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Syntactic Variation in English Quantified Noun Phrases with All, Whole, Both and Half

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Syntactic Variation in English Quantified Noun Phrases with All, Whole, Both and Half Syntactic variation in English quantified noun phrases with all, whole, both and half Acta Wexionensia Nr 38/2004 Humaniora Syntactic variation in English quantified noun phrases with all, whole, both and half Maria Estling Vannestål Växjö University Press Abstract Estling Vannestål, Maria, 2004. Syntactic variation in English quantified noun phrases with all, whole, both and half, Acta Wexionensia nr 38/2004. ISSN: 1404-4307, ISBN: 91-7636-406-2. Written in English. The overall aim of the present study is to investigate syntactic variation in certain Present-day English noun phrase types including the quantifiers all, whole, both and half (e.g. a half hour vs. half an hour). More specific research questions concerns the overall frequency distribution of the variants, how they are distrib- uted across regions and media and what linguistic factors influence the choice of variant. The study is based on corpus material comprising three newspapers from 1995 (The Independent, The New York Times and The Sydney Morning Herald) and two spoken corpora (the dialogue component of the BNC and the Longman Spoken American Corpus). The book presents a number of previously not discussed issues with respect to all, whole, both and half. The study of distribution shows that one form often predominated greatly over the other(s) and that there were several cases of re- gional variation. A number of linguistic factors further seem to be involved for each of the variables analysed, such as the syntactic function of the noun phrase and the presence of certain elements in the NP or its near co-text. For each of the variables, all factors were ranked according to their strength of correlation with particular variants. The study also discusses a possible grammaticalisation proc- ess concerning NPs with half and the possibility of all sometimes having another function than expressing totality: to express large quantity. The whole idea of grammatical synonymy has been questioned by some scholars, but the conclusion drawn in the present study is that there are variables that are at least very close to each other in meaning, and that a number of linguis- tic and non-linguistic factors influence our choices of variant. A great deal of the information obtained was too detailed to be useful for pedagogical purposes, but in several cases the results could clearly be used to improve school and reference grammars. Keywords: syntactic variation, quantifiers, all, whole, both, half, linguistic fac- tors, British English, American English, Australian English, grammaticalisation, totality, corpus, newspaper corpus Akademisk avhandling för filosofie doktorsexamen vid Institutionen för humaniora, Växjö universitet 2004 Skriftserieredaktörer: Tommy Book och Kerstin Brodén ISSN: 1404-4307 ISBN: 91-7636-406-2 Tryck: Intellecta Docusys, Göteborg 2004 To my father Lars Preface Some time ago, I heard someone suggest that researchers seem to choose their scientific approach according to their personalities. People who lead very organ- ised lives tend to go for structuralism and other well-organised formal theories, whereas people who live in chaos (with animals and children, for instance) opt for messier theories. I found this quite interesting and realised that, considering the fact that my life includes a large number of these chaotic elements (children, dog, cats), I should go for a messy theory. On the other hand, I have another, more organised side to my personality, a side that keeps all documents in neat files and all photos in albums, so perhaps structuralism would suit me just as well. Perhaps it is this combination of messiness and order that made me not want to opt for a particular school or theory, but rather try to carry out a theory- neutral study. What really set this study afloat is frustration at the shortage of information about syntactic variation in many grammar books. This frustration, however, turned into fascination as my research progressed and as I evolved into a fanatic fan of authentic text corpora. Sometimes I wondered whether the writing of the thesis would take half (of) my life, all (of) my life or perhaps even both (of) my lives (provided I end up as an English linguist in my next incarnation as well). But here it is. Many people have been involved, in one way or another, in the process of completing this book. I would like to thank… ¾… Hans Lindquist, my supervisor at Växjö University, for believing in me from the very beginning, for letting me participate in his project GramTime and for supporting me practically and mentally throughout. ¾… Karin Aijmer, my supervisor at Göteborg University, for reading my manuscripts very conscientiously and for constantly providing me with in- sightful ideas and suggestions for improvement. ¾… Joakim Nivre, my supervisor at Växjö University, for always giving me constructive criticism and clarifying answers to my many e-mail questions on everything from semantics to statistics. ¾… all my colleagues at the School of Humanities at Växjö University, especially Magnus Levin, for sharing my enthusiasm over new findings, for providing me with useful references and for laughing with me at the many absurdities of the academic world, Staffan Klintborg, for being an excellent role model and source of inspiration, Barbro Lindhe, my great mental support, with whom I have had many rewarding discussions concerning 77 both linguistic and non-linguistic matters, Eva Larsson Ringqvist and Olof Eriksson, for supplying me with many insightful comments on my texts, and Marianne Sandberg, who shared office, thoughts, tears and laughs with me during the last hectic period of writing my dissertation. ¾…Jan Svartvik, yet another excellent role model and advisor of the Gram- Time project, with whom I have had many rewarding discussions on every- thing from quantifiers to sailing boats. ¾… my former colleagues at the English department at Göteborg University, especially Anna-Lena Fredriksson, for (apart from sharing many laughs and interesting discussions) showing great hospitality during a period when I re- gularly had to stay the night in Gothenburg to participate in PhD courses. ¾… Maria Gruvstad and Lena Rask at Växjö University for helping me come back when times were rough. ¾… Satish Patel for reading my manuscript with his keen native speaker eyes and spotting most if not all of my non-native mistakes. Those still there are of course my own responsibility. ¾… my wonderful family: my husband Anders, my daughters Sanna and Maya, my mother Kersti, my sister Helena and my friends and relatives (all included) for always being there for me when I need you. My final thanks go to my father Lars, who often talked about his disappointment at not being able to undertake academic studies himself, but who always sup- ported me in my own studies. Sadly, he is not with us physically anymore, but I am convinced that, from wherever he is now, he shares my happiness about fin- ishing the PhD project. I dedicate this book to him. Målajord in March 2004 Maria Estling Vannestål 8 8 Table of contents 1. Introduction .................................................................................................... 13 1.1 Background ..................................................................................... 13 1.2 Aims ................................................................................................ 14 1.3 Outline of the thesis......................................................................... 18 2. Syntactic variation in English......................................................................... 19 2.1 Problems and perspectives .............................................................. 20 2.1.1 The meaning constant ............................................................. 20 2.1.2 Two forms = two meanings? ................................................... 20 2.1.3 Knock-out effects..................................................................... 23 2.1.4 Fixed expressions .................................................................... 25 2.1.5 The interplay of factors............................................................ 26 2.2 Non-linguistic factors: region and medium..................................... 27 2.2.1 American, British and Australian English ............................... 28 2.2.2 Spoken and written English ..................................................... 30 2.3 Linguistic factors............................................................................. 31 2.4 Language variation and change....................................................... 33 2.5 Summary ......................................................................................... 34 3. English quantified noun phrases..................................................................... 37 3.1 The English noun phrase................................................................. 37 3.1.1 The parts of the NP .................................................................. 38 3.1.1.1 The head ............................................................................ 39 3.1.1.2 Determiners........................................................................ 40 3.1.1.3 Modifiers and complementation ........................................ 41 3.1.2 The syntactic functions of the NP............................................ 42 3.1.3 NP or DP? ................................................................................ 43 3.1.4 Some semantic concepts pertaining to the NP ........................
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