Cover not available
Article published In:
English World-Wide
Vol. 40:3 (2019) ► pp.299–324

Lexical bundles in conversation across Englishes

What can core and peripheral bundles reveal?

| Hong Kong Baptist University
| The Hang Seng University of Hong Kong
This study adopts Nelson’s (2014) methodological framework to investigate core and peripheral lexical bundles (i.e. recurrent multi-word sequences) in conversation, using data from the British, Canadian, Singapore, and Hong Kong components of the International Corpus of English (ICE). The overlap and non-overlap comparisons reveal (dis)similarities in the use of bundles across the four World Englishes (WEs). Our findings suggest that in terms of discourse building blocks, the more advanced a variety is according to Schneider’s (2007) Dynamic Model of New Englishes, the more lexical bundles it shares with the common core in conversation. Canadian English (CanE) shares the most common ground with British English (BrE). As a nascent variety, Hong Kong English (HKE) differs most from BrE, while Singapore English falls between CanE and HKE. Though the results do not correlate with Schneider’s Dynamic Model at the level of recurring chunks, they allow us to test predictions of WEs models. Quantitative and qualitative analyses enable the identification of bundles with significantly high frequency in each regional variety, thus enriching comparative research of WEs.
Keywords: corpus-based, lexical bundles, conversation, core and periphery, Schneider’s Dynamic Model, World Englishes
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Existing research on lexical bundles in spoken discourse
  • 3.Methodology
    • 3.1Corpus and English varieties
    • 3.2Identification of core and peripheral bundles
  • 4.Results
    • 4.1Overview of core and peripheral bundles in conversation
    • 4.2Intervarietal comparison of bundles in conversation
  • 5.Discussion
  • 6.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • Sources
  • References
Published online: 24 September 2019
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/eww.00033.hua
References (80)
Sources
ICE Canada. International Corpus of English. Compiled at the University of Alberta.
ICE Great Britain. International Corpus of English. Compiled at University College London.
ICE Hong Kong. International Corpus of English. Compiled at The University of Hong Kong and The Chinese University of Hong Kong.
ICE Singapore. International Corpus of English. Compiled at the National University of Singapore.
References
Aijmer, Karin. 1996. Conversational Routines in English. London: Longman.Google Scholar
. 2011. “ Well I’m not sure I think… The Use of well by Non-Native Speakers”. International Journal of Corpus Linguistics 161: 231–254. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Altenberg, Bengt. 1998. “On the Phraseology of Spoken English: The Evidence of Recurrent Word Combinations”. In Anthony Cowie, ed. Phraseology: Theory, Analysis and Applications. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 101–122.Google Scholar
Baker, Paul. 2017. American and British English: Divided by a Common Language? Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Banerjee, Satanjeev and Ted Pedersen. 2003. “The Design, Implementation, and Use of the n-Gram Statistics Package”. Lecture Notes in Computer Science 25881: 370–381. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bao, Zhiming. 2005. “The Aspectual System of Singapore English and the Systemic Substratist Explanation”. Journal of Linguistics 411: 237–267. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Behrens, Heike. 2017. “The Role of Analogy in Language Processing and Acquisition”. In Marianne Hundt, Sandra Mollin, and Simone E. Pfenninger, eds. The Changing English Language: Psycholinguistic Perspectives. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 215–239. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Biber, Douglas. 2006. University Language: A Corpus-Based Study of Spoken and Written Registers. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2009. “A Corpus-Driven Approach to Formulaic Language in English: Multi-Word Patterns in Speech and Writing”. International Journal of Corpus Linguistics 141: 275–311. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Biber, Douglas and Susan Conrad. 1999. “Lexical Bundles in Conversation and Academic Prose”. In Hilde Hasselgard, and Signe Oksefjell, eds. Out of Corpora: Studies in Honour of Stig Johansson. Amsterdam: Rodopi, 181–202.Google Scholar
Biber, Douglas, Susan Conrad, and Viviana Cortes. 2004. “ If you look at…: Lexical Bundles in University Teaching and Textbooks”. Applied Linguistics 251: 371–405. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Biber, Douglas, Stig Johansson, Geoffrey Leech, Susan Conrad, and Edward Finegan. 1999. The Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English. London: Longman.Google Scholar
Bokhorst-Heng, Wendy, Rani Rubdy, Sandra Lee McKay, and Lubna Alsagoff. 2010. “Whose English? Language Ownership in Singapore’s English Language Debates”. In Lisa Lim, Anne Pakir, and Lionel Wee, eds. English in Singapore: Modernity and Management. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 133–157. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bolton, Kingsley. 2012. “World Englishes and Linguistic Landscapes”. World Englishes 311: 30–33. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bui, Gavin and Zeping Huang. 2018. “L2 Fluency as Influenced by Content Familiarity and Planning: Performance, Measurement, and Pedagogy”. Language Teaching Research 221: 94–114. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bybee, Joan. 2013. “Usage-Based Theory and Exemplar Representations of Constructions”. In Thomas Hoffmann and Graeme Trousdale, eds. The Oxford Handbook of Construction Grammar. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 49–69.Google Scholar
