The places where English is spoken: adverbial relative clauses in World Englishes

Abstract

[eng] This paper investigates adverbial relative clauses in World Englishes, in particular relative clauses expressing place (the place where), time (the time when), manner (the way in which) and reason (the reason why). Using data from the ICE corpora, it compares the varieties spoken in India, Hong-Kong and Singapore. In particular we will consider (i) the meaning expressed by the relative clause, (ii) the nominal antecedent, both its meaning and form, and, (iii) the relative word used to introduce the relative clause (adverbial relative word, wh- pronoun, that and zero). An examination of these issues reveals distinguishing features in the distribution of relative words that are related to the different constructions, to the specific postcolonial varieties that have been developed in the different countries and, finally, to the interaction between the superstrate and the different substrate languages.