One Language, Two Grammars?: Differences between British and American English

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Edition: 1st
Format: Hardcover
Pub. Date: 2009-02-16
Publisher(s): Cambridge University Press
List Price: $104.00

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Summary

It is well known that British and American English differ substantially in their pronunciation and vocabulary - but differences in their grammar have largely been underestimated. This volume focuses on British-American differences in the structure of words and sentences and supports them with computer-aided studies of large text collections. Present-day as well as earlier forms of the two varieties are included in the analyses. This makes it the first book-length treatment of British and American English grammar in contrast, with topics ranging from compound verbs to word order differences and tag questions. The authors explore some of the better-known contrasts, as well as a great variety of innovative themes that have so far received little or no consideration. Bringing together the work of a team of leading scholars in the field, this book will be of interest to those working within the fields of English historical linguistics, language variation and change, and dialectology.

Table of Contents

Introduction Gnnter Rohdenburg and Julia Schlnter
Colonial lag, colonial innovation or simply language change? Marianne Hundt
Compound verbs
The formation of the preterite and the past participle
Comparatives
Phonology and grammar
Prepositions and postpositions
Argument structure
Reflexive structures
Noun phrase modification
Nominal complements
Non-finite complements
The present perfect and the preterite
The revived subjunctive
The mandative subjunctive
The conditional subjunctive
Tag questions
The pragmatics of adverbs
How different are American and British grammar? And how are they different?
New departures
Table of Contents provided by Publisher. All Rights Reserved.

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