Collins, Peter. 2005. “The Modals and Quasi-Modals of Obligation and Necessity in Australian English and Other Englishes”. English World-Wide 261: 249–273. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2009. “Modals and Quasi-Modals in World Englishes”. World English 281: 281–292. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Collins, Peter and Xinyue Yao. 2012. “Modals and Quasi-Modals in New Englishes”. In Marianne Hundt, and Ulrike Gut, eds. Mapping Unity and Diversity World-Wide: Corpus-Based Studies of New Englishes. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 35–54. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cortes, Viviana. 2004. “Lexical Bundles in Published and Student Disciplinary Writing: Examples from History and Biology”. English for Specific Purposes 231: 397–423. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Csomay, Eniko. 2013. “Lexical Bundles in Discourse Structure: A Corpus-Based Study of Classroom Discourse”. Applied Linguistics 341: 369–388. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Csomay, Eniko and Viviana Cortes. 2010. “Lexical Bundle Distribution in University Classroom Talk”. Language and Computers 711: 153–168.Google Scholar
Drave, Neil. 2002. “Vaguely Speaking: A Corpus Approach to Vague Language in Intercultural Conversations”. Language and Computers 361: 25–40.Google Scholar
Ellis, Nick. 2002. “Frequency Effects in Language Processing: A Review with Implications for Theories of Implicit and Explicit Language Acquisition”. Studies in Second Language Acquisition 241: 143–188. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2017. “Chunking in Language Usage, Learning and Change: I don’t know ”. In Marianne Hundt, Sandra Mollin, and Simone E. Pfenninger, eds. The Changing English Language: Psycholinguistic Perspectives. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 113–147. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Fallon, Helen. 2015. “Comparing World English: A Research Guide”. In Douglas Biber, and Randi Reppen, eds. The Cambridge Handbook of English Corpus Linguistics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 751–762.Google Scholar
Fuller, Janet M. 2003. “Use of the Discourse Marker like in Interviews”. Journal of Sociolinguistics 71: 365–377. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Gabrielatos, Costas. 2018. “The Lexicogrammar of BE Interested: Description and Pedagogy”. In Sebastian Hoffmann, Andrea Sand, Sabine Arndt-Lappe, and Lisa Marie Dillmann, eds. Corpora and Lexis. Amsterdam: Brill, 240–276. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Greenbaum, Sydney. 1996. Comparing English Worldwide: The International Corpus of English. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Gries, Stefan and Joybrato Mukherjee. 2010. “Lexical Gravity across Varieties of English: An ICE-Based Study of n-Grams in Asian Englishes”. International Journal of Corpus Linguistics 151: 520–548. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hyland, Ken. 2012. Disciplinary Identities: Individuality and Community in Academic Discourse. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Huang, Zeping. 2014. “The Effects of Paper-Based DDL on the Acquisition of Lexico-Grammatical Patterns in L2 Writing”. ReCall 261: 163–183. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hung, Tony. 2012. “Hong Kong English”. In Ee-Ling Low, and Azirah Hashim, eds. English in Southeast Asia: Features, Policy and Language in Use. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 113–133. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hunston, Susan and Gill Francis. 2000. Pattern Grammar: A Corpus-Driven Approach to the Lexical Grammar of English. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kachru, Braj. 1985. “Standards, Codification, and Sociolinguistic Realism: The English Language in the Outer Circle”. In Randolph Quirk, and Henry Widdowson, eds. English in the World. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 11–30.Google Scholar
. 1998. “English as an Asian Language”. Links & Letters 51: 89–198.Google Scholar
Langacker, Ronald W. 2000. “A Dynamic Usage-Based Model”. In Michael Barlow, and Suzanne Kemmer, eds. Usage-Based Models of English. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1–63.Google Scholar
Lee, Nala, Ai Ping Ling, and Hiroki Nomoto. 2009. “Colloquial Singapore English got: Functions and Substratal Influences”. World Englishes 281: 293–318. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Leech, Geoffrey, Marianne Hundt, Christian Mair, and Nicholas Smith. 2009. Change in Contemporary English: A Grammatical Study. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lim, Lisa. 2004. Singapore English: A Grammatical Description. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Low, Ee Ling, and Anne Pakir. 2018. “English in Singapore: Striking a New Balance for Future-Readiness”. Asian Englishes 201: 41–53. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Mauranen, Anna. 2009. “Chunking in ELF: Expressions for Managing Interaction”. Intercultural Pragmatics 61: 217–233. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
McArthur, Tom. 2003. “World English, Euro-English, Nordic English”. English Today 191: 54–58. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
