English of Pattaya Ladies: Syntactic patterns and adaptive strategies in ELF communication

Kanokporn Pinitgun

doi:10.62819/jel.2025.1370

Authors

Kanokporn Pinitgun King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi, Bangkok, Thailand

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.62819/jel.2025.1370

Keywords:

English as a lingua franca, international, communication, Pattaya ladies, syntactic patterns

Abstract

This study investigates the syntactic patterns of English utterances produced by Pattaya Ladies in Thailand, a group of speakers who regularly use English in their daily lives and workplaces where interaction with international interlocutors is constant. Rather than judging grammatical accuracy, the study focuses on understanding structural tendencies in naturally occurring spoken English within the framework of English as a Lingua Franca (ELF). Grounded in the World Englishes framework, this study interprets syntactic variation as a communicative strategy that reflects speakers’ adaptability and local identity in intercultural encounters. The data consist of 100 utterances collected as speech-to-text transcriptions of authentic spoken interaction from 15 Thai female participants in videos uploaded on the “Queen of Pattaya” YouTube channel. The data were analyzed through a qualitative descriptive approach supported by simple quantitative counts to examine each syntactic pattern's frequency and communicative functions. The utterances were categorized into three syntactic patterns: (1) Elliptical Patterns, where certain elements are omitted but meaning is retained; (2) Extended Patterns, where sentence structures expand or vary from canonical word order through added elements, omissions, or shifted sequences while still maintaining clarity and communicative meaning in real speech; and (3) Canonical Patterns, where utterances align with conventional English syntactic structures. Extended Patterns were the most frequent, followed by Canonical and Elliptical. The findings demonstrate that Pattaya Ladies employ syntactic flexibility to ensure communicative success in intercultural contexts. This study contributes to ELF-aware pedagogy by positioning syntactic variation as a communicative resource rather than a deviation from standard grammar.

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