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John Benjamins Publishing Company
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201611101726
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eng
01
EUR
599012412
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JB
John Benjamins Publishing Company
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JB code
SCL 63 Eb
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9789027269744
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2014021646
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002
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1388-0373
Studies in Corpus Linguistics
63
01
Corpus Interrogation and Grammatical Patterns
01
scl.63
01
https://benjamins.com
02
https://benjamins.com/catalog/scl.63
1
B01
Kristin Davidse
Davidse, Kristin
Kristin
Davidse
University of Leuven
2
B01
Caroline Gentens
Gentens, Caroline
Caroline
Gentens
University of Leuven
3
B01
Lobke Ghesquière
Ghesquière, Lobke
Lobke
Ghesquière
University of Leuven
4
B01
Lieven Vandelanotte
Vandelanotte, Lieven
Lieven
Vandelanotte
University of Namur/University of Leuven
5
Z01
Tinne Van Rompaey
Rompaey, Tinne Van
Tinne
Van
Rompaey
University of Leuven
01
eng
366
viii
358
LAN009000
v.2006
CFK
2
24
JB Subject Scheme
LIN.CORP
Corpus linguistics
24
JB Subject Scheme
LIN.SYNTAX
Syntax
24
JB Subject Scheme
LIN.THEOR
Theoretical linguistics
06
01
The studies in this volume approach English grammatical patterns in novel ways by interrogating corpora, focusing on patterns in the verb phrase (tense, aspect and modality), the noun phrase (intensification and focus marking), complementation structures and clause combining. Some studies interrogate historical corpora to reconstruct the diachronic development of patterns such as light verb constructions, verb-particle combinations, the <i>be a-verbing</i> progressive and absolute constructions. Other studies analyse synchronic datasets to typify the functions in discourse of, amongst others, tag questions and <i>it</i>-clefts, or to elucidate some long-standing problems in the syntactic analysis of verbal or adjectival complementation patterns, thanks to the empirical detail only corpora can provide. The volume documents the practices that have been developed to guarantee optimal representativeness of corpus data, to formulate definitions of patterns that can be operationalized in extractions, and to build dimensions of variation such as text type and register into rich grammatical descriptions.
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vii
viii
2
Miscellaneous
1
01
Acknowledgements
10
01
JB code
scl.63.02con
ix
x
2
Miscellaneous
2
01
List of contributors
10
01
JB code
scl.63.03dav
1
11
11
Article
3
01
Interrogating corpora to describe grammatical patterns
1
A01
Kristin Davidse
Davidse, Kristin
Kristin
Davidse
KU Leuven (University of Leuven)
2
A01
Lieven Vandelanotte
Vandelanotte, Lieven
Lieven
Vandelanotte
University of Namur
3
A01
Caroline Gentens
Gentens, Caroline
Caroline
Gentens
KU Leuven (University of Leuven)
4
A01
Lobke Ghesquière
Ghesquière, Lobke
Lobke
Ghesquière
KU Leuven (University of Leuven)
10
01
JB code
scl.63.04pa1
Section header
4
01
Part 1. Patterns in the verb phrase
10
01
JB code
scl.63.05ron
15
34
20
Article
5
01
Light verb constructions in the history 
of English
1
A01
Patricia Ronan
Ronan, Patricia
Patricia
Ronan
Université de Lausanne
01
This study investigates light verb constructions in sample corpora from Old- Middle- and Early Modern English. The use of one coherent definition of light verb constructions throughout these periods allows direct comparison of the overall structures and of the light verbs used. The comparison shows that frequencies are highest in the Middle English texts and decrease in the Early Modern data. While the Old English counts are significantly lower than Middle English ones, their frequencies are far from negligible. It is argued that where previous assessments consider Old English light verb constructions to be rare or non-existent, this is partly due to having used the perspective of the most frequent Modern English light verbs rather than working from the perspective of which light verbs were frequent at the period in question.
10
01
JB code
scl.63.06die
35
55
21
Article
6
01
What happened to the English prefix, and could it stage a comeback?
1
A01
Stefan Diemer
Diemer, Stefan
Stefan
Diemer
Saarland University, Germany
01
This paper revisits the historical shift in English verb-particle combinations from prefixed to prepositional and adverbial forms based on qualitative and quantitative examples from the Helsinki and Wycliffe corpora collected during a study on the history of verb-particle combinations (Diemer 2008). It is argued that the reasons for the disappearance of the English prefix are more complex than previously thought. The paper proposes a combination of competition-based and systemic reasons while allowing for additional influence by other developments, such as verb frequency and spelling habits. Excerpts from corpus-based studies (Diemer 2009, 2013) show that the development is not irreversible, since due to the influence of computer-mediated communication there may be a revival of prefix verbs modelled after Old English templates.
