The Distribution of Pronoun Case Forms in Subject Predicative Complements in Varieties of English: A Corpus- and Web-Based Study of Pronoun Case Variation

Abstract

This dissertation provides a multivariate analysis of the distribution of pronoun case forms in two of the contexts exhibiting variability, i.e. simple subject predicatives and subject predicatives also functioning as focus of it-clefts. Based on nearly 10000 tokens from the BNC, the COCA and five web-derived datasets, this study shows that the distribution of pronoun case forms is influenced by several factors, such as the clause type, the number and person of the pronoun as well as the mode of discourse. Furthermore, this study also demonstrates that the factor Focus, i.e. the relatively most important or salient information in a clause (Dik 1978: 130, Siewierska 2004: 159), plays a crucial role in the distribution of pronoun case forms in the analysed contexts. On the one hand, this challenges many earlier accounts trying to account for the distribution of pronoun case forms. On the other hand, however, this is in line with the situation found not only in several varieties of English exhibiting “pronoun exchange”, where subjective pronouns have been reanalysed as Focus markers (e.g. Paddock 1994), but also with that observed in some Pidgin and Creole varieties, which do not have case distinctions but distinctions between emphatic and unemphatic pronoun forms (e.g. Huber 1999). Hence, it is argued that a re-functionalisation process similar to those in the “pronoun exchange” regions has taken place in subject predicative complements following it and a form of BE also in the standard varieties of English: subject pronoun forms may be used in subject predicative complements to mark focussed pronouns, by exploiting the potential for variability in these contexts.

Diese Dissertation untersucht mit Hilfe multivariater statistischer Modelle die Verteilung pronominaler Kasusformen in zwei der Kontexte, die im Englischen Variabilität aufweisen, nämlich einfache Subjektprädikative und Subjektprädikative, die zusätzlich der Fokus von Spaltsätzen sind. Basierend auf fast 10000 Token aus dem BNC, dem COCA und aus fünf Web-basierten Datensätzen, zeigt diese Studie, dass die Verteilung der pronominalen Kasusformen durch mehrere Faktoren, wie Satztyp, Numerus und Person des Pronomen sowie Diskursmodus beeinflusst wird. Darüber hinaus zeigt die Studie, dass der Faktor Focus (vgl. Dik 1978: 130, Siewierska 2004: 159) eine entscheidende Rolle bei der Verteilung von pronominalen Kasusformen in den analysierten Kontexten spielt.