4 Comparative relativizers in American English: A puzzle from the margins of like
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Marisa Brook
Abstract
Relative clauses in Modern English are occasionally introduced by comparative markers, e.g. thingsi like we have [t]i in the research group room. In this capacity, like and such as have similar syntactic/semantic properties. This study uses the Corpus of Historical American English to test whether like has supplanted such as in the context of comparative relativization. Results offer partial support. Such as becomes obsolete as anticipated, but like hits an atypical plateau instead of increasing. The incoming variants are those containing a prepositional like with an overt head NP before the relative clause (e.g. like the ones/those that). This suggests a second change, one on a broader syntactic level, that separates comparison from relativization in the syntactic architecture. The ability of any marker to serve both functions at once is declining, possibly as an accidental side-effect of prescriptivism.
Abstract
Relative clauses in Modern English are occasionally introduced by comparative markers, e.g. thingsi like we have [t]i in the research group room. In this capacity, like and such as have similar syntactic/semantic properties. This study uses the Corpus of Historical American English to test whether like has supplanted such as in the context of comparative relativization. Results offer partial support. Such as becomes obsolete as anticipated, but like hits an atypical plateau instead of increasing. The incoming variants are those containing a prepositional like with an overt head NP before the relative clause (e.g. like the ones/those that). This suggests a second change, one on a broader syntactic level, that separates comparison from relativization in the syntactic architecture. The ability of any marker to serve both functions at once is declining, possibly as an accidental side-effect of prescriptivism.
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Contents V
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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
