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Patterns of thanking in Asian Englishes

A local grammar-based investigation

 | Shanghai Jiaotong University
ORCiD logo with link | Shanghai International Studies University
 | Zhejiang International Studies University
Published online: 2 March 2026
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/eww.25005.lia
Abstract
Drawing on data taken from the Hong Kong, Singapore, India and the British components of the International Corpus of English (ICE), the study presents a local grammar-based investigation into the patterns of thanking across the four selected varieties of English. It aims to add to our understanding of thanking and its associated sociocultural norms in the four societies and to enrich the toolkit for researching speech acts in world Englishes. Overall, the investigation reveals a mixed picture of the ways in which thanking was performed by speakers of the three Asian varieties of English, suggesting that their speech act performance was shaped by both local politeness norms and target language cultural conventions. Methodologically, the study shows that local grammar can facilitate the quantification of speech act realisations across varieties of English, thereby offering a viable method for examining speech acts in world-wide Englishes.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Literature review
    • 2.1The local grammar approach to speech act studies
    • 2.2Speech acts across varieties of English
    • 2.3Corpus pragmatics and pragmatic variation
  • 3.Research design
    • 3.1Corpora and methodology
    • 3.2Data analysis
  • 4.Results
    • 4.1An overview of the local grammar patterns of thanking across the four corpora
    • 4.2Intensification in thanking patterns across the four corpora
    • 4.3Specification in thanking patterns across the four corpora
    • 4.4Benefactor in thanking patterns across the four corpora
  • 5.Discussion
  • 6.Conclusion
  • Note
  • Sources
  • References
References (65)
Sources
ICE Great Britain. International Corpus of English. Compiled at University College London.
ICE Hong Kong. International Corpus of English. Compiled at The University of Hong Kong and The Chinese University of Hong Kong.
ICE India. International Corpus of English. Compiled at Shivaji University and Freie Universität Berlin.
ICE Singapore. International Corpus of English. Compiled at National University of Singapore.
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