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Null Subjects in Northeast English

Bailey, Laura R. (2011) Null Subjects in Northeast English. Newcastle Working Papers in Linguistics, 17 (1). pp. 23-45. ISSN 2041 -1057. (KAR id:42736)

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Abstract

This paper presents data and analysis relating to null subjects in spoken colloquial English.

While English is not a „pro-drop? language (i.e. subjects must usually be overt), a corpus of

speech collected on Tyneside and Wearside in 2007 shows that null subjects are permitted in

finite clauses in certain contexts. This paper analyses these examples and follow-up

questionnaires, and compares the data with the other types of null subject described in the

literature (pro-drop, topic-drop, early null subjects, aphasics? null subjects and „diary-drop?),

ultimately concluding that the colloquial English phenomenon is most closely related to diary-

drop.

Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled keywords: syntax, null subject, pro-drop, Tyneside, Wearside, Geordie, English, 'diary-drop',
Subjects: P Language and Literature > P Philology. Linguistics
P Language and Literature > PD Germanic philology and languages
P Language and Literature > PE English philology and language
Divisions: Divisions > Division of Arts and Humanities > School of Culture and Languages
Depositing User: Laura Bailey
Date Deposited: 27 Aug 2014 17:05 UTC
Last Modified: 16 Nov 2021 10:17 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/42736 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)
Bailey, Laura R.: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3359-9630
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