Double modals beyond the Atlantic: New evidence from computational sociolinguistics
Coats, Steven; Morin, Cameron (2024-10-17)
Coats, Steven
Morin, Cameron
Cambridge University Press
17.10.2024
Coats S, Morin C. Double modals beyond the Atlantic: New evidence from computational sociolinguistics. English Today. Published online 2024:1-6. doi:10.1017/S0266078424000191
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press. This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution and reproduction, provided the original article is properly cited.
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press. This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution and reproduction, provided the original article is properly cited.
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:oulu-202410186388
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:oulu-202410186388
Tiivistelmä
Abstract
This study investigates the use of double modals in Australian and New Zealand English using Twitter/X data. Double modals are rare grammatical constructions long believed to be limited to regional dialects in the Northern UK and the Southern US. Utilizing a geolocated corpus of over 80 million tweets, the study identifies 314 authentic double modal instances across 51 types, primarily occurring in informal tweets. Findings reveal widespread, albeit low-frequency, usage across both countries without clear geographical patterns. The results align with recent studies suggesting double modals are not confined to specific regions but are possible for most English speakers. The study also questions the traditional Scots-Irish origin theory, proposing an alternative view where the feature is a broader syntactic possibility. Future research should explore larger datasets and extend investigations to outer-circle English varieties to understand better the historical spread and syntactic nature of double modals.
This study investigates the use of double modals in Australian and New Zealand English using Twitter/X data. Double modals are rare grammatical constructions long believed to be limited to regional dialects in the Northern UK and the Southern US. Utilizing a geolocated corpus of over 80 million tweets, the study identifies 314 authentic double modal instances across 51 types, primarily occurring in informal tweets. Findings reveal widespread, albeit low-frequency, usage across both countries without clear geographical patterns. The results align with recent studies suggesting double modals are not confined to specific regions but are possible for most English speakers. The study also questions the traditional Scots-Irish origin theory, proposing an alternative view where the feature is a broader syntactic possibility. Future research should explore larger datasets and extend investigations to outer-circle English varieties to understand better the historical spread and syntactic nature of double modals.
Kokoelmat
- Avoin saatavuus [38841]