Chapters in this book

1. Prelim pages i
2. Table of contents v
3. Introduction 1
4. PART 1. Inner Circle Englishes
5. Diachronic variation in the grammar of Australian English 15
6. At the crossroads of change 43
7. Do -support in early New Zealand and Australian English 65
8. The progressive in Irish English 87
9. Cross-variety diachronic drifts and ephemeral regional contrasts 119
10. Passives of so-called ‘ditransitives’ in nineteenth century and present-day Canadian English 147
11. Dual adverbs in Australian English 179
12. The evolution of epistemic marking in West Australian English 205
13. May and might in nineteenth century Irish English and English English 221
14. The present perfect and the preterite in Australian English 247
15. PART 2. Outer Circle Englishes
16. Recent diachronic change in the progressive in Philippine English 271
17. Linguistic change in a multilingual setting 297
18. Patterns of regularisation in British, American and Indian English 335
19. An apparent time study of the progressive in Nigerian English 373
20. American influence on written Caribbean English 389
21. Cultural keywords in context 411
22. Recent quantitative changes in the use of modals and quasi-modals in the Hong Kong, British and American printed press 437
23. The development of an extended time period meaning of the progressive in Black South African English 465
24. Index 485