On-Going Change in English Modality: Emancipation Through Frequency
Lorenz, David LU
(2013)
In Zeitschrift für Literaturwissenschaft und Linguistik
43.
p.33-48
- Abstract
- On-Going Change in English Modality: Emancipation Through Frequency The English modal expressions BE going to, HAVE got to, and want to are often contracted to gonna, gotta, and wanna in spoken language. These contracted forms have gained both in frequency and conventionality in recent times.
In this article, I present an investigation into the status of the contractions between phonetic reduction and lexicality. The contracted forms are observed to undergo a process of ›emancipation‹, that is, they move towards increasing conceptual independence from their source forms, with the most frequent one, gonna, leading the way. Emancipation is therefore construed as a frequency effect. The study is based on American English data, both... (More) - On-Going Change in English Modality: Emancipation Through Frequency The English modal expressions BE going to, HAVE got to, and want to are often contracted to gonna, gotta, and wanna in spoken language. These contracted forms have gained both in frequency and conventionality in recent times.
In this article, I present an investigation into the status of the contractions between phonetic reduction and lexicality. The contracted forms are observed to undergo a process of ›emancipation‹, that is, they move towards increasing conceptual independence from their source forms, with the most frequent one, gonna, leading the way. Emancipation is therefore construed as a frequency effect. The study is based on American English data, both from spontaneous spoken language and a diachronic corpus. (Less) - Abstract (Swedish)
- When looking at language historically, one Ànds that many words are derived from more complex constructions. For instance, in English, never used to be ›not ever‹ (Old English ne æfre), and maybe means ›it may be that‹; a rather bizarre case is ampersand (the name of the character ›&‹), which apparently is derived from ›and per se and‹. In today’s English, we accept these words as fully legitimate, regular items in our vocabulary; historically, however, they are the outcome of a process of univerbation, by which a complex construction is condensed into a single item.
Similarly, gonna is derived from going to, gotta from HAVE got to, and wanna from want to. Yet, these forms are not as self-evidently acceptable as never and maybe.... (More) - When looking at language historically, one Ànds that many words are derived from more complex constructions. For instance, in English, never used to be ›not ever‹ (Old English ne æfre), and maybe means ›it may be that‹; a rather bizarre case is ampersand (the name of the character ›&‹), which apparently is derived from ›and per se and‹. In today’s English, we accept these words as fully legitimate, regular items in our vocabulary; historically, however, they are the outcome of a process of univerbation, by which a complex construction is condensed into a single item.
Similarly, gonna is derived from going to, gotta from HAVE got to, and wanna from want to. Yet, these forms are not as self-evidently acceptable as never and maybe. They are still linked to their respective source forms – the univerbation process is still ongoing. (Less)
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- author
- Lorenz, David
LU
- publishing date
- 2013
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- language variation and change, frequency effects, modal expressions, American English
- in
- Zeitschrift für Literaturwissenschaft und Linguistik
- volume
- 43
- pages
- 16 pages
- publisher
- Springer
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:84890049691
- ISSN
- 0049-8653
- DOI
- 10.1007/BF03379871
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- no
- id
- dc6eb6f0-0726-4fe2-a19a-5f6e31d1fa9b
- date added to LUP
- 2023-11-24 22:11:40
- date last changed
- 2024-06-05 16:51:15
@article{dc6eb6f0-0726-4fe2-a19a-5f6e31d1fa9b,
abstract = {{On-Going Change in English Modality: Emancipation Through Frequency The English modal expressions BE going to, HAVE got to, and want to are often contracted to gonna, gotta, and wanna in spoken language. These contracted forms have gained both in frequency and conventionality in recent times.<br/><br/>In this article, I present an investigation into the status of the contractions between phonetic reduction and lexicality. The contracted forms are observed to undergo a process of ›emancipation‹, that is, they move towards increasing conceptual independence from their source forms, with the most frequent one, gonna, leading the way. Emancipation is therefore construed as a frequency effect. The study is based on American English data, both from spontaneous spoken language and a diachronic corpus.}},
author = {{Lorenz, David}},
issn = {{0049-8653}},
keywords = {{language variation and change; frequency effects; modal expressions; American English}},
language = {{eng}},
pages = {{33--48}},
publisher = {{Springer}},
series = {{Zeitschrift für Literaturwissenschaft und Linguistik}},
title = {{On-Going Change in English Modality: Emancipation Through Frequency}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF03379871}},
doi = {{10.1007/BF03379871}},
volume = {{43}},
year = {{2013}},
}