10
01
JB code
scl.63.07mar
57
80
24
Article
7
01
The pattern <i>to be a-hunting</i> from Middle 
to Late Modern English
The
pattern <i>to be a-hunting</i> from Middle 
to Late Modern English
Towards extrapolating from Wright’s <i>English 
Dialect Dictionary</i>
1
A01
Manfred Markus
Markus, Manfred
Manfred
Markus
University of Innsbruck, Austria
01
The <i>English Dialect Dictionary</i> (1898–1905), in its digitised beta-version <i>EDD Online</i>, allows for the retrieval of the gerund construction <i>to be on verbing</i>, generally in the reduced form <i>to be a-verbing</i>. The pattern was so much alive in the period covered by the EDD, 1700 to 1900, that its frequency can be hypothetically seen as an indicator of its role in the preceding centuries back to Late Middle English, even though evidence of its occurrence then has always been scarce. This paper’s extrapolation from Late Modern English back to Middle English is triggered by a striking similarity of distribution: <i>to be a-verbing</i> is documented by the EDD for all British regions except the English North, which is the very part where the participles of the progressive form <i>to be verbing</i> in Middle English had, according to Mossé (1925: 78), the deviant suffix –<i>ande</i>. My paper tries to explain this strange correlation, also throwing light on the competition from the progressive, which was the accepted form of the written standard, whereas <i>to be a-verbing</i> was the colloquial and dialectal variant.
10
01
JB code
scl.63.08els
81
103
23
Article
8
01
The present perfect and the preterite in Late Modern and Contemporary English
The
present perfect and the preterite in Late Modern and Contemporary English
A longitudinal look
1
A01
Johan Elsness
Elsness, Johan
Johan
Elsness
University of Oslo
01
In this article I examine a wide selection of language corpora, most of which have only recently become available, to shed light on the development of the two main verb forms used to refer to past time in English: the present perfect and the preterite. It has been claimed that the development of the present perfect in English runs counter to that observable in many other languages, including German and French, where this verb form continues to expand, at the expense of the preterite. The main conclusion is that the new corpus evidence confirms the assumption of a special development in English, the present perfect having been in decline since around 1800, in both AmE and BrE, although a somewhat varied picture emerges in the present-day language.
10
01
JB code
scl.63.09hat
105
128
24
Article
9
01
can and be able to in nineteenth-century Irish English
A case of ‘imperfect learning’?
1
A01
Marije van Hattum
Hattum, Marije van
Marije
van
Hattum
Liverpool Hope University
01
This paper discusses the status of can and be able to in nineteenth-century Irish English in comparison to English English through means of a corpus study of personal letters. Analysis of the data reveals that the use of be able TO is conditioned by the combination of time reference and polarity in the English English data but not in the Irish English data. Thus, the data suggest that some writers of nineteenth-century Irish English failed to acquire the subtle differences between can and be able to present in English English. I propose that the increased use of be able to in nineteenth-century Irish English is the result of imperfect learning through perceived similarity (cf. Thomason 2001 and De Smet 2012).
10
01
JB code
scl.63.10pa2
Section header
10
01
Part 2. Patterns in the noun phrase
10
01
JB code
scl.63.11roh
131
149
19
Article
11
01
Syntactic constraints on the use of dual form intensifiers in Modern English
1
A01
Günter Rohdenburg
Rohdenburg, Günter
Günter
Rohdenburg
University of Paderborn
01
Recent work on comparative variation has highlighted two major syntactic environments encouraging the choice of the more explicit <i>more</i>-variant, a) the use of non-attributive rather than attributive adjectives and b) the use of complemented rather than uncomplemented (non-attributive) adjectives (cf., e.g., Mondorf 2009). The present article shows that throughout the Modern English period these environments have also favoured the choice of the more explicit suffixed variant in dual form intensifiers. In addition, the paper briefly assesses some important theories that have been or could be invoked to account for these findings. Specifically, it is shown that the prosodic (sub)type of the intensifier itself does not play a decisive role in selecting the suffixed or suffixless variant.
