Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
Articles 1 - 5 of 5
Full-Text Articles in Syntax
Addendum To The Mapbook Of Syntactic Variation In American English: Survey Results, 2020–2021, Jim Wood, Guilherme M. C. Pereira
Addendum To The Mapbook Of Syntactic Variation In American English: Survey Results, 2020–2021, Jim Wood, Guilherme M. C. Pereira
Yale Working Papers in Grammatical Diversity
This paper presents an addendum to the Mapbook of Syntactic Variation in American English (Wood et al. 2020), reporting the results of additional acceptability-judgment surveys conducted by the Yale Grammatical Diversity Project in 2020–2021. Using the same survey design, data-processing pipeline, and mapping techniques as the original mapbook, we extend the empirical record to a new set of syntactic constructions, including additional uses of hella, causal where, the alternative one construction, intensificational fully, and several cases of object omission with transitive verbs, which we call “lonely transitives”. As in the original work, we provide geospatial visualizations of …
I Have A Survey On Lonely Transitives! Do You Want?, Linda Do
I Have A Survey On Lonely Transitives! Do You Want?, Linda Do
Yale Working Papers in Grammatical Diversity
In this paper, I describe a recently observed grammatical construction that the YGDP has termed "lonely transitives" (LonTs). Used by some speakers of English in informal contexts, the construction consists of a traditionally transitive verb used without an object. LonTs can only be used if there is sufficient prior linguistic or situational context to recover the null object and if the sentence retains the same meaning as the verb used with an overt object. Using the results of a survey I conducted, I discuss the syntactic distribution of LonTs and suggest that it may be much wider than previously established …
Completive All In English And The Status Of All, Carolina Fraga
Completive All In English And The Status Of All, Carolina Fraga
Yale Working Papers in Grammatical Diversity
In this paper I discuss a novel construction in English, restricted to existentials and possessive have sentences, exemplified by sentences such as There’s all sand in my hair. I argue that the syntax and the semantics of this construction, which I have labeled the completive all construction, can be explained only if all is understood to be modifying a silent element (in the sense of Kayne 2004). In particular, I propose that completive all sentences contain a silent SPACE element and a silent preposition WITH. All is the modifier of a PP headed by silent WITH and the nominal …
Microvariation In Verbal Rather, Jim Wood
Microvariation In Verbal Rather, Jim Wood
Yale Working Papers in Grammatical Diversity
This paper uses survey results and interactive mapping tools to analyze correlations across different versions of the non-standard verbal use of the word rather, in particular with participial morphology, as in rathered. Across numerous possible instantiations of the construction, there appear to be in fact a quite limited number of grammars, which are generated by an implicational hierarchy of functional heads, along with the availability of a silent verb HAVE. The overall picture supports several broader conclusions. First, silent verbs can be licensed by head-moving to a modal head in the extended projection. This movement is freely available, but …
Mapbook Of Syntactic Variation In American English: Survey Results, 2015–2019, Jim Wood, Kaija Gahm, Ian Neidel, Sasha Lioutikova, Luke S. Lindemann, Lydia Lee, Josephine Holubkov
Mapbook Of Syntactic Variation In American English: Survey Results, 2015–2019, Jim Wood, Kaija Gahm, Ian Neidel, Sasha Lioutikova, Luke S. Lindemann, Lydia Lee, Josephine Holubkov
Yale Working Papers in Grammatical Diversity
This work presents the results of a series of acceptability judgment surveys conducted by the Yale Grammatical Diversity Project (YGDP) between 2015 and 2019. It contains over 200 maps of some 194 sentences, covering a wide range of syntactic constructions, including dative presentatives, personal datives, extended benefactives, the have yet to construction, the done my homework construction, wicked, hella, the so don’t I construction, the alls construction, the come with construction, fixin’ to, the needs washed construction, non-polarity anymore (aka “positive anymore”), and many others. For each sentence, we also provide some basic demographic information, such …