The Present of the English Future: Grammatical Variation and Collocations in Discourse

Cacoullos, Rena Torres; Walker, James A.

doi:10.1353/lan.0.0110

Cited by 131 publications

(118 citation statements)

References 101 publications

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“…On the other hand, the much less frequent negative clause contexts act as an important structural entry point for the diffusion of the emerging variants (16th c.: FW .28; 18th c.: FW .31), which confirms the important role of negative polarity identified in other processes of grammaticalization and syntactic change (Torres Cacoullos & Walker 2009;Tagliamonte et al 2014). …”

Section: Clausal Polarity and Typesupporting

confidence: 57%

Competing modal periphrases in Spanish between the 16th and the 18th centuries

Arroyo

Schulte

2017

DIA

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The history of Spanish modal constructions has been widely discussed in the literature, focusing primarily on the semantic differences between the available alternatives. This paper offers an innovative analysis of the evolution of these constructions by adopting a diachronic variationist approach that takes into account a wider range of semantic, syntactic, morphological and stylistic factors that influence the choice between the competing modal periphrases during two key stages in the evolution of Spanish. The data is drawn from a diachronic corpus of personal correspondence, reflecting actual language usage during the respective periods as closely as possible. Particular attention is paid to the question of whether the influence of different factor groups remains stable over time or not, and it is shown that the most frequent form-context pairings are particularly resistant to innovation, which can be explained by cognitive entrenchment of the respective variant in specific linguistic environments.

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Section: Clausal Polarity and Typesupporting

confidence: 57%

Competing modal periphrases in Spanish between the 16th and the 18th centuries

Arroyo

Schulte

2017

DIA

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“…Although the graduate learners and NSs shared with the other groups the pattern of using LFs more with a distant future and the PI more with an immediate future, these differences did not yield significance. Part of the explanation can be found in the results of prior research, which has found that the PI is at times deployed at maximal temporal distances, often because it also contains adverbial modification at that distance (e.g., Torres Cacoullos & Walker, , for English). Furthermore, for a narrative effect, use of the present provides a proximity that can be implemented even with distant pasts or futures cross‐linguistically, as with the historical present for past actions and the use of present for future (e.g., Bybee et al., , p. 83).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Beyond the Present Indicative: Lexical Futures as Indicators of Development in L2 Spanish

Kanwit

2019

The Modern Language Journal

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The present study investigates to what extent first‐language (L1) and second‐language (L2) speakers use lexical futures, whether such forms provide evidence of development, and whether these forms are constrained differently from the present indicative (PI) according to linguistic predictors. It uses a combined approach through its concept‐oriented consideration of an underreported form and analysis of the behavior of individual learners, along with applying variationist methods to determine whether independent linguistic predictors differentiate between lexical futures and a formally similar structure (i.e., the PI). The study includes 120 English‐speaking learners of Spanish from 5 course levels and 20 native speakers (NSs) of Spanish. Participants completed an oral production task, in which they responded to 8 personal prompts. Results indicate that NSs used lexical futures robustly and that part of the development associated with the acquisition of future‐time expression included increases in the overall rates of lexical future use and the inventory of lexical future periphrases. Mixed‐effects models revealed that from the earliest level lexical futures could be differentiated from the PI as predicted by independent variables, and that independent variables patterned in a more target‐like way as course level increased.

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“…In addition to these, we will also investigate some variables, such as clause structure and prefabricated expressions ("frequent collocations" in the terms of Torres-Cacoullos and Walker 2009), which have been shown to be significant in conditioning variation in some studies of will versus be going to (e.g. Szmrecsanyi 2003, Torres-Cacoullos andWalker 2009). The same variables will form the basis of our analysis of DECTE.…”

Section: Constraints Conditioning Variationmentioning

confidence: 99%

The rise of the going to future in Tyneside English

Fehringer

Corrigan²

2015

EWW

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This paper investigates the relative frequencies of the two major syntactic markers of future time expression (FTE),be going toandwillin the Diachronic Electronic Corpus of Tyneside English (DECTE). In particular, the rise in the frequency ofbe going towill be examined in the light of current theories of grammaticalisation. The various grammatical constraints that have been identified in the literature as determining the distribution ofwillversusbe going towill be investigated. It will be shown that a number of interesting changes have occurred within the fifty-year period covered by the data-set. In specific areas of grammar, contrasts have been maintained (e.g. first person versus the other persons in the favouring ofwill), strengthened (e.g. subordinate clauses versus main clauses in the favouring ofgoing to), weakened (e.g. the dominance ofwillin contexts of distal future reference) or even introduced (e.g. the apodoses ofif-clauses emerging as a syntactic niche for the favouring ofwill).

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The Present of the English Future: Grammatical Variation and Collocations in Discourse

Cited by 131 publications

References 101 publications

Competing modal periphrases in Spanish between the 16th and the 18th centuries

Competing modal periphrases in Spanish between the 16th and the 18th centuries

Beyond the Present Indicative: Lexical Futures as Indicators of Development in L2 Spanish

The rise of the going to future in Tyneside English

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