The morphosyntax of Hong Kong and Indian Englishes: A corpus-based analysis

• Main Authors: JooHyuk Lim, Ariane Macalinga Borlongan
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Department of English, Faculty of Arts and Letters, University of Santo Tomas 2013-10-01
• Series: Asian Journal of English Language Studies (AJELS)
• Subjects: asian englishes; morphosyntax; irregular verbs; comparison of adjectives; s-genitives
• Online Access: https://ajels.ust.edu.ph/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/2-The-morphosyntax-of-Hong-Kong-and-Indian-Englishes-A-corpus-based-analysis.pdf

The present analysis places the focus on the morphosyntax of Hong Kong and Indian Englishes, their use of irregular verbs, comparison of adjectives, and s-genitives, and so revisiting the findings of previous studies in light of the contribution of the frequencies for the two new Englishes in question. Hong Kong and Indian Englishes generally follow the British pattern of irregularity, but it is Indian English that is more loyal to its colonial heritage as Hong Kong English has a tendency to demonstrate some ambivalence and indefiniteness in its patterns of verb morphology. As with all the other Englishes investigated in the studies of Hundt (1998) and Borlongan (2011b), Hong Kong and Indian Englishes also inflect for the comparison of adjectives. Periphrastic comparison though is more frequent – but not significantly frequent to put up a new pattern – in Hong Kong and Indian Englishes. The two Englishes also generate much higher frequencies of double comparatives as compared with Philippine and New Zealand Englishes. Hong Kong and Indian Englishes surface as the most conservative in the use of s-genitives. They are even more conservative than Philippine English, which has always been described as a considerably conservative variety of English.