ENGLISH

Change in Contemporary English: A Grammatical Study (Studies in English Language)

By Nicholas Smith , Christian Mair , Geoffrey Leech,Marianne Hundt

Book information

Year
2009
ISBN
0521867223, 9780521867221
LCC
P128.C68 L43 2009
Open Library ID
OL10437735M
Language
english
Format
PDF
Filesize
3 MB (2645338 bytes)
Edition
1
Pages
370\371
Time added
2011-06-04 13:46:07

Description

Based on the systematic analysis of large amounts of computer-readable text, this book shows how the English language has been changing in the recent past, often in unexpected and previously undocumented ways. The study is based on a group of matching corpora, known as the 'Brown family' of corpora, supplemented by a range of other corpus materials, both written and spoken, drawn mainly from the later twentieth century. Among the matters receiving particular attention are the influence of American English on British English, the role of the press, the 'colloquialization' of written English, and a wide range of grammatical topics, including the modal auxiliaries, progressive, subjunctive, passive, genitive and relative clauses. These subjects build an overall picture of how English grammar is changing, and the linguistic and social factors that are contributing to this process.

Similar books