Cover not available
Article published In:
English World-Wide
Vol. 40:1 (2019) ► pp.1–24

A Multidimensional Analysis of Pakistani and U.S. English blogs and columns

| University of Münster
| University of Münster
The present study is a Multidimensional Analysis (MDA) of English blogs and newspaper columns originating from Pakistan and the U.S. using MDA dimensions reported in Grieve et al. (2010): (i) Informational versus Personal Focus; (ii) Addressee Focus; (iii) Thematic Variation; and (iv) Narrative Style. The aim is to examine regional and/or functional variation among Pakistani and U.S. English blogs and columns and its possible causes. The results show that Pakistani and U.S. columns differ significantly from each other, while blogs have less significant differences. Further investigation into sub-categories of blogs reveals significant differences among technology blogs, while news blogs and individual blogs differ less significantly. An examination of possible causes shows that geographical origin, the situational characteristics of the register, and the internet as a medium play a role in variation. It is further suggested that internet registers might be evolving rapidly with the fast-changing landscape of products and services on the internet.
Keywords: Multidimensional Analysis, computer-mediated communication, register variation
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
    • 1.1Pakistani English
    • 1.2Blogs and columns
    • 1.3Multidimensional Analysis
  • 2.Data
    • 2.1Corpus design
    • 2.2Corpus compilation
  • 3.Methodology
    • 3.1Tagging
    • 3.2Dimension scores
  • 4.Results and discussion
    • 4.1Blogs versus columns
    • 4.2Individual blogs
    • 4.3News blogs
    • 4.4Technology blogs
  • 5.Conclusion
  • Note
  • References
Published online: 1 February 2019
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/eww.00020.sha
References (42)
References
Ahmad, Sajid, and Muhammad A. Mahmood. 2015. “Comparing Explicit Features of Pakistani Press Reportage with British Press Reportage: A Multi-Dimensional Analysis”. NUML Journal of Critical Review 131: 1–31.Google Scholar
Alvi, Urooj, Muhammad A. Mehmood, and Shafqat Rasool. 2016. “A Multidimensional Analysis of Pakistani Press Editorials”. The Dialogue 111: 270–284.Google Scholar
Aziz, Muhammad S., and Asim Mahmood. 2012. “Ditransitive Verbs: A Corpus Based Comparison of Pakistani and British Written English”. Wulfenia Journal 191: 275–286.Google Scholar
Baumgardner, Robert J. 1987. “Utilizing Pakistani Newspaper English to Teach Grammar”. World Englishes 61: 241–252. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
1992. “‘To Shariat or not to Shariat?’: Bilingual Functional Shifts in Pakistani English”. World Englishes 111: 129–140. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
1993. The English Language in Pakistan. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
1995. “Pakistani English: Acceptability and the Norm”. World Englishes 141: 261–271. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
1998. “Word-Formation in Pakistani English”. English World-Wide 191: 205–246. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Biber, Douglas. 1988. Variation across Speech and Writing. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 1995. Dimensions of Register Variation: A Cross-Linguistic Comparison. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Biber, Douglas, and Susan Conrad. 2009. Register, Genre, and Style. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Biber, Douglas, and Bethany Gray. 2013. “Identifying Multi-Dimensional Patterns of Variation across Registers”. In Krug Manfred, and Julia Schlüter, eds. Research Methods in Language Variation and Change. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 402–420. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Biber, Douglas, Stig Johansson, Geoffrey Leech, Susan Conrad, and Edward Finegan. 1999. Grammar of Spoken and Written English. London: Longman.Google Scholar
Bohmann, Axel. 2017. “Variation in English World-Wide: Varieties and Genres in a Quantitative Perspective”. Ph.D. Dissertation, The University of Texas at Austin.Google Scholar
Davies, Mark, and Robert Fuchs. 2015. “Expanding Horizons in the Study of World Englishes with the 1.9 Billion Word Global Web-Based English Corpus (GloWbE)”. English World-Wide 361: 1–28. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Grieve, Jack, Douglas Biber, Eric Friginal, and Tatiana Nekrasova. 2010. “Variation among Blogs: A Multi-Dimensional Analysis”. In Alexander Mehler, Serge Sharoff, and Marina Santini, eds. Genres on the Web. New York: Springer, 303–322. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Haque, Anjum R. 1983. “The Position and Status of English in Pakistan”. World Englishes 21: 6–9. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hardy, Jack A., and Eric Friginal. 2012. “Filipino and American Online Communication and Linguistic Variation”. World Englishes 311: 143–161. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Herring, Susan C., Lois Ann Scheidt, Elijah Wright, and Sabrina Bonus. 2005. “Weblogs as a Bridging Genre”. Information Technology & People 181: 142–171. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Husain, Abbas M. 1992. “Varieties of Verbosity in Pakistani English”. World Englishes 111: 51–60. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kachru, Braj B. 1985. “Standards, Codification and Sociolinguistic Realism: The English Language in the Outer Circle”. In Randolph Quirk, and Henry George Widdowson, eds. English in the World – Teaching and Learning the Language and Literature. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 11–30.Google Scholar
, ed. 1992. The Other Tongue: English across Cultures. Champaign: University of Illinois Press.Google Scholar
Khan, Muqaddam. 2014. “English as Medium of Instruction at Primary Schools Welcomed”. Dawn March 18, 2014 <[URL]> (accessed January 1, 2017).
Mahboob, Ahmar, and Nadra H. Ahmar. 2004. “Pakistani English: A Historical and Phonological Overview”. In Edgar W. Schneider, and Bernd Kortmann, eds. A Handbook of Varieties of English: A Multimedia Reference Tool. Vol. 11: Phonology. Frankfurt: De Gruyter, 1003–1016.Google Scholar
Mahmood, Muhammad A. 2009. “A Corpus Based Analysis of Pakistani English”. Ph.D. Dissertation, Bahauddin Zakariya University.Google Scholar
Mahmood, Rashid. 2009. “A Lexico-Grammatical Study of Noun Phrase in Pakistani English”. Ph.D. Dissertation, Bahauddin Zakariya University.Google Scholar
Mair, Christian. 2015. “Response to Davies and Fuchs”. English World-Wide 361: 29–33. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Miller, Carolyn R., and Dawn Shepherd. 2004. “Blogging as Social Action: A Genre Analysis of the Weblog”. University of Minnesota. <[URL]> (accessed December 12, 2016).
Nelson, Gerald. 2015. “Response to Davies and Fuchs”. English World-Wide 361: 38–40. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Nini, Andrea. 2014. Multidimensional Analysis Tagger. <[URL]> (accessed April 04, 2016).
Puschmann, Cornelius. 2010. The Corporate Blog as an Emerging Genre of Computer-Mediated Communication: Features, Constraints, Discourse Situation. Göttingen: Universitätsverlag Göttingen.Google Scholar
Rahman, Tariq. 1990. Pakistani English: The Linguistic Description of a Non-Native Variety of English. Vol. 31. Islamabad: National Institute of Pakistan Studies, Quaid-I-Azam University.Google Scholar
Saleemi, Anjum P. 1985. “English in Non-Native Use: A Second-Language View”. English Teaching Forum 231: 16–20.Google Scholar
Sardinha, Tony B. 2014. “25 Years Later: Comparing Internet and Pre-Internet Registers”. In Tony Berber Sardinha, and Marcia Veirano Pinto, eds. Multi-Dimensional Analysis, 25 Years on: A Tribute to Douglas Biber. Amsterdam: Benjamins, 81–105. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Schildhauer, Peter. 2016. The Personal Weblog: A Linguistic History. Frankfurt: Peter Lang.Google Scholar
Shakir, Aleem. 2013. “Linguistic Variation across Print Advertisements in Pakistani Media: A Multidimensional Analysis”. Ph.D. Dissertation, Islamic International University.Google Scholar
Stefanone, Michael A., and Chyng-Yang Jang. 2007. “Writing for Friends and Family: The Interpersonal Nature of Blogs”. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication 131: 123–140. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Talaat, Mubina. 2002. “The Form and Functions of English in Pakistan”. Ph.D. Dissertation, Bahauddin Zakariya University.Google Scholar
“Plan to Introduce English Medium Sparks Debate”. 2010. The News International January 25, 2010 <[URL]> (accessed January 1, 2017).
Titak, Ashley, and Audrey Roberson. 2013. “Dimensions of Web Registers: An Exploratory Multidimensional Comparison”. Corpora 81: 239–271. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Tremayne, Mark, ed. 2007. Blogging, Citizenship, and the Future of Media. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Xiao, Richard. 2009. “Multidimensional Analysis and the Study of World Englishes”. World Englishes 281: 421–450. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cited by (8)

