More onKena-passives in Singapore English

Bibliographic Data

ID2293537
AuthorsChonghyuck Kim (Department of English Language & Literature National University of Singapore Block AS5, 7 Arts Link Singapore 117570, corresponding author), Yosuke Sato (0000-0003-3631-379X, Department of English Language & Literature National University of Singapore Block AS5, 7 Arts Link Singapore 117570)
Year2013
Volume32
Issue3
Pages297-307
Publication date2013-09-01
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueWorld Englishes (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0883-2919 • E-ISSN: 1467-971X
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/weng.12032
OpenAlexW1498179389
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited19

In the so-calledkena-passive construction in Singapore English (Bao and Wee), the morphosyntactic realization of the passive feature of irregular verbs is optional (John kena caught/?catch) in contrast to the obligatory realization of the same feature within the English-derivedbe-passive (John was caught/*catch). We propose that this asymmetry follows from the hybrid syntactic structures of thekena-passive construction. Specifically, we argue that the verbkenaallows not only the standard passive structure of the type discussed by Bao and Wee but also the active structure which embeds a sentential complement comprised ofproand the active verb. This analysis is supported by a variety of arguments regarding thekena-active complement structure independently available in Singapore English (Yap and Lim) as well as Chinese (Feng; Huang) and Baba Malay (Ansaldo and Matthews), which have been hypothesized in the literature as the two major substrate languages of Singapore English

Complement (music · Linguistics · Realization (probability · Verb · Language, Discourse, Communication Strategies · Linguistic Variation and Morphology · Mathematics · Philosophy · Syntax, Semantics, Linguistic Variation

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