Date of Publication

8-2021

Document Type

Master's Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts in English Language Education

Subject Categories

English Language and Literature

College

Br. Andrew Gonzalez FSC College of Education

Department/Unit

Dept of English and Applied Linguistics

Thesis Advisor

Shirley N. Dita

Defense Panel Chair

Aireen B. Arnuco

Defense Panel Member

Leah E. Gustilo
Raymund Victor M. Vitorio

Abstract/Summary

The grammar of conjuncts as adverbials in Philippine English is an attempt to describe its semantics and syntax. This descriptive grammar is based on a comprehensive work of Biber, Johansson, Leech, Conrad and Finegan (1999) titled: Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English (LSWE). This innovative corpus-based grammar is the viewpoint of this description. Also, this grammatical study also finds Quirk et. al’s (1985) A Comprehensive of Grammar of the English Language, a useful reference for this attempt to contribute to the ever-dynamic and rich variety of the English language – Philippine English. Conjuncts belong to the category of adverbials. According to Quirk et al. (1985) adverbials are one of the elements of the clause structure, the others being subject, verb, object and complement.

There have been several attempts to examine adverbials by distinguishing them from other elements. Dita (2011), who has launched varied perspectives on the study of grammar in Philippine English, examined adverbial disjuncts. Morales (2016) in her dissertation attempted to provide a comprehensive description of adjuncts which dovetailed with Borlongan’s (2011) grammar of verbs in PhilE. Now, this study will zoom in on another adverbial focusing on its semantic aspects and other related grammatical aspects. Biber et. al.’s, (1999) termed this adverbial as linking adverbials and Quirk et. al (1985) as conjuncts. This attempt is based on the conjunct’s role as clause element. The new software AntConc, developed by Laurence Anthony (2017) was used to extract data; however, manual verification and careful checking were done because the software is not able to specifically identify its uses. In Quirk et. al., conjuncts “express the speaker’s assessment of the relation between two linguistic units” (1985: 440). Conjuncts are broken down into seven semantic classifications: listing, summative, appositional, resultive, inferential, contrastive, and transitional. Biber et. al, (1999) called it the semantic categories of linking adverbials and these are not entirely different from Q&E: enumerative/additive, summation, result/inference, contrast/concession, apposition and transition. This study anchored its discussion on Biber’s categories.

Conjuncts, in this particular grammatical study, are limited to and, but and so because they have the highest number of frequency rate in terms of occurrences in Philippine English variety. Although this description focuses only on three most used conjuncts, the researcher attempted to discuss extensively and overarchingly its uses and functions (semantically) and revealed innovations and patterns of linguistic behavior in various text types of ICE-PHI (syntactically). Thus, the researcher’s main objectives include: (1) to examine the uses of conjuncts - and, but and so in Philippine English, (2) to discover stylistic variations of these conjuncts in different text types in ICE-PHI and lastly, (3) to identify the differences in the use of conjuncts between Philippine English (PhilE) and American English (AmE).

The ICE-PHI, through AntConc software, generated 27, 330 occurrences for and, 6,222 for so, and 5,276 for but. In the corpus, the three conjuncts manifested functions which are not clausal in nature, hence the careful coding for correct categorization. After manually classifying all the text samples which met the requirements of conjuncts as linking adverbials, the ICE-PHI revealed the following common uses in different text types by Biber et. al. namely; conversation, academic prose, fiction and news. And is used mostly as enumerative/additive and summative in some cases, but is used as contrast/concession and so as result/inference. Interestingly, the data also showed certain patterns in the use of and, but and so as transitional markers. And and but in both spoken and written text types, revealed to have manifested for both contrast and transition as functions (according to Biber’s categories). Bell (2010) in his study of cancellative markers supported this pattern based on the “core/periphery” approach in analyzing the functions. Contrast/concession is the core function of but, while it is the periphery function of and. Genuino’s (2002) findings on the rhetorical pattern of cohesion which is built on adversatives/contrast for PhilE support this variation. So, in most special cases in ICE-PHI, appears to be multi-functional and sometimes controversial.

It is interesting to note that based on ICE-PHI corpus, Filipino speakers of English use and, but and so interchangeably but will get the same meaning within the pre-identified linguistic environments and contexts. On the other hand, AmE, may use and and but to indicate contrast/concession, however, and is considered to be a “periphery contrastive” while but is the “nucleus” or the “main cancellative” (Bell, 2010: 534). Furthermore, so as a conjunct for both PhilE and AmE is considered to be multi-functional. In PhilE particularly, so may also function as a contrastive, an additive in special cases and even a transitional marker.

This grammatical study’s objective is one with Mahboob’s (2014: 258) research on World Englishes: “describe the linguistic features of particular varieties of Englishes.” For pedagogical contribution and for a deeper understanding of the context of multilingual education, the researcher further recommends the following: (1) a more functional approach to the teaching of grammar (particularly the use of conjuncts), (2) study more linking adverbials as there are more conjuncts evident in the corpus which were not examined in this study, and lastly (3) be conscious of the parameters of structure (i.e., central-peripheral function, valency, placement, realization, and semantic-syntactic integration). Ultimately, it is the hope of the researcher to continuously study and reveal variations and features of PhilE which are potentially, innovations of the English language.

Abstract Format

html

Language

English

Format

Electronic

Keywords

English language—Philippines—Conjunctions; English language—Philippines—Adverbials

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Embargo Period

9-9-2022

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