Emerging South-East Asian Englishes and intelligibility

  1. DAVID DETERDING1,
  2. ANDY KIRKPATRICK2

Article first published online: 12 OCT 2006

DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-971X.2006.00478.x

Issue

World Englishes

World Englishes

Volume 25, Issue 3-4, pages 391–409, August/November 2006

Additional Information

How to Cite

DETERDING, D. and KIRKPATRICK, A. (2006), Emerging South-East Asian Englishes and intelligibility. World Englishes, 25: 391–409. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-971X.2006.00478.x

Author Information

  1. 1

    National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, 1 Nanyang Walk, Singapore 637616. E-mail: david.deterding@nie.edu.sg

  2. 2

    Department of English, Hong Kong Institute of Education, 10 Lo Ping Road, Tai Po, Hong Kong. E-mail: akirkpat@ied.edu.hk

Publication History

  1. Issue published online: 12 OCT 2006
  2. Article first published online: 12 OCT 2006
  3. (Received 2 June 2005.)

SEARCH

SEARCH BY CITATION

ARTICLE TOOLS

View Full Article (HTML) Get PDF (191K)

ABSTRACT:  An English lingua franca seems to be emerging in the ten ASEAN countries, and this paper investigates features of the pronunciation of this lingua franca. Twenty speakers, two from each of the ASEAN countries, were recorded while they were conversing in groups of three or four people, all from a different country. The speech that they used is analysed to identify shared features of pronunciation, especially to evaluate the effect that these features have on intelligibility, and it is argued that some of their shared non-standard features actually enhance intelligibility. Finally, some of the misunderstandings that occurred are analysed to determine the extent to which pronunciation played a part, and it is found that only those features of pronunciation not shared by speakers from other ASEAN countries resulted in a break-down in communication.

View Full Article (HTML) Get PDF (191K)