John Benjamins Publishing Company
Morphosyntactic features of Northern English
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Isabelle Buchstaller
Abstract
This chapter examines grammatical features in Northern varieties of English. With the notable exception of Kortmann and Szmrecsanyi (2004), typologies of English dialects adduce dialect regions according to phonological or lexical criteria. The dearth of systematic knowledge about features “above and beyond phonology” (Sankoff 1973) makes it difficult to assess their geographical distribution and linguistic conditioning. We are thus not really in a position to generalise across grammars of Northern Englishes per se (see Beal 2004: 114). This chapter synthesises findings from various research projects, both diachronic and synchronic in order to sketch “dialect landscapes” (Britain 2010: 72), i.e. zones of grammatical differentiation across the North. We will also place these varieties in a typological context, so as to highlight the extent to which certain features can indeed be considered truly “Northern”.
Abstract
This chapter examines grammatical features in Northern varieties of English. With the notable exception of Kortmann and Szmrecsanyi (2004), typologies of English dialects adduce dialect regions according to phonological or lexical criteria. The dearth of systematic knowledge about features “above and beyond phonology” (Sankoff 1973) makes it difficult to assess their geographical distribution and linguistic conditioning. We are thus not really in a position to generalise across grammars of Northern Englishes per se (see Beal 2004: 114). This chapter synthesises findings from various research projects, both diachronic and synchronic in order to sketch “dialect landscapes” (Britain 2010: 72), i.e. zones of grammatical differentiation across the North. We will also place these varieties in a typological context, so as to highlight the extent to which certain features can indeed be considered truly “Northern”.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Preface vii
- List of contributors ix
- The North of England and Northern English 1
-
The North of England
- The enregisterment of Northern English 27
- The Great Vowel Shift in the North of England 51
- Morphosyntactic features of Northern English 71
- The history of present indicative morphosyntax from a northern perspective 99
- Northern English 131
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Locations within the North
- Tyneside 161
- Sunderland 183
- Carlisle and Cumbria 205
- Sheffield 227
- Middlesbrough 251
- Lancashire 271
- Manchester English 293
- Language attitudes and divergence on the Merseyside/Lancashire border 317
-
The North
- Borders and boundaries in the North of England 345
- The East Midlands 369
- The West Midlands 393
- Between North and South: The Fenland 417
- The north above the North 437
- Non-native northern English 459
- Index 479
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Preface vii
- List of contributors ix
- The North of England and Northern English 1
-
The North of England
- The enregisterment of Northern English 27
- The Great Vowel Shift in the North of England 51
- Morphosyntactic features of Northern English 71
- The history of present indicative morphosyntax from a northern perspective 99
- Northern English 131
-
Locations within the North
- Tyneside 161
- Sunderland 183
- Carlisle and Cumbria 205
- Sheffield 227
- Middlesbrough 251
- Lancashire 271
- Manchester English 293
- Language attitudes and divergence on the Merseyside/Lancashire border 317
-
The North
- Borders and boundaries in the North of England 345
- The East Midlands 369
- The West Midlands 393
- Between North and South: The Fenland 417
- The north above the North 437
- Non-native northern English 459
- Index 479
