Frontmatter -- Acknowledgements -- Contents -- List of figures -- List of tables -- 1. Introduction -- 2. The ditransitive construction: previous studies -- 3. Methodology: Defining the object(s) of study -- 4. Spoken style, written style -- ditransitives in speech and in the written standard -- 5. Object patterns in dialects of English: a regional and historical analysis -- 6. "Give it me!" -- Pronominal ditransitives in English dialects -- 7. Conclusion and outlook: ditransitives in British and American English dialects and beyond -- Appendix -- List of data bases -- Bibliography -- Permissions -- Index
Summary
What determines whether we say She gave him a book instead of She gave a book to him? The author views this 'dative alternation' as a sociolinguistic variable and explores its distribution across different British English dialects, registers and time frames. It thereby offers a novel, language-external explanation of the choice of one construction over the other and sheds new light on British dialect syntax
Analysis
(Produktform)Hardback
(Zielgruppe)Fachpublikum/ Wissenschaft
Dialect Syntax; Dative Alternation; Regional/Register Variation; Language Change
(VLB-WN)1561: Hardcover, Softcover / Allgemeine und Vergleichende Sprachwissenschaft