ABSTRACT

This paper aims to build bridges between different varieties of English. It reports the findings of two independent studies on the expression of perfect meaning in varieties of English world-wide. The first is a corpus-based, comparative study of native English vs institutionalised L2 varieties of English. Study 2 is a grammaticality judgement task involving first-generation immigrant speakers of English living in Mallorca in Spain. It is found that L2 speakers produce more variant forms for expressing present perfect meaning. L2 speakers are also similar to long-immersed immigrants in that both show greater variability in their choice of verb forms in recent past contexts. The paper insightfully combines research on World Englishes and on language attrition, arguing that language variation in both World Englishes and in long-immersed immigrant speakers can be analysed and interpreted as a possible sign of an emerging new variety.

摘要

本文旨在在不同种类的英语之间架起桥梁。它报告了关于世界范围内各种英语中完美含义表达的两项独立研究的结果。第一个是基于语料库的对母语英语与制度化的 L2 英语变体的比较研究。研究 2 是一项语法判断任务，涉及居住在西班牙马略卡岛的第一代英语移民。发现L2说话者会产生更多的变体形式来表达现在的完美意义。L2 说话者也与长期沉浸的移民相似，因为他们在最近的过去语境中选择动词形式时表现出更大的可变性。这篇论文深刻地结合了对世界英语和语言磨损的研究，