Data Sets

Brunei

ASEAN

Hong Kong + Malaysian — HK1 : 1095

S1 = Hong Kong male
S2 = Malaysian female

S2 : and what is the most beautiful thing you have ever seen

S1 : the most beautiful things i've never seen is you know

S2 : EVER seen yeah

S1 : yeah <tsk> (.) ever seen (3.3) would be you know really simple you know every day (.) sun sets

S2 : ah @ okay

Intended Words : ever

Discussion : S1 appears to mishear the question by S2, using never rather than ever in his reply. S2 then repeats ever, to confirm her question, and S1 answers it appropriately.

There are three possibilities: first, S1 misheard the question, and thought it was about what he had never seen; second, S1 got his grammar confused and replied using never rather than ever; and third, it is a pronunciation error, with a spurious [n] on the front of ever. The long pause in S1's final response suggests he may be trying to correct himself. Or it may be just that he is thinking carefully about his reply.

When discussing this example later, S1 suggested that he had understood the question perfectly well, but he just got confused and chose the wrong word in his reply.