Diffusion of do
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Tomoharu Hirota
Abstract
This paper gives a diachronic perspective on do-support of the semi-modal have to under negation. Corpus evidence demonstrates that do negation was regulated with have to around the 1870s in American English and around the 1930s in British English. To elucidate the development of have to towards do negation, Krug (2000) invokes two usage-based factors (analogical leveling and chunking); this paper argues, however, that they do not adequately account for the present findings. The current study instead provides the constructionist approach in which language users are hypothesized to have a form-driven abstraction over have to and the main verb have, and proposes that the abstraction played a key role in the change in question.
Abstract
This paper gives a diachronic perspective on do-support of the semi-modal have to under negation. Corpus evidence demonstrates that do negation was regulated with have to around the 1870s in American English and around the 1930s in British English. To elucidate the development of have to towards do negation, Krug (2000) invokes two usage-based factors (analogical leveling and chunking); this paper argues, however, that they do not adequately account for the present findings. The current study instead provides the constructionist approach in which language users are hypothesized to have a form-driven abstraction over have to and the main verb have, and proposes that the abstraction played a key role in the change in question.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Preface vii
- Introduction 1
-
Part I. Phonology
- “A received pronunciation” 21
- The interplay of internal and external factors in varieties of English 43
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Part II. Morphosyntax
- The myth of American English gotten as a historical retention 67
- Changes affecting relative clauses in Late Modern English 91
- Diffusion of do 117
- A diachronic constructional analysis of locative alternation in English, with particular attention to load and spray 143
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Part III. Orthography, vocabulary and semantics
- In search of “the lexicographic stamp” 167
- “Divided by a common language”? 185
- Women writers in the 18th century 203
- Eighteenth-century French cuisine terms and their semantic integration in English 219
- Spelling normalisation of Late Modern English 243
-
Part IV. Pragmatics and discourse
- A far from simple matter revisited 271
- What it means to describe speech 295
- Being Wilde 315
- “I am desired (…) to desire” 333
- Index 357
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Preface vii
- Introduction 1
-
Part I. Phonology
- “A received pronunciation” 21
- The interplay of internal and external factors in varieties of English 43
-
Part II. Morphosyntax
- The myth of American English gotten as a historical retention 67
- Changes affecting relative clauses in Late Modern English 91
- Diffusion of do 117
- A diachronic constructional analysis of locative alternation in English, with particular attention to load and spray 143
-
Part III. Orthography, vocabulary and semantics
- In search of “the lexicographic stamp” 167
- “Divided by a common language”? 185
- Women writers in the 18th century 203
- Eighteenth-century French cuisine terms and their semantic integration in English 219
- Spelling normalisation of Late Modern English 243
-
Part IV. Pragmatics and discourse
- A far from simple matter revisited 271
- What it means to describe speech 295
- Being Wilde 315
- “I am desired (…) to desire” 333
- Index 357
