Cover not available
Part of
The Evolution of Englishes: The Dynamic Model and beyond
Edited by Sarah Buschfeld, Thomas Hoffmann, Magnus Huber and Alexander Kautzsch
[Varieties of English Around the World G49] 2014
► pp. 301–311

At the crossroads of variation studies and corpus linguistics

The analysis of past tense and past participle forms

Past tense and past participle forms of the type learned / learnt or burned / burnt have been studied both in variationist and corpus linguistics. As the variation is based on a phonological difference in the spoken language, it is rather important to ascertain whether the forms analysed in the different corpora reliably represent the pronunciation of the verb-forms. It will therefore be a major aim of this contribution to explore the relationship between the written verb-forms and their actual pronunciation in the spoken language. A variety of sources are used, namely pronouncing dictionaries, some traditional descriptions of the verb-forms and dialectological studies on both British and American varieties. Finally, the results of a pilot-study with a group of American students are presented in detail.
Keywords: American English, British English, dialectological studies, grammatical variation, past participle forms, past tense forms, spoken vs. written English, verb-forms, verb-forms in pronouncing dictionaries
Published online: 12 September 2014
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/veaw.g49.17ram
References
Atwood, E.B.
1967 A Survey of Verb Forms in the Eastern United States, 2nd printing. Ann Arbor MI: The University of Michigan Press.Google Scholar
Biber, D., Johansson, S., Leech, G., Conrad, S. & Finegan, E.
1999 Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English. Harlow: Longman.Google Scholar
Cruttenden, A.
2008 Gimson’s Pronunciation of English, 7th edn. London: Hodder Education.Google Scholar
Crystal, D.
2003 The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language, 2nd edn. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Fowler, H.W.
1926 A Dictionary of Modern English Usage, reprint 1954. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Jespersen, O.
1942 A Modern English Grammar on Historical Principles. Part VI: Morphology. London: George Allen & Unwin.Google Scholar
Jones, D.
(ed.) 2011 English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th edn. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Levin, M.
2009 The formation of the preterite and the past participle. In One Language, Two Grammars? Differences between British and American English, G. Rohdenburg & J. Schlüter (eds), 60–85. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Mayor, M.. et al. (
(eds) 2009 Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, 5th edn. Harlow: Longman.Google Scholar
Orton, H.. et al.
1962–1971 Survey of English Dialects. The Basic Material. Leeds: E.J. Arnold.Google Scholar
Quirk, R., Greenbaum, S., Leech, G. & Svartvik, J.
1985 A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language. Harlow: Longman.Google Scholar
Trudgill, P. & Hannah, J.
2008 International English. A Guide to the Varieties of Standard English, 5th edn. London: Hodder Education.Google Scholar
Viereck, W. & Ramisch, H.
1991 & 1997 The Computer Developed Linguistic Atlas of England, 2 vols. Tübingen: Niemeyer.Google Scholar
Wells, J.
(ed.) 2008 Longman Pronunciation Dictionary, 3rd edn. London: Longman.Google Scholar