Tobias Bernaisch
Biographic Data
| ID | 649862 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Tobias Bernaisch |
| GIVEN NAMES | Tobias |
| FAMILY NAME | Bernaisch |
| SIGNATURE | BERNAISCH T |
| AFFILIATIONS | Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-0122-1975 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 17 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 64 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 17 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2012 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 5 |
Worldwide Perspectives on English Usage
The study of English usage has to take account of changes in grammar, word choice and nuances of communication. In recent decades, developments in linguistic methodologies have catalysed modifications In our approach to linguistic variation, with perspectives changing from a primarily prescriptive to a more descriptive approach. Bringing together contributions from a team of distinguished scholars, this book explores sociolinguistic and structura…
Corpus linguistics in the age of generative AI
Generative AI tools have implications for corpus linguistics from practical and theoretical angles, both of which the current paper addresses. The first part of the paper establishes whether and how generative AI tools – here ChatGPT o3 – can in practice support a corpus-linguistic workflow comprising data extraction, cleaning, and annotation for the dative alternation. While certain steps in this workflow such as data extraction or object length…
The existential there construction in spoken South Asian Englishes
The study of South Asian Englishes has long focused on the largest and oldest local English as a second language variety, Indian English (IndE). Methodologically, research on South Asian Englishes has predominantly relied on descriptive statistics and monofactorial analyses while multifactorial analyses – although statistically superior – have remained rare. Against this background, the present article compares the use of the existential there co…
The Sociolinguistics of Quotatives in Sri Lankan English
This paper examines the quotative system of Sri Lankan English. Quotatives are identified in face-to-face conversations in the Sri Lankan component of the International Corpus of English. The use of kiyala indicating and following quoted material has been transferred from Sinhala, one of the indigenous languages of the country, into Sri Lankan English. Together with the occurrence of complementising that, the localisation of the Sri Lankan Englis…
Particle Placement in Hong Kong English
In the framework of postcolonial Englishes and their evolutions, Hong Kong English represents an extraordinary case in that the political independence of Hong Kong from the British in 1997 did not result—as in most other cases—in a self-governing political body, but a formal re-integration of Hong Kong into China. As the handover of Hong Kong also marks a drastic linguistic re-orientation, this short-term diachronic paper studies newspaper data f…
Particle verbs versus simplex verbs in Maldivian English
Notwithstanding current indications that English might soon become the country's dominant L1, the structures of English in the Maldives have—despite laudable exceptions—not yet received sufficient academic attention. The present paper studies the contrast between simplex verbs (e.g. COMPRISE) and their innovative particle–verb alternatives (e.g. COMPRISE of ) (a) in a short‐term diachronic database of Maldivian newspaper texts and (b) with the he…
Social network effects on particle variation among Singapore students
We situate our study of Singapore English particles in the context of social network theory and language variation in order to gain access to Singapore students’ most natural language use (that is, their vernacular, in the Labovian sense), and consider aspects of social as well as stylistic variation. We provide the results of a study on the ego‐centric social networks of Chinese and Malay students and consider the network effects of social netwo…
World Englishes and sociolinguistic variation
This article discusses the connections between world Englishes and sociolinguistic variation. It begins with an overview of the field of sociolinguistic variation, and also highlighting contemporary approaches to world Englishes, with specific reference to the sociolinguistic realities (in the Kachruvian sense) of Outer Circle contexts. The article then proceeds to examine language variation studies with a focus on vernacular language practices a…
The current state of research into linguistic epicentres
This special issue focuses on key issues in epicentral research. Against the background of a brief discussion of the epicentre metaphor in the world Englishes paradigm, the various regional constellations in Africa, America, Asia and Australasia relevant to the concept of linguistic epicentres are highlighted and the temporal framing of epicentral influence is discussed with regard to often‐assumed evolutionary prerequisites of potential linguist…
Theoretical models and statistical modelling of linguistic epicentres
Motivated by a fundamental discussion of the relation between theoretical and statistical modelling, the present paper takes stock of the research history of linguistic epicentres in the world Englishes paradigm and seeks to provide suggestions for future epicentral studies. Based on a review of earlier research into potential epicentral constellations, we provide an overview of the genesis of the concept of linguistic epicentres, describe differ…
