Interrogative Variation in Pakistani English: An Optimality-Theoretic Analysis of Polar, Embedded, and Tag Questions

Abstract

This study investigates polar, embedded, and tag questions in Pakistani English with a special focus on syntactic and pragmatic variation in their structures. Interrogative forms have attracted limited attention. The present study examines the use of interrogative forms in Pakistani English novels, dramas, and newspapers. For analysis, the study is informed by World Englishes scholarship. To explicate variation in the question forms of Pakistani English, the study employs Optimality Theory (Prince & Smolensky, 2004). The study is predominantly qualitative in nature. The analysis of this study addresses word order, sub-aux inversion, the use of auxiliaries, tag patterns, and the pragmatic functions of various structures in interrogative forms. The findings of the study confirm systematic variation in Pakistani English interrogatives. They are sensitive to genre and context. Pakistani English novels and newspapers seem to reflect standard English structures. Pakistani English dramas exhibit flexibility and show declarative word order in polar questions and tag-question variation. In the context of variation, tag questions appear to be the most productive type in the extracted data. They perform multiple functions. The study concludes that the variation reflects the bilingual environment in Pakistan. It is also the influence of pragmatic force and the ongoing nativization of Pakistani English.