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Participle-for-preterite variation in Tyneside English

Lookup NU author(s): Dr Daniel DuncanORCiD

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).

Abstract

Variable use of the canonical participle for the canonical preterite is attested cross-dialectally in English. However, most variationist studies of this phenomenon focus on variability for one or a few verbs rather than the full set of verbs with canonically distinct preterites and participles. This study examines participle-for-preterite variation across this full set of verbs in Tyneside English. We find that variability is lexically and morphophonologically restricted, and overall subject to change from above toward use of the canonical preterite. At the same time, there may be a countervailing trend in which low-frequency verbs that form the participle by changing the stressed vowel to /ʌ/ are changing toward usage of the participle for the preterite. We suggest that the pattern of variation indicates that although the canonical forms of two categories are varying, the categories themselves remain distinct in speakers’ grammars.

Publication metadata

Author(s): Serbicki S, Lan R, Duncan D

Publication type: Article

Publication status: Published

Journal: English World-Wide

Year: 2023

Volume: 45

Issue: 1

Pages: 30-60

Online publication date: 26/10/2023

Acceptance date: 17/07/2023

Date deposited: 03/07/2023

ISSN (print): 0172-8865

ISSN (electronic): 1569-9730

Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing Co.

URL: https://doi.org/10.1075/eww.00081.ser

DOI: 10.1075/eww.00081.ser

ePrints DOI: 10.57711/p18m-ah79

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