10
01
JB code
scl.63.12bla
151
171
21
Article
12
01
<i>Ma daddy</i> <i>wis</i> dead <i>chuffed</i>
On the dialectal distribution of the intensifier <i>dead</i> in Contemporary English
1
A01
Zeltia Blanco-Suárez
Blanco-Suárez, Zeltia
Zeltia
Blanco-Suárez
University of Santiago de Compostela
01
The present paper aims to shed light on the dialectal distribution of the intensifier <i>dead</i> in four varieties of Present-Day English: American, British, Irish and Scottish English. For this purpose, data are drawn from the Corpus of Contemporary American English, the <i>Brigham Young University-British National Corpus</i>, the Irish component of the <i>International Corpus of English</i> and the <i>Scottish Corpus of Texts and Speech</i>. A collocational analysis of the adverbial and adjectival form <i>dead</i> makes it possible to see whether <i>dead</i> takes a literal reading or is rather used as a grammaticalised intensifier. The paper argues that intensifying <i>dead</i> is most productive in the Irish and Scottish varieties, followed by the British and American dialects.
10
01
JB code
scl.63.13mai
173
205
33
Article
13
01
The case of focus
The
case of focus
1
A01
Georg Maier
Maier, Georg
Georg
Maier
University of Hamburg
01
This article investigates the distribution of pronoun case forms (PCFs) in <i>it</i>-clefts and <i>it</i> BE-sentences in British and American English. Its particular interest is the occurrence of subject PCFs in these two constructions. Functional and pragmatic factors exerting an influence on the distribution are identified, such as first vs. third person, singular vs plural. All these factors are operationalized and quantified in the datasets. The findings confirm the hypothesis that subject PCFs have been re-functionalised as Focus markers in the two varieties examined. As the explanation of this refunctionalization, markedness reversal is put forward.
10
01
JB code
scl.63.14pa3
Section header
14
01
Part 3. Patterns in complementation structures
10
01
JB code
scl.63.15rud
209
221
13
Article
15
01
Null objects and sentential complements, with evidence from the Corpus of Historical American English
1
A01
Juhani Rudanko
Rudanko, Juhani
Juhani
Rudanko
University of Tampere
2
A01
Paul Rickman
Rickman, Paul
Paul
Rickman
University of Tampere
01
The present article discusses the occurrence of covert NP objects in object control structures with the matrix verb <i>warn</i>. The existence of such structures is at odds with Bach’s Generalization, which effectively states that the NP object in an object control structure may not be omitted. Evidence from COHA is introduced and discussed, to shed new light on the apparent exceptions to the Generalization. The frequency of the construction is tracked over the course of the past two centuries, and the nature of the covert NP object is also examined. The question is raised as to whether this NP can be assigned a general interpretation, as has been claimed in the literature, or whether a more specific interpretation is appropriate.
10
01
JB code
scl.63.16rud
223
238
16
Article
16
01
A new angle on infinitival and of -<i>ing</i> complements of <i>afraid</i>, with evidence 
from the <i>TIME</i> Corpus
A
new angle on infinitival and of -<i>ing</i> complements of <i>afraid</i>, with evidence 
from the <i>TIME</i> Corpus
1
A01
Juhani Rudanko
Rudanko, Juhani
Juhani
Rudanko
University of Tampere
01
This article argues that an approach based on semantic roles offers a new approach to the variation between to infinitival and of -<i>ing</i> complements of the adjective <i>afraid</i>. While the semantic role of the higher subject does not appear to vary, control theory makes it possible to investigate the semantic role of the lower subject. No absolute rules can be given, but regularities that are of statistical significance can be observed. The study draws on the first three decades of the <i>TIME</i> Corpus for authentic data. The results shed light on the semantic interpretation of to infinitival and -<i>ing</i> complements in subject control constructions and open a new perspective on the relevance of semantic roles to argument selection.
10
01
JB code
scl.63.17hog
239
262
24
Article
17
01
Active and passive infinitive, ambiguity and non-canonical subject with <i>ready</i>
1
A01
Mikko Höglund
Höglund, Mikko
Mikko
Höglund
University of Tampere
01
This paper presents a case study of the adjective <i>ready</i> and discusses its properties when it occurs in the <i>tough</i> construction (TC). The paper discusses the active and passive infinitive variation in the TC with evidence from the Corpus of Late Modern English Texts and the British National Corpus. The ambiguity created by the active infinitive and the effect of the semantics of the subject on the choice of the infinitive form are also discussed. The results show that the TC has become more frequent in BrE, and unlike with typical <i>tough</i> predicates, with <i>ready</i> the passive infinitive has persisted, most likely because of the risk of ambiguity with the active. The data also show that when the subject is [+HUMAN], the passive infinitive is used exclusively.
