Variation in the complementiser choice between if and whether
-
Daniela Kolbe-Hanna
Abstract
This study seeks to explain choices in everyday language use in corpus data. It examines the variation between if and whether as complementisers in interrogative subordinate clauses. In closed interrogative clauses, both if and whether are used as complementisers, e.g., I’m not sure if / whether that happened. This variation has so far received only little attention in the linguistic literature. This study draws on data from the International Corpus of English (ICE) to provide more insight into the use of these alternatives. Based on data from ICE-Great Britain, ICE-Ireland and ICE-New Zealand, I examine the distribution of both complementisers in different text types and in regionally diverse varieties of English. Different statistical analyses (logistic regression, conditional inferences trees, random forest) are used to identify the most important predictors of the complementisers, with a focus on cognitive linguistic features. The analysis reveals that the strongest overall predictor of the variation between if and whether is the matrix verb controlling the interrogative clause. By combining register, regional variety and cognitive factors as predictors of the choice between if and whether, this study sheds light on the interplay of external and internal factors in making linguistic choices, and on the importance of cognitive factors in complementiser choice in general. Thus, it adds to our insight into the production of linguistic output that draws on real-life experience.
Abstract
This study seeks to explain choices in everyday language use in corpus data. It examines the variation between if and whether as complementisers in interrogative subordinate clauses. In closed interrogative clauses, both if and whether are used as complementisers, e.g., I’m not sure if / whether that happened. This variation has so far received only little attention in the linguistic literature. This study draws on data from the International Corpus of English (ICE) to provide more insight into the use of these alternatives. Based on data from ICE-Great Britain, ICE-Ireland and ICE-New Zealand, I examine the distribution of both complementisers in different text types and in regionally diverse varieties of English. Different statistical analyses (logistic regression, conditional inferences trees, random forest) are used to identify the most important predictors of the complementisers, with a focus on cognitive linguistic features. The analysis reveals that the strongest overall predictor of the variation between if and whether is the matrix verb controlling the interrogative clause. By combining register, regional variety and cognitive factors as predictors of the choice between if and whether, this study sheds light on the interplay of external and internal factors in making linguistic choices, and on the importance of cognitive factors in complementiser choice in general. Thus, it adds to our insight into the production of linguistic output that draws on real-life experience.
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Contents V
- Introduction 1
-
I Meaning in time and space
- Digital discourse and its discontents 9
- Text, intertext and meaning 37
- Hic sunt dracones 65
-
II Variation in time
- Presenting knowledge of the world 89
- Interpreting the world of late modern English medical writing 113
- A corpus-based analysis of grammarians’ references in 19th-century British grammars 133
- Construing justice 173
-
III Variation in space
- Variation in the complementiser choice between if and whether 203
- Using intensifier-adjective collocations to investigate mechanisms of change 231
- There’s different types 257
- Academic prose across countries 283
- A corpus-based study of metadiscoursal boosters in applied linguistics dissertations written in Thailand and in the United States 321
- Patterns and meanings of hedging verbs in English-medium research articles by Chinese and Western scholars 351
- The EMI campus as site and source for a multimodal corpus 377
- Index 403
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Contents V
- Introduction 1
-
I Meaning in time and space
- Digital discourse and its discontents 9
- Text, intertext and meaning 37
- Hic sunt dracones 65
-
II Variation in time
- Presenting knowledge of the world 89
- Interpreting the world of late modern English medical writing 113
- A corpus-based analysis of grammarians’ references in 19th-century British grammars 133
- Construing justice 173
-
III Variation in space
- Variation in the complementiser choice between if and whether 203
- Using intensifier-adjective collocations to investigate mechanisms of change 231
- There’s different types 257
- Academic prose across countries 283
- A corpus-based study of metadiscoursal boosters in applied linguistics dissertations written in Thailand and in the United States 321
- Patterns and meanings of hedging verbs in English-medium research articles by Chinese and Western scholars 351
- The EMI campus as site and source for a multimodal corpus 377
- Index 403
