Concessive conjunctions in written American English
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Ole Schützler
Abstract
Based on the Corpus of Historical American English (COHA; Davies 2010–), this chapter inspects the frequencies and semantics of the concessive conjunctions although, though and even though from the 1860s to the present day. In the data, although and though predominantly express what Sweetser (1990) has called speech-act concessives, while even though mainly expresses content concessives. However, there is a general development towards a higher proportion of speech-act concessives. Further, although and even though increase in frequency, while though decreases over time. Semantic properties and the double function of though (conjunction and conjunct) are proposed as explanations. Frequency changes progress equally through all genres, but the semantic change seems to have pervaded all genres only as far as although is concerned.
Abstract
Based on the Corpus of Historical American English (COHA; Davies 2010–), this chapter inspects the frequencies and semantics of the concessive conjunctions although, though and even though from the 1860s to the present day. In the data, although and though predominantly express what Sweetser (1990) has called speech-act concessives, while even though mainly expresses content concessives. However, there is a general development towards a higher proportion of speech-act concessives. Further, although and even though increase in frequency, while though decreases over time. Semantic properties and the double function of though (conjunction and conjunct) are proposed as explanations. Frequency changes progress equally through all genres, but the semantic change seems to have pervaded all genres only as far as although is concerned.
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Preface and acknowledgments vii
- Using diachronic corpora to understand the connection between genre and language change 1
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Part I. Methods in diachronic corpus linguistics
- ‘From above’, ‘from below’, and regionally balanced 19
- Diachronic collocations, genre, and DiaCollo 41
- Classical and modern Arabic corpora 65
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Part II. Genre and diachronic corpora
- Scholastic genre scripts in English medical writing 1375–1800 95
- Academic writing as a locus of grammatical change 117
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Part III. Genre-based analyses of linguistic phenomena
- The importance of genre in the Greek diglossia of the 20th century 149
- “You can’t control a thing like that” 171
- Concessive conjunctions in written American English 195
- Variation of sentence length across time and genre 219
- A comparison of multi-genre and single-genre corpora in the context of contact-induced change 241
- Some methodological issues in the corpus-based study of morphosyntactic variation 261
- The interplay between genre variation and syntax in a historical Low German corpus 281
- Genre influence on word formation (change) 301
- Index 333
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Preface and acknowledgments vii
- Using diachronic corpora to understand the connection between genre and language change 1
-
Part I. Methods in diachronic corpus linguistics
- ‘From above’, ‘from below’, and regionally balanced 19
- Diachronic collocations, genre, and DiaCollo 41
- Classical and modern Arabic corpora 65
-
Part II. Genre and diachronic corpora
- Scholastic genre scripts in English medical writing 1375–1800 95
- Academic writing as a locus of grammatical change 117
-
Part III. Genre-based analyses of linguistic phenomena
- The importance of genre in the Greek diglossia of the 20th century 149
- “You can’t control a thing like that” 171
- Concessive conjunctions in written American English 195
- Variation of sentence length across time and genre 219
- A comparison of multi-genre and single-genre corpora in the context of contact-induced change 241
- Some methodological issues in the corpus-based study of morphosyntactic variation 261
- The interplay between genre variation and syntax in a historical Low German corpus 281
- Genre influence on word formation (change) 301
- Index 333