10
01
JB code
scl.63.18pa4
263
264
2
Section header
18
01
Part 4. Patterns of clause combining
10
01
JB code
scl.63.19pol
265
294
30
Article
19
01
The diffusion of English absolutes
The
diffusion of English absolutes
A diachronic register study
1
A01
Nikki van de Pol
Pol, Nikki van de
Nikki
van de
Pol
Research Foundation Flanders
2
A01
Hubert Cuyckens
Cuyckens, Hubert
Hubert
Cuyckens
University of Leuven
01
The present paper addresses the register diffusion of the English absolute, a non-finite construction functioning as an adverbial (an example from Present-day-English is: <i>One of the cheap cigars to which she was addicted burns ignored between her fingers, the skin of her face dragging down with indifference</i>. (BNC, Van Gogh: a life, 1990)). On the basis of diachronic corpus research including corpora such as the BNC, the Old Bailey corpus and the Penn parsed corpora of English it is argued that the distribution of absolutes in various historical registers of written English, as well as in spoken English, appears to have shifted from a system operating along the ‘formal vs. informal’ cline and, to a lesser extent, the ‘narrative vs. non-narrative’ cline in Early Modern English to registers operating along the ‘literary vs. non-literary’ cline in Present-day English. Special attention is given to the role of <i>with</i>-augmentation which may have been an important facilitator for the absolute construction to fully establish itself in the spoken register, as the addition of an augmentor enhances ease of processing (Berent 1975, Kortmann 1995).
10
01
JB code
scl.63.20has
295
319
25
Article
20
01
It-clefts in English L1 and L2 academic writing
The case of Norwegian learners
1
A01
Hilde Hasselgård
Hasselgård, Hilde
Hilde
Hasselgård
University of Oslo
01
This paper examines <i>it</i>-clefts in five corpora representing Norwegian learners of English, novice L1 writers of English and specialist L1 academic writing. The comparison also concerns general argumentative writing vs. discipline-specific writing. The frequency of <i>it</i>-clefts varies across the corpora. The learners underuse clefts, but the results of the register comparison are inconclusive. The types of clefted constituent and the choice of subordinator in the cleft clause vary more in L1 than in L2 writing. There are also differences as to the syntactic environments of clefts and their discourse functions. For example, the learners overuse clefts in interrogatives in argumentative writing. In discipline-specific writing, the learners underuse clefts in <i>that</i>-clauses, particularly with the function of reporting previous research.
10
01
JB code
scl.63.21kim
321
350
30
Article
21
01
The speech functions of tag questions 
and their properties. A comparison of their distribution in COLT and LLC
The
speech functions of tag questions 
and their properties. A comparison of their distribution in COLT and LLC
1
A01
Ditte Kimps
Kimps, Ditte
Ditte
Kimps
KU Leuven
2
A01
Kristin Davidse
Davidse, Kristin
Kristin
Davidse
KU Leuven
3
A01
Bert Cornillie
Cornillie, Bert
Bert
Cornillie
KU Leuven
01
This article proposes a classification of speech functions of variable tag questions in British English conversations. Based on intonational, conversational and formal criteria the analysis shows that tag questions can not only function as questions and statements, but also as responses, commands and offers. A large group of tag questions cannot be captured by any of the traditional speech functions and are classified instead as Statement-Question blends. The article investigates the impact of the LLC and COLT corpora, and features such as gender, age and social roles, on the distribution of the different speech functions and their properties. The main finding is that all speech functions are present in the two different corpora, albeit with differing relative frequencies.
10
01
JB code
scl.63.22aut
351
354
4
Miscellaneous
22
01
Author index
10
01
JB code
scl.63.23sub
355
358
4
Miscellaneous
23
01
Subject index
02
JBENJAMINS
John Benjamins Publishing Company
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John Benjamins Publishing Company
Amsterdam/Philadelphia
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20141114
2014
John Benjamins B.V.
