Information-packaging constructions

The study whose findings are reported in this chapter compares the frequencies and uses of five “information-packaging” constructions across four Englishes (Australian, New Zealand, British and American) and a range of registers (informal dialogue, learned writing, news reportage, editorials and fiction). antipodean practices are found to pattern more closely with British English (with New Zealanders even more conservative than the British in various respects) than with American English, which displayed resistance to the constructions in the written language but acceptance of them in spoken language. The findings are discussed in the light of recent diachronic trends in British English.