http://hdl.handle.net/1974/7675 2013-05-19T00:30:55Z 2013-05-19T00:30:55Z Glickman, Tara http://hdl.handle.net/1974/7803 2013-02-04T21:12:22Z 2013-02-04T05:00:00Z

Title: Past tense formation with irregular lexical verbs in Canadian English Authors: Glickman, Tara Abstract: There is a set of lexical verbs in English ending in /-l, -m, -n/ (e.g., to spill, to dream, to burn) that receives a different form of the past tense in British versus American English. While in American English these verbs typically receive the regular past tense form /-d/ (e.g., spilled), in British English the irregular devoiced form /-t/ (e.g., spilt) (occasionally accompanied by ablaut) is more common. The form of the past tense in these verbs in Canadian English is, however, less categorical. The main objective of this study is to examine variation in the usage of the past tense in this set of lexical verbs in contemporary Canadian English. The investigation consists of three components: (a) informal interviews of Canadian and American university students to examine their usage of the past tense for these verbs in casual speech, (b) a formal survey to assess how Canadians perceive the usage of the variable past tense forms and (c) a corpus-based comparison of both past tense forms using Canadian and American corpora. The findings suggest that the majority of Canadian English speakers have mixed usage of /-t/ and /-d/ past tense forms.

2013-02-04T05:00:00Z Gardiner, Shayna http://hdl.handle.net/1974/7679 2012-12-07T06:03:14Z 2012-12-06T05:00:00Z

Title: Singular Concord in Ottawa Valley English Authors: Gardiner, Shayna Abstract: This paper investigates a syntactic phenomenon known as singular concord as it exists in the dialect of Ottawa Valley English. Singular concord refers to a construction wherein a plural subject presents with third person singular agreement on the verb, as in "the kids is hungry". Ottawa Valley English singular concord is compared and contrasted with a similar agreement phenomenon in Arabic and with singular concord as it exists in Belfast English. The result is a description of singular concord in Ottawa Valley English, including productivity and restrictions, and an account and analysis of the phenomenon in that dialect, along with insights into the singular concord family of phenomena overall.

2012-12-06T05:00:00Z