Tagliamonte, Durham & Smith (2014)

Tagliamonte, Durham & Smith (2014)

by Catherine Laliberté

Multiple Choice

The paper is primarily concerned with the semi-modal _____.

• BE going to

• HAVE to

• will

• BE about to

Multiple Choice

Using the verb to go to form the future tense is unique to English.

• True

• False

Multiple Choice

In Present-Day English, the future is expressed primarily via BE going to, and...

• the present tense

• shall

• will

• the progressive aspect

Multiple Choice

Why study "BE going to" in UK dialects?

• Because that is the only variant that is used there.

• Because is it (presumably) used much MORE there

• Because it is (presumably) used much LESS there

• Because it is not used at all there.

Multiple Select

The data used for this study consists of...

• Sociolinguistic interviews

• Written language

• Speech produced in 10 different communities in the UK

• Speech by speakers of different ages

Multiple Select

Which of these are examples of tokens NOT included in the analysis?

• Oh, you’ll spoil my chances, will you?

• I was terrified he was gonna tell the whole class that I’d cried.

• What are we gonna do when we get there anyway?

• In old age we’ll sell it.

​Count vs. non-count tokens

​A token is an instance of the variable you are interested in. Some may be included or excluded from an analysis based on certain criteria: we must make sure to circumscribe the variable context.

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​Here, non-count tokens include:

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• Ways of expressing the future other than will & BE going to

• past tense contexts (I was terrified he was gonna tell the whole class that I’d cried.)

• ​tag questions (Oh, you’ll spoil my chances, will you?)

Multiple Choice

How many tokens is the analysis based on?

• 183

• 4,764

• 2

• 3.35 million

Multiple Choice

Overall, older people use BE going to more than younger people.

• True

• False

Multiple Choice

Among older people, the UK communities have lower rates of BE going to than North American communities.

• True

• False

Multiple Choice

Those who use BE going to the MOST are...

• old people living in York

• residents of Ireland and Scotland that are over 60 years old

• 30 years old or under and live in York

Multiple Choice

Which of these is NOT evidence of grammaticalization?

• increasing frequency

• increasing use with inanimate subjects

• increasing use with 1st person subjects

• increasing far-future reference (as opposed to near-future)

​Next week...

​We try to emulate Tagliamonte, Durham & Smith (2014) & track the contexts which favored the grammaticalization of HAVE to.

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​Please register to use the Old Bailey Corpus (link is on Moodle)

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​Have a nice week!