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Volume 44, Issue 3
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Abstract

Abstract

This article traces the history of the minor complementisers , , and (when they follow evidential verbs such as and ) in Canadian English. By the 21st century, both and were rare in Canada, while appeared to have become popular (López-Couso and Méndez-Naya 2012b). The (D’Arcy 2011–20142015Roeder, Onosson, and D’Arcy 2018) is used to map out the change in a combination of synchronic and diachronic spoken data. Results show that and are unusual even in the earliest speakers, which puts spoken Canadian English at odds with contemporaneous writing (Brook 2014). However, this unexpected register difference may explain why the complementiser caught on in North American dialects of English sooner and more readily than in the United Kingdom – where a robust and in speech would have remained barriers.

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2023-03-23
2025-04-20

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As if, as though, and like in Canadian English
English World-Wide 44, 381 (2023); https://doi.org/10.1075/eww.22038.bro
/content/journals/10.1075/eww.22038.bro
/content/journals/10.1075/eww.22038.bro
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  • Article Type: Research Article
Keyword(s): actuation; British English; Canadian English; diachronic; language change; morphosyntax; register; sociolinguistic variation

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