HYPERCORRECTION AMONG NATIVE SPEAKERS OF BIDAYUH BIATAH WHEN SPEAKING ENGLISH

Abstract

Hypercorrection has been described as a sociolinguistic phenomenon where linguistic overcompensation occurs from the over-application of a perceived rule of language usage prescription. This paper reports a study investigating hypercorrection among younger and older native speakers of Bidayuh Biatah when speaking English. The qualitative study data were collected from eight native speakers of Bidayuh Biatah: four younger participants aged 23 years old and four older participants aged 55 to 69 years old. Hypercorrection was analysed by categorising them into phonological, syntactical, and morphological hypercorrection within the environments in which they occurred. Results showed that participants used all three categories of hypercorrections, with phonological hypercorrection occurring the most, followed by morphological hypercorrection and syntactical hypercorrection. However, the younger participants demonstrated hypercorrection less frequently than the older ones. The tendency to hypercorrect phonologically suggests that younger and older participants prioritised sound correctness when speaking in English, which they considered a prestigious language. This sociolinguistic insight can inform pedagogical practices.

Keywords

• hypercorrection; Bidayuh Biatah, speaking English; prestige language