The return of the prefix? New verb-particle combinations in blogs
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Stefan Diemer
Abstract
The paper explores how verb-particle combinations have changed with the increased use of online real-time short communication forms. Following up on earlier research (Diemer 2008b & 2009), the study discusses examples of new prefix verbs from a web-based corpus of blogs, providing evidence that the long-term decline of this verb form in English has been reversed in computer-mediated communication, which facilitates the creation and increasingly flexible use of previously non-standard prefix verbs like inbe, oncome and atstand. Proposed reasons for this change are the influence of other languages on English, analogy with existing prefix verbs, special-purpose use, playful use of language, facilitation of syntax and demands of brevity.
Abstract
The paper explores how verb-particle combinations have changed with the increased use of online real-time short communication forms. Following up on earlier research (Diemer 2008b & 2009), the study discusses examples of new prefix verbs from a web-based corpus of blogs, providing evidence that the long-term decline of this verb form in English has been reversed in computer-mediated communication, which facilitates the creation and increasingly flexible use of previously non-standard prefix verbs like inbe, oncome and atstand. Proposed reasons for this change are the influence of other languages on English, analogy with existing prefix verbs, special-purpose use, playful use of language, facilitation of syntax and demands of brevity.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- List of contributors vii
- Introduction 1
-
Sequence and order
- Sequence and order 13
- Mom and Dad but Men and Women 35
- Sequences of size adjectives in text 47
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Competing constructions
- The competition between the intensifiers dead and deadly 71
- Has go -V ousted go-and -V? 91
- The construction cannot help -ing and its rivals in Modern English 113
- From reduction to emancipation 133
- Complex prepositions and variation within the PNP construction 153
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Emerging patterns
- A finer definition of neology in English 177
- A corpus-based study of gender assignment in recent English loanwords in Norwegian 209
- The return of the prefix? New verb-particle combinations in blogs 223
-
Correlating patterns and meaning
- Modality and the V wh pattern 247
- Assessing corpus search methods in onomasiological investigations 271
- Author index 293
- Subject index 297
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- List of contributors vii
- Introduction 1
-
Sequence and order
- Sequence and order 13
- Mom and Dad but Men and Women 35
- Sequences of size adjectives in text 47
-
Competing constructions
- The competition between the intensifiers dead and deadly 71
- Has go -V ousted go-and -V? 91
- The construction cannot help -ing and its rivals in Modern English 113
- From reduction to emancipation 133
- Complex prepositions and variation within the PNP construction 153
-
Emerging patterns
- A finer definition of neology in English 177
- A corpus-based study of gender assignment in recent English loanwords in Norwegian 209
- The return of the prefix? New verb-particle combinations in blogs 223
-
Correlating patterns and meaning
- Modality and the V wh pattern 247
- Assessing corpus search methods in onomasiological investigations 271
- Author index 293
- Subject index 297
