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image of A contrastive analysis of (-)ish in English and Swedish blogs

Abstract

Abstract

The aim is to investigate whether (-) is employed in the same structures and functions in English and Swedish blog data and to describe the adaptations and changes resulting from borrowing. (-) is exceptional because it looks like a suffix but can be taken out of its original context with adjectives and nouns and used as a clitic or an independent word. Based on samples from the two languages it is shown that there are quantitative differences with respect to the uses of (-) with different base forms and as a freestanding sentence-final item in the two data sets. The qualitative findings reveal that (-) has been borrowed in Swedish as a suffix, a clitic, as a qualifier with hedging function and as a sentence-final pragmatic marker. The change in the position of (-) is influenced by the existence of a domestic variant (‘sort of’, ‘kind of’) which can be placed more freely in the sentence than the English (-).

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2024-05-14
2025-03-22
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  • Article Type: Research Article
Keywords: English/Swedish ; blogs ; contrastive corpora ; borrowing ; (-)ish
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