Cited by eight other publications

Fatima, Mahrukh, Ali Raza Siddique, Muhammad Ahmad & Muhammad Asim Mahmood
2023. Exploring linguistic variation in Pakistani English newspaper editorials through multidimensional analysis. Newspaper Research Journal 44:4 ► pp. 425 ff. DOI logo
Shakir, Muhammad
2023. Functions of code-switching in online registers of Pakistani English. In New Englishes, New Methods [Varieties of English Around the World, G68], ► pp. 42 ff. DOI logo
Shakir, Muhammad
2024. An exploratory investigation of functional variation in South Asian online Englishes. English Language and Linguistics ► pp. 1 ff. DOI logo
Sun, Ya, Deyi Kong & Limei Zhai
2023. To Interact and to Narrate: A Categorical Multidimensional Analysis of Twitter Use by US Banks and Energy Corporations. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication 66:2 ► pp. 117 ff. DOI logo
Ali, Sadia & Paul Thompson
2022. Reporting local cultures in the globalised world: how indigenised can English be in the free world?. Corpora 17:2 ► pp. 197 ff. DOI logo
Mohr, Susanne
2022. Investigating English in Multilingual Contexts Online: Identity Construction in Geotagged Instagram Data. Frontiers in Communication 6 DOI logo
Huang, Ying & Wei Ren
2020. A novel multidimensional analysis of writing styles of editorials from China Daily and The New York Times. Lingua 235 ► pp. 102781 ff. DOI logo
Shakir, Muhammad & Dagmar Deuber
2018. A multidimensional study of interactive registers in Pakistani and US English. World Englishes 37:4 ► pp. 607 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 4 july 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.