IT IS A TAG QUESTION, ISN'T IT?

Abstract

This paper sets out to discover the forms that tag questions can take and the functions that they fulfill when used by a group of Malaysian speakers. This study also looks into the implications of processes in second language acquisition, such as, simplification, transfer, pidginization, overgeneralization, and avoidance on the tag question structure in an institutionalized second language variety.

The methodology used to obtain data for this paper includes an oral and a written task. The written task tests the use of the tag question structure explicitly while the oral task is one in which the respondents are required to obtain and supply information.

The issue of international intelligibility and international communication will also be focused on. The question here then is whether the tag question form as employed by the group of Malaysian speakers can be classified as a Malaysian variety or is in actuality a form of pidgin.