Part of
Broadening the Spectrum of Corpus Linguistics: New approaches to variability and changeEdited by Susanne Flach and Martin Hilpert
[Studies in Corpus Linguistics 105] 2022
► pp. 196–225
This paper investigates the use of oh yeah in written prose found in American journalistic articles using corpus data. It demonstrates that such uses are a recent phenomenon that have risen in frequency starting at end of the 20th century. These new written functions are adapted to the written medium, but still resemble how oh yeah is used in speech. These developments contribute further insights to the changes occurring in journalistic writing. Furthermore, this paper concentrates on how oh yeah is adapted into journalistic writing to inject an interpersonal flair into the articles in which it is used. The timing of these developments also indicates a later wave of change to journalism that has been until now under-discussed.