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Topicalization in Asian Englishes: Forms, Functions, and Frequencies of a Fronting Construction [Hardback]

(Dresden University of Technology, Germany)
  • Format: Hardback, 238 pages, height x width: 234x156 mm, weight: 453 g, 39 Tables, black and white; 11 Line drawings, black and white; 11 Illustrations, black and white
  • Series: Routledge Studies in World Englishes
  • Pub. Date: 29-Jan-2019
  • Publisher: Routledge
  • ISBN-10: 1138549452
  • ISBN-13: 9781138549456
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Topicalization in Asian Englishes: Forms, Functions, and Frequencies of a Fronting ConstructionLarger Image
  • Format: Hardback, 238 pages, height x width: 234x156 mm, weight: 453 g, 39 Tables, black and white; 11 Line drawings, black and white; 11 Illustrations, black and white
  • Series: Routledge Studies in World Englishes
  • Pub. Date: 29-Jan-2019
  • Publisher: Routledge
  • ISBN-10: 1138549452
  • ISBN-13: 9781138549456
Other books in subject:
Permanent link: https://www.kriso.ee/db/9781138549456.html
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Shortlisted for the 2020 ESSE Book Award in English Language and Linguistics

This monograph is the first comprehensive study of topicalization in Asian second-language varieties of English and provides an in-depth analysis of the forms, functions, and frequencies of topicalization in four Asian Englishes. Topicalization, that is, the sentence-initial placement of constituents other than the subject, has been found to occur frequently in the English spoken by many Asians, but so far the possible reasons for this have never been scrutinized. This book closes this research gap by taking into account the structures of the major contact languages, the roles of second-language acquisition and politeness as well as other factors in order to explain why topicalization is highly frequent in some varieties such as Indian English and much less frequent in other varieties such as Hong Kong English. In addition to exploring major and minor forces involved in explaining the frequency of topicalization, the forms and functions of the feature are assessed. Central questions addressed in this regard are the following: Which syntactic constituents tend to be topicalized the most and the least frequently? Which discourse effects does topicalization achieve? How can we approach topicalization methodologically? And, lastly, which influence do language processing and production have on topicalization?

Reviews

"Leuckert's study on Topicalization in Asian Englishes is a corpus-based study offering new explanations for old assumptions. Leuckert provides a detailed analysis of forms, functions and frequencies of four Asian Englishes. In proposing parameters for topicalization, he critically addresses new lines of research and thus paves the way for discourse-pragmatic analyses of corpus data." Ilka Mindt, Paderborn University, Germany

"A fascinating exploration of the complex and multidimensional sources of grammatical change in World Englishes. Leuckert expertly weaves together second language acquisition, cognition, frequency, discourse pragmatics, and identity for an exemplary comparative analysis of English topicalization in four different Asian contact settings. An indispensable resource for the study of how grammars are transformed by social contact." Professor Devyani Sharma, Queen Mary University of London "Leuckert's study on Topicalization in Asian Englishes is a corpus-based study offering new explanations for old assumptions. Leuckert provides a detailed analysis of forms, functions and frequencies of four Asian Englishes. In proposing parameters for topicalization, he critically addresses new lines of research and thus paves the way for discourse-pragmatic analyses of corpus data." Ilka Mindt, Paderborn University, Germany

"A fascinating exploration of the complex and multidimensional sources of grammatical change in World Englishes. Leuckert expertly weaves together second language acquisition, cognition, frequency, discourse pragmatics, and identity for an exemplary comparative analysis of English topicalization in four different Asian contact settings. An indispensable resource for the study of how grammars are transformed by social contact." Professor Devyani Sharma, Queen Mary University of London

List of figures
x
List of tables
xi
Acknowledgements xiii
List of abbreviations
xv
1 Introduction
1(6)
2 Approaching topicalization
7(27)
2.1 Topics
7(11)
2.1.1 Origin and history
7(6)
2.1.2 Givenness
13(3)
2.1.3 Aboutness
16(2)
2.1 A Defining `topic'
18(1)
2.2 Topicalization
19(10)
2.2.1 Establishing a framework for topicalization
19(7)
2.2.2 An expanded concept of topicalization
26(2)
2.2.3 Topicalization as a non-canonical construction
28(1)
2.2 A Discourse functions of topicalization
29(2)
2.3 Summary
31(3)
3 Topic-prominence in Asian contact languages
34(28)
3.1 Word-order typology
34(2)
3.2 Li and Thompson's classification of languages
36(5)
3.3 Ratings of individual languages and language families
41(16)
3.3.1 Rating procedure
41(1)
3.3.2 Indo-Aryan languages
42(5)
3.3.3 Dravidian languages
47(2)
3.3.4 Sinitic languages
49(4)
3.3.5 Austronesian languages
53(4)
3.4 Summary
57(5)
4 Development and variety status of four Asian Englishes
62(19)
4.1 Analysing World Englishes
63(5)
4.1.1 Earlier models
63(2)
4.1.2 The Dynamic Model
65(3)
4.2 Introducing the varieties
68(11)
4.2.1 Indian English
68(2)
4.2.2 Singapore English
70(4)
4.2.3 Hong Kong English
74(2)
4.2.4 Philippine English
76(3)
4.3 Summary
79(2)
5 Corpus analysis: Data basis and methodology
81(17)
5.1 The International Corpus of English (ICE)
81(1)
5.2 Data selection
82(2)
5.3 Coding and evaluation
84(7)
5.4 Problematic cases and limitations
91(7)
6 Forms, functions, and frequencies of topicalization
98(74)
6.1 Frequencies of topicalization
98(7)
6.1.1 Direct conversations
99(1)
6.1.2 Phone calls
100(1)
6.1.3 Classroom lessons
101(2)
6.1.4 Comparison
103(2)
6.2 Forms of topicalization
105(16)
6.2.1 Constituent form
106(9)
6.2.2 Information status
115(4)
6.2.3 Hanging topics
119(2)
6.3 Functions of topicalization
121(48)
6.3.1 Syntactic function
122(23)
6.3.2 Interaction with further syntactic processes
145(9)
6.3.3 Discourse function
154(15)
6.4 Summitry
169(3)
7 Explaining topicalization frequencies
172(22)
7.1 The role of language contact
172(6)
7.1.1 Forming a hypothesis
172(2)
7.1.2 Intensity of contact and borrowability
174(2)
7.1.3 The relation of contact to variety status
176(2)
7.2 Processes of second-language acquisition
178(7)
7.2.1 Overview of SLA processes
178(1)
7.2.2 SLA processes and topicalization
179(6)
7.3 Topicalization, social identity, and politeness
185(5)
7.3.1 Social identity and variety status
185(2)
7.3.2 Topicalization as a politeness strategy
187(3)
7.4 The multicausal nature of topicalization
190(4)
8 Conclusion and outlook
194(4)
8.1 Summary
194(2)
8.2 Limitations and opportunities for future research
196(2)
References 198(18)
Index 216
Sven Leuckert is a lecturer in the Institute of English and American Studies at the Technical University of Dresden, Germany.