Chapter 8
The question of structural nativization in Namibian
English
Some answers from extended uses of the progressive
The question of whether the English as spoken in
Namibia can be considered a (second-language) variety or should
rather be considered a learner English was first addressed in Buschfeld and Kautzsch (2014).
The present study approaches this question from a quantitative
perspective, focusing on the use of progressive morphology (i.e.,
verb+ing) in Namibian English (NamE).
The findings suggest that NamE is characterized by local and
innovative, extended uses of progressive marking. I discuss whether
these can be considered nativized features and conclude that this is
a complex question in which a variety of factors have to be
considered, most importantly the fact that NamE is not a monolithic
whole but stratified along the lines of speakers’ ages and
ethnicities.
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.Contextualizing the progressive: Diachronic and synchronic perspectives
- 3.Progressive marking and the question of structural nativization
in Namibian English(es)
- 3.1Some remarks on structural nativization
- 3.2Data collection and participants
- 3.3Data analysis
- 3.4Results
- 4.Discussion of results
- 5.Conclusion: Structural nativization in NamE?
-
Acknowledgements
-
Notes
-
References
References (60)
Bernaisch, Tobias, Gries, Stefan T. & Mukherjee, Joybrato
Biber, Douglas, Johansson, Stig, Leech, Geoffrey, Conrad, Susan & Finegan, Edward
1999 Longman
Grammar of Spoken and Written
English. Harlow: Pearson.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Breed, Adri
2017 Periphrastic
progressive constructions in Dutch and Afrikaans: A
contrastive analysis.
Journal
of Germanic
Linguistics 29(4): 305–378.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Buschfeld, Sarah & Kautzsch, Alexander
Buschfeld, Sarah & Kautzsch, Alexander
2017 Towards
an integrated approach to postcolonial and non-postcolonial
Englishes.
World
Englishes 36(1): 104–126.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Collins, Peter
2008 The
progressive aspect in World Englishes: A corpus-based
study.
Australian Journal of
Linguistics 28(2): 225–249.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Filppula, Markku
1999 A
Grammar of Irish
English. London: Routledge.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Fuchs, Robert & Gut, Ulrike
Haacke, Wilfrid H. G.
1976 A
Nama Grammar: The
Noun-Phrase. MA
thesis, published by
the University of Cape Town, South Africa.
[URL]> (
27 September 2020).
Haacke, Wilfrid H. G.
2006 Syntactic
focus marking in Khoekhoe
(“Nama/Damara”).
ZAS Papers
in
Linguistics 46: 105–127.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Hackert, Stephanie, Laube, Alexander & Wengler, Diana
2020 English
in the Bahamas and developmental models of World Englishes:
A critical
analysis. In
Modelling
World Englishes: A Joint Approach to Postcolonial and
Non-Postcolonial Varieties,
Sarah Buschfeld &
Alexander Kautzsch (eds), 251–273. Edinburgh: EUP.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Hothorn, Torsten, Hornik, Kurt & Zeileis, Achim
2006 Unbiased
recursive partitioning: A conditional inference
framework.
Journal of
Computational and Graphical
Statistics 15(3): 651–674.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Hulk, Aafke C. J. & Müller, Natascha
2000 Bilingual
first language acquisition at the interface between syntax
and pragmatics.
Bilingualism:
Language and
Cognition 3: 227–244.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Hundt, Marianne
2004 Animacy,
agentivity, and the spread of the progressive in modern
English.
English Language and
Linguistics 8(1): 47–69.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Hundt, Marianne & Vogel, Katrin
Hundt, Marianne, Rautionaho, Paula & Strobl, Carolin
2020 Progressive
or simple? A corpus-based study of aspect in World
Englishes.
Corpora 15(1): 77–106.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Kautzsch, Alexander & Schröder, Anne
2016 English
in multilingual and multiethnic Namibia: Some evidence on
language attitudes and on the pronunciation of
vowels. In
Anglistentag
Paderborn 2015: Proceedings,
Christoph Ehland,
Ilka Mindt &
Merle Tönnies (eds), 277–288. Trier: WVT.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Kautzsch, Alexander, Schröder, Anne & Zähres, Frederic
2017 The
phonetics of Namibian English: Investigating local features
in a global context. Paper
presented at the
IAWE
Conference, Syracuse NY.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
de Klerk, Vivian & Gough, David
2002 Black
South African
English. In
Language
in South Africa,
Rajend Mesthrie (ed.), 356–78. Cambridge: CUP.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Kortmann, Bernd
2010 Variation
across Englishes:
Syntax. In
English
as a Lingua Franca in ASEAN: A Multilingual
Model,
Andy Kirkpatrick (ed), 400–424. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Kortmann, Bernd & Lunkenheimer, Kerstin
(eds) 2013 The
Electronic World Atlas of Varieties of
English. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.
[URL]> (
15 February 2019).
Kortmann, Bernd & Szmrecsanyi, Benedikt
2004 Global
synopsis: Morphological and syntactic variation in
English. In
A
Handbook of Varieties of English, Vol. 2: Morphology and
Syntax,
Bernd Kortmann,
Edgar W. Schneider,
Clive Upton,
Kate Burridge &
Rajend Mesthrie (eds), 1142–1202. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Labov, William
1972 Some
principles of linguistic
methodology.
