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Article published In:
International Journal of Corpus Linguistics
Vol. 28:4 (2023) ► pp.528–558

“You betcha I’m a ’Merican”

The rise of YOU BET as a pragmatic marker

ORCID logo | University of British Columbia
ORCID logo | University of British Columbia
This article studies you bet and related phrases when they are used as a parenthetical and as a free-standing response. Drawing on a range of corpora, we provide both contemporary and historical perspectives on the set of pragmatic expressions that has largely escaped scholars’ attention. Synchronically, we demonstrate that they are colloquial American pragmatic markers to express speaker certainty/affirmation or to respond to thanks. Diachronically, these markers are hypothesized to have developed out of main clause usage with a clausal complement (‘the matrix clause hypothesis’); however, our historical corpus evidence does not straightforwardly support this hypothesis. Instead, we suggest that multiple constructions might have been involved in the emergence of the pragmatic markers, namely, wh-interrogatives (e.g. what will you bet (that) …?), modal constructions (e.g. you may/can bet (that) …), and main clauses with a reduced complement (e.g. You bet I do).
Keywords: pragmatic marker, matrix clause hypothesis, affirmation, response to thanks, American English
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Dictionary evidence of YOU BET
  • 3.Synchronic study
    • 3.1Sources and methods
    • 3.2Frequency results
      • 3.2.1Overall results
      • 3.2.2Transatlantic difference
      • 3.2.3Variation across registers
      • 3.2.4Short-term trends
    • 3.3Function of YOU BET
      • 3.3.1Parenthetical usage
      • 3.3.2Free-standing usage
      • 3.3.3Distribution of free-standing usage
  • 4.Diachronic study
    • 4.1Sources and methods
    • 4.2Dating of YOU BET
    • 4.3Historical transatlantic perspective
    • 4.4Possible scenario(s) for the origin of YOU BET
      • 4.4.1Matrix clause hypothesis
      • 4.4.2Other possible source: Wh-interrogatives
      • 4.4.3Postulated development
    • 4.5 Rise of pleonastic you: You bet you
    • 4.6 Origin of betcha and betcher
  • 5.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
Available under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) 4.0 license.

For any use beyond this license, please contact the publisher at rights@benjamins.nl.

Published online: 23 February 2023
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/ijcl.21060.hir
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