Modal auxiliaries have always been a central point in the study of language change and variation, yet nonstandard forms of core modals have mostly been overlooked by researchers. While there have been studies on the use of informal semi-modals (cf. Krug 2010; Mair 2015), no comparably extensive research has been done for informal core modals. For this reason, I chose to analyze the use of the standards forms should have, would have and could have as well as corresponding informal forms shoulda, woulda and coulda. Furthermore, this study examines modals across two varieties, namely Great Britain and the United States. Considering the ‘standard’ language of these dialects is rather established, it is particularly interesting to analyze the use of relatively unstable nonstandard forms.
Table of Contents
1 Introduction
2 Background
3 Methods and Data
4 Results
5 Conclusion
Objectives and Research Focus
The primary objective of this research is to examine the usage and frequency of informal modal verb forms ("shoulda", "woulda", "coulda") in comparison to their standard counterparts ("should have", "would have", "could have") across American and British English. By analyzing corpus data, the study aims to determine the extent to which Americanization influences colloquial language trends in Great Britain and to assess the degree of acceptance for these nonstandard forms in both varieties.
- Comparative analysis of standard and nonstandard modal auxiliary forms.
- Evaluation of linguistic Americanization and colloquialization trends.
- Statistical investigation using the Global Web-based English (GloWbE) corpus.
- Contextual and collocation analysis of nonstandard forms.
- Examination of language change and grammaticalization processes.
Excerpt from the Book
Methods and Data
For this study, the two-billion-word corpus of Global Web-based English (GloWbE) was selected. This corpus consists of texts only, 60% of which were extracted from informal blogs, the remaining 40% are from other web-based, more formal materials. Altogether, data for 20 different varieties, with 14 Inner Circle and six Outer Circle countries, is available for research. In total, the word count of the US-American and British corpus is around 387 million words each, therefore both can be compared regarding the scope. GloWbE is considered one of the largest corpora available for these varieties, as the well-known British National Corpus, for example, only contains around 100 million words and the Corpus of Contemporary American English is comprised of 560 million words (cf. Davies). Due to the fact that solely the US and British corpora have enough data available to get a significant amount of results for each variable, they were chosen for this specific study. Furthermore, GloWbE was released in 2013, and consequently contains very recent data. This is particularly useful for this study, as the informal modal verb forms are considered a modern phenomenon. Unfortunately, GloWbE does not provide any further information on demographic characteristics. In addition, there is a potential risk that writers of a specific variety may not be native speakers of this variety, but the creators state that they ensured the texts are produced by speakers of the respective varieties. Even though this corpus contains written content only, the data from more informal web sites, such as blogs, is not a disadvantage since this study focuses on informal language.
Summary of Chapters
1 Introduction: This chapter introduces the study's focus on nonstandard modal forms and outlines the research objective of comparing their usage in American and British English.
2 Background: This section reviews existing literature on modal auxiliaries, language change, and the specific theories regarding the contraction of modals into informal forms like "shoulda".
3 Methods and Data: This chapter details the selection of the GloWbE corpus and the analytical methodology, including the use of MI-Scores for collocation measurement.
4 Results: This section presents the statistical findings regarding the frequency and collocations of standard vs. nonstandard modal forms across both dialects.
5 Conclusion: The final chapter summarizes the research findings, confirming the preference for standard forms and the influence of Americanization on the colloquialization of British English.
Keywords
Modal auxiliaries, English linguistics, Language variation, American English, British English, Nonstandard forms, Colloquialization, Americanization, GloWbE, Grammaticalization, Corpus linguistics, Language change, Collocation, Shoulda, Woulda, Coulda
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the core subject of this research?
The research focuses on the usage of informal core modal verb contractions—specifically "shoulda", "woulda", and "coulda"—in comparison to their standard full forms in American and British English.
Which varieties of English are compared?
The study conducts a comparative analysis between the American English and British English varieties using web-based corpus data.
What is the primary goal of the study?
The goal is to determine the extent of Americanization in British English regarding informal language use and to analyze how these nonstandard modals are integrated into contemporary English.
Which research methodology is employed?
The author uses the Global Web-based English (GloWbE) corpus to perform frequency and collocation analysis, utilizing MI-Scores to evaluate association strengths.
What does the main body of the paper cover?
The main body covers the theoretical background of modal auxiliaries, the detailed description of the data collection process, statistical analysis of frequencies, and an examination of specific collocates.
Which terms best characterize this work?
The work is characterized by terms such as colloquialization, language change, modal auxiliaries, corpus linguistics, and Americanization.
Why is "woulda" analyzed as being more frequent than the other informal forms?
The study suggests that "would" is the most frequent modal verb overall, and its wide range of contexts as both a modal and the past form of "will" contributes to the higher frequency of its contracted form.
What is the significance of the "could have been a contender" phrase in the findings?
The phrase highlights an idiomatic use of the modal contraction, which is influenced by popular culture, serving as a specific example of how "coulda" is used in larger syntactic structures.
Are informal modals currently established as standard grammar?
The study concludes that these nonstandard forms are still developing and function more as semantic features of colloquial English than as fully established grammatical markers.
How does this study contribute to the debate on Americanization?
By demonstrating that informal forms are significantly more common in American English and that British English is following these trends, the study provides evidence for the role of the US as a leader in colloquial language change.
- Quote paper
- Antonia Friebel (Author), 2019, Shoulda, Coulda, Woulda. Informal Modal Verb Forms in the US and Great Britain, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/504450