02
WORLD
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9789027203717
01
JB
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03
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GBP
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gen
00
149.00
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S
363012411
03
01
01
JB
John Benjamins Publishing Company
01
JB code
SCL 63 Hb
15
9789027203717
13
2014021646
BB
01
SCL
02
1388-0373
Studies in Corpus Linguistics
63
01
Corpus Interrogation and Grammatical Patterns
01
scl.63
01
https://benjamins.com
02
https://benjamins.com/catalog/scl.63
1
B01
Kristin Davidse
Davidse, Kristin
Kristin
Davidse
University of Leuven
2
B01
Caroline Gentens
Gentens, Caroline
Caroline
Gentens
University of Leuven
3
B01
Lobke Ghesquière
Ghesquière, Lobke
Lobke
Ghesquière
University of Leuven
4
B01
Lieven Vandelanotte
Vandelanotte, Lieven
Lieven
Vandelanotte
University of Namur/University of Leuven
5
Z01
Tinne Van Rompaey
Rompaey, Tinne Van
Tinne
Van
Rompaey
University of Leuven
01
eng
366
viii
358
LAN009000
v.2006
CFK
2
24
JB Subject Scheme
LIN.CORP
Corpus linguistics
24
JB Subject Scheme
LIN.SYNTAX
Syntax
24
JB Subject Scheme
LIN.THEOR
Theoretical linguistics
06
01
The studies in this volume approach English grammatical patterns in novel ways by interrogating corpora, focusing on patterns in the verb phrase (tense, aspect and modality), the noun phrase (intensification and focus marking), complementation structures and clause combining. Some studies interrogate historical corpora to reconstruct the diachronic development of patterns such as light verb constructions, verb-particle combinations, the <i>be a-verbing</i> progressive and absolute constructions. Other studies analyse synchronic datasets to typify the functions in discourse of, amongst others, tag questions and <i>it</i>-clefts, or to elucidate some long-standing problems in the syntactic analysis of verbal or adjectival complementation patterns, thanks to the empirical detail only corpora can provide. The volume documents the practices that have been developed to guarantee optimal representativeness of corpus data, to formulate definitions of patterns that can be operationalized in extractions, and to build dimensions of variation such as text type and register into rich grammatical descriptions.
04
09
01
https://benjamins.com/covers/475/scl.63.png
04
03
01
https://benjamins.com/covers/475_jpg/9789027203717.jpg
04
03
01
https://benjamins.com/covers/475_tif/9789027203717.tif
06
09
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https://benjamins.com/covers/1200_front/scl.63.hb.png
07
09
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https://benjamins.com/covers/125/scl.63.png
25
09
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https://benjamins.com/covers/1200_back/scl.63.hb.png
27
09
01
https://benjamins.com/covers/3d_web/scl.63.hb.png
10
01
JB code
scl.63.01ack
vii
viii
2
Miscellaneous
1
01
Acknowledgements
10
01
JB code
scl.63.02con
ix
x
2
Miscellaneous
2
01
List of contributors
10
01
JB code
scl.63.03dav
1
11
11
Article
3
01
Interrogating corpora to describe grammatical patterns
1
A01
Kristin Davidse
Davidse, Kristin
Kristin
Davidse
KU Leuven (University of Leuven)
2
A01
Lieven Vandelanotte
Vandelanotte, Lieven
Lieven
Vandelanotte
University of Namur
3
A01
Caroline Gentens
Gentens, Caroline
Caroline
Gentens
KU Leuven (University of Leuven)
4
A01
Lobke Ghesquière
Ghesquière, Lobke
Lobke
Ghesquière
KU Leuven (University of Leuven)
10
01
JB code
scl.63.04pa1
Section header
4
01
Part 1. Patterns in the verb phrase
10
01
JB code
scl.63.05ron
15
34
20
Article
5
01
Light verb constructions in the history 
of English
1
A01
Patricia Ronan
Ronan, Patricia
Patricia
Ronan
Université de Lausanne
01
This study investigates light verb constructions in sample corpora from Old- Middle- and Early Modern English. The use of one coherent definition of light verb constructions throughout these periods allows direct comparison of the overall structures and of the light verbs used. The comparison shows that frequencies are highest in the Middle English texts and decrease in the Early Modern data. While the Old English counts are significantly lower than Middle English ones, their frequencies are far from negligible. It is argued that where previous assessments consider Old English light verb constructions to be rare or non-existent, this is partly due to having used the perspective of the most frequent Modern English light verbs rather than working from the perspective of which light verbs were frequent at the period in question.
10
01
JB code
scl.63.06die
35
55
21
Article
6
01
What happened to the English prefix, and could it stage a comeback?
