The Perfect and the Preterite in Contemporary and Earlier English
The Perfect and the Preterite in Contemporary and Earlier English

Author: Johan Elsness

Publisher: Walter de Gruyter

Published: 2011-07-11

Total Pages: 452

ISBN-13: 3110810263

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The future of English linguistics as envisaged by the editors of Topics in English Linguistics lies in empirical studies which integrate work in English linguistics into general and theoretical linguistics on the one hand, and comparative linguistics on the other. The TiEL series features volumes that present interesting new data and analyses, and above all fresh approaches that contribute to the overall aim of the series, which is to further outstanding research in English linguistics.

The Present Perfect and the Preterite in Late Modern and Contemporary English
The Present Perfect and the Preterite in Late Modern and Contemporary English

Author: Xinyue Yao

Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing Company

Published: 2024-03-15

Total Pages: 255

ISBN-13: 9027248605

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This book examines developments in the use of the present perfect and the preterite in Late Modern and contemporary English, with a focus on American and British English. Drawing on neo-Gricean pragmatics, it proposes a novel and principled analysis of the verb forms’ context-independent meanings and context-dependent inferences. State-of-the-art corpus linguistic methods are used to track their functional changes over two and a half centuries. The book presents new evidence of grammatical change and offers a compelling, contact-based account of regional variation. It brings together the insights of various fields, including formal semantics, historical linguistics, linguistic typology, and variationist sociolinguistics.

Re-assessing the Present Perfect
Re-assessing the Present Perfect

Author: Valentin Werner

Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG

Published: 2016-09-12

Total Pages: 324

ISBN-13: 3110435322

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It is a well-known fact that the area of the present perfect has always been a hotly contested ground, but recent corpus analyses have shown that grammatical variation in this realm in English is far more pervasive than previously assumed. This volume is the first ever book-length treatment dedicated to corpus-based work on the present perfect. It offers fresh theoretical insights resting on a solid empirical footing and investigates central aspects of language contact and change, grammaticalization, typology, and dialect formation. It sheds light on this morphosyntactic area from different angles, as it comprises both diachronic and synchronic viewpoints. Contributions explore variation in the expression of perfect meaning and the multifunctionality of perfect forms in a number of native and non-native varieties, thus going beyond the traditional British/American English paradigm, while a second focus lies on cross-variety comparisons. Bringing together the knowledge of leading experts in the field, this book represents the state of the art in data-driven research on the present perfect and will be of interest for those working in the fields of language variation and change, corpus linguistics, sociolinguistics, and typology.

The Present Perfect in Non-native Englishes
The Present Perfect in Non-native Englishes

Author: Julia Davydova

Publisher: Walter de Gruyter

Published: 2011

Total Pages: 355

ISBN-13: 3110255014

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This is an innovative study of variation of the English present perfect that offers analyses of interestingly diverse data sets of non-native English and addresses some of the hotly debated issues in variationist sociolinguistics, second language acquisition and research on linguistic complexity.

English Corpus Linguistics: Variation in Time, Space and Genre.
English Corpus Linguistics: Variation in Time, Space and Genre.

Author: Gisle Andersen

Publisher: Rodopi

Published: 2013

Total Pages: 256

ISBN-13: 9401209405

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As its title suggests, this book is a selection of papers that use English corpora to study language variation along three dimensions – time, place and genre. In broad terms, the book aims to bridge the gap between corpus linguistics and sociolinguistics and to increase our knowledge of the characteristics of English language. It includes eleven papers which address a variety of research questions but with the commonality of a corpus-based methodology. Some of the contributions deal with language variation in time, either by looking into historical corpora of English or by adopting the method known as diachronic comparable corpus linguistics, thus illustrating how corpora can be used to illuminate either historical or recent developments of English. Other studies investigate variation in space by comparing different varieties of English, including some of the “New Englishes” such as the South Asian varieties of English. Finally, some of the papers deal with variation in genre, by looking into the use of language for specific purposes through the inspection of medical articles, social reports and academic writing.

Changing English
Changing English

Author: Markku Filppula

Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG

Published: 2017-10-10

Total Pages: 362

ISBN-13: 3110429659

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This book examines the special nature of English both as a global and a local language, focusing on some of the ongoing changes and on the emerging new structural and discoursal characteristics of varieties of English. Although it is widely recognised that processes of language change and contact bear affinities, for example, to processes observable in second-language acquisition and lingua franca use, the research into these fields has so far not been sufficiently brought into contact with each other. The articles in this volume set out to combine all these perspectives in ways that give us a better understanding of the changing nature of English in the modern world.

The Global and Local Dimensions of English
The Global and Local Dimensions of English

Author: Marija Brala Vukanovic

Publisher: LIT Verlag Münster

Published: 2011

Total Pages: 168

ISBN-13: 3643900732

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The interaction between the global and the local has inspired inquiry into the multifarious manifestations of English nowadays, stimulating scholarly research into its diverse linguistic, cultural, and pedagogical landscapes. Drawing together various strands of the 'Global English' debate, the papers in this book question and expand on the interaction between Global English and local contexts in the Alpine-Adriatic region, and examine the complexities from different, yet complementary, perspectives: the cultural, the methodological (ELT), the translational, and the linguistic. (Series: Linguistik und Sprachvermittlung - Vol. 4)

One Language, Two Grammars?
One Language, Two Grammars?

Author: Günter Rohdenburg

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2009-01-22

Total Pages: 487

ISBN-13: 0521872197

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This volume focuses on British-American differences in the structure of words and sentences. The first full-length treatment of the topic, it will be of interest to scholars working within the fields of English historical linguistics, language variation and change, and dialectology.

Comparative Studies in Australian and New Zealand English
Comparative Studies in Australian and New Zealand English

Author: Pam Peters

Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing

Published: 2009-07-29

Total Pages: 420

ISBN-13: 9027289409

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This anthology brings together fresh corpus-based research by international scholars. It contrasts southern and northern hemisphere usage on variable elements of morphology and syntax. The nineteen invited papers include topics such as irregular verb parts, pronouns, modal and quasimodal verbs, the perfect tense, the progressive aspect, and mandative subjunctives. Lexicogrammatical elements are discussed: light verbs (e.g. have a look), informal quantifiers (e.g. heaps of), no-collocations, concord with government and other group nouns, alternative verb complementation (as with help, prevent), zero complementizers and connective adverbs (e.g. however). Selected information-structuring devices are analyzed, e.g. there is/are, like as a discourse marker, final but as a turn-taking device, and swearwords. Australian and New Zealand use of hypocoristics and changes in gendered expressions are also analyzed. The two varieties pattern together in some cases, in others they diverge: Australian English is usually more committed to colloquial variants in speech and writing. The book demonstrates linguistic endonormativity in these two southern hemisphere Englishes.