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In:Broadening the Spectrum of Corpus Linguistics: New approaches to variability and change
Edited by Susanne Flach and Martin Hilpert
[Studies in Corpus Linguistics 105] 2022
► pp. 197–225

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“Oh yeah, one more thing: It’s gonna be huge.”

On the use of oh yeah in journalistic writing

 | Université de Neuchâtel
Published online: 10 November 2022
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https://doi.org/10.1075/scl.105.07bou
Abstract
This paper investigates the use of oh yeah in written prose found in American journalistic articles using corpus data. It demonstrates that such uses are a recent phenomenon that have risen in frequency starting at end of the 20th century. These new written functions are adapted to the written medium, but still resemble how oh yeah is used in speech. These developments contribute further insights to the changes occurring in journalistic writing. Furthermore, this paper concentrates on how oh yeah is adapted into journalistic writing to inject an interpersonal flair into the articles in which it is used. The timing of these developments also indicates a later wave of change to journalism that has been until now under-discussed.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Review of relevant literature
    • 2.1DMs and multifunctionality
    • 2.2Previous studies on (oh) yeah
    • 2.3Changes to modern journalistic texts
  • 3.Selection of oh yeah and selection of corpora for a case study
  • 4.Oh yeah in COHA
    • 4.1Frequency of oh yeah in COHA
    • 4.2Written functions of oh yeah in COHA
  • 5.Oh yeah in NOW
    • 5.1Frequency of use in NOW
    • 5.2Discussion of written functions of oh yeah in NOW
      • 5.2.1Faux spontaneous additive oh yeah
      • 5.2.2Faux utterance launcher oh yeah
      • 5.2.3Meta-textual comments
    • 5.3Discussion of written NOW data
  • 6.Discussion of oh yeah in relation to other colloquial phenomena
  • 7.Conclusions
  • Notes
  • Corpora
  • References
References (53)
Corpora
Davies, Mark. 2010. The corpus of historical American English (COHA): 400 million words, 1810–2009. <[URL]> (1 January 2021).
. 2016. Corpus of news on the web (NOW): 3+ billion words from 20 countries, updated every day. <[URL]> (1 January 2021).
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