Based on the results shown by the corpora, modal may is predominantly used to indicate request than modal can in the Philippine English. However, for the Singaporean English, modal can is often used than modal may in requesting. For the New Zealand English, results showed that they seldom use modal can in requesting and for modal may, they don’t use at all whenever making a request. To this, several sociological and cultural references can be drawn on to explain such linguistic phenomenon. Take for example the Philippine English, which was the result of its colonial background.
The use of ‘can’ and ‘may’ is a form of address/reference (Borlongan, 2007).
Bautista (1979) explains that Filipinos always feel the need to be polite in addressing/referring to others. It has been considered as one of the well-reflected Filipino cultural traits in language. Filipinos tend to go around the bush. Filipinos can’t just go direct or straight to the point because it is disrespectful or impolite (M. R. Madrunio, Sociolinguistics, July 9, 2013).
This claim is further strengthened with the interviews conducted to the students of UST.
Altura and Carrascal of the College of Rehabilitation Sciences said that they tend to use modal may often than modal can in requesting because it appears to be more polite in the same way that we Filipinos have “po” and “opo” as a sign of respect to the elders. As for the Singaporean English or Singlish which is the colloquial term of the language, Bravo-Bhasin, 2012 claims that the sentence structure of Singlish is pared down to the bare minimum having no conditional ‘polite verbs’ (would you, could you) and consequently, requires an adjustment to the ear and to the mind.
The Term Paper on Say It, Write It, Defend It and Judge It – in English!
We see them in public discourses, Filipino lawyers and people of the law expressing their opinions and rebuttals in English. We see them stored up in voluminous heights, documents of trial proceedings written in English. Our courts are alive with people engaging in the litany of judicial trials in English. For a layman who has no grasp of the motions of court trials, the experience could well be ...
Unlike the Philippine English, Singlish has no “po” and “opo” or other words that may offer sign of respect. However, the words are not intended to be as harsh as it may sound and should not be misunderstood. The use of can is not an exception to the uniquely constructed language of Singapore. ‘Can’ in Singlish may actually function as both a question particle and an answer particle. For instance, a person may say “Go home lah, can? ” (meaning ‘just go home now, okay? ’) or ask a question like “Can I have a biscuit also? ” , and the other person will answer “Can! ” or “Cannot! ” for the negative.
Can’ likewise can be repeated for greater emphasis or to express enthusiasm as in e. g. “Can you show me the drawings tomorrow? ” will be responded with “Can can! ” (meaning no problem).
From the examples above, we can say that the sociological reference of use of ‘can’ in Singapore actually rooted from the deviation caused by other dominant languages such as Mandarin and Malay in Singapore. This is due to the fact that Singapore has four official languages. The New Zealand English similarly uses modal can more than modal may but not as frequent as the two varieties of English do.
In 2008, Hay, Maclagan, and Gordon discovered that the use of ‘may’ is more frequent than the use of ‘shall’. However, it is also much less frequent in New Zealand than it used to be. When talking about intentions, or future events, New Zealanders often use the verb ‘be going to’. Cultural speaking, (Fritz Ibarra, July 11, 2013) a resident in the country said that it is within their culture to say directly what they want because they don’t get intimidated easily. Moreover, they don’t really request or ask for favor.
Conclusion: I therefore conclude that modals ‘may’ and ‘can’ are can be used as a request but it also varies in meaning. May is like asking if a certain person is permitted to do what he or she desires; On the other hand, can is asking if he or she has the ability to do it or not. Filipinos always use may because we think that we are inferior to other people, we have this mindset that we have to ask permission to do the things that we want to do. We know that we can do it but the problem is that, we always need a sense of authority. We found out that in Singapore and New Zealand they are not like that.
The Term Paper on A Comparative Study on China English, Chinglish and Their Influences
A Comparative Study on China English, Chinglish and Their Influences Abstract: This paper attempts to explore the possible differences between China English and Chinglish as well as the influences they have brought to the language itself and the society. By a comparative study of the two interlanguages, we can gain a general idea about their differences and their impact Key words: China English, ...
It is also brought about by culture for the reason that other nationalities do not even call their elders using polite terms like ‘ate or kuya’ instead they call them by their first names. Based on the ICE, Philippines English frequently used the modal may than can as a request while in Singapore English can is mostly used than may. In New Zealand English the use of can is rarely used and the may is almost not used at all as it said earlier. But we believe that it is still debatable because we only have limited observation since we based our research on parliamentary debates section only.
