Agreement Patterns in English : Diachronic Corpus Studies on Common-Number Pronouns

This study reports a diachronic corpus investigation of common-number pronouns used to convey unknown or otherwise unspecified reference. The study charts agreement patterns in these pronouns in various diachronic and synchronic corpora. The objective is to provide base-line data on variant frequencies and distributions in the history of English, as there are no previous systematic corpus-based observations on this topic. This study seeks to answer the questions of how pronoun use is linked with the overall typological development in English and how their diachronic evolution is embedded in the linguistic and social structures in which they are used. The theoretical framework draws on corpus linguistics and historical sociolinguistics, grammaticalisation, diachronic typology, and multivariate analysis of modelling sociolinguistic variation. The method employs quantitative corpus analyses from two main electronic corpora, one from Modern English and the other from Present-day English. The Modern English material is the Corpus of Early English Correspondence, and the time frame covered is 1500-1800. The written component of the British National Corpus is used in the Present-day English investigations. In addition, the study draws supplementary data from other electronic corpora. The material is used to compare the frequencies and distributions of common-number pronouns between these two time periods. The study limits the common-number uses to two subsystems, one anaphoric to grammatically singular antecedents and one cataphoric, in which the pronoun is followed by a relative clause. Various statistical tools are used to process the data, ranging from cross-tabulations to multivariate VARBRUL analyses in which the effects of sociolinguistic and systemic parameters are assessed to model their impact on the dependent variable. This study shows how one pronoun type has extended its uses in both subsystems, an increase linked with grammaticalisation and the changes in other pronouns in English through the centuries. The variationist sociolinguistic analysis charts how grammaticalisation in the subsystems is embedded in the linguistic and social structures in which the pronouns are used. The study suggests a scale of two statistical generalisations of various sociolinguistic factors which contribute to grammaticalisation and its embedding at various stages of the process.

Outdoor portrait of Ellen Bernkopf nee Catzenstein with her husband Hans Bernkopf; Paris, France. Portraits Couples

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Albert Einstein at blackboard; College de France, Paris France Portraits Men

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Jacob Judey-Barosin with his wife Sonia nee Finkel after the end of World War II; Paris Portraits Couples

Early in 1943 the Barosins were arrested and sent to the deportation camp in Gurs. They were freed by French authorities and went into hiding until their liberation in 1944 in Paris. In 1947 they emigrated to the United States.

Artist Rafaello Busoni seated in his studio next to one of his paintings; Paris.

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Ambassador von Staden and Secretary Califano signing the U.S.-German Social Security Agreement; Washington, D.C.

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Albert Einstein, Paul Langevin, Princesse de Noeille, and Paul Painleve; Paris Portraits Groups

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Outdoor portrait of Ellen Bernkopf nee Catzenstein with her husband Hans Bernkopf; Paris, France. Portraits Couples

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Boris Guerrit being thanked in Jerusalem for having sheltered in his mother-in-law's home in Soisy-sur-Seine his cousin Sonia and her husband Jacob Judey-Barosin from September 1943 until the liberation of Paris in August 1944 Portraits Groups

Early in 1943 the Barosins were arrested and sent to the deportation camp in Gurs. They were freed by French authorities and went into hiding until their liberation in 1944 in Paris. In 1947 they emigrated to the United States.

Michael Hays' agreement with Alexander Zuntz regarding house owned by the Congregation

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Letter from Moses Levy regarding New York congregation's agreement to pay half cost for return of Reverend H. H. Samuel Cohen

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