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- Title
Lexicosemantic diffusion in World Englishes: variable meaning–form relations in prospective verbs.
- Authors
SCHNEIDER, EDGAR W.
- Abstract
This article suggests that in the investigation of World Englishes, which has tended to focus on syntactic, phonological and lexical preferences, the analysis of shifts in word meanings (and meaning–form relations in lexical items) needs to be incorporated. Exemplary small-scale studies show that in polysemic words certain varieties come to prefer specific meanings, and in word fields some varieties begin to prefer certain forms over others. Based on analyses of different ICE corpora, a set of prospective verbs, their meaning relationships and their varying correlations with syntactic construction choices in different varieties are investigated quantitatively (using HCFA and conditional inference trees) and qualitatively (showcasing interesting innovative, possibly emerging uses in some countries). Regionality is consistently shown to be a weakly conditioning significant factor. Thus, it is suggested that lexicosemantic variability and diffusion in the evolution of World Englishes deserve and need to be investigated systematically.
- Subjects
ENGLISH language in foreign countries; VERBS; SEMANTICS; INFERENCE (Logic)
- Publication
English Language & Linguistics, 2023, Vol 27, Issue 4, p719
- ISSN
1360-6743
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1017/S136067432300014X