Edited by Ewa Jonsson and Tove Larsson
[Studies in Corpus Linguistics 97] 2020
► pp. 227–246
This study explores the use of expressions of future in two spoken corpora: BNC XML, from 1994, and BNC2014. It is a first, explorative venture aiming to identify features that merit further study. For that, the initial focus is placed on examining two features shown to vary between different corpora: frequency and proportions of the different expressions and collocations with personal pronouns. The results lend support to previous suggestions about changes in how future reference is expressed in English. It also shows that the new BNC2014 offers exciting opportunities for studies of Present-day British English. In combination with the demographically sampled component of the original BNC it becomes a useful resource for exploring the development of very recent language change.