3 Spelling out grammatical variation
-
Laurel MacKenzie
Abstract
This chapter revisits a long tradition of literature that proposes that grammatical variables are unlikely to be used for social functions, and submits these proposals to a rigorous test. We carry out a meta-study of two sociolinguistics journals, searching for evidence of grammatical variables carrying social significance. We follow previous work to objectively identify and subcategorize grammatical variables into two types. We find robust evidence that one of the two types can be socially meaningful in a variety of ways. Evidence for the other type is much harder to find. However, this absence of evidence is largely due to a dearth of targeted research on the question. This empirical gap opens up a new research program.
Abstract
This chapter revisits a long tradition of literature that proposes that grammatical variables are unlikely to be used for social functions, and submits these proposals to a rigorous test. We carry out a meta-study of two sociolinguistics journals, searching for evidence of grammatical variables carrying social significance. We follow previous work to objectively identify and subcategorize grammatical variables into two types. We find robust evidence that one of the two types can be socially meaningful in a variety of ways. Evidence for the other type is much harder to find. However, this absence of evidence is largely due to a dearth of targeted research on the question. This empirical gap opens up a new research program.
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Contents V
-
Part 1: Sociosyntactic theory
- 1 Introduction 1
- 2 Sociosyntax and the weight of the linguistic within sociolinguistics 25
- 3 Spelling out grammatical variation 59
-
Part 2: Sociosyntactic evidence
- 4 Comparative relativizers in American English: A puzzle from the margins of like 97
- 5 Variation and the English participle/preterite relation 125
- 6 Constructing syntactic dialect maps of American English 163
-
Part 3: Sociosyntactic approaches
- 7 “People widnae understand that, wint they no?”: Negative anchor tag questions in northern British Englishes 193
- 8 A snapshot of the emerging because-X construction 227
- 9 Polish newcomers acquiring questions and questioning in a local dialect 257
- Index
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Contents V
-
Part 1: Sociosyntactic theory
- 1 Introduction 1
- 2 Sociosyntax and the weight of the linguistic within sociolinguistics 25
- 3 Spelling out grammatical variation 59
-
Part 2: Sociosyntactic evidence
- 4 Comparative relativizers in American English: A puzzle from the margins of like 97
- 5 Variation and the English participle/preterite relation 125
- 6 Constructing syntactic dialect maps of American English 163
-
Part 3: Sociosyntactic approaches
- 7 “People widnae understand that, wint they no?”: Negative anchor tag questions in northern British Englishes 193
- 8 A snapshot of the emerging because-X construction 227
- 9 Polish newcomers acquiring questions and questioning in a local dialect 257
- Index
