Dialogue in world English literatures : a comparison of parent-child conversations in short stories from three varieties of English

Abstract

Within the Southeast Asian region, Malaysia, Singapore, and the Philippines maintain the largest communities of writers of locally produced English fiction. The English used in Malaysia and Singapore can be regarded as one variety, distinct from Philippine English and other more widely used varieties. This research analyzed 39 contemporary works of literary short fiction which depicted interaction between parents and their pre-adolescent children. The stories were written in English by local authors in Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, and North America. Stylistic analysis employing a framework of discourse (speech) moves and acts was applied to all of the parent-child dialogues in the stories. This analysis describes how authors depict these relationships through the literary representation of verbal and non-verbal communication. Quantification and detailed analysis of the data reveal differences in how parent-child interactions are portrayed by authors in different cultures. Though universal aspects of parent-child discourse were found, the Malaysian and Singaporean dialogues were oriented toward hierarchical status relationships, and the North American stories portrayed relationships which were oriented toward egalitarian parenting while the Filipino stories demonstrated a balance of the two values but with the most interactive conversational style. This research demonstrates how Stylistics and contemporary English world literature can be used for cross-cultural comparisons and exploration of the sociosemiotic function of literature.