Deviant Grammatical Features of Philippine English: Acceptance among Educated Philippine English Users

Joseph B. Quinto 1 Philippines , Via Amor B. Perillo 2 Philippines , Joyline N. Saldo 2 Philippines
1 College of Arts and Humanities, Benguet State University, Philippines
2 Department of English, Benguet State University, Philippines
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Published 2026-09-01
Vol. 6 No. 1 (2026) PAGES 1-14
DOI 10.51574/ijrer.v6i1.5088
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Research on Philippine English (PhE) has documented recurrent grammatical deviations; however, how educated users evaluate these forms across teaching sectors remains under-investigated. This study examines the frequency and distribution of these features in student texts, their perceived acceptability among educated PhE users, and differences in acceptance across teaching classifications. A corpus of 76 opinion articles from a state university in Northern Luzon spanning up to a ten-year period (2014–2024) was analyzed. Descriptive statistical procedures identified 601 grammatical deviations across 11 structural categories. To assess acceptability, a validated survey was administered to basic education, higher education, and English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers, with an external auditor ensuring analytic rigor. Findings indicate that these deviations are frequent and broadly acceptable among respondents, suggesting their functional integration into educated PhE usage. Inferential analysis revealed no significant difference in acceptance between basic and higher education teachers; however, EFL teachers demonstrated significantly lower levels of acceptance, highlighting the influence of exonormative orientations in EFL settings. Overall, this study provides empirical support for the argument that recurrent deviations constitute emerging features of Standard PhE. It contributes to the codification of localized norms while underscoring the pedagogical and sociolinguistic implications of grammatical variation in World Englishes.

Quinto, J. B., Perillo, V. A. B., & Saldo, J. N. (2026). Deviant Grammatical Features of Philippine English: Acceptance among Educated Philippine English Users. ETDC: Indonesian Journal of Research and Educational Review , 6(1), 1–14. https://doi.org/10.51574/ijrer.v6i1.5088
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Keywords
EFL Teachers Grammatical Variation Linguistic Acceptability Philippine English World Englishes