{"title":"As if, as though, and like in Canadian English","authors":"Marisa Brook","doi":"10.1075/eww.22038.bro","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"\n This article traces the history of the minor complementisers as if, as though,\n and like (when they follow evidential verbs such as seem and look) in Canadian\n English. By the 21st century, both as if and as though were rare in Canada, while\n like appeared to have become popular (López-Couso and Méndez-Naya\n 2012b). The Victoria English Archive (D’Arcy 2011–2014,\n 2015; Roeder, Onosson, and D’Arcy 2018)\n is used to map out the change in a combination of synchronic and diachronic spoken data. Results show that as if\n and as though are unusual even in the earliest speakers, which puts spoken Canadian English at odds with\n contemporaneous writing (Brook 2014). However, this unexpected register difference may\n explain why the complementiser like caught on in North American dialects of English sooner and more readily than\n in the United Kingdom – where a robust as if and as though in speech would have remained\n barriers.","PeriodicalId":45502,"journal":{"name":"English World-Wide","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8000,"publicationDate":"2023-03-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"English World-Wide","FirstCategoryId":"98","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1075/eww.22038.bro","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"0","JCRName":"LANGUAGE & LINGUISTICS","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
This article traces the history of the minor complementisers as if, as though,
and like (when they follow evidential verbs such as seem and look) in Canadian
English. By the 21st century, both as if and as though were rare in Canada, while
like appeared to have become popular (López-Couso and Méndez-Naya
2012b). The Victoria English Archive (D’Arcy 2011–2014,
2015; Roeder, Onosson, and D’Arcy 2018)
is used to map out the change in a combination of synchronic and diachronic spoken data. Results show that as if
and as though 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 like caught on in North American dialects of English sooner and more readily than
in the United Kingdom – where a robust as if and as though in speech would have remained
barriers.
期刊介绍:
English World-Wide has established itself as the leading and most comprehensive journal dealing with varieties of English. The focus is on scholarly discussions of new findings in the dialectology and sociolinguistics of the English-speaking communities (native and second-language speakers), but general problems of sociolinguistics, creolistics, language planning, multilingualism and modern historical sociolinguistics are included if they have a direct bearing on modern varieties of English. Although teaching problems are normally excluded, English World-Wide provides important background information for all those involved in teaching English throughout the world.