Verb-complementational preferences across varieties: Mapping unity and diversity in South Asian English lexicogrammar

Schilk, Marco; Bernaisch, Tobias; Mukherjee, Joybrato

doi:10.1075/veaw.g43.06sch

In:Mapping Unity and Diversity World-Wide: Corpus-Based Studies of New Englishes
Edited by Marianne Hundt and Ulrike Gut
[Varieties of English Around the World G43] 2012
► pp. 137–166

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Mapping unity and diversity in South Asian English lexicogrammar

Verb-complementational preferences across varieties

Marco Schilk | Justus Liebig University, Giessen

Tobias Bernaisch | Justus Liebig University, Giessen

Joybrato Mukherjee | Justus Liebig University, Giessen

Published online: 7 March 2012

https://doi.org/10.1075/veaw.g43.06sch

It has been noted that the study of the interface between lexis and grammar in general and verb-complementational patterns and preferences in particular offers new insights into distinctive and so far largely neglected structures of varieties of English. Based on data from the International Corpus of English and large Web-derived newspaper corpora, we explore the verbs CONVEY, SUBMIT and SUPPLY, which are typically associated with the transfer-caused-motion construction, and their complementation patterns to discuss the unity and diversity found in Indian and Sri Lankan English as two prominent and institutionalized South Asian Englishes. Our findings suggest that the (degree of) homogeneity and heterogeneity across South Asian Englishes is a complex issue and a matter of the level of descriptive granularity. Keywords: transfer-caused-motion (TCM) construction; Sri Lankan English; verb-complementation patterns (of TCM-related verbs); Web-derived newspaper corpus; transitivity trends

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