Language in
Society 1: 97–120.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Leech, Geoffrey, Hundt, Marianne, Mair, Christian, & Smith, Nicholas
2009 Change
in Contemporary English: A Grammatical
Study. Cambridge: CUP.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Mair, Christian
2003 Kreolismen
und verbales Identitätsmanagement im geschriebenen
jamaicanischen
Englisch. In
Zwischen
Ausgrenzung und
Hybridisierung,
Elisabeth Vogel,
Antonia Napp &
Wolfram Lutterer (eds), 79–96. Würzburg: Ergon.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Mair, Christian & Hundt, Marianne
1995 “
Why
is the progressive becoming more frequent in English?” A
corpus-based investigation of language change in
progress.
Zeitschrift für
Anglistik und
Amerikanistik 43: 111–122.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Mair, Christian & Leech, Geoffrey
2006 Current
changes in English
syntax. In
The
Handbook of English
Linguistics,
Bas Aarts &
April McMahon (eds), 318–342. Oxford: Blackwell.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Makalela, Leketi
2004 Making
sense of BSAE for linguistic democracy in South
Africa.
World
Englishes 23(3): 355–66.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Meriläinen, Lea
2017 The
progressive form in learner Englishes: Examining variation
across corpora.
World
Englishes 36(4): 760–783.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Meriläinen, Lea, Paulasto, Heli & Rautionaho, Paula
2017 Extended
uses of the progressive form in Inner, Outer and Expanding
Circle
Englishes. In
Changing
English: Global and Local
Perspectives,
Markku Filppula,
Juhani Klemola,
Anna Mauranen &
Svetlana Vetchinnikova (eds), 676–696. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Möhlig, Wilhelm J. G. & Kavari, Jekura U.
2008 Reference
Grammar of Herero (Otjiherero): Bantu Language of Namibia.
With a Glossary
Otjiherero-English-Otjiherero [
Southern
African Languages and Cultures
3]. Köln: Rüdiger Köppe.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Paulasto, Heli
2006 Welsh
English Syntax: Contact and
Variation. Joensuu: Joensuu University Press.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
van Pottelberge, Jeroen
2004 Der
am-Progressiv: Struktur und parallele Entwicklung in den
kontinentalwestgermanischen
Sprachen. Tübingen: Narr.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
R Development Core
Team
2014 R: A
Language and Environment for Statistical
Computing. Vienna: R Foundation for Statistical Computing.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
van Rooy, Bertus
2006 The
extension of the progressive aspect in Black South African
English.
World
Englishes 25(1): 37–64.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
van Rooy, Bertus
2014 Progressive
aspect and stative verbs in Outer Circle
varieties.
World
Englishes 11(2): 157–172.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
van Rooy, Bertus & Piotrowska, Caroline
Salles Bernal, Soluna
2015 Synchronic
analysis of the progressive aspect in three varieties of
Asian Englishes.
Miscelánea:
A Journal of English and American
Studies 51: 87–107.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Schilk, Marco & Hammel, Marc
2014 The
progressive in South Asian and Southeast Asian varieties of
English – mapping areal homogeneity and
heterogeneity.
Language and
Computers 78(1): 147–171.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Schmied, Josef
1991 English
in
Africa. London: Longman.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Schmied, Josef
2006 East
African
Englishes. In
The
Handbook of World Englishes,
Braj B. Kachru,
Yamuna Kachru &
Cecil L. Nelson (eds), 188–202. Oxford: Blackwell.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Schneider, Edgar W.
2003 The
dynamics of New Englishes: From identity construction to
dialect
birth.
Language 79(2): 233–281.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Schneider, Edgar W.
2007 Postcolonial
English: Varieties around the
World. Cambridge: CUP.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Schröder, Anne & Schneider, Klaus P.
Schröder, Anne & Zähres, Frederic
2020 English
in Namibia: Multilingualism and ethnic variation in the
Extra- and Intraterritorial Forces
Model. In
Modelling
World Englishes: A Joint Approach to Postcolonial and
Non-Postcolonial Varieties,
Sarah Buschfeld &
Alexander Kautzsch (eds), 38–62. Edinburgh: EUP.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Schröder, Anne, Frederic Zähres & Alexander Kautzsch
Ssempuuma, Jude, Bebwa Isingoma & Christiane Meierkord
2016 The
use of the progressive in Ugandan
English. In
Ugandan
English: Its Sociolinguistics, Structure and Uses in a
Globalising
Post-protectorate [
Varieties of
English Around the World G59],
Christiane Meierkord,
Bebwa Isingoma &
Saudah Namyalo (eds), 173–199. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Szmrecsanyi, Benedikt, Grafmiller, Jason, Heller, Benedikt & Röthlisberger, Melanie
Tagliamonte, Sali & Baayen, Harald
2012 Models,
forests, and trees of York English:
Was/were variation as a case study for
statistical
practice.
Language Variation
and
Change 24: 135–178.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Weiss, Gary M.
2004 Mining
with rarity: A unifying
framework.
ACM SIGKDD
Explorations 6(1): 7–19.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Zähres, Frederic
2016 A
case study of code-switching in multilingual Namibian
keyboard-to-screen
communication.
10plus 1 2: 31–46.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Cited by (1)
Cited by 1 other publications
Stell, Gerald
2023.
Native languages and aspect-marking in New Englishes: The (im)perfective in Namibian English.
International Journal of Bilingualism ![DOI logo](//benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 5 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.