McCarthy, Michael and Ronald Carter. 2006. “ This that and the other: Multi-Word Clusters in Spoken English as Visible Patterns of Interaction”. In Michael McCarthy, ed. Exploration in Corpus Linguistics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 7–26.Google Scholar
McCarthy, Michael and Michael Handford. 2004. “‘Invisible to us’: A Preliminary Corpus-Based Study of Business Spoken English”. In Ulla Connor, and Thomas Upton, eds. Discourse in the Professions: Perspectives from Corpus Linguistics. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 167–202. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Meyerhoff, Miriam and Nancy Niedzielski. 2003. “The Globalisation of Vernacular Variation”. Journal of Sociolinguistics 71: 534–555. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Miller, Neil. 2011. “The Processing of Malformed Formulaic Language”. Applied Linguistics 321: 129–148. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Neely, Elizabeth and Viviana Cortes. 2009. “ A little bit about: Analyzing and Teaching Lexical Bundles in Academic Lectures”. Language Value 11: 17–38.Google Scholar
Nelson, Gerald. 1996. “The Design of the Corpus”. In Sydney Greenbaum, ed. Comparing English Worldwide: The International Corpus of English. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 27–35.Google Scholar
. 2006. “The Core and Periphery of World Englishes: A Corpus-Based Exploration”. World Englishes 251: 115–129. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2014. “The Circle of English: An Exploration of the ‘Core’ and ‘Periphery’ of World Englishes”. In Eugene Green, and Charles Meyer, eds. The Variability of Current World Englishes. Berlin: De Gruyter, 99–119.Google Scholar
Nesi, Hilary and Helen Basturkmen. 2009. “Lexical Bundles and Discourse Signalling in Academic Lectures”. In John Flowerdew, and Michael Malhberg, eds. Lexical Cohesion and Corpus Linguistics. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 23–44. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Pan, Fan, Randi Reppen Randi, and Douglas Biber. 2016. “Comparing Patterns of L1 versus L2 English Academic Professionals: Lexical Bundles in Telecommunications Research Journals”. Journal of English for Academic Purposes 211: 60–71. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Paquot, Magali. 2013. “Lexical Bundles and L1 Transfer Effects”. International Journal of Corpus Linguistics 181: 391–417. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Quirk, Randolph, Sydney Greenbaum, Geoffrey Leech, and Jan Svartvik. 1985. A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language. London: Longman.Google Scholar
Rayson, Paul and Roger Garside. 2000. “Comparing Corpora Using Frequency Profiling”. In Adam Kilgarriff, and Tony Berber Sardinha, eds. Proceedings of the Workshop on Comparing Corpora (ACL 2000). The Association for Computational Linguistics: 1–6.Google Scholar
Schiffrin, Deborah. 1987. Discourse Markers. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Schneider, Edgar. 2007. Postcolonial English: Varieties around the World. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2012. “Exploring the Interface between World Englishes and Second Language Acquisition – and Implications for English as a Lingua Franca”. Journal of English as a Lingua Franca 11: 57–91. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2014. “New Reflections on the Evolutionary Dynamics of World Englishes”. World Englishes 331: 9–32. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Scott, Mike. 1997. “PC Analysis of Key Words – and Key Key Words”. System 251: 1–13. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2012. WordSmith Tools (Version 5.0). Available from <[URL]>.
Seidlhofer, Barbara. 2009. “Accommodation and the Idiom Principle in English as a Lingua Franca”. Intercultural Pragmatics 61: 195–215. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Setter, Jane, Cathy S. P. Wong, and Brian H. S. Chan. 2010. Hong Kong English. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.Google Scholar
Simpson, Rita. 2004. “Stylistic Features of Academic Speech: The Role of Formulaic Expressions”. In Ulla Connor, and Thomas Upton, eds. Discourse in the Professions: Perspectives from Corpus Linguistics. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 37–64. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Sinclair, John. 1991. Corpus, Concordance, Collocation. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Sweetser, Eve. 1990. From Etymology to Pragmatics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Wang, Ying. 2017. “Lexical Bundles in Spoken Academic ELF”. International Journal of Corpus Linguistics 221: 187–211. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Wee, Lionel. 2010. “The Particle ya in Colloquial Singapore English”. World Englishes 291: 45–58. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Wray, Alison. 2002. Formulaic Language and the Lexicon. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2008. Formulaic Language: Pushing the Boundaries. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Xiao, Richard. 2009. “Multidimensional Analysis and the Study of World Englishes”. World Englishes 281: 421–450. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ziegeler, Debra. 2003. “On the Generic Origins of Modality in English”. In David Hart, ed. English Modality in Context. Bern: Peter Lang, 33–70.Google Scholar
. 2015. Converging Grammars: Constructions in Singapore English. Berlin: De Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar