1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910459719203321

Autore

Gerwin Johanna

Titolo

Ditransitives in British English dialects / / Johanna Gerwin

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Berlin, [Germany] ; ; Boston, [Massachusetts] : , : De Gruyter Mouton, , 2014

©2014

ISBN

3-11-037358-0

3-11-035232-X

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (252 p.)

Collana

Topics in English Linguistics, , 1434-3452 ; ; Volume 50.3

Classificazione

HF 297

Disciplina

415

Soggetti

Grammar, Comparative and general - Verb

Grammar, Comparative and general - Transitivity

Generative grammar

English language - Dialects

Construction grammar

Phrase structure grammar

Electronic books.

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Front matter -- 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

Sommario/riassunto

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.