibraryTPS.asp_DOI%3D10.1111_weng.pdf |
| Summary: | This paper seeks to explore the extent of definite article usage variation in several varieties
of English based on a classification of its usage types. An annotation scheme based on Hawkins and Prince
was developed for this purpose. Using matching corpus data representing Inner Circle varieties and Outer
Circle varieties, analysis was made on approximately 14,000 tokens of the in private dialogue, academic
writing and reportage. It was found that the different percentages of usage types in the three registers
across the varieties were statistically significant. However there was no clear trend that could be observed
in either group. The trends of the varieties, collectively or individually, were so unpredictable that in the
end there was no evidence of an overall trend. Register, consistent with Biber et al.’s claim, was instead
found to be a better predictor of the usage types of the in the varieties. The classification of the varieties as either Inner or Outer Circle was therefore shown to be less influential in the quantitative variation of the morpheme than previously thought. Nevertheless, a subsequent qualitative analysis showed that the structural and situational categories in the Outer Circle did contain a number of marked usages of the,presenting themselves as the clearest cases of variation in the data. |
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