AN INVESTIGATION OF THE USAGE OF ENGLISH ARTICLES IN STUDENTS' AND TEACHERS' SPOKEN DISCOURSE

Abstract

This paper investigates the usage of English articles by students and teachers at a public sector university in Pakistan. Through sociolinguistic interviews and simple quantitative analysis, the study finds that participants habitually drop the indefinite specific article at higher rates (53%) than the definite (41%) or non-specific indefinite article (42%). L1 interference from Sindhi and Urdu, languages that lack functional article equivalents, emerges as the primary explanatory factor. Additional contributing factors include inadequate pedagogical attention to the article system and teachers' tolerant attitudes toward non-standard usage of English. The findings align with studies on South Asian Englishes while diverging in the specific pattern of null-marking. The study contextualises these tendencies within the broader trajectory of Pakistani English (PakE) as an evolving variety of Global English, noting parallels with features already observed in Indian English. Recent scholarship on PakE nativisation and English medium instruction policy in Pakistan further underscores the sociolinguistic complexity underlying articles’ (mis)use.