1
A01
Stefan Diemer
Diemer, Stefan
Stefan
Diemer
Saarland University, Germany
01
This paper revisits the historical shift in English verb-particle combinations from prefixed to prepositional and adverbial forms based on qualitative and quantitative examples from the Helsinki and Wycliffe corpora collected during a study on the history of verb-particle combinations (Diemer 2008). It is argued that the reasons for the disappearance of the English prefix are more complex than previously thought. The paper proposes a combination of competition-based and systemic reasons while allowing for additional influence by other developments, such as verb frequency and spelling habits. Excerpts from corpus-based studies (Diemer 2009, 2013) show that the development is not irreversible, since due to the influence of computer-mediated communication there may be a revival of prefix verbs modelled after Old English templates.
10
01
JB code
scl.63.07mar
57
80
24
Article
7
01
The pattern <i>to be a-hunting</i> from Middle 
to Late Modern English
The
pattern <i>to be a-hunting</i> from Middle 
to Late Modern English
Towards extrapolating from Wright’s <i>English 
Dialect Dictionary</i>
1
A01
Manfred Markus
Markus, Manfred
Manfred
Markus
University of Innsbruck, Austria
01
The <i>English Dialect Dictionary</i> (1898–1905), in its digitised beta-version <i>EDD Online</i>, allows for the retrieval of the gerund construction <i>to be on verbing</i>, generally in the reduced form <i>to be a-verbing</i>. The pattern was so much alive in the period covered by the EDD, 1700 to 1900, that its frequency can be hypothetically seen as an indicator of its role in the preceding centuries back to Late Middle English, even though evidence of its occurrence then has always been scarce. This paper’s extrapolation from Late Modern English back to Middle English is triggered by a striking similarity of distribution: <i>to be a-verbing</i> is documented by the EDD for all British regions except the English North, which is the very part where the participles of the progressive form <i>to be verbing</i> in Middle English had, according to Mossé (1925: 78), the deviant suffix –<i>ande</i>. My paper tries to explain this strange correlation, also throwing light on the competition from the progressive, which was the accepted form of the written standard, whereas <i>to be a-verbing</i> was the colloquial and dialectal variant.
10
01
JB code
scl.63.08els
81
103
23
Article
8
01
The present perfect and the preterite in Late Modern and Contemporary English
The
present perfect and the preterite in Late Modern and Contemporary English
A longitudinal look
1
A01
Johan Elsness
Elsness, Johan
Johan
Elsness
University of Oslo
01
In this article I examine a wide selection of language corpora, most of which have only recently become available, to shed light on the development of the two main verb forms used to refer to past time in English: the present perfect and the preterite. It has been claimed that the development of the present perfect in English runs counter to that observable in many other languages, including German and French, where this verb form continues to expand, at the expense of the preterite. The main conclusion is that the new corpus evidence confirms the assumption of a special development in English, the present perfect having been in decline since around 1800, in both AmE and BrE, although a somewhat varied picture emerges in the present-day language.
10
01
JB code
scl.63.09hat
105
128
24
Article
9
01
can and be able to in nineteenth-century Irish English
A case of ‘imperfect learning’?
1
A01
Marije van Hattum
Hattum, Marije van
Marije
van
Hattum
Liverpool Hope University
01
This paper discusses the status of can and be able to in nineteenth-century Irish English in comparison to English English through means of a corpus study of personal letters. Analysis of the data reveals that the use of be able TO is conditioned by the combination of time reference and polarity in the English English data but not in the Irish English data. Thus, the data suggest that some writers of nineteenth-century Irish English failed to acquire the subtle differences between can and be able to present in English English. I propose that the increased use of be able to in nineteenth-century Irish English is the result of imperfect learning through perceived similarity (cf. Thomason 2001 and De Smet 2012).
10
01
JB code
scl.63.10pa2
Section header
10
01
Part 2. Patterns in the noun phrase
10
01
JB code
scl.63.11roh
131
149
19
Article
11
01
Syntactic constraints on the use of dual form intensifiers in Modern English
1
A01
Günter Rohdenburg
Rohdenburg, Günter
Günter
Rohdenburg
University of Paderborn
01
Recent work on comparative variation has highlighted two major syntactic environments encouraging the choice of the more explicit <i>more</i>-variant, a) the use of non-attributive rather than attributive adjectives and b) the use of complemented rather than uncomplemented (non-attributive) adjectives (cf., e.g., Mondorf 2009). The present article shows that throughout the Modern English period these environments have also favoured the choice of the more explicit suffixed variant in dual form intensifiers. In addition, the paper briefly assesses some important theories that have been or could be invoked to account for these findings. Specifically, it is shown that the prosodic (sub)type of the intensifier itself does not play a decisive role in selecting the suffixed or suffixless variant.
