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This volume is a systematic, interdisciplinary approach to processes underlying language change. Clearly defined core concepts are introduced against new psycholinguistic research, taking into account synchronic structures and evidence from language history. It is ideal reading for scholars of historical linguistics and psycholinguistics alike.

Taking both an empirical and a theoretical view of the prosodic phrasing of parentheticals in English, this book reviews the syntactic and prosodic literature on parentheticals along with relevant theoretical work at the syntax-prosody interface. It offers a detailed prosodic analysis of six types of parentheticals - full parenthetical clauses, non-restrictive relative clauses, nominal appositions, comment clauses, reporting verbs, and question tags, all taken from the spoken part of the British Component of the International Corpus of English. To date, the common assumption is that, by default, parentheticals are prosodically phrased separately, an assumption which, as this study shows, is not always in line with the predictions made by current prosodic theory. The present study provides new empirical evidence for the prosodic phrasing of parentheticals in spontaneous and semi-spontaneous spoken English, and offers new implications for a theory of linguistic interfaces.

A study of how African diasporic, Chinese, and Indian speakers have been represented in British fiction. It explores the evolution of language ideologies and explains its computational techniques as part of a digital humanities toolkit. An ideal text for students and scholars of English historical linguistics and English literary studies.

This book develops a corpus-based, constructional model of speech acts, and shows how it can be implemented in teaching practice. Its critical review of current illocutionary theories and the varied range of practical activities that it offers will be invaluable for both EFL professionals and students or researchers in linguistics.

An intensive overview of Mexican American English, linking it to the speech of other immigrant groups worldwide. This study is of particular interest to students and researchers in linguistics, as it provides insight into language contact, immigrant groups' response to majority cultures, and an analysis of language-transfer effects.

Ideal for researchers and students in English historical linguistics and syntax, this comprehensive study traces the development of phrasal verbs from early modern to present-day English. Based on large amounts of empirical evidence it shows the phrasal verb to be one of the most idiosyncratic features of English.

This book provides both fresh insights into sixteenth and seventeenth-century spelling standardisation in England, and an exploration of the history of the printed book and its development in the socio-cultural history of the time. It is essential reading for those interested in writing systems and the history of the English.

Why do recordings of speakers engaging in reported speech at British Prime Minister's Questions from the 1970s-80s sound so distant to us? This cutting-edge study explores how the practices of quoting have changed at parliamentary question time in light of changing conventions and an evolving media landscape. Comparing data from authentic audio and video recordings from 1978-1988 and 2003-2013, it provides evidence for qualitative and quantitative changes at the micro level (e.g., grammaticalisation processes in the reporting clause) and in more global structures (e.g., rhetorical patterns, and activities). These analytic findings contribute to the theoretical modelling of evidentiality in English, our understanding of constructions, interaction, and change, and of PMQs as an evolving community of practice. One of the first large-scale studies of recent change in an interactional genre of English, this ground-breaking monograph offers a framework for a diachronic interactional sociolinguistic research programme.

"Combining both qualitative and quantitative methods and juxtaposing two linguistic theories, this study provides an account of the function and development of evaluative of-binomials, an important phenomenon in the English language. Comprehensive in its scope, it is essential reading for researchers in syntax, semantics, and corpus linguistics"--

"Turn-taking is a fascinating feature of conversational interaction, due to its systematic and ordered nature. However, research has so far focused mainly on American and British conversations, with other varieties of English receiving much less attention. This pioneering book addresses this gap by exploring turn-taking patterns and cultural variation in Southeast Asian and Caribbean English. Bringing together research from the fields of Conversation Analysis and World Englishes for the first time, Neumaier conducts an empirical study based on authentic audio data of interactions in these global varieties of English, and demonstrates that conversational strategies differ between speaker groups with different cultural backgrounds. Shedding new light on the impact of cultural and sociolinguistic factors on conversational patterns, it is essential reading for advanced students and scholars interested in language, variation, and social interaction, as well as those working in the fields of Conversation Analysis, Interactional Linguistics, and World Englishes"--

Have you ever wondered whether to spell a particular compound with a space or a hyphen - and why? This book discusses what compounds are and how they differ from other linguistic units. It provides a detailed analysis of English compound spelling and suggests a rule of thumb for doubtful cases.

Combining Forms (CFs) are a major morphological phenomenon in Modern English, yet while they have been discussed in some morphological literature, no full-length study has been devoted to this topic so far. This pioneering book addresses that gap by providing a framework in which CFs are marked as distinct from their neighbouring categories such as abbreviations and blending. It splits CFs into four distinct categories - neoclassical (e.g. bio-therapy, zoo-logy), abbreviated (e.g. e-reader, econo-politics), secreted (e.g. oil-gate, computer-holic) and splinters (e.g. docu- from documentary in docudrama). It shows that the notion of CF spans a wide spectrum of processes, from regular composition to abbreviation, from blending to analogy, and schema. Modern and emerging English CFs are analysed by adopting a corpus-based approach, and measuring their realised, expanding, and potential productivity. Comprehensive yet accessible, it is essential reading for researchers and advanced students of morphology, English historical linguistics, corpus linguistics, and lexicography.

What do 'bimbo,' 'glitch,' 'savvy,' and 'shtick' all have in common? They are all expressions used in informal American English that have been taken from other languages. This pioneering book provides a comprehensive description of borrowings in informal American English, based on a large database of citations from thousands of contemporary sources, including the press, film, and TV. It presents the United States as a linguistic 'melting pot,' with words from a diverse range of languages now frequently appearing in the lexicon. It examines these borrowings from various perspectives, including discussions of terms, donors, types, changes, functions, and themes. It also features an alphabetical glossary of 1,200 representative expressions, defined and illustrated by 5,500 usage examples, providing an insightful and practical resource for readers. Combining scholarship with readability, this book is a fascinating storehouse of information for students and researchers in linguistics as well as anyone interested in lexical variation in contemporary English.

"Drawing on an extensive corpus-based study, this book explores theoretical and empirical discussions of stance research applied to data from Early Modern English. It also presents a new method for the study of pragmatic phenomena, making it essential reading for researchers and students in both historical pragmatics and corpus pragmatics"--