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On resolving disagreement: Linguistic theory and variation – There's bridges

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 November 2008

Marjory Meechan and
Michele Foley
Marjory Meechan
Affiliation:
University of Ottawa
Michele Foley
Affiliation:
University of Ottawa
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Abstract

Studies of concord variation in English have found subject-verb concord to be particularly low in existential sentences such as There's bridges. Noting that these sentences are unusual because the subject NP is postverbal and is generally indefinite, we hypothesized that the unusual concord variation pattern was a result of structural differences associated with the restriction on the type of determiners preceding the postverbal NP. Using variationist methodology, we analyzed natural speech data from 31 speakers of standard Canadian English and found an overwhelming preference for singular agreement in existentials. Contrary to our predictions, this was not linked to a determiner-based structural distinction, but rather to the form of the copula (i.e., full or clitic) and the speaker's level of education. Our findings have implications for those theoretical studies of existentials that assume concord, because the effect of education suggests that this assumption reflects the bias of the higher educational level of the researchers.

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Type
Research Article
Information
Language Variation and Change , Volume 6 , Issue 1 , March 1994, pp. 63 - 85
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1994

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