10
01
JB code
scl.63.12bla
151
171
21
Article
12
01
<i>Ma daddy</i> <i>wis</i> dead <i>chuffed</i>
On the dialectal distribution of the intensifier <i>dead</i> in Contemporary English
1
A01
Zeltia Blanco-Suárez
Blanco-Suárez, Zeltia
Zeltia
Blanco-Suárez
University of Santiago de Compostela
01
The present paper aims to shed light on the dialectal distribution of the intensifier <i>dead</i> in four varieties of Present-Day English: American, British, Irish and Scottish English. For this purpose, data are drawn from the Corpus of Contemporary American English, the <i>Brigham Young University-British National Corpus</i>, the Irish component of the <i>International Corpus of English</i> and the <i>Scottish Corpus of Texts and Speech</i>. A collocational analysis of the adverbial and adjectival form <i>dead</i> makes it possible to see whether <i>dead</i> takes a literal reading or is rather used as a grammaticalised intensifier. The paper argues that intensifying <i>dead</i> is most productive in the Irish and Scottish varieties, followed by the British and American dialects.
10
01
JB code
scl.63.13mai
173
205
33
Article
13
01
The case of focus
The
case of focus
1
A01
Georg Maier
Maier, Georg
Georg
Maier
University of Hamburg
01
This article investigates the distribution of pronoun case forms (PCFs) in <i>it</i>-clefts and <i>it</i> BE-sentences in British and American English. Its particular interest is the occurrence of subject PCFs in these two constructions. Functional and pragmatic factors exerting an influence on the distribution are identified, such as first vs. third person, singular vs plural. All these factors are operationalized and quantified in the datasets. The findings confirm the hypothesis that subject PCFs have been re-functionalised as Focus markers in the two varieties examined. As the explanation of this refunctionalization, markedness reversal is put forward.
10
01
JB code
scl.63.14pa3
Section header
14
01
Part 3. Patterns in complementation structures
10
01
JB code
scl.63.15rud
209
221
13
Article
15
01
Null objects and sentential complements, with evidence from the Corpus of Historical American English
1
A01
Juhani Rudanko
Rudanko, Juhani
Juhani
Rudanko
University of Tampere
2
A01
Paul Rickman
Rickman, Paul
Paul
Rickman
University of Tampere
01
The present article discusses the occurrence of covert NP objects in object control structures with the matrix verb <i>warn</i>. The existence of such structures is at odds with Bach’s Generalization, which effectively states that the NP object in an object control structure may not be omitted. Evidence from COHA is introduced and discussed, to shed new light on the apparent exceptions to the Generalization. The frequency of the construction is tracked over the course of the past two centuries, and the nature of the covert NP object is also examined. The question is raised as to whether this NP can be assigned a general interpretation, as has been claimed in the literature, or whether a more specific interpretation is appropriate.
10
01
JB code
scl.63.16rud
223
238
16
Article
16
01
A new angle on infinitival and of -<i>ing</i> complements of <i>afraid</i>, with evidence 
from the <i>TIME</i> Corpus
A
new angle on infinitival and of -<i>ing</i> complements of <i>afraid</i>, with evidence 
from the <i>TIME</i> Corpus
1
A01
Juhani Rudanko
Rudanko, Juhani
Juhani
Rudanko
University of Tampere
01
This article argues that an approach based on semantic roles offers a new approach to the variation between to infinitival and of -<i>ing</i> complements of the adjective <i>afraid</i>. While the semantic role of the higher subject does not appear to vary, control theory makes it possible to investigate the semantic role of the lower subject. No absolute rules can be given, but regularities that are of statistical significance can be observed. The study draws on the first three decades of the <i>TIME</i> Corpus for authentic data. The results shed light on the semantic interpretation of to infinitival and -<i>ing</i> complements in subject control constructions and open a new perspective on the relevance of semantic roles to argument selection.