Backchannels and the pragmatics of South Asian Englishes
The pragmatics of postcolonial Englishes including backchannels have so far remained in the periphery of academic inquiry. As pragmatic principles may be regarded as culture‐sensitive and various cultural differences have been attested between Great Britain and South Asia, the present paper studies backchannels in British, Indian and Sri Lankan English. Drawn from the respective spoken parts of the International Corpus of English, 3,212 backchann…
Intensifying and downtoning in South Asian Englishes
As studies on socio-pragmatics in South Asian Englishes and – more generally – postcolonial Englishes are still rare, the present study analyses how age, formality of context, gender, topic of the conversation and type-token ratio of a given speaker influence intensifiers and downtoners in spoken Indian, Sri Lankan and British English as represented in the International Corpus of English . Central research interests cover (a) differences in the f…
The pragmatic nativisation of pauses in Asian Englishes
Studies within the world Englishes paradigm have furnished detailed descriptions of numerous lexical, morphological and syntactic features. Although laudable exceptions exist, pragmatics as well as the concept of pragmatic nativisation have so far been largely neglected in world Englishes - particularly from an empirical angle. The present paper investigates pauses - more specifically the choice between filled (for example, uh, uhm) and unfilled …
Exploring epicentres empirically
The present paper studies the dative alternation with GIVE, i.e. the alternation between the double-object construction (e.g. John gave Mary a book ) and the prepositional dative (e.g. John gave a book to Mary ), in relation to the norms underlying this constructional choice in six South Asian Englishes. Via Multifactorial Prediction and Deviation Analysis with Regression (MuPDAR) including random effects, we identify (i) factors triggering diffe…
Attitudes towards Englishes in India
With the help of a survey building on 13 bipolar pairs arranged on a six-point semantic differential scale, the present paper studies Indian English speakers' attitudes towards their local variety Indian English contrastively by simultaneously examining their attitudes towards American English, British English and Sri Lankan English. The results show that although Indian speakers of English display a positive attitude towards Indian English, whic…
The dative alternation in South Asian English(es)
The present paper focuses on the modelling of cross-varietal differences and similarities in South Asian English(es) and British English at the level of verb complementation. Specifically, we analyse the dative alternation with GIVE, i.e. the alternation between the double-object construction ( John gave Mary a book ) and the prepositional dative ( John gave a book to Mary ) as well as their passivised constructions with regard to the factors tha…
Attitudes towards Englishes in Sri Lanka
Although the study and description of the structural levels of Sri Lankan English as a variety of English in its own right have so far been in the centre of a limited number of small-scale investigations only, the sociolinguistic scenery in Sri Lanka has attracted more national and international scholarly attention. In this context, most of the sociolinguistic studies with a special focus on attitudes towards English in Sri Lanka did not differen…
Exploring epicentres empirically
The present paper studies the dative alternation with GIVE, i.e. the alternation between the double-object construction (e.g. John gave Mary a book ) and the prepositional dative (e.g. John gave a book to Mary ), in relation to the norms underlying this constructional choice in six South Asian Englishes. Via Multifactorial Prediction and Deviation Analysis with Regression (MuPDAR) including random effects, we identify (i) factors triggering diffe…
The dative alternation in South Asian English(es)
The present paper focuses on the modelling of cross-varietal differences and similarities in South Asian English(es) and British English at the level of verb complementation. Specifically, we analyse the dative alternation with GIVE, i.e. the alternation between the double-object construction ( John gave Mary a book ) and the prepositional dative ( John gave a book to Mary ) as well as their passivised constructions with regard to the factors tha…
Attitudes towards Englishes in Sri Lanka
Although the study and description of the structural levels of Sri Lankan English as a variety of English in its own right have so far been in the centre of a limited number of small-scale investigations only, the sociolinguistic scenery in Sri Lanka has attracted more national and international scholarly attention. In this context, most of the sociolinguistic studies with a special focus on attitudes towards English in Sri Lanka did not differen…
Attitudes towards Englishes in India
With the help of a survey building on 13 bipolar pairs arranged on a six-point semantic differential scale, the present paper studies Indian English speakers' attitudes towards their local variety Indian English contrastively by simultaneously examining their attitudes towards American English, British English and Sri Lankan English. The results show that although Indian speakers of English display a positive attitude towards Indian English, whic…
The pragmatic nativisation of pauses in Asian Englishes
Studies within the world Englishes paradigm have furnished detailed descriptions of numerous lexical, morphological and syntactic features. Although laudable exceptions exist, pragmatics as well as the concept of pragmatic nativisation have so far been largely neglected in world Englishes - particularly from an empirical angle. The present paper investigates pauses - more specifically the choice between filled (for example, uh, uhm) and unfilled …
Intensifying and downtoning in South Asian Englishes
As studies on socio-pragmatics in South Asian Englishes and – more generally – postcolonial Englishes are still rare, the present study analyses how age, formality of context, gender, topic of the conversation and type-token ratio of a given speaker influence intensifiers and downtoners in spoken Indian, Sri Lankan and British English as represented in the International Corpus of English . Central research interests cover (a) differences in the f…
Social network effects on particle variation among Singapore students
We situate our study of Singapore English particles in the context of social network theory and language variation in order to gain access to Singapore students’ most natural language use (that is, their vernacular, in the Labovian sense), and consider aspects of social as well as stylistic variation. We provide the results of a study on the ego‐centric social networks of Chinese and Malay students and consider the network effects of social netwo…
World Englishes and sociolinguistic variation
This article discusses the connections between world Englishes and sociolinguistic variation. It begins with an overview of the field of sociolinguistic variation, and also highlighting contemporary approaches to world Englishes, with specific reference to the sociolinguistic realities (in the Kachruvian sense) of Outer Circle contexts. The article then proceeds to examine language variation studies with a focus on vernacular language practices a…
Attitudes towards Englishes in Sri Lanka
Although the study and description of the structural levels of Sri Lankan English as a variety of English in its own right have so far been in the centre of a limited number of small-scale investigations only, the sociolinguistic scenery in Sri Lanka has attracted more national and international scholarly attention. In this context, most of the sociolinguistic studies with a special focus on attitudes towards English in Sri Lanka did not differen…
The dative alternation in South Asian English(es)
The present paper focuses on the modelling of cross-varietal differences and similarities in South Asian English(es) and British English at the level of verb complementation. Specifically, we analyse the dative alternation with GIVE, i.e. the alternation between the double-object construction ( John gave Mary a book ) and the prepositional dative ( John gave a book to Mary ) as well as their passivised constructions with regard to the factors tha…
Exploring epicentres empirically
The present paper studies the dative alternation with GIVE, i.e. the alternation between the double-object construction (e.g. John gave Mary a book ) and the prepositional dative (e.g. John gave a book to Mary ), in relation to the norms underlying this constructional choice in six South Asian Englishes. Via Multifactorial Prediction and Deviation Analysis with Regression (MuPDAR) including random effects, we identify (i) factors triggering diffe…
Attitudes towards Englishes in India
With the help of a survey building on 13 bipolar pairs arranged on a six-point semantic differential scale, the present paper studies Indian English speakers' attitudes towards their local variety Indian English contrastively by simultaneously examining their attitudes towards American English, British English and Sri Lankan English. The results show that although Indian speakers of English display a positive attitude towards Indian English, whic…
The pragmatic nativisation of pauses in Asian Englishes
Studies within the world Englishes paradigm have furnished detailed descriptions of numerous lexical, morphological and syntactic features. Although laudable exceptions exist, pragmatics as well as the concept of pragmatic nativisation have so far been largely neglected in world Englishes - particularly from an empirical angle. The present paper investigates pauses - more specifically the choice between filled (for example, uh, uhm) and unfilled …
The current state of research into linguistic epicentres
This special issue focuses on key issues in epicentral research. Against the background of a brief discussion of the epicentre metaphor in the world Englishes paradigm, the various regional constellations in Africa, America, Asia and Australasia relevant to the concept of linguistic epicentres are highlighted and the temporal framing of epicentral influence is discussed with regard to often‐assumed evolutionary prerequisites of potential linguist…
Theoretical models and statistical modelling of linguistic epicentres
Motivated by a fundamental discussion of the relation between theoretical and statistical modelling, the present paper takes stock of the research history of linguistic epicentres in the world Englishes paradigm and seeks to provide suggestions for future epicentral studies. Based on a review of earlier research into potential epicentral constellations, we provide an overview of the genesis of the concept of linguistic epicentres, describe differ…
Backchannels and the pragmatics of South Asian Englishes
The pragmatics of postcolonial Englishes including backchannels have so far remained in the periphery of academic inquiry. As pragmatic principles may be regarded as culture‐sensitive and various cultural differences have been attested between Great Britain and South Asia, the present paper studies backchannels in British, Indian and Sri Lankan English. Drawn from the respective spoken parts of the International Corpus of English, 3,212 backchann…
Intensifying and downtoning in South Asian Englishes
As studies on socio-pragmatics in South Asian Englishes and – more generally – postcolonial Englishes are still rare, the present study analyses how age, formality of context, gender, topic of the conversation and type-token ratio of a given speaker influence intensifiers and downtoners in spoken Indian, Sri Lankan and British English as represented in the International Corpus of English . Central research interests cover (a) differences in the f…
Particle Placement in Hong Kong English
In the framework of postcolonial Englishes and their evolutions, Hong Kong English represents an extraordinary case in that the political independence of Hong Kong from the British in 1997 did not result—as in most other cases—in a self-governing political body, but a formal re-integration of Hong Kong into China. As the handover of Hong Kong also marks a drastic linguistic re-orientation, this short-term diachronic paper studies newspaper data f…
Particle verbs versus simplex verbs in Maldivian English
Notwithstanding current indications that English might soon become the country's dominant L1, the structures of English in the Maldives have—despite laudable exceptions—not yet received sufficient academic attention. The present paper studies the contrast between simplex verbs (e.g. COMPRISE) and their innovative particle–verb alternatives (e.g. COMPRISE of ) (a) in a short‐term diachronic database of Maldivian newspaper texts and (b) with the he…
Social network effects on particle variation among Singapore students
We situate our study of Singapore English particles in the context of social network theory and language variation in order to gain access to Singapore students’ most natural language use (that is, their vernacular, in the Labovian sense), and consider aspects of social as well as stylistic variation. We provide the results of a study on the ego‐centric social networks of Chinese and Malay students and consider the network effects of social netwo…
World Englishes and sociolinguistic variation
This article discusses the connections between world Englishes and sociolinguistic variation. It begins with an overview of the field of sociolinguistic variation, and also highlighting contemporary approaches to world Englishes, with specific reference to the sociolinguistic realities (in the Kachruvian sense) of Outer Circle contexts. The article then proceeds to examine language variation studies with a focus on vernacular language practices a…
The existential there construction in spoken South Asian Englishes
The study of South Asian Englishes has long focused on the largest and oldest local English as a second language variety, Indian English (IndE). Methodologically, research on South Asian Englishes has predominantly relied on descriptive statistics and monofactorial analyses while multifactorial analyses – although statistically superior – have remained rare. Against this background, the present article compares the use of the existential there co…
The Sociolinguistics of Quotatives in Sri Lankan English
This paper examines the quotative system of Sri Lankan English. Quotatives are identified in face-to-face conversations in the Sri Lankan component of the International Corpus of English. The use of kiyala indicating and following quoted material has been transferred from Sinhala, one of the indigenous languages of the country, into Sri Lankan English. Together with the occurrence of complementising that, the localisation of the Sri Lankan Englis…
Worldwide Perspectives on English Usage
The study of English usage has to take account of changes in grammar, word choice and nuances of communication. In recent decades, developments in linguistic methodologies have catalysed modifications In our approach to linguistic variation, with perspectives changing from a primarily prescriptive to a more descriptive approach. Bringing together contributions from a team of distinguished scholars, this book explores sociolinguistic and structura…
Corpus linguistics in the age of generative AI
Generative AI tools have implications for corpus linguistics from practical and theoretical angles, both of which the current paper addresses. The first part of the paper establishes whether and how generative AI tools – here ChatGPT o3 – can in practice support a corpus-linguistic workflow comprising data extraction, cleaning, and annotation for the dative alternation. While certain steps in this workflow such as data extraction or object length…
Linguistic Variation and Morphology (15 works) · Linguistics (13 works) · Multilingual Education and Policy (11 works) · Philosophy (10 works) · Computer Science (8 works) · History (8 works) · Language, Discourse, Communication Strategies (7 works) · Sociology (7 works) · World Englishes (6 works) · South asia (5 works)