The Dynamics of Linguistic Variation
Corpus evidence on English past and present
Published on 3. December 2008
Book
Hardback
339 pages
978-90-272-3482-7 (ISBN)
Description
Variability is characteristic of any living language. This volume approaches the 'life cycle' of linguistic variability in English using data sources that range from electronic corpora to the internet. In the spirit of the 1968 Weinreich, Labov and Herzog classic, the fifteen contributions divide into three sections, each highlighting different stages in the dynamics of English across time and space. They show, first, how increase in variability can be initiated by processes that give rise to new patterns of discourse, which can ultimately crystallize into new grammatical elements. The next phase is the spread of linguistic features and patterns of discourse, both new and well established, through the social and regional varieties of English. The final phase in this ebb and flow of linguistic variability consists of processes promoting some variable features over others across registers and regional and social varieties, thus resulting in reduced variation and increased linguistic homogeneity.
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Amsterdam
Netherlands
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Dimensions
Height: 245 mm
Width: 164 mm
Weight
765 gr
ISBN-13
978-90-272-3482-7 (9789027234827)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Terttu Nevalainen | Irma Taavitsainen | Päivi Pahta
The Dynamics of Linguistic Variation
Corpus evidence on English past and present
E-Book
12/2008
1st Edition
John Benjamins Publishing Company
€130.99
Available for download
Persons
Content
1. List of contributors; 2. Exploring the dynamics of linguistic variation through public and private corpora (by Nevalainen, Terttu); 3. Part I. Creating discourse; 4. Introduction; 5. 'And so now...': The grammaticalisation and (inter)subjectification of now (by Defour, Tine); 6. Self-repetition in spoken English discourse (by Kjellmer, Goran); 7. Modal adverbs in interaction - obviously and definitely in adolescent speech (by Aijmer, Karin); 8. Pressing -ing into service: I don't want you coming around here any more (by Wherrity, Michael P.); 9. Part II. Moving across varieties; 10. Introduction; 11. Conversations from the speech community: Exploring language variation in synchronic dialect corpora (by Tagliamonte, Sali A.); 12. The English modals and semi-modals: Regional and stylistic variation (by Collins, Peter); 13. Patterns of negation: The relationship between NO and NOT in regional varieties of English (by Peters, Pam); 14. Verb-complementational profiles across varieties of English: Comparing verb classes in Indian English and British English (by Mukherjee, Joybrato); 15. Angloversals? Concord and interrogatives in contact varieties of English (by Sand, Andrea); 16. South Pacific Englishes - Unity and diversity in the usage of the present perfect (by Biewer, Carolin); 17. Part III. Levelling out variability; 18. Introduction; 19. Feature loss in 19th century Irish English (by Hickey, Raymond); 20. The written wor(l)ds of men and women in early white Australia (by Fritz, Clemens); 21. The progressive and phrasal verbs: Evidence of colloquialization in nineteenth-century English? (by Smitterberg, Erik); 22. Probabilistic determinants of genitive variation in spoken and written English: A multivariate comparison across time, space, and genres (by Szmrecsanyi, Benedikt); 23. Her daughter's being taken into care or her daughter being taken...? Genitive and common-case marking of subjects of verbal gerund clauses in Present-day English (by Lyne, Susanna); 24. Subject index