10
01
JB code
scl.63.17hog
239
262
24
Article
17
01
Active and passive infinitive, ambiguity and non-canonical subject with <i>ready</i>
1
A01
Mikko Höglund
Höglund, Mikko
Mikko
Höglund
University of Tampere
01
This paper presents a case study of the adjective <i>ready</i> and discusses its properties when it occurs in the <i>tough</i> construction (TC). The paper discusses the active and passive infinitive variation in the TC with evidence from the Corpus of Late Modern English Texts and the British National Corpus. The ambiguity created by the active infinitive and the effect of the semantics of the subject on the choice of the infinitive form are also discussed. The results show that the TC has become more frequent in BrE, and unlike with typical <i>tough</i> predicates, with <i>ready</i> the passive infinitive has persisted, most likely because of the risk of ambiguity with the active. The data also show that when the subject is [+HUMAN], the passive infinitive is used exclusively.
10
01
JB code
scl.63.18pa4
263
264
2
Section header
18
01
Part 4. Patterns of clause combining
10
01
JB code
scl.63.19pol
265
294
30
Article
19
01
The diffusion of English absolutes
The
diffusion of English absolutes
A diachronic register study
1
A01
Nikki van de Pol
Pol, Nikki van de
Nikki
van de
Pol
Research Foundation Flanders
2
A01
Hubert Cuyckens
Cuyckens, Hubert
Hubert
Cuyckens
University of Leuven
01
The present paper addresses the register diffusion of the English absolute, a non-finite construction functioning as an adverbial (an example from Present-day-English is: <i>One of the cheap cigars to which she was addicted burns ignored between her fingers, the skin of her face dragging down with indifference</i>. (BNC, Van Gogh: a life, 1990)). On the basis of diachronic corpus research including corpora such as the BNC, the Old Bailey corpus and the Penn parsed corpora of English it is argued that the distribution of absolutes in various historical registers of written English, as well as in spoken English, appears to have shifted from a system operating along the ‘formal vs. informal’ cline and, to a lesser extent, the ‘narrative vs. non-narrative’ cline in Early Modern English to registers operating along the ‘literary vs. non-literary’ cline in Present-day English. Special attention is given to the role of <i>with</i>-augmentation which may have been an important facilitator for the absolute construction to fully establish itself in the spoken register, as the addition of an augmentor enhances ease of processing (Berent 1975, Kortmann 1995).
10
01
JB code
scl.63.20has
295
319
25
Article
20
01
It-clefts in English L1 and L2 academic writing
The case of Norwegian learners
1
A01
Hilde Hasselgård
Hasselgård, Hilde
Hilde
Hasselgård
University of Oslo
01
This paper examines <i>it</i>-clefts in five corpora representing Norwegian learners of English, novice L1 writers of English and specialist L1 academic writing. The comparison also concerns general argumentative writing vs. discipline-specific writing. The frequency of <i>it</i>-clefts varies across the corpora. The learners underuse clefts, but the results of the register comparison are inconclusive. The types of clefted constituent and the choice of subordinator in the cleft clause vary more in L1 than in L2 writing. There are also differences as to the syntactic environments of clefts and their discourse functions. For example, the learners overuse clefts in interrogatives in argumentative writing. In discipline-specific writing, the learners underuse clefts in <i>that</i>-clauses, particularly with the function of reporting previous research.
10
01
JB code
scl.63.21kim
321
350
30
Article
21
01
The speech functions of tag questions 
and their properties. A comparison of their distribution in COLT and LLC
The
speech functions of tag questions 
and their properties. A comparison of their distribution in COLT and LLC
1
A01
Ditte Kimps
Kimps, Ditte
Ditte
Kimps
KU Leuven
2
A01
Kristin Davidse
Davidse, Kristin
Kristin
Davidse
KU Leuven
3
A01
Bert Cornillie
Cornillie, Bert
Bert
Cornillie
KU Leuven
01
This article proposes a classification of speech functions of variable tag questions in British English conversations. Based on intonational, conversational and formal criteria the analysis shows that tag questions can not only function as questions and statements, but also as responses, commands and offers. A large group of tag questions cannot be captured by any of the traditional speech functions and are classified instead as Statement-Question blends. The article investigates the impact of the LLC and COLT corpora, and features such as gender, age and social roles, on the distribution of the different speech functions and their properties. The main finding is that all speech functions are present in the two different corpora, albeit with differing relative frequencies.
10
01
JB code
scl.63.22aut
351
354
4
Miscellaneous
22
01
Author index
10
01
JB code
scl.63.23sub
355
358
4
Miscellaneous
23
01
Subject index
02
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