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Daily jottings: Preposition placement in English diaries and travel journals from 1500 to 1900

  • Nuria Yáñez-Bouza EMAIL logo
Published/Copyright: November 8, 2016
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Abstract

This paper explores register variation in diaries and travel journals during the early and late Modern English periods (1500–1900), based on the case study of preposition placement, specifically preposition stranding (which I refer to) and preposition pied piping (to which I refer). Findings show that diaries and travel journals in general have a similar frequency of stranded and pied-piped prepositions, but that sharp differences emerge in their diachronic evolution. The trends suggest that the two registers generally follow the same historical drift towards oral styles previously observed in non-specialised registers, albeit at different rates and with only a moderately oral-like pattern in the nineteenth century. Also of note is that the frequency of stranded prepositions in diaries is lower than expected. I will argue that, although norms on ‘proper’ style and eighteenth-century prescriptive norms of ‘correct’ English play an important role, especially in the second half of the eighteenth century, one should also take into account register-specific characteristics such as the topic and purpose of the text, the setting in which it is produced (private/public), the participants involved and the production circumstances of the text. Likewise, idiolectal differences should not be underestimated, since they can on occasions skew results.

Funding statement: I am grateful for financial support to the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness and the European Regional Development Fund (project grant FFI2013-44065-P), to the Autonomous Government of Galicia (Secretary General for Universities, Grant CN 2014/060), and to the Ramón y Cajal Scheme (RYC-2011-07863).

Acknowledgements

Warm thanks go to David Denison, Carol Percy and Paula Rodríguez-Puente.

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Published Online: 2016-11-08
Published in Print: 2016-11-01

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