Modal Verb Usage at the Interface of English and a Related Creole: A Corpus-based Study of Can/Could and Will/Would in Trinidadian English

Deuber, D. — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 12:00:07 PST

In Trinidad, English coexists with an English-based Creole in a Creole continuum. Creole could is equivalent to international Standard English can, and would to will. Previous authors have observed that the Creole exerts a strong influence on the use of these modals in Trinidadian English. This article presents a detailed analysis, based on data from the International Corpus of English, of the use of can/could and will/would in this variety. Comparisons are drawn with other varieties, especially British English. Quantitative distributions as well as uses and meanings of the modals are analyzed. It is shown that distinctions between the members of each pair of modals are not lost generally but are liable to be blurred in particular categories of uses where they are relatively weak anyway, consisting only in the degree of tentativeness or politeness implied, for example. Furthermore, the data indicate that the use of will in present habitual contexts is more prominent in Trinidadian than in British English, probably as a result of influence from the Creole marker of present habitual aspect; would is commonly used in present habitual contexts as well.

Explaining Grammatical Variation and Change: A Case Study of Complementation in American English over Three Decades

Rudanko, J. — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 14:39:03 PDT

This article examines sentential complements of the adjective accustomed involving subject control in the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s on the basis of the TIME Magazine Corpus. Two specific principles are identified to explain the argument structure properties of accustomed. The first is the role of extractions, which is shown to have played a significant role in the 1930s in favor of to infinitives. The other principle is semantic: when the situation encoded by the lower clause predicate involves agentivity and choice on the part of the lower subject, the complement is likely to be of the to infinitive form in the 1930s, whereas a lower clause with a [–Choice] predicate is likely to be of the to -ing type. In the 1940s and 1950s, the to infinitive declines rapidly in frequency, with the to -ing pattern becoming entrenched even in contexts that had favored to infinitives earlier.

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Modal Verb Usage at the Interface of English and a Related Creole: A Corpus-based Study of Can/Could and Will/Would in Trinidadian English

Explaining Grammatical Variation and Change: A Case Study of Complementation in American English over Three Decades