Uncovering Variation in Word Englishes: Finite vs Non-finite Complementation of remember with Prospective Meaning

Abstract

Remember is a polysemous verb that can govern finite and non-finite complement clauses (CCs). This paper explores the variability between finite and non-finite CCs that follow remember with the prospective meaning ‘remember to do’ (as in Remember to do your homework), looking at three Asian World Englishes – Indian English, Sri Lankan English and Bangladeshi English – and British English, as represented in the Corpus of Global Web-based English (GloWbE). The prospective use of remember is traditionally classified as allowing to-infinitival CCs as the only complementation option (Cambridge Dictionary Online, “remember”; FrameNet; Oxford Dictionaries Online, “remember”; Huddleston and Pullum et al. 2002, 1242; Mair 2006, 215). However, large databases such as GloWbE reveal the existence of finite CCs with this meaning that depend on remember. The analysis of these CCs in competition, in terms of both distribution and a series of language-internal and external variables, confirms that those which increase complexity (e.g. longer CCs in number of words) favour the choice of finite CCs, in line with